XBOXXPONENTIALHowhavevideogameconsolespeedschangedovertime?

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ActOne:MooreFast

1 In1965,computerscientistGordonMoorepredictedthatcomputerprocessorspeedswoulddoubleeverytwoyears.Twelveyearslater,Atarireleasedthe2600withaprocessorspeedof1.2MHz.

BasedonMoore’sLaw,howfastwouldyouexpecttheprocessorstobeineachoftheconsolesbelow?

Atari2600 Intellivision N.E.S. AtariJaguar GameCube XBOX360

1977 1979 1983 1993 2001 2005

1.2MHz

2 Writeanexpressiontoestimatehowfastconsoleprocessorsshouldbein2077,acenturyaftertheoriginalAtari.

3 WecanthinkofthereleaseoftheAtari2600asthestartofthenewvideogameera,where1977isVGyear0.Lettrepresentthenumberofyearsthathavepassedsince1977,i.e.the“videogameyear.”Writeanequationfortheexpectedprocessorspeedforagivenyear.

Basedonthis,howfastwouldyouexpecttheprocessortobeinaNintendoWiiU,releasedin2012?

2

ActTwo:Past,Present…

4 UsingasitelikeWikipedia,findoutwheneachconsolebelowwasreleasedandcalculateitspredictedprocessorspeed. Thenfindouttheactualprocessorspeeds. HavevideogameprocessorspeedsfollowedMoore’sLaw?(Note:1GHz=1000MHz.Ifaconsoleusesmultipleprocessors,usethefastestone.)

Console Release VGYear Bestsellinggame MHz,Predicted MHz,Actual

Atari2600 1977 0 Pac-Man 1.2 1.2

MattelIntellivision

NintendoN.E.S.

SegaGenesis

SuperN.E.S.

AtariJaguar

SonyPlayStation

Nintendo64

SonyPlayStation2

NintendoGameCube

MicrosoftXBOX

MicrosoftXBOX360

SonyPlayStation3

NintendoWii

NintendoWiiU

5 Usingtechnology,writetheequationoftheexponentialfunctionthatfitstheactualdataascloselyaspossible.HowhasthegrowthinprocessorspeedscomparedtothegrowththatMoorepredicted?

6 At somepoint it stops being possible tomakeprocessors faster; they vibrate toomuch andbecome toohot.When this happens,manufacturers can still build faster consoles; insteadof installing a singleprocessor, theyinstallmultiple.(Forinstance,thePS3hasone3.2GHzchip,whilethePS4haseight1.6GHzchips.)

Doyouthinkvideogamesandothersimulationswilleverbesopowerfulthatyouwon’tbeabletodistinguishthemfromreality?Ifso,whatmightbesomeoftheconsequences?