Epic fought for an Xbox 360 with 512MB memory

[Gubbi]

I think it was fairly important for MS and Sony alike to not end up with less ram compared to the other.

Given the number of games that'll be (is) cross platform, having half the memory inevitably means poorer visuals, because the easiest way to cut back memory usage is to lower texture quality.

Cheers

 

[22psi]

I am glad both 360 and PS3 have 512mb of ram.

 

[pipo]

I am glad both 360 and PS3 have 512mb of ram.

You got that right.

 

[hey69]

i clearly remember from somewhere that MS upped the RAM because they where afraid ps3 would launch with 512mb anyway so they didnt want to look weak against their console.
I'm sure EPIC sended their wishlist in some sort of dev query other devs also received with their memory remark, but saying it was EPIC who did the changing factor is a bit over the top me thinks

 

[22psi]

Hey thanks to whoever gave me the +rep (how can you see who gave it to you anyways?)

back to topic:

I'd like to see what GOW would have looked like with 256mb of memory.

 

[pipo]

i clearly remember from somewhere that MS upped the RAM because they where afraid ps3 would launch with 512mb anyway ...

“Competitive intelligence suggested that we needed to be flexible on the amount of memory,â€￾ said Greg Gibson.

It was probably a little bit of both.

You gotta love competition.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

I am glad both 360 and PS3 have 512mb of ram.

I would have liked more, just as many debating in the early days. Some 50% more RAM with more BW would have made quite a noticeable difference I think. Though in PS3's case, 512 MB RAM and HDD as standard is probably an okay compromise. If HDD were standard across the board, it wouldn't be as much of an issue I think as streaming could be more ferocious.

 

[Acert93]

I would have liked more, just as many debating in the early days. Some 50% more RAM with more BW would have made quite a noticeable difference I think. Though in PS3's case, 512 MB RAM and HDD as standard is probably an okay compromise. If HDD were standard across the board, it wouldn't be as much of an issue I think as streaming could be more ferocious.

I wonder what would be higher on the "average developer" wish list in regards to final IQ: Standard HDD or UMA in place of the NUMA?

I wonder for PS4/Xbox3 if they will follow the 8x increase in memory at 4GB or back off to 2GB (maybe in favor of more bandwidth/higher degree of GPU memory control?) I guess it depends on the 2010-2012 timeframe. My guess is that we won't see one until 2011. I guess it all depends on what they want to do, and if realtime GI is feasible and the tradeoffs, as well as whether large amounts of Flash memory are used as a buffer/storage format. 2GB of faster memory + large pool of Flash memory "cache" could be something we see.

 

[Tap In]

Very interesting, I want to read that book.

well worth it

discussed here

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=30941

 

[hey69]

I would have liked more, just as many debating in the early days. Some 50% more RAM with more BW would have made quite a noticeable difference I think. Though in PS3's case, 512 MB RAM and HDD as standard is probably an okay compromise. If HDD were standard across the board, it wouldn't be as much of an issue I think as streaming could be more ferocious.

Does beg the question, you rather had 1gbyte of RAM (512 os, 512 Vram) instead of the standard HDD?

 

[Oninotsume]

I remember reading in a magazine one of the Rainbow Six developers was saying that making the game on the PS3 was harder because they have less ram, but they are trying very hard to make sure there is no drop in quality.

Is there less ram because unlike the 360 you are restricted to 256 of each type of ram rather than pulling freely from one large 512 pool, or is that because the PS3 OS takes up a bunch of the ram like it does on the PSP? If it's the latter does anyone know how much ram is reserved for the PS3 OS?

This is a total newbie question, so don't crucify me if I make some completely absurd statement here.
When moving from say the PS3 menu to the actual game does the OS require different memory amounts? I can see it having to take up a bunch of resources to do video/chat and display pictures and all that, but design wise is there a way to switch that stuff off when entering the game to give more back to running the actual game.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

I remember reading in a magazine one of the Rainbow Six developers was saying that making the game on the PS3 was harder because they have less ram, but they are trying very hard to make sure there is no drop in quality.

Is there less ram because unlike the 360 you are restricted to 256 of each type of ram rather than pulling freely from one large 512 pool, or is that because the PS3 OS takes up a bunch of the ram like it does on the PSP? If it's the latter does anyone know how much ram is reserved for the PS3 OS?

This is a total newbie question, so don't crucify me if I make some completely absurd statement here.
When moving from say the PS3 menu to the actual game does the OS require different memory amounts? I can see it having to take up a bunch of resources to do video/chat and display pictures and all that, but design wise is there a way to switch that stuff off when entering the game to give more back to running the actual game.

There is a discussion going on about this in the technology section.

http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=34933

 

[Oninotsume]

Oh, thanks:smile:

 

[Simon F]

I am glad both 360 and PS3 have 512mb of ram.

Going OT here, but surely 512mb implies 512 milli-bits. Shouldn't it be 512MB?

 

[MrWibble]

I wonder what would be higher on the "average developer" wish list in regards to final IQ: Standard HDD or UMA in place of the NUMA?

In regards to IQ? Maybe the RAM but actually I don't think either would make a big difference.

I wouldn't give up the HDD in the general case though.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Does beg the question, you rather had 1gbyte of RAM (512 os, 512 Vram) instead of the standard HDD?

Not an obvious question to answer. In the case of PS3...I'd say probably the HDD is more important. Ignoring downloads and other functions, and focussing just on games, I think the BRD's low transfer speed would make it hard to keep 1 GB filled with fresh content. If you have efficient swapping/streaming in place, the HDD provides loads of virtual RAM. Add in the extra functionality, and I think the HDD becomes essential to the full experience.

For a different console with much faster optical drive or other media, 1GB might achieve a lot. Although you'd need the BW to use it too. No point having massive textures when you've only 25 GB/s to supply them to the GPU!

I think 512 MB is probably the right amount for now.

 

[Fafalada]

wish list in regards to final IQ: Standard HDD or UMA in place of the NUMA?

By UMA you mean 512MB with double (50GB/s) bandwith? I honestly don't see how that would be an improvement for IQ at all (it might help the Linux for PS3 a bit though).
If I had to pick a 512pool that I would actually prefer, it'd be something like 384/128 split with 25/50GB bandwith split (but I don't know if I'd want to trade the HDD for it - to really convince me I'd want 512+128 in same speed config).