Next Generation Hardware Speculation with a Technical Spin [2018]

[anexanhume]

The SoC in the breakout box is overkill as it only exists for audio processing according to Sony. Even the reprojection is done on the Liverpool/Neo GPU.
Regardless, the box in PSVR is an over-engineered solution probably made to somehow compensate for the low-end CPU in 2013's PS4, and designed well before any current-gen VR game even existed.

The Rift, the Vive or the WMR headsets don't need a breakout box for signal processing.



There's no need for a fan in the currently existing 60GHz transmitters/receivers like the Vive Wireless Adapter or the TPLink.
Why would future systems need heat dissipation and why would they even need a heatsink that dissipates a chip on the other side of the PCB?

It seems you’re convinced that no use case whatsoever exists for the application. What end use makes sense in your opinion?

 

[Shifty Geezer]

Very simply, they may be convinced the form factor is important and that it would be undesirable without these mitigations.

Seems unrealistic. PSVR sales don't seem particularly down on account of the BOB being larger than a match-box.

If it is in the headset, the argument becomes obvious, no?

Yes, but if it's in the headset, it's not a breakout box. Super slim cooling makes sense for something needing to be as light and unobtrusive as possible. It makes no sense to me for a small, cheap box to do a little processing.

 

[Tkumpathenurple]

If this is indicative of a headset or portable, what hardware could and should it contain?

If it's a portable, should it be a portable PS4, or something beyond? Given that the Switch gets PS4 and XB1 ports, there's clearly scope for many games to run across different specs. So, if the PS5's focused on 4K, would a portable PS5 with a quarter of the GPU power - and lower clocked CPU - make for a solid 1080p system? One major benefit here is that they've got an easy path to a cheap, mainstream console.

If it's PSVR2, it's tricky, because I really don't think base PS4 performance is up to the task. But I'm not convinced Pro performance could be squeezed into a headset.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

If this is indicative of a headset or portable, what hardware could and should it contain?

Portable would be PS4 Go, with Surface Pro-ish form factor. 10-11" 16:9 1080p panel. Single 10-15W SoC with 800MHz 18CU GPU plus either some process-optimized 8-core Jaguar or Zen 4-core at with HT if it's decent at emulating.
Memory done through a single HBM2 downclocked/undervolted to work at 1.4 Gbps (~178GB/s), stacked beneath the main SoC, which would be the component being cooled by the through-PCB heatsink. Some off-chip low-clocked and small LPDDR3/4 chip as app RAM.
256-512GB M.2 drive (probably SATA3 for cost savings, but supporting NVMe replacements) and MicroSD U2 for expansion.


Headset just makes no sense for this patent IMO.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

This thread is for the main consoles. There are other threads for portables and VR.

 

[anexanhume]

This thread is for the main consoles. There are other threads for portables and VR.

This is frustrating because you have been actively engaging in the tangential discussion and it’s clearly all relevant to next gen platform strategy, or in this particular case, has a debate surrounding its implementation and thus wouldn’t fit in any of the proscribed threads. Throw it’s own thread and will die quickly because it’s not substantive removed from its context.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

The discussion was the value of the patent to a next-gen console. That's different to discussing the specs of a next-gen handheld or VR headset.

 

[Tkumpathenurple]

We could always just keep bringing it back to the next generation?

A portable can quite conceivably be part of the next generation rollout - maybe a portable PS4, maybe the least powerful of the PS5 line. PSVR2 is similar in that it could be much like PSVR, or it could be more along the lines of the Oculus Go.

 

[anexanhume]

The discussion was the value of the patent to a next-gen console. That's different to discussing the specs of a next-gen handheld or VR headset.

As far as I knew, its end use is in active debate.

 

[Deleted member 13524]

There were threads for a new portable playstation, but none of them evolved in the context of the next device being an integral part of the new PS5 platform.
There are several rumors of the PS5 using controllers with screens, and a PSP3/PS4Go could be used as an aftermarket controller for the PS5 that expands upon those capabilities.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

As far as I knew, its end use is in active debate.

A patent was raised in the next-gen console discussion, so the discussion is whether it's relevant to PS5. discussion was where such a tech would be useful. If mobile, it's not related to PS5. If the discussion is intended to be "here's a new patent from Sony - what could it be for?" it needs to be in its own thread and not the PS5 thread.

There were threads for a new portable playstation, but none of them evolved in the context of the next device being an integral part of the new PS5 platform.
There are several rumors of the PS5 using controllers with screens, and a PSP3/PS4Go could be used as an aftermarket controller for the PS5 that expands upon those capabilities.

This thread is purely for discussing the next-gen main boxes. All other possibilities - multitiered SKUs, VR devices, portables, etc - warrant their own threads to ensure this one doesn't become unwieldy. It is not going to be one monolithic thread for discussing every future possible hardware device.

If people want to discuss the possible uses of this patent outside of PS5, feel free to either raise it in existing threads or create anew thread for this patent, or request the patent talk gets spawned out.

 

[MrFox]

Unlike the example of the electronic device 1, another heat radiation device may be arranged on the upper surface of the integrated circuit device 5. By doing so, two heat dissipation devices are provided in the integrated circuit device 5, so that the cooling performance can be improved.

the heat pipe may be disposed as a heat radiating device on the lower surface of the circuit board 10. The heat conduction path 11 may connect the heat pipe and the integrated circuit device 5.

This is pretty good for 3d stacked memory on high power devices: dissipating through the other side of the board to a heat pipe connecting back to the main heatsink.

Also allows to have the memory at a lower operating point than the SoC with an independent heatsink.

 

[Megadrive1988]

Attempting to bring this thread back to the main topic, supposedly the development kits for the main next gen Xbox is codenamed "Anaconda" according to Windows Central / Jez Corden.

“The next-gen Xbox/dev kit is codenamed “Anaconda,” in-keeping with the reptile theme”, he wrote. Please note that this codename only refers to the name of the console’s development kit, and not the console’s actual name. The dev kit for Microsoft’s Xbox One X (Xbox Scorpio) was codenamed Chuckwalla, while the codename for the Xbox One was ‘Durango’.

https://wccftech.com/next-gen-xbox-dev-kit-anaconda/
https://gamingbolt.com/next-xbox-dev-kit-reportedly-called-anaconda

 

[MrFox]

Yep. And the codename have nothing to do with technical discussion. The article contains nothing of value.

 

[lefantome]

Since when Scorpio devkit was named Chuckwalla? Never heard of it ever.

 

[AlNom]

Maybe Sony should name their devkits after Samuel L. Jackson characters. :V

 

[BRiT]

Mr Glass?

 

[mrcorbo]

Since when Scorpio devkit was named Chuckwalla? Never heard of it ever.

A Playground dev mentions it multiple times in this Digital Foundry interview in response to a question asked around the 7:50 mark.

 

[BRiT]

Who is or isnt a PR mouthpiece does not belong in this thread (or even on this site).

 

[anexanhume]

Who is or isnt a PR mouthpiece does not belong in this thread (or even on this site).

So we can't discuss the credibility of the sources of rumors?

edit: Rather than add a reply to the thread on this topic, I'm going to add this reply here and thus conclude my comments on the matter.

That’s the difference between era/gaf and here.

Anonymity is more important than vetting of information. You keep pushing and people will just leave. Over there I guess being a leaker is form of internet power. This isn’t a forum for leaks or rumours breaking or what not. And if it were we shouldn’t be pushing for proof.

Sources should stay protected here for the sake of technical discussion so that people can discuss and learn.

My impression is that quality of discussion is paramount over quantity. Devoting discussion to one who makes sensationalist claims that demonstrate a repeated lack of rigor in investigating the matters which they disclose would decidedly not be in that spirit. One not need dox, or even disparage, an individual to know they have a pattern of sensationalism and a lack of criticism in their coverage of a certain company. To that end, I apologize for the blunt vernacular as it seems to have stoked some fires, but I think applying critical thinking regarding a source is common sense.

On top of all that, how much does knowing the codename for a dev kit, and nothing else about it at all, provoke meaningful discussion?