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

[scf]

More ports, debug leds, faster (he said), maybe more RAM, developer features in the OS.

 

[Clukos]

But he can't even boot a game or update the system, it's completely locked.

 

[morphinapg]

Couldn't he have simply clicked "Update Later"?

 

[scf]

The game required newer firmware, so no.

 

[morphinapg]

Don't the game discs include the required firmware updates on them though? Would that not work for the dev kits?

 

[Lalaland]

Don't the game discs include the required firmware updates on them though? Would that not work for the dev kits?

Typically no, the Giantbomb podcast recently discussed having old 360 dev units that required sending back to MS for updates those were special 'day 0' debugs though, the others were updated via the internet. I believe you need a validated dev account to log onto the debug units and presumably to receive updates, if this guy isn't a validated dev he wouldn't have an appropriate account. If I had to guess I would imagine the debug O/S build is quite different from that on retail units (ability to load arbitrary binaries, etc) and if firmwares are on disc they wouldn't match that of the dev O/S (is this still a thing?).

 

[morphinapg]

Typically no, the Giantbomb podcast recently discussed having old 360 dev units that required sending back to MS for updates those were special 'day 0' debugs though, the others were updated via the internet. I believe you need a validated dev account to log onto the debug units and presumably to receive updates, if this guy isn't a validated dev he wouldn't have an appropriate account. If I had to guess I would imagine the debug O/S build is quite different from that on retail units (ability to load arbitrary binaries, etc) and if firmwares are on disc they wouldn't match that of the dev O/S (is this still a thing?).

Interesting. I just figured the dev units simply unlocked parts of the OS that were probably already there, just hidden.

 

[AlNom]

non-HW specific stuff moved to the regular News & Rumours thread https://forum.beyond3d.com/threads/news-rumours-playstation-4-orbis-spin.53566/

 

[Mabru]

The 7th core has been unlocked in the lastest SDK

 

[Deleted member 86764]

The 7th core has been unlocked in the lastest SDK

Do you have evidence?

 

[morphinapg]

The 7th core has been unlocked in the lastest SDK

Assuming this is true, will this essentially allow 16% performance boosts with games highly optimized for multithreading? I don't mean existing games (unless patched, and there are a few games out there that could use that) but for future games.

 

[Allandor]

Assuming this is true, will this essentially allow 16% performance boosts with games highly optimized for multithreading? I don't mean existing games (unless patched, and there are a few games out there that could use that) but for future games.

no, because it would be just the CPU and there are other things.
a 7th core only helps in situations where multithreadings is possible and there is enough bandwidth and cache "free" to use.
But yes, that would be a nice addition. But most games right now aren't really cpu-limited, so that doesn't make that big of a difference. But as xbox one also can use 6.5-6.8 cores, this may make multiplat-development a bit easier.

 

[morphinapg]

no, because it would be just the CPU and there are other things.
a 7th core only helps in situations where multithreadings is possible and there is enough bandwidth and cache "free" to use.
But yes, that would be a nice addition. But most games right now aren't really cpu-limited, so that doesn't make that big of a difference. But as xbox one also can use 6.5-6.8 cores, this may make multiplat-development a bit easier.

Well ideally if you aren't using 100% CPU it would be a good idea to try to move some stuff from the GPU to the CPU if possible, to try to balance out the load better (try to get close to 100% on both for optimal performance), and more cores is always better for that kind of thing.

 

[MrFox]

The 7th core has been unlocked in the lastest SDK

Source?

 

[DieH@rd]

I need more info to believe it.

 

[AlNom]

Cranberry secret sauce soooowse? :Q___

 

[Pixel]

I recall 3dilettante saying that the original launch PS4 16x 4gbit gddr5 modules are in stripe mode or duplex mode or something of that sort, which allows the doubling of memory modules, but slightly reduces memory bandwidth. That was how Sony implemented the 8GB up from the original 4GB. That has me wondering with these new new 8gbit modules on the news ps4 if it no longer runs the memory in this stripe or duplex or whatever mode, and thus may have a fairly small memory bandwidth advantage.

 

[BRiT]

That's not something they could exploit because they need to support original model PS4s too.

 

[Shortbread]

The 7th core has been unlocked in the lastest SDK

A long time lurker with info out of the blue... love it.

 

[Grall]

That has me wondering with these new new 8gbit modules on the news ps4 if it no longer runs the memory in this stripe or duplex or whatever mode, and thus may have a fairly small memory bandwidth advantage.

Clamshell mode. Essentially, half the data bus goes to each GDDR chip with the address bus shared between the two. Each RAM chip sits on top of the other on either side of the PCB. Never seen any claims or data that this arrangement whould impact bandwidth; TBH I don't think it does.