Broadway (microprocessor)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

IBM Broadway microprocessor. The reference to Canada in the picture is related to where it was packaged i.e. by IBM Canada in Bromont.

Broadway is the name of the Central Processing Unit (CPU) used in Nintendo's Wii video game console. It was designed by IBM, and is currently being produced using a 90 nm SOI process. This allows the chip to draw 20% less power than its predecessor, the 180 nm Gekko, which is used in Nintendo's GameCube video game console.^[1]

Broadway is being produced by IBM at their 300 mm semiconductor development and manufacturing facility in East Fishkill, New York. The bond, assembly and test operation for the Broadway module is performed at the IBM facility in Bromont, Quebec. Very few official details have been released to the public by Nintendo or IBM. Unofficial reports claim it is derived from the 485 MHz Gekko architecture used in the Nintendo GameCube and runs 50% faster at 729 MHz.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Specifications

• 90 nanometer process technology
• Power Architecture core, specially modified for the Wii platform
• IBM Silicon on Insulator (SOI) technology
• Backwards compatible with the Gekko processor

[edit] References

This video game hardware-related article is a stub. You can help by expanding it.