GBA - How many BITS?

[Iron Draggon]

16?

32?

64?

???

[goatdan]

32.

But it doesn't matter. Remember how many the Xbox has? Even the Xbox 360?

32.

[Eternal Champion]

You know, after all these years, I still don't understand what difference it makes, or even what the hell the number is referring to! It's funny, what a marketing thing it was about 15 years ago, and I bet very few people knew what the hell "16-bit" meant.

Clearly, if the X-Box is "32-bit", it doesn't matter that much.

[davidbrit2]

The most noticeable effect of a larger bus size is increased memory and I/O throughput. Video game consoles don't really have much need for fast 64-bit precision math operations, so it's not like there's any rush there. But having a 32-bit data bus, as opposed to 16-bit, means that you're able to load twice as much from/to memory in one read/write operation. And having a larger address bus means you're able to directly address more physical memory and I/O, allowing for greater RAM capacity.

Since chip design has allowed clock rates to soar to obscene levels, it's not that big of a deal as it used to be. Now we're more concerned with FPUs, pipelining, multiple cores, caching, etc.

[Iron Draggon]

So it's the same as the PSP? WOW! Hard to believe. I was just curious. I know it doesn't really matter, but I was just wondering about how far the system could be pushed, and what games could be ported to it. I guess I just wanted to estimate how much life is left in it now, since I'm one of the late adopters. So in theory, it could handle any Saturn or PS game, but probably not any DC, PS2 or XBOX game? What about the DS, is it 32BIT also? I guess I'm kinda wondering who will produce the first 64BIT handheld too. Sure would be sweet if we could play N64 quality games on the go. I hope the next GameBoy is a 64BIT system now.

[Simply Dave]

Sure would be sweet if we could play N64 quality games on the go.

We can. The Nintendo DS.

[jajaja]

You know, after all these years, I still don't understand what difference it makes, or even what the hell the number is referring to! It's funny, what a marketing thing it was about 15 years ago, and I bet very few people knew what the hell "16-bit" meant.

Hehe I remember this from when I was a kid We heard stuff like 16-bit and it was damn cool, but we had no idea what it ment. Also remember hearing about Nintendo Dolphin, it must have been like 10 years ago or something, 128bit we thought lol, was crazy

[segagamer4life]

Sure would be sweet if we could play N64 quality games on the go.

We can. The Nintendo DS.

yup good ol nintendo, first they make the gameboy (black and white NES)

then the gba (Portable SNes)


and their latest triumph, the DS (portable N64)


way to overacheive N,

[davidbrit2]

Honestly, the bit size of the CPU in a game system is almost inconsequential above 32-bit. It's really more important how the actual type of CPU performs, and what clock rate it's running at, combined with things like system RAM, bus speed, graphics processor, etc. So just because the GBA uses a 32-bit CPU doesn't automatically mean it should be able to produce games with quality identical to that of the PS1 or Saturn. I've seen some developers come close (Need For Speed Underground 2, Top Gear Rally, Super Monkey Ball Jr.), but in the end it's the lack of 3D chip, and very limited RAM and CPU speed that keep them from going all the way.

[neuropolitique]

Sure would be sweet if we could play N64 quality games on the go.

We can. The Nintendo DS.

yup good ol nintendo, first they make the gameboy (black and white NES)

then the gba (Portable SNes)


and their latest triumph, the DS (portable N64)


way to overacheive N,

Game Gear (portable Master System)
Nomad (portable Genesis)

What exactly was your point?

[heyricochet]

Sure would be sweet if we could play N64 quality games on the go.

We can. The Nintendo DS.

yup good ol nintendo, first they make the gameboy (black and white NES)

then the gba (Portable SNes)


and their latest triumph, the DS (portable N64)


way to overacheive N,

Game Gear (portable Master System)
Nomad (portable Genesis)

What exactly was your point?

And lets not forget the PSP(portable ps1)
the lynx (portable 7800?)
neo geo pocket color (portable neo geo)
or the r-zone or game.com(portable crap)
I guess the wonderswan is the only not portable of something else. Or is that a portable playdia? I dunno, never played a playdia.

[Leo_A]

heyricochet, you got everyone of those wrong. lol

[Ed Oscuro]

heyricochet, you got everyone of those wrong. lol

Kinda close on the PSP, though, which is somewhere below a PS2, but notably more advanced than a PS1 (let's not forget about affine texturing!)

Saying the NGPC is a portable Neo Geo...I wish, then I wouldn't have any competition for AES cartridges!

[heyricochet]

Well, I was using the same logic as above. The only real close ones are the master system game gear comparision(game gear had a bigger color pallette, thats it) and nomad as portable genesis(because it was)

[Kamino]

EIGHTEEN BAJILLION BITS!

[Iron Draggon]

I wish the GBA was a portable SNES! Still would love to have one of those. They were fools for not releasing it.

[rbudrick]

Sure would be sweet if we could play N64 quality games on the go.

I'm detecting a contradiction in this sentence...

-Rob

[segagamer4life]

Sure would be sweet if we could play N64 quality games on the go.

We can. The Nintendo DS.

yup good ol nintendo, first they make the gameboy (black and white NES)

then the gba (Portable SNes)


and their latest triumph, the DS (portable N64)


way to overacheive N,

Game Gear (portable Master System)
Nomad (portable Genesis)

What exactly was your point?

my point is that the PSP, isn't a portable ps1 its a cross between the ps and ps2 but even if its a PS1 its 100 times better than the DS in sheer graphic capability... also the gamegear and nomad are horrible examples obtw, the nomad was touted as a portable genesis there was nothing misleading there

[grayrobertos]

So it's the same as the PSP? WOW! Hard to believe. I was just curious. I know it doesn't really matter, but I was just wondering about how far the system could be pushed, and what games could be ported to it. I guess I just wanted to estimate how much life is left in it now, since I'm one of the late adopters. So in theory, it could handle any Saturn or PS game, but probably not any DC, PS2 or XBOX game? What about the DS, is it 32BIT also? I guess I'm kinda wondering who will produce the first 64BIT handheld too. Sure would be sweet if we could play N64 quality games on the go. I hope the next GameBoy is a 64BIT system now.

I have been laffing about this more than any other post over on these boards.

[neuropolitique]

my point is that the PSP, isn't a portable ps1 its a cross between the ps and ps2 but even if its a PS1 its 100 times better than the DS in sheer graphic capability... also the gamegear and nomad are horrible examples obtw, the nomad was touted as a portable genesis there was nothing misleading there

I'm afraid I'm lost. How is Nintendo misleading people with these devices?