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The original Xbox was supposed to use AMD CPU as well, and parts of that remained in the architecture (for example it uses Hyper Transport bus), backroom deals

by p_l 3y ago

The original Xbox was supposed to use AMD CPU as well, and parts of that remained in the architecture (for example it uses Hyper Transport bus), backroom deals with intel led to last minute replacement of CPU for an intel P6 variant.

WhiteDawn 3y ago
So last minute that the AMD engineers found out Microsoft went with Intel at the Xbox launch party [1] [1] https://kotaku.com/report-xboxs-last-second-intel-switcheroo-left-amd-eng-1847851074 https://kotaku.com/report-xboxs-last-second-intel-switcheroo...
- whatever1 3y ago
  Wow! Good find!
- monocasa 3y ago
  Also, the security system assumes that the system has a general protection fault when the program counter wraps over the 4GB boundary. That only happens on AMD, not Intel.
bri3d 3y ago
This also led to a major vulnerability caused by different double-fault behavior between AMD and Intel known as “the visor bug”: https://xboxdevwiki.net/17_Mistakes_Microsoft_Made_in_the_Xbox_Security_System#The_Visor_Backdoor https://xboxdevwiki.net/17_Mistakes_Microsoft_Made_in_the_Xb...