Gaming PlayStation 4 (Console)

Skywarden

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If latest rumours regarding next generation hardware are to be believed, the next PlayStation is to be significantly more powerful that the next Xbox.

Developer sources, speaking after meetings at CES, have told VG247 that the next PlayStation, codenamed Orbis, will have a run-capability of 1.84 teraflops. Conversely, the next Xbox, codenamed Durango, will be able to achieve 1.23 teraflops.

If true, these numbers mean PlayStation 4 will have a 50% raw, computational power advantage over Xbox 720.

While PS4 will have greater grunt that 720, however, the Microsoft machine has significantly more RAM at 8Gb, we’ve been told. Our source said that 3Gb is reserved for the OS, apps and security, leaving 4-5Gb for games.

Orbis will have 4Gb of RAM, said our source, of which 1Gb will be reserved for for OS, security and apps, leaving some 3Gb for games.

Both machines will supposedly have have the ability to read 100Gb Blu-ray discs.

Durango is apparently based on the Radeon HD 8770 GPU.

PlayStation 4 has been previously rumoured to be built on AMD’s A10 APU.

It was recently claimed that the two machines are to be announced in late March. It’s widely assumed that both consoles will launch in November this year.

VG247 is under the impression that several media outlets are in possession of documents related to Durango from CES and are currently working on major leak stories.
http://www.vg247.com/2013/01/17/showtime-ps4-rumoured-at-1-84tf-xbox-720-at-1-23tf/

Latest rumours.
 

Redlambs

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Usual rumour bollocks though. It's like another rumour says the 720 is designed with Ray Tracing in mind, which would put that at the most powerful.

However bear in mind, more memory and a better GPU can account for a lacking processor in a lot of aspects, so that first line is misleading.
 

WeasteDevil

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Are you sure that RAM amount is right Weaste?
Yep, 3.5GB in 3 pools. You are forgetting, there is a full SCC in it this time.

Super Companion Chip: Cell's peripheral LSI, which houses audio and image interfaces supporting Cell's super high-speed data transfer capability.
The chip also supports a group of interfaces for various systems (video, audio input/output, digital AV interface, IEEE1394, digital tuner interface) and a
group of interfaces that make it easier to connect standard input/output devices (standard bus interface, high speed network interface and storage
device interface.)
 

Skywarden

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To be fair he did write "some 3Gb for games". :p

Again, will be very interesting to see how the different memory solution work. MS seem to allocate more DDR3 RAM towards the OS going by the (other) rumours.
 

beacon

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Super Companion Chip has to be the most South Park name they could possibly have come up with.
 

Redlambs

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Well dev kits and sdk will constantly change even past launch, no cell (unless they've emulated it to some degree) makes it a bit frankenstein doesn't it? As for the memory, I've heard that isn't 100% locked, though that isn't from one of my Sony guys.

That amount of memory should be more than enough, but is it? That's a few years old for a start and possibly half the amount in the 720 (though I am skeptical about that), so what does that mean for the big engines again? If that is true, we could have a situation where the PS4 version runs smoother but is behind in something like texture size, and we all know it's all about the looks with most!

Whatever way, it is interesting. Especially if the rumours are true about this ' dedicated blitter' for the 720.
 

Dargonk

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Lost track of all this. Do we know for sure what it is going to be and when at the moment or is it still a mixture of speculation and inside info leaking out?
 

swooshboy

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As I said, Microsoft are going with a Wii U type solution, embedded RAM with much slower main RAM. Sony are just going balls out with the bandwidth, as they always have.
Was one of the issues with the PS3 the fact that it had much lower RAM than the 360, and that this created a bottleneck and prevented developers taking full advantage of the Cell.

I could be making that up, but am sure I read that somewhere. If so, it seems strange that everything I have read about the two new consoles points to the Xbox again having more RAM.
 

Hal9000

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Was one of the issues with the PS3 the fact that it had much lower RAM than the 360, and that this created a bottleneck and prevented developers taking full advantage of the Cell.

I could be making that up, but am sure I read that somewhere. If so, it seems strange that everything I have read about the two new consoles points to the Xbox again having more RAM.
It is one of the issues Bethesda have with Skyrim on the PS3 and why they are struggling to release the DLC for PS3. It's also why Rockstar had to delay GTA3.

Think 4GB is more than enough though.
 

WeasteDevil

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Was one of the issues with the PS3 the fact that it had much lower RAM than the 360, and that this created a bottleneck and prevented developers taking full advantage of the Cell.

I could be making that up, but am sure I read that somewhere. If so, it seems strange that everything I have read about the two new consoles points to the Xbox again having more RAM.
No, PS3 has the same amount of RAM as the XB360, it's just not unified and the OS is slightly bigger taking more of it up. OS this time will not be bigger, NextBox will have a much bigger OS, but the RAM will not be unified again.
 

Redlambs

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It is one of the issues Bethesda have with Skyrim on the PS3 and why they are struggling to release the DLC for PS3. It's also why Rockstar had to delay GTA3.

Think 4GB is more than enough though.
Not if the 360 has twice as much and is the lead platform again. It'll require plenty of working around if they do plan on taking full advantage (which they will). Remember, 4gb is standard in Pc's for what, at least 3 or 4 years?

But if it is a semi-reasonable set up from Sony for once, and it has the memory speed Weaste claims to cut and shut data about, then no it won't be such a huge issue. It still will be one somewhere along the line though.
 

swooshboy

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No, PS3 has the same amount of RAM as the XB360, it's just not unified and the OS is slightly bigger taking more of it up. OS this time will not be bigger, NextBox will have a much bigger OS, but the RAM will not be unified again.
Cheers Weaste and Hal for your answers!
 

WeasteDevil

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Which is to be expected.
The whole idea of the Cell being a shit general purpose CPU has always been wrong. It's not as good as other architectures, but it still coped, sort of. As a design, it's a gorgeous CPU - MC68000 gorgeous. Could they have added OoOE to the PPE, sure, another PPE, sure, as a low-level programmer though, I don't like shit like that, I don't need a CPU deciding on how it runs my code.
 

Randall Flagg

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So with the Ps3 Move fiasco you dont really think Sony would have the nerve to stick a screen on their controller?
 

Redlambs

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The whole idea of the Cell being a shit general purpose CPU has always been wrong. It's not as good as other architectures, but it still coped, sort of. As a design, it's a gorgeous CPU - MC68000 gorgeous. Could they have added OoOE to the PPE, sure, another PPE, sure, as a low-level programmer though, I don't like shit like that, I don't need a CPU deciding on how it runs my code.
Well you'd know more about that than me, but I've not heard anyone call it a shit general purpose CPU, certainly not anyone in the industry. In fact if I were still in it, much like I did with the PS2, I'd argue for a crack at it. Because even though I don't have your indepth knowledge, I'm a doer and an old school type programmer who was always best in environments where you have to work within strict confines. It's why I don't like working on PC for example, it's just to easy to fall into gulfs of memory and power. When I start app work this year, I'll still fall back to prototyping my work on the GBA. Now that was a lovely system to work with, you should look at it. Tiling and memory tricks ahoy!

But as always, you don't get the actual criticisms from a gaming pov, which it Sony once again tried to force everyone to do it their way and came up short. Now that's not to say the Cell architecture, or similar isn't a step in the right direction, but the games industry just doesn't work like that. It was bad enough to do a separate version for the Wii, but at least that was cheap, to do a separate version to fully exploit the PS3 is just nonsense, as it was with the PS2.

Even with the PS4, even you must admit that in the high pressure world of Video game programming, it's going to be easier for devs once again to target the Microsoft machine and work openly in the memory space, then cram it into the PS4 in whatever way works? If it was you in charge of the money and publishers were breathing down your neck, you'd do the same.

As always, faster memory access will of course help to cut and shut, and an actual GPU for once will definitely help (even if it is a lesser version of the 720's), but I still can't help thinking that they've done the same old thing, just like the idiots at Nintendo do, of cutting costs where it really shouldn't be cut.
 

Hal9000

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I'm pretty sure a lot of Devs eventually turned to the PS3 as lead console? EA and there devs have been using the PS3 as it's focus lead console since 2008. Ubisoft and Rockstar use PS3 as lead console.

I think at first a lot of devs were focusing on the Xbox but as this generation went on, the roles did reverse.
 

Redlambs

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I'm pretty sure a lot of Devs eventually turned to the PS3 as lead console? EA and there devs have been using the PS3 as it's focus lead console since 2008. Ubisoft and Rockstar use PS3 as lead console.

I think at first a lot of devs were focusing on the Xbox but as this generation went on, the roles did reverse.
As they got more used to it yes, easier to do it that way round I'd assume. It certainly would make more sense to switch as you got used to the more awkward machine. None really mastered it though, cross platform games still largely favour the 360 and it would still be largely an engine tailored to what they know.

However, it could very well work the other way if the new Xbox really is less powerful and is focusing on layers of apps as well as games. If that is true and the PS4 is back to be focused on pure gaming power, then it's obvious what old school hardcore gamers should go for. However I don't see it being as simple as that, but it's fun to speculate :)
 

Redlambs

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Dan

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It's an interesting read, but one thing I will point out (and Weaste will verify) is with both the PS3 and PS2 we were getting exactly the same stories in the build up to launch and anyone with a semi-decent PC set up right will tell you:

It's not all about the theoretical numbers.
Oh I know that alright.