HT Games
Wii GPU History
The Wii's GPU was revealed before the system even had an official name. The Wii was then known as the "Revolution," the codename given to it by Nintendo prior to its official unveiling in order to build hype about the system's revolutionary characteristics. The GPU was manufactured for Nintendo by ATI, one of the leading designers of graphics processors for PCs and other devices. This chip is called "Hollywood."
Wii GPU Specs
The "Hollywood" chip is clocked at 243 Mhz, or 243 million processing cycles per second. The GPU holds 3 MB of texture memory to store active graphics assets before outputting them to the main system's processor. The GPU can also access 24 MB of internal memory available in the Wii with a bandwidth speed of 3.9 GB per second in order to transfer video elements with much speed.
Wii GPU Secrets and Rumors
The Hollywood chip has been rumored as being 1.5 times as powerful as the Gamecube, the Nintendo system that is the predecessor to the Wii. It is difficult to accurately gauge this as the quality of the graphics can be subjective and based on the viewer's appreciation. There have also been reports of the Wii GPU being secretly able to output in high definition, but as of October 2010 this possibility has yet to be confirmed by those devoted users trying to get everything they can out of the Nintendo Wii.