further indication that Xbox 360 has 512 MB
- Thread starter Megadrive1988
- Start date
I hope this is true.
And, I will add, I will find it quite funny if the one who's "rushing" the market and "will have a lesser machine" than its competitors ends up forcing the industry to upgrade to double the memory.
I wonder if MS would do this just to spite Sony. I'm pretty sure they would. It forces Sony to pick between getting trounced in a major system spec and losing a good deal more money than they probably wanted to.
And, I will add, I will find it quite funny if the one who's "rushing" the market and "will have a lesser machine" than its competitors ends up forcing the industry to upgrade to double the memory.
I wonder if MS would do this just to spite Sony. I'm pretty sure they would. It forces Sony to pick between getting trounced in a major system spec and losing a good deal more money than they probably wanted to.
ShootMyMonkey
Veteran
Not unlikely, but I doubt that's anything new related to the higher RAM. MS has always been saying that 1280x720px30fps is an absolute minimum requirement. That's basically saying that if you can support higher, go for it, but you can't publish the game if it can't support it.
Tell me you're joking. Are you forgetting that 256 MB really means 224 usable that has to be shared between GPU and CPU? Are you forgetting that 1280x720 suddenly demands on average 12x the texture memory to look anywhere as good? Are you willing to accept the idea that world scales and complexities cannot really grow at all with only a 4x increase in memory? Granted, there are worse things you can do than cut back on memory. But I mean, do remember that if everything is going to be running on HD, that means we have to bring content complexity and resolution closer to that which is used on PCs.
Probably due to your PC having dual-channel memory controllers (S939 A64 or P4?). It's dedicating channels to each DIMM slot, so unless both DIMM slots are occupied, it's not going to use the other channel. The only thing that makes a little bit of sense about having 3*whatever is that you have 3 CPU cores...
Back in a conference call years ago when people were still expecting nVidia hardware to show up in Xbox2... I believe it was 2003. Back when they were being a lot more serious about the 100% CLR and Longhorn kernel thing, expecting that all those features would be ready to go long before 2006.
BOOMEXPLODE
Regular
There's an old saying, "any program will expand to fill available memory" which is just a variation on Parkinsons law: "work expands to fill the time available for its completion."
May will be a very interesting month =]
May will be a very interesting month =]
Inane_Dork said:
That is exactly as I see it. MS has shown they are willing to lose a little money up front. RAM costs are heavier at the beginning, but sales are the smallest in the first year. Basically it would be a future proofing move.
And Sony having XDR puts them in a hard place. Lets assume the PS3 is a lot more powerful than X2. With 2x as much memory the X2 would be able to look better in some game genres and in certain situations. It also means less load times, better streaming, etc...
If Sony goes with 512MB XDR, which is more expensive than GDDR3, then you have a situation where Sony needs to reduce the price of CELL (and recoop R&D), reduce the price of the BR drive, shrink the GPU process, and also find a way to reduce the price on the XDR.
XDR is not currently in any device, and even if it hits high end GPUs next year it will be a while before it becomes mainstream with high volumes. MS is rumored to be using GDDR3 which is already in a ton of mainstream cards, and will be for the forseeable future so the price will continue to drop.
That all said, while hoping for 512MB, RAM is very very expensive. So I am not going to get too excited quite yet.
But boy a RAM war would be awesome! Maybe Sony and MS will both lose billions this time around!
marconelly!
Veteran
Indeed it's funny (btw, I wouldn't put the rushing under quotes - they are rushing - for better or for worse) but the reason they are doing it is clear: They don't want competition to trounce them in that same major spec. Also, this way they will make Xbox 2 more future proof.
Very doubtful. They will probably (if they are smart) put only 128MB of XDR for CPU, and the rest 384MB (or more) will be the GDDR3 on the GPU. PS3 most likely won't have UMA but two separate memory pools.
If SPEs do vertex texturing (SM3.0+) the PS3 should be UMA+eDRAM. 512MB XDR will be cheaper and cleaner in wiring than 128MB XDR + 384MB GDDR3.marconelly! said:
Also, if you use 256Mbit GDDR3 chips and want 384MB you have to add 12 chips which are too many for a cheap game console. You have to be equipped with at least 512MB to use 512Mbit GDDR3 chips since bandwidth is wasted in the 256bit memory interface of the GPU if it has less than 8 chips as a GDDR3 chip has the 32bit interface.
marconelly! said:
Going first and rushing are two different things. Microsoft have been preparing for Xbox 2 for a long time now, and seem to have spent their time wisely. If Xbox 2 is a success then they clearly won't have gone early.
If they were to go with 512MB of ram, it might not simply be due to fear of getting "trounced". It could also be seen as a way to hurt Sony on manufacturing costs for PS3 (if they make a move to match Xenon's total ram), or even to gain an easy to add (and market) technical edge which would also serve Xenon well wrt multiplatform games. It could be a good tactical move. Or just a groundless rumour.
IMO, balancing the system with 128 MB of main memory and 384 MB of video memory seems somewhat lobsided. Also, given the expected flexibility of the upcoming systems a none UMA design could potentially be a little limiting or wasteful.
If PS3 lacks on chip framebuffer memory, it's hard to see what they can do to match the kind of bandwidth Xenon has cheaply. Assuming they need to, of course. Xbox was the most powerful console this generation even without it.
Megadrive1988
Veteran
btw, and I have no idea how credible this is, Duckhuntdog on GAF says that the 512 MB upgrade, is mainly thanks to Bungie pushing for it.
http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?p=1227393&highlight=Bungie#post1227393
http://www.ga-forum.com/showthread.php?p=1227393&highlight=Bungie#post1227393
Megadrive1988
Veteran
function said:
it would be very ironic if PS3 lacks on-chip framebuffer memory, since Xenon will almost definitely have It. If it turns out that way, it's just the opposite of this generation, where PS2 has and Xbox has not.
quest55720
Regular
The more ram the happier I am. The Xbox2 should cost 299 no matter what so if they wanna add more ram it is a bonus the way I see it. I just hope the boys at ATI can pull of another R300 miracle out of thier hat.
Right now, when that guy simply made it up out of thin air.V3 said:
V3 said:
Thu Apr 14, 2005 3:38 am
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