PlayStation 4 (codename Orbis) technical hardware investigation (news and rumours)

Wasn't she working at 343i? I don't think she is talking about PC. Maybe MS doesn't allowed the same access to the hardware compared with Sony.

 

The question she answered was in respect to windows 8.

 

There were two tweets floating around; one was about the relief of never having to work with Win8 ever again, and the second was about freedom to program to the metal with the PS4 and not be held back WinOS and GPU driver layers.

 

Was told GPGPU usage is not really exploited in PC games because of latency concerns. Is there any low level framework defined in the HSA consortium ?

Tackling compute in the CPU would work, but it would be nice if the powerful GPU can be used more efficiently.

What PC config did GG use to make KZSF ? AMD GCN GPU ?

 

HI! Welcome to the PS4 TECH THREAD. ABOUT THE PS4.

 

If Corrine stayed at Microsoft game studios and was working on PC (and not Xbox), then she'd be working with Direct3d and DirectX anyway wouldn't she?

She'd have no exposure to mantle there as far as I can imagine.

 

It depends on whether Microsoft will be incorporating parts of Mantle into future DirectX versions. Which is no different than any past version of DirectX where features of one IHV or another were incorporated and made part of the standard.

If there is as much developer demand for this as it seems thus far, MS may be feeling some pressure to incorporate elements of Mantle into DX if possible.

Regards,
SB

 

I think I read from somewhere that OpenGL also has similar extensions to achieve Mantle-like benefits.

However all these efforts seem to be graphics centric. Not the same as tight HSA low level integration + access.

We should give the devs a few years to explore HSA before concluding that all these are the same.

 

I'm a little confused
Is the ps4 able to use all the 18 CU for graphic or only 14?

 

Yes.

 

It would be cool if they only use 14CUs and KZSF already runs at this level of performance.

 

I wonder how you can take so much advantage of coding to the metal in such powerful machines by factory design nowadays.

I mean, even if there are OS layers and GPU drivers around coding to the metal should provide some advantages, but the thing is that they should be significant to really make a difference.

Afaik, coding to the metal on the X1 is forbidden. Either she enjoys the extra performance or she just likes to code to the metal.

 

If it makes a big difference, then the keyword in her statement would be "heavy" -- *assuming all else are equal*

 

Secondary Chip Die image.


http://www.techinsights.com/sony-playstation-4/

http://www.techinsights.com/uploade.../2013/Sony_Playstation_4/ps4-die-photo-IC.jpg

 

I still see lots of tiling and some analog i/o blocks.

 

I see the upper metal layer.

 

Bingo!

Not much to see here.

 

Oh sorry I thought it would at least give a little hint to what's inside the chip.


No one seems to have any idea what the other chip is.

http://www.psdevwiki.com/ps4/images/2/28/SCEI_1327KM449.jpg

 

Zlib decompression unit?

*random shot in the dark*

 

It stores Ken Kutaragi's full genome?

I honestly have no idea. The chip seems familiar: I recently opened up my Slim to change the BD-laser, I'll try to look it up!