Over the last couple of days there’s been a smattering of rumour posts regarding the two next generation consoles. In particular, the amount (and type) of RAM that the platform holders are making available – to games and the respective operation systems – in their new hardware, expected this year.
And whilst all this sounds like the playground discussion of the 16-bit era (“My Mega Drive Has Got BLAST PROCESSING”) there’s enough links between the otherwise disparate rumours that suggest that there might be something in this.
So, which one’s the Mega Drive and which is the SNES?
Well, one thread has tied the numbers together, and it looks like Sony are aiming at 4 GB next generation, and Microsoft a much meatier 8 GB. For reference, the PS3 has 512 MB just now.
The trick is that the PS4 (or whatever it’ll end up being called) will be using super fast GDDR5 memory, whilst the Xbox 720 will be using DDR3/4 chips. Is there then a balance between the two sets of specs? An even ground? Possibly.
The PS4’s RAM bandwidth is rumoured to be 192 GB/s, whilst the 720’s 64 GB/s. Remember, a lot of this is just speculation, but it does point to a split down the middle that could ultimately prove tricky for developers. 8 GB will be much better for open worlds, but the faster RAM better for effects in more constrained environments.
What you have to remember is that the operation systems still need to be loaded into memory along with the games, on PS3 that’s the XMB. It’s unlikely that the PS4 will need the entire OS (which could take up to a GB) but rather a smaller subset that expands when the game is paused. Indeed, whilst it’s not directly related, remember this?
And if Sony are aiming at 4K, they’ll need all the memory they can get.
BrendanCalls
You lot might as well be talking Spanish, I’ve tried to read all the comments and I’ve got lost in the jargon jungle :-P
gazzagb
4GB sounds too small, even if it is GDDR5. Also does that include VRAM or is it unified? If it was 4GB of RAM and another 2GB of VRAM, that would sound much better.
I think in the end, it will only really matter how Devs chose to optimise their games to run on both consoles. The lack of PS3’s ram only shows in poorly optimised games like Skyrim, and also in the slowly loading XMB. Another thing Sony need to take into account is future proofing it. 4GB of GDDR5 might sound fine now, but at the end of the console’s life cycle, will just having 4GB cripple it?
cam the man
The more RAM the better but as you say a lot is down to how it’s used. I hope they use some to speed up loading times.
The Von Braun
Agree with previous poster, for a site of this quality to be reporting all these rumour stories as news, it’s getting really stale now and the site is starting to read a lot like lesser sites.
So, Sony and Ram then, yes PS2 had less Ram than the Dreamcast and initally that proved difficult and led to some poor ports, developers worked with the hardware and we were seeing things like Burnout 3, Black, God Of War 1+2 on it.
The PSP original model had 32 MB of Ram, Sony then doubled that to 64 MB with the 2001 model.
PS Vita, LOT of stories floating around as news at the time that Sony had cut the Ram to 256MB, it launched with 512 MB i believe.
Look guys, until Sony annouce anything official or there’s a leak from a developer working on finalised PS4 dev.kits, ALL of this is just utter speculation at this point.
The orig.Xbox had it’s hardware changed to get best price-performance ratio, Kinect had it’s on-board CPU removed, Camera downgraded, Sega added extra 32 Bit RISC chip to the Saturn to beef up performance, etc etc.
Until hardware goes into production, Specifications are liable to change.
Until we start seeing the games on BOTH platforms and hearing from coders, none of us have any idea what the next generation is going to deliver.
Developers have always asked for more Ram, more power etc, people like Hideo K. always seem to be quoted as saying they expected a lot more from a new hardware platform and have had to trim down their visions etc to suit.
Look at how this gen has panned out:Blu ray essential for todays games, no it’s too slow, wahh we struggled to fit GTA4 onto DVD, chapters cut from LA Noire etc etc.So which do you want developers? DVD or Blu ray?.Sure next gen will be no different.
Game engine X will be better suited to Sonys platform, whilst game eng Y more at home on MS platform.
Oh and the ‘Blast processing’ came about due to MD having a faster CPU than SNES.
:-)
bunimomike
That’s initial reaction too. One of rolling eyes and the feeling of “here we go again”. I’d almost like a hardware rumour-mill where it gets updated with the latest crap from some housekeeper of the chap who used to know someone who worked at Sony in the 80s so it must be true.
At least we’d then have one muddy pit to throw all this shit around in. :-)
Temascos
Rumours are just rumours until hardware confirmation is made. I’m sure Sony don’t want the stigma of being “behind” Microsoft technologically and whilst the PS3 and 360 were relatively close together, a lot of multiplat games were better on the latter system and people bought more 360s due to that.
Will be interesting to hear about hardware in the coming months, as the console cycle is winding down, but speculation is annoying. :)
OnlineAssassin77
Whats that coming over the hill is it a monster is it a monster! nope its a PS4
cc_star
If GDDR5 is being used then there’s very real physical reasons why there won’t be 8GB of it in a console’s form factor.
Hell, 4GB is a push, but not impossible.
Multi-million unit production run will most likely be this summer, so what is going into the consoles will no doubt be bleeding edge this summer
GDDR5 is commonly available in 256MB modules, so 8GB of RAM would require 32 x 256MB modules. Impossible, in a console’s form factor.
4GB however, requiring 16 x 256MB modules is also highly unlikely.
Assuming GDDR5 is correct, this points to Sony sourcing GDDR5 memory in 512MB modules bringing the required number down to 8, this is still substantial number for a console’s form factor, but is certainly more ‘doable’ but it’s not going to be in the manufacturing sweet spot and would probably mean Sony taking a hit on price, until that module size becomes more standard and the price plummets (this is normal for console manufacture as the component prices tumble during the console’s lifespan bringing profit later in the generation)
Going to be interesting to see what happens… but I can’t take 4 to 6 months of this sort of rumour-based conjecture, it just becomes noise until some researched facts appear in it.
TheDemocrodile
Came here to post exactly this lol.
Im so surprised by the amount of people who never factor in actual physical size when they quote specs theyd like to see and by knee-jerk reactions elsewhere on the net.
I`m the opposite of you on the conjecture thing though, i love hardware debates ;)
Awayze
Want. PS4. NAOW
YOURMUMANDME
Now, is this RAM or Video RAM?
The reason I say that is my laptop has 6gb RAM and it’s as much use as a chocolate fire guard when it comes to playing games. Processes and program’s it’s a dream yes, but games, no chance. More RAM doesn’t necessarily mean better games.
SilverCider
If the other rumours are anything to go by then the PS4 may be running a combined CPU & GPU layout – like AMDs APU. In this case current technology would suggest that it is shared memory. This is the reason for the expensive but really fast GDDR5 spec being used since the graphics chip needs the bandwidth (plus it can’t hurt the processor)
stage1
Don’t believe this for a second.
The next Playstation will be undoubtably more powerful than the next xbox.
Broonba
I personally couldn’t give a monkeys about the speculation. I’ll make my mind up after the consoles have been released.