Why did the console bit wars end? During the 32 bit era, PS1 and Saturn were 32 bit systems, and Nintendo was boasting about having a 64 bit system. The last time console makers boasted about bits in their system was the sixth generation, with the Dreamcast, GameCube, and PS2 being 128 bits.

Question

Why didn’t the bit war continue into the seventh generation? Why didn’t the amount of bits double to 256 bits like they did in past generations? Any insight into this would be appreciated.

In: 609

Answer 1

Basically, CPU bit width is a measure of how big the numbers it can handle at a time can be. Not just for math, but also RAM addresses, which they use to find data. Bits were important for early computers, where RAM increased very rapidly. However, as you might expect, there are some diminishing returns. Considering bit width as a measure of how much RAM the CPU can handle, 64 bit (what the majority of computers are on) can handle a very, very large amount of RAM, in the Petabyte range or beyond.

Tl:Dr it just became irrelevant as tech advanced.