GPU Chosen For PS4, Out In 2012?
Rumour: Imagination Technologies get the gig of a lifetime.Published 18/11/2009 at 23:07 by nofi
Apparently, according to FGNOnline, SCEI has already chosen Imagination Technologies’ currently in development PowerVR Series 6 chipset for the PS4, which, according to the report, is due out worldwide in 2012. This probably warrants a good going over by our Greg, but I’ve downed enough Diet Coke tonight to keep me away until Saturday, so I’m wide awake and writing this up now.
I don’t know who Imagination Technologies are, but their Series 6 line, one better than their previous Series 5 presumably, is rather spiffing. The tech, which the report suggests Sony have exclusive rights to, uses a technique called TBDR which can “outperform a competing IMR product from nVidia/ATi by 3-5 fold whilst maintaining equal die size and price point” and was the reason the Dreamcast was so awesome.
The story, which is obviously proving rather popular tonight, also suggests Sony have bagged IMGTEC as the graphics provider for their next generation PSP, which, they say, uses the Series 5XT.
All I want to know is will I be able to play SingStar on it.
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
mynameisblair | 18/11/2009 23:11
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2012? That’s too early.
I’m not even half way through where I want my PS3 to be… and I’ll be a poor student then.
2014-2015 please? Yes.
matty | 18/11/2009 23:19
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I thought he ment the chip was out in 2012 but maybe not, i have a habit of not reading things properly or spelling.
mynameisblair | 18/11/2009 23:22
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Yeah, but wouldn’t Sony get it before ‘worldwide release’?
Or not, maybe I’m being silly.
matty | 18/11/2009 23:27
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Probs just me seen as it is exclusive so i would guess they get it before. See its me not reading it again
BlingOnMyWrist | 19/11/2009 05:08
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If the PS4 does come out in 2012, you may as well wait until 2014-2015. There’ll be a cheaper, slimmer model out by then.
FireasBall | 19/11/2009 06:14
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And remember that something new never comes in time
, i guess 2014 and up.
Amphlett | 19/11/2009 09:07
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Maybe 2012 for Japan and the USA. 2014 for Europe.
BadBoyBoogie | 19/11/2009 11:26
Let There Be Rock
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LOL
S1nghSat1onal | 21/11/2009 01:15
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Yeah, I jsut dont see the point in such a quick release of another console just when this one is started to get popular
Damigos | 19/11/2009 11:14
* Banned *
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2012? I thought that was the end of the world..
Sony once again not talking into consideration all aspects..
03sho | 18/11/2009 23:13
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2012 is too early.
andytorr | 18/11/2009 23:26
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I think it means the chip, not the PS4.
mynameisblair | 18/11/2009 23:29
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Yeah, but Sony have it exclusive BEFORE 2012, right?
Cadabena | 18/11/2009 23:32
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At least we’ll get a play of the PS4 before the apocalypse ;P
wedgehog | 18/11/2009 23:53
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Sorry, but don’t be silly – the world is not going to end. I’m sure you know this but I just wanted to make sure.
Cadabena | 19/11/2009 00:00
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I meant to do a wink, therefore showing my non-seriousness
TctclMvPhase | 19/11/2009 01:40
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What do you mean dont be silly? If John Cusack says the world is going to end in 2012 then the world will end in 2012. I mean they made a movie about it…obviously its true.
davidjmclare | 19/11/2009 04:02
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i lost faith in believing movies after the terminator fucked up the judgment day.. day. but terminator 3 gave me the answer, should never have lost the faith!
so the world will end 2012. but the ps4 will not be out, guarenteed
brillerment | 19/11/2009 05:55
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So the PS4 is going to be a Terminator series?
hazelam | 19/11/2009 08:54
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the ps4 might turn into skynet.
cc_star | 19/11/2009 08:56
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Hope so, I wanna kill some robots
Ed the Penguin | 18/11/2009 23:26
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Only had my PS3 18 months!
Oh well… I’d best start saving..
carlosfilippsen | 18/11/2009 23:26
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Too early indeed. 2014, Yes.
teflon | 18/11/2009 23:28
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Why is it too early? We’ve had 3 good years of PS3 and 2012 would give us another 3 plus 2 or 3 years as a tail end budget console. That’s plenty of life time for a console, and considering how old and limited the tech is already starting to become, I’d say it’s welcome.
I’d actually go as far as saying that the 360 and PS3 both came out a year too soon. A year later and we’d have had GPGPUs in our consoles, opening up some pretty spiffy possibilities on the PS3 for having the GPU handle physics whilst the Cell can handle a number of the shaders…
Anyway, Im more interested to see if they plan on keeping the Cell or a evolution thereof for the PS4, since if they don’t then backwards compatibility is completely out of the question. It’s way more complicated than the PS2 was, and that was already difficult to work with… So the Cell is the deal breaker here, the GPU is interesting, but not that big a deal.
dirtyhabit | 18/11/2009 23:28
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I was right there until ‘uses a technique called’ then it all went a bit … hazy.
Charmed_Fanatic | 18/11/2009 23:31
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so your saying the chip comes out in 2012, and Sony have exclusive rights to it?
Alex_Assassin_08 | 18/11/2009 23:33
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We won’t get a PS4 until 2015.
ultimatepunchrod | 19/11/2009 05:20
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this feels too early but when you think about it the console has been out for a while and it will have lasted longer than the last gen by the time 2012 roles around. i just wonder what the ps4(man thats weird to type) will look like.
ultimatepunchrod | 19/11/2009 05:21
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also what in the crap will the next gen psps look like?? and what will they be able to do. PS3 graphics??????
cc_star | 19/11/2009 09:00
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I’ve read a great Digital Foundry article on the expected chipsets in the DS2 and PSP2, and the power of the PSP2 and it’s GPU should be halfway between the Xbox and the 360
brillerment | 19/11/2009 05:56
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And don’t forget the inevitable delays and postponements
nofi | 19/11/2009 06:28
Wants a custom tag.
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The chipset is out in 2012, not the PS4, chaps.
3shirts | 19/11/2009 07:01
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Yeah but if Sony have exclusive rights to it, and the PS4 is, say, 2014, what are the company gonna do with the chipset for two years? Just watch their bleeding edge tech get outdated?
skibadee | 19/11/2009 07:43
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good point
Aitrus | 19/11/2009 09:17
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They will need some time to finalize the specs, build the OS, make SDK’s and make sure the developers have it all in time to make some games ready for launch. Yes, the tech is outdated by the time a console hits retail.
superjag86 | 19/11/2009 07:54
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Why won’t Sony ever learn!
As this isn’t a mainstream chipset I’m betting it might theorectically powerful but it’ll fall into the “difficult to program for” category again. Why not just go with something nice and simple from ATi/nVidia?
AG2297 | 19/11/2009 09:09
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because nVidia are going to stop making GPU’s and ATi have already signed up for the enxt xbox GPU
Shyru | 19/11/2009 09:58
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I dont understand that either. If they would just put a Fermi-based chip in there they whould have enough power to finally do 1080p with Antialiasing and 60FPS no problem. And the GPGPU archtecture of Fermi would have enough untapped power that could be gained with later games. Toss in a Cell with 32 SPEs, and all current gen PS3 Games would work without a problem on the new console, and there would be some serious horse power to take advantage of in newer games. The developers would already be used to take advantage of the SPEs and with the new console they would just have more of the same at their disposal. The PS4 could be such a nice machine if they would do that, but I fear they will screw this up…
Raen | 19/11/2009 11:26
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A Cell with that many SPEs would either be huge or melt. Use an adaptation of the PowerXCell 8i, IBMs variant of the Cell. Almost a ten fold increase on double-precision floating point calculations in terms of GFLOPs (12.8 to 102.4), and whilst that isn’t all that matters it’s certainly vastly more powerful.
Shyru | 19/11/2009 12:49
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Well 32 SPEs is not that far fetched. Roadmaps for a Cell with 4 PPUs and 32 SPEs exist since 2006 and IBMs aim for a 32 SPE Cell was 2010/2011. So I think with a 28 nm process that should be quite doable.
bunimomike | 19/11/2009 11:17
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Totally agree. Why they don’t just wire up an Etch-a-Sketch to the mains is beyond me.
I may or may not be drunk.
cc_star | 19/11/2009 08:55
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Sounds just as difficult to program as the PS3
deepmenace | 19/11/2009 09:33
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sony have stuck to the 10 year life cycle thing so far pretty much right? i cant see this being true at all.