act one: moore fast - breal one: moore fast 1 in 1965 ... atari 2600 intellivision n.e.s. atari...
TRANSCRIPT
XBOXXPONENTIALHowhavevideogameconsolespeedschangedovertime?
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name
date
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?