How many bits are the modern consoles these days?

[Sunnyvale]

But the Intellivision is 16 bit, and the Xbox was 32 bit. Doesn't mean that the Intellivision has 50% the graphical prowess that the Xbox does.

The Intellivision is 16 bit?!?

[goatdan]

The Intellivision is 16 bit?!?

Stolen from Wikipedia, but true:

Intellivision can be considered the first 16-bit game console, as the registers in the microprocessor, where the mathematical logic is processed, are 16 bits wide.

[jb143]

The Intellivision is 16 bit?!?

Yup...but again, this has more to do with processor architecture than how fast or powerful the system is. The Z3 computer built out of relays in the '40s could be considered 22bit...but it took several seconds to preform simple calculations.

[goatdan]

Yup...but again, this has more to do with processor architecture than how fast or powerful the system is. The Z3 computer built out of relays in the '40s could be considered 22bit...but it took several seconds to preform simple calculations.

Think of the Intellivision chip like a V6 car that weighs a ton and has no aerodynamic design.

[jb143]

Think of the Intellivision chip like a V6 car that weighs a ton and has no aerodynamic design.

Well...the average car weighs more than a ton but otherwise that's a decent analogy.

[goatdan]

Well...the average car weighs more than a ton but otherwise that's a decent analogy.

I meant "a ton" as in "a heckuva lot" but didn't want to portray that in a more exacting way.

But yeah, you're right.

[Gamevet]

More like a V-6 with 2 valves per chamber, a crappy 2-barrel carburetor, and a single line exhaust with a crappy muffler.

[Sunnyvale]

Damnit, why does everybody always dump on the Intellivision?

But wow, thanks for the info. Wonder why they didn't sue Sega or NEC...

[Gamevet]

We're not doggin on the Intelevision, just stating the facts. The Atari VCS, NES, 5200 and 7800 all have very similar CPUs, but you'd never know it judging by the power the consoles presented.

[treismac]

The Intellivision is 16 bit?!?

Placing the Intellivision next to the Genesis and Super Nintendo seems more than a little bit off, doesn't it?

[BlastProcessing402]

There is a reason they don't use the bits in marketing anymore as it was meaningless.
If they still used that they would be calling this gen 256. Always was twice what the previous was. 8,16,32,64,128,256 and next gen would be called 512.
However it's not really accurate in what bits it's really using. I mean PC's are just now getting 64 bit with W7.

There have been 64 bit versions of Windows at least as far back as XP, it's just now that mainstream consumers are actually using it, instead of hardcore geeks (I use that term with love).