This is something that has been confusing me for a while and I thought maybe I might either a. Get a good response. b. Confuse someone else.

So let's start off real quick.

Xbox specs:
CPU 733 MHz Intel Custom Pentium III
Front Side Bus 133 MHz - 1.0 GB/sec
RAM Micron 64 MB DDR SDRAM
Memory Bandwidth 6.4 GB/sec bus
Storage Medium 8 GB Hard Disk
(Western Digital, 5400 RPM)
I/O (Input / Output) w-5x DVD-ROM
Type 9 DVD - 8.5 GB single sided
4x Proprietary USB Game Ports (12 Mbps)
Broadband Ethernet Connection (100 Mbps)
Proprietary Audio/Video Connector
Graphics Processor Unit 250 MHz Custom-Designed NV2X
Max Polygon Performance 125 M/sec
Simultaneous Textures 4.8 G/Sec
Pixel Fill Rate 12w
Compressed Textures Yes (6:1)
Maximum resolution 1920 x 1080 (HDTV Required)
MPEG 2 Support Yes (Standard DVD)
HDTV Game Support Yes (HDTV Cable Required)
DVD Movie Playback Yes (DVD Remote Control Required)
Media Comm. Processor 200 MHz Processor Custom
Designed By NVIDIA
Controls Hard Disk & DVD
Controls High-Speed Ethernet
Controls Proprietary USB Game Ports
Controls Advanced Audio which uses:
licensed technology from UK's Sensaura 3D.
Peripheral Bus (MCP BUS) 400 MB/s (Full Duplex)
Broadband Enabled Yes (10/100 Mbps / TCP/IP / WinSock)
Audio Channels 256
3D Audio Support Yes (64 3D channels)
Operating System - Windows 2000 Core OS
(Custom designed by MS)
- DirectX 8.0a (Drivers)
- Part 1 of the OS is on the hard disk < 1 MB
- Part 2 of the OS can be DVD disc < 500 K
- (Part 1 includes the core OS, DirectX, DVD playback, some drivers and 3D user interface)
- (Part 2 includes things like libraries, other drivers and other features needed by the developer)
- OS takes less then 3 MB in RAM
- The OS has a 3D user interface when no games are inserted to play music CDs, run DVD movies etc.
- The games run in ring 0, known as kernel mode which is the fastest mode possible.

Now, the original xbox can play Halo 2.





Check out the Pc requirements for Halo 2.

Minimum

CPU
Intel Pentium IV 2.0 GHz
DVDROM
8x
Disk
7000
RAM
1024 MB
VRAM
256 MB

Recommended

VRAM
512 MB





So the question is: Why does the PC version need such higher specs than the xbox?

My guess is that while the Xbox is focused on gaming, a computer still has your OS to run, side-applications, updates, and that sort of stuff.

-Knight Haleth

A PC has to control the whole PC, so then they have to make sure the computer can run as well as gaming.
If you have a too bad pc and have bought a game for better pcs, they aware you
of what you need. (Or the game will run slow)

Microsoft wants to put cheap components in the Xbox, to save money, but wants people to have a high spec PC so they go out, and buy a new computer, which hopefully comes with a new Windows license.

I'd say Knight Haleth summed it up pretty well. The Xbox runs the game without having anything else requiring processing power/memory etc etc.

Lol, I never thought about that

Ok, you can close this now.

In truth, the original X-Box's lower requirements were met with lower resolution textures and simpler models overall. The frames-per-second is highly capped, and there is no option to set AA, AF, and other quality settings. The CPU also has the disadvantage that it's x86 and general purpose... the reason that so many games get onto consoles is because that most of the hard work is cut out. That being said, it pisses off many console gamers when they get a full port from PC, as the game all-of-a-sudden becomes "too complex". On the other hand, PC gamers get pissed off when there are incomplete ports from consoles, because 90% of those ports have the same limits, oversimplified, and generally run like cr*p. Besides--each console has its own code base that makes playing games written in that code "faster".

In truth--a lot of the code bloat in Windows is that the programmers are messy when transferring the code, or that the game is a tech demo (Crysis). As it is, mid-range gaming PCs easily beat all consoles. The fact is that a console can't compare with the mass potential in a PC. Also, what many people who go out and say "go spend $400 and buy a console" don't get is that if they have anywhere near a recent PC (<3 years), they can spend <$300 on some more RAM and a graphics card and get an even better experience, plus be able to play many more games for less. $60 for a new release for consoles or $50 for a new release for PCs (mind you--within a month that's usually down to $35 or $40 by the time console releases are $50).

I'm personally waiting to see what happens with Assassin's Creed for PC... I would really like to see that game meet its full potential.

I think a great example of this would be Morrowind for the PC and for the Xbox.

The PC version is great, the xbox version? Not so much.