Gamecube

 

The Most recent Nintendo Console. Gamecube is aimed at Video Gaming Entertainment, giving the player total control. The Nintendo Gamecube is the First Nintendo Console to have games on disks rather than cartridges. This really takes the evolution of games to a new Revolution.

System

The Nintendo Console itself is small. It's 4.3" tall, 5.9" wide and 6.3" long. It has a handy handle at the back for carrying from room to room. You can insert up to 4 Controllers and 2 Memory Cards. Click Here to see the Gamecube system from a Birds-eye view.

Disks

The Gamecube Game disks are only 3 inches in diameter but hold 1.5 gigabytes of information. The Games are run on a CAV system. This will make loading times quick and efficient. No waiting around for loading every other second. Click Here to see a Picture of a Gamecube Game Disk.

Controller

The Gamecube Controller is an excellent design. With the two Analog sticks, comfortable hold and easy press buttons, it really puts gaming to the max. The Controller has 8 buttons, a direction pad and two analog sticks (one designed mainly for camera work). Click Here to see a the Controller.

Gameboy Advance Link-up

For the First time in Video game history can two different consoles link up. The 32-bit Handheld can be used as a controller for the Gamecube. Future games will be able to use the Gameboy Advance Games to transfer data, unlock extra features in particular games or even use the Game Boy Advance to be a supplemental game screen. Click Here to view a picture of the the two linked up.

Online Gaming

Online Gaming has been popular in the PC Gaming Department. But why? Everyone prefers Console games. Maybe because lazy PC Bods can't be arsed to go next door to play quake III. Well if your friend lives in Connecticut and you want to play them at, for instance, Mario Kart, then don't bother booking a flight! Nintendo are planning online gaming for Gamecube. The Gamecube has the ability to play online at a good rate, with hardly any slow-down, or lag as those PC Gamers like to say! Two Modems have been put in production. A 56K modem and a mega fast Broadband Modem. These just enter a serial port underneath the Cube. Click Here to see a picture of the modems.

Here are some Gamecube specs

MPU ("Microprocessor Unit")*
Custom IBM Power PC "Gekko"
Manufacturing process
0.18 micron IBM copper wire technology
Clock frequency
485 MHz
CPU capacity
1125 Dmips (Dhrystone 2.1)
Internal data precision
32-bit Integer & 64-bit floating-point
External bus
1.3GB/second peak bandwidth (32-bit address space, 64-bit data bus 162 MHz clock)
Internal cache
L1: instruction 32KB, data 32KB (8 way) L2: 256KB (2 way)
System LSI
Custom ATI/Nintendo "Flipper"
Embedded frame buffer
Approx. 2MB sustainable latency : 6.2ns (1T-SRAM)
Embedded texture cache
Approx. 1MB sustainable latency : 6.2ns (1T-SRAM)
Texture read bandwidth
10.4GB/second (Peak)
Main memory bandwidth
2.6GB/second (Peak)
Pixel depth
24-bit color, 24-bit Z buffer
Image processing functions
Fog, subpixel anti-aliasing, 8 hardware lights, alpha blending, virtual texture design, multi-texturing, bump mapping, environment mapping, MIP mapping, bilinear filtering, trilinear filtering, anisotropic filtering, real-time hardware texture decompression (S3TC), real-time decompression of display list, HW 3-line deflickering filter.
Sound Processor
custom Macronix 16-bit DSP
Instruction Memory
8KB RAM + 8KB ROM
Data Memory
8KB RAM + 4KB ROM
Clock Frequency
81 MHz
Performance
64 simultaneous channels, ADPCM encoding
Sampling Frequency
48KHz
System Floating-point Arithmetic Capability
10.5 GFLOPS (Peak) (MPU, Geometry Engine, HW Lighting Total)
Real-world polygon
6 million to 12 million polygons/second (Peak) (Assuming actual game conditions with complex models, fully textured, fully lit, etc.)
System Memory
40MB
Main Memory
24 MB MoSys 1T-SRAM, Approximately 10ns Sustainable Latency
A-Memory
16MB (81MHz DRAM)
Disc Drive
CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) System
Average Access Time
128ms
Data Transfer Speed
16Mbps to 25Mbps
Media
3 inch NINTENDO GAMECUBE Disc based on Matsushita's Optical Disc Technology, Approx. 1.5GB Capacity
Input/Output
Controller Port x4
Memory Card Slot x2
Analog AV Output x1
Digital AV Output x1
High-Speed Serial Port x2
High-speed Parallel Port x1
Power Supply
AC Adapter DC12V x 3.25A
Main Unit Dimensions
4.3"(H) x 5.9"(W) x 6.3"(D)

                        

                    (GC Specs and Pictures courtesy of Nintendo.com)

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