PlayStation 4K - Codename Neo - Technical analysis

Contention consumes more bandwidth than the cpu actually uses. This has been the trade-off of all unified memory systems including AMD's since its 1st Llano APU generation. Of course the contention will vary depending on access patterns, but typically in the PS4 when the cpu accesses at 5 GB/s contention eats an additional 15-20GB/s bandwidth for a total of 20-25GB/s less bandwidth than a discreet gpu would have. At 10GB/s cpu usage contention eats an additional 25-30GB/s bandwidth reducing total bandwidth available to the gpu by 35-40GB/s compared to a discreet gpu.
 
CPU obviously is not a problem, as long as it has at least 8 cores. x86/64 is a well standardized architecture. Zen has much faster and bigger caches than Jaguar, so I wouldn't be worried about cache performance.

Sorry, if I misunderstood you, but are you implying Neo might be using Zen?

Assuming it's using 2.5GHz Jaguar as rumoured, will it be a roadblock to 60 FPS improvement?
 
If games like Batman Arkham Knight & Witcher 3 & Fallout4 & Future GTA6 & Future RDR2 sequel etc etc pushed total ps4 system memory bandwiidth to 90GB/s or more (almost a certainty), doubling the fps on Neo won't be possible with only a 24% increase in memory bandwidth. You can tell by the anisotropic filtering limitations and texture size limitations this generation that they are pushing against ps4's ( & also Xbox One's) memory bandwidth limitation in many situations.


Compared to the 320 GB/s theoretical peak for Scorpio. 46% higher memory bandwidth than Neo should provide not only the shaders but also the memory bandwidth to double fps on many games compared to the regular consoles. Neo is setting itself up to be in an odd place where it can't double the fps due to cpu and memory bandwidth limitations, but can only offer cosmetic improvements to games.

that is very interesting, but can we at least expect PS4 games that can't hold steady performance or games with uncapped frame rate to runs as fast as it can go on PS4K like infamous second son, games with dynamic res to drop less often? Cosmetic enhancement is fine, if we can expect games starts using the extra CU to calculate more physic based particles effects and other phyiscs like nVidia physx on PC. And it is suppose to be much more efficient at doing tessellation. Those graphical addition to new or old games won't create any segregation between users base, unlike MP 60fps vs 30fps as some body mention earlier. I just hope that older games can be updated to run at 60fps like bloodborne since they game was built on slower CPU with only 6 cores available to use and a slower GPU. I think I am fine with this update as I only expect the neo to have another 3 years max then we start looking at a true next gen upgrade. The gap between Xbone and scorpio is huge, I think we are going to have to low low on xbone like 720p 30fps and extremely high on scorpio almost like looking at 2 different gen.
 
Apparently the min res developers can use on neo is 1080p. I expect the life of neo to be only 3-4years at most.
 
When PS5 lands, games will be made for it [a new "base spec" for developers], so I don't expect that sales of either PS4 or Neo will continue to be strong for long.
 
On the contrary, when PS5 lands, PS4 will be discontinued, and Neo will become the base model, imo
That's my expectation as well. As some point you have to throw off the shackles of ancient technology and let devs run free.
 
I would also assume that they are intending to make this a trend, to see how well this works. And certainly if VR does take off, then there will be a market for increasing performance and resolution.
 
I just can't wait for them to code name PS5 Oracle. And PS5+ Agent Smith.
Meh. Matrix mythology always was really hokey. Especially for the two later movies. :p

Forwards compatible consoles are probably the way of the future though. Starting over with zero software library is a rough time for a console, it can make or break you, depending on how early sales goes, and early sales depend on software quality and availability. Ask Dreamcast and Wii U how they feel about that... :) Forwards compatibility gives a large library for customers to choose from, and many will probably already own games they want to continue to play.
 
Meh. Matrix mythology always was really hokey. Especially for the two later movies. :p

Forwards compatible consoles are probably the way of the future though. Starting over with zero software library is a rough time for a console, it can make or break you, depending on how early sales goes, and early sales depend on software quality and availability. Ask Dreamcast and Wii U how they feel about that... :) Forwards compatibility gives a large library for customers to choose from, and many will probably already own games they want to continue to play.
What does any of that have to do with forwards compatibility? And besides that, why is forward compatibility even desirable?
 
Meh. Matrix mythology always was really hokey. Especially for the two later movies. :p
Well according to Matrix, Morpheus shows you something you don't wanne see ... well ... the name isn't optimal
Also Morpheus get's beaten up and neo rescues him... well....
....

Well the problem with PS4K I have, it has nothing outstanding, the PS4 hasn't. You can't reach a much higher image quality with just something like double the hardware. You can increase some details (well, if your extra 512mb isn't already full) and increase the resolution a bit, but not that much, that it matters. And using double the calculation-power just for this is somehow ineffective. I really hope we don't get the new 3DS experience, so the PS4-part of the game get's no longer optimized but only bumped down until it runs smooth. I'm not worrying about first-party studios, but for third party studios this could be the more attractive approach.
 
that is very interesting, but can we at least expect PS4 games that can't hold steady performance or games with uncapped frame rate to runs as fast as it can go on PS4K like infamous second son, games with dynamic res to drop less often? Cosmetic enhancement is fine, if we can expect games starts using the extra CU to calculate more physic based particles effects and other phyiscs like nVidia physx on PC. And it is suppose to be much more efficient at doing tessellation. Those graphical addition to new or old games won't create any segregation between users base, unlike MP 60fps vs 30fps as some body mention earlier. I just hope that older games can be updated to run at 60fps like bloodborne since they game was built on slower CPU with only 6 cores available to use and a slower GPU. I think I am fine with this update as I only expect the neo to have another 3 years max then we start looking at a true next gen upgrade. The gap between Xbone and scorpio is huge, I think we are going to have to low low on xbone like 720p 30fps and extremely high on scorpio almost like looking at 2 different gen.
Thats where Sony is falling short imo. There is the possibility that Bloodborne can't hit 60fps even on the NEO.
 
Now I'm really curious with ps4k price and it's storage capacity.

If priced close enough to ps4 classic, with big enough storage, it can entice people to upgrade to ps4k rather than plugging hdd on their own.
 
Whats the chance Microsoft & Sony will utilize their own versions of Gameworks™ to entice PC gamers to their new consoles and keep existing ones from migrate to the PC?

If the NEO/Scorpio bases become large enough after a few years. They already have exclusive content for consoles, perhaps Sony/MS may discover that exclusive graphic techniques are also an effective method of keeping console gamers. Btw MS gets not 3rd party royalties if consumers chose PC over Xbox.

eg Subsurface Scattering skin shaders on Lara in Tombraider 2013 Definitive Edition rerelease, absent in the PC version.
 
Whats the chance Microsoft & Sony will utilize their own versions of Gameworks™ to entice PC gamers to their new consoles and keep existing ones from migrate to the PC?

If the NEO/Scorpio bases become large enough after a few years. They already have exclusive content for consoles, perhaps Sony/MS may discover that exclusive graphic techniques are also an effective method of keeping console gamers. Btw MS gets not 3rd party royalties if consumers chose PC over Xbox.

eg Subsurface Scattering skin shaders on Lara in Tombraider 2013 Definitive Edition rerelease, absent in the PC version.
That is why MS is trying to grow their store, and have timed exclusives, play anywhere etc. This is a neo thread so I'll not derail it.

There's some things that having a soc/uma would make easier to do, but otherwise most stuff will work pretty well across platforms.
There may be a couple things that may be ps exclusive effects, especially if it's the lead platform, but doubt anything big enough to make a huge difference. Unless it made development on ps even more easier to be worth while.
 
Forwards compatible consoles are probably the way of the future though. Starting over with zero software library is a rough time for a console, it can make or break you, depending on how early sales goes, and early sales depend on software quality and availability. Ask Dreamcast and Wii U how they feel about that... :) Forwards compatibility gives a large library for customers to choose from, and many will probably already own games they want to continue to play.
Isn't that backwards compatibility you're describing?
I'd like backwards more than forwards, of course both ways wuld be best.
 
Isn't that backwards compatibility you're describing?
I'd like backwards more than forwards, of course both ways wuld be best.
You automatically get backwards compatibility with forwards, but not the other way around. You can run wii games on a wuu, but not wuu games on a wii. On the other hand, running PS4k games on a PS4 means PS4 games also run on PS4k. :)

Having a large existing install base of consoles to run new PS4k games on means greater potential for sales, more money to be made by devs, even if most of those consoles are 'mere' PS4 consoles. As opposed to when PS4 was brand new and install base was very small.

I believe I was talking about something like that. I can't quite remember. Anyway, am I repeating myself? Not sure. :p
 
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