I hear you, and I don't want to fearmonger regarding Lockhart, but I'm just having trouble thinking it isn't redundant in the face of Xcloud support for smartphone devices. And cutting out OS features like Quick Resume won't necessarily bring down the BOM on a 4TF Lockhart intended for games to run locally on the system.
So maybe I can clarify: IF Lockhart is a streaming-focused device, it won't need 16 GB RAM, or even 8 GB. 4 GB would be plenty. And they probably wouldn't need an SSD (or just a really cheap and possibly slower one). At $199, I think THAT could work.
[QUOTE[However, IF Lockhart is intended for running games locally, it's going to need the same internal SSD as XSX, it's probably going to need 12 GB of RAM (how do they even replicate the XSX's bus setup with 12 GB? Or do they go with a narrower bus?)
Actually, I didn't even think of that. Rumors seem to suggest a 192-bit bus so who knows what the actual setup is.
same CPU, most of the same OS features, and it'd probably be priced around at least $299 ($350 could be possible). But I don't see the BOM pricing near, say, $300 in that situation, it would still be something around $350 or so for the BOM so MS would be selling potentially two systems at a loss instead of just one?
This is my biggest fear, CPU on Series X is capable of sustaining a 3.8GHz performance with no SMT. That's bonkers, the quality of silicon which is needed to become a SoC in a Series X machine is very high. I don't think it'll be anywhere as high for a lower-spec machine as it'll raise the cost. On SSD, I long assumed that it would have the same speed as Series X, just with smaller storage. But the rumors suggest its a 1TB SSD, in that case, the SSD may not be as fast.
Like you said, we'll be finding out soon but while I personally hope Lockhart's not a thing, if it is, it'll be a streaming-only device that can hit a very low BOM and come in at $199. Otherwise, it's not gonna go over well.
Lets do some paper math. Assuming Series X BoM is ~$500, I don't see how Lockhart can shave $150-200 off it.
APU - Series X has 360mm2 size, lets assume they keep the same CPU, how much die space they are saving on a smaller GPU? If Lockhart has 22CUs @1.4GHz. Savings would be the tune of ~70-75mm2? How much would the savings be here? ~$40-50.
RAM - We don't know the setup except that total size is 12GB. Let's assume they are buying 4 less modules than Series X. Savings would be another ~$40.
SSD - Apparently same, so same price.
PSU - Don't need to be as big or powerful, $10 savings.
Cooling - No vapor chamber required, $20-25 savings.
Other peripherals - I assume no separate PCBs in Lockhart, with overall skeleton of box being cheaper to build too, $10-20.
After adding all of this, I'm still struggling to go anywhere near $350 BoM. That's without accounting for manufacturing, distribution, and other miscellaneous costs such as retailers cut etc. $249 price-tag sounds too extreme to me, even a $299 one would be mean them eating $100 loss per box. Then you take into account, Series X will be sold at a loss as well. I mean how much money are Xbox planning to lose on hardware alone?
About specs, well if it's real they'll have no choice but to go into it at one of these two planned events (if the rumors are true about the events, and they seem strongly plausible to happen). Personally I want even *lower* specs because that would at least mean it's just for streaming purposes. Which, it's true Xcloud still has to be refined, and it'll never be perfect, but if people want to pay less for next-gen they have to accept certain compromises, just part of the game.
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Well, I can already tell you its not a streaming device. I listened up the Phil Spencer interview on IGN a fortnight ago, and he was pretty adamant when it came to gaming experience, they are best when running on a local hardware. xCloud is a long-term goal for them which I don't expect to come to fruition in short-term. Lockhart is basically a cheaper entry spec machine into the next-gen.
