How many FLOPS are in game consoles?

***wraggster*** · May 27th, 2008, 22:43

Analyst Opinion - Floating Point Operations Per Second - FLOPS - one of the more obscure processor performance indicators, and one of the oldest ones. Over time, it has been modified with prefixes such as M (mega), G (giga), T (tera) and will soon get a P (peta). “Tera” describes a million millions - one trillion (1012) - which is a whole lot of anything whether it is cycles (Hertz), bytes, dollars, or FLOPS.

Recently I was asked how many TFLOPS are in all the game consoles shipped to date. There are two answers to that question. You can look at it from the perspective of all the game consoles built and you can look at this question with specific consoles in mind.

Let’s look at the combined TFLOPS rating of all game consoles, which actually provides two answers as well.

If you count central processor FLOPS then you have one answer and if you count the FLOPS potential of the GPU and add it to the CPU’s FLOPS, then you have the second answer. This second version is controversial since the FLOPS of the GPU aren’t used in computations and some therefore claim that the GPU should not be counted as it simply represents a theoretical number. Others argue that GPUs are used in computation - the computation of shader operations. Both sides, however, agree that there isn’t yet a benchmark that can measure this discipline. And therefore I conclude that we shouldn’t use them in evaluating the CPU FLOPS of game consoles.

The following table lists the FLOPS in consoles:

Xbox | CPU: 1.5 GFLOPS | GPU: 5.8 GFLOPS | Combined: 7.3 GFLOPS
Xbox360 | CPU: 115 GFLOPS | GPU: 240 GFLOPS | Combined: 355 GFLOPS
Dreamcast | CPU: 1.4 GFLOPS | GPU: 0.1 GFLOPS | Combined: 1.5 GFLOPS
Wii | CPU: 60 GFLOPS | GPU: 1 GFLOPS | Combined: 61 GFLOPS
PS2 | CPU: 6 GFLOPS | GPU: 0 GFLOPS | Combined: 6 GFLOPS
PS3 | CPU: 218 GFLOPS | (GPU: 1800 GFLOPS) | (Combined: 2018 GFLOPS)

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/37621/128/

**alanparker05** · May 27th, 2008, 23:18

Huh??? Ahh my brain hurts

**Axelius** · May 27th, 2008, 23:45

Wow, I never thought that the PS3 is so far ahead from the Xbox360.

But the wii reaches 61GFLOPS (lol at the 1GFLOP for the GPU:rofl

? Well, I thought it would be only a little higher than the PS2's score

I wonder how much the PSP can reach?

**deceiver117** · May 28th, 2008, 00:11

Take these numbers with a bucket of salt...115GLOPS for the x360 or 218 for the PS3? I smell marketing bull.

**ian h** · May 28th, 2008, 00:20

wtf wtf wtf my head also hurts!

**goshogun1** · May 28th, 2008, 00:34

Everyone knows higher GFLOPS = better games!
PS3 has 2018 vs 360's 355. What more proof do you need?! It's in the numbers man!

**Triv1um** · May 28th, 2008, 00:41

No, more FLOPS doesn't mean better games. That comment is weak. Gameplay makes a good game, and the PS3 have few. (C'mon, i'm a 'PS3 fanboy' but i have to look at the facts, right?)

Yes, the PS3 is more powerful etc. but the 360 has better games at the moment. [/fanboy crap]

The PS3 will rise in time, and I bloody well hope it does so my investment can mean something.