Xbox Next’s processor rumoured to run at 1.6 Ghz, half of the current 3.2 Ghz in Xbox 360

GamerAnx.com reports that a well-known gaming figure, Hector Martin or otherwise known as "Marcan," may have spilled the beans on at least one aspect of the next Xbox’s processor specs, noting the device “only” ran at 1.6 Ghz, half of the 3.2 Ghz of the current generation Xbox 360.

The information was delivered in the context of disappointment in the 1.2 Ghz clock speed of the new Wii U, with Martin countering:

If you want more evidence that MHz isn’t everything, a little birdie points out that Durango (Xbox 720) is specc’ed to have a 1.6GHz CPU.

Food for thought. (And don’t bother asking me who that little birdie is.)

Of course clock speed was more of an obsession with the last decade, and by 2012 we have now learned that clock speed is far from the be all and end all of performance. A larger number of dedicated cores could of course easily compensate for a slower processor, and would also result in lower power consumption, which has knock on effect on the size of the PSU, size of the heating needed, size of the console and overall cost, making this modern type of processor design significantly more sensible.

Read more at GamerAnx.com here.

Do our readers think it even matters what power’s the next Xbox and that the specs race is still important? Let us know below.