PlayStation 4 (codename Orbis) technical hardware investigation (news and rumours)
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Reserved memory can always be given back, but memory given to developers can never be taken back. Indeed, I'm more worried about Sony being too arrogant and thinking that 1GB of system memory is enough only to later realize that they really should have had 2GB to themselves. This thing has to live on for 6-7+ years.
Sounds about right, but I am very surprised if this is true. I mean, either they saw the handwriting on the wall after MS admitted they reserved 3GB for the OS, and they realised they could see the dark clouds in the horizon in the future (especially taking into account Sony is more of a hardware company than a software one), or they dropped the ball and thought that 5GB for games is more than enough -which I think it is- in the next generation.
djskribbles
Legend
FWIW prior to those tweets he was talking about X1 and was saying why they didn't include more RAM since DDR3 is so cheap. Here's the full context.
Sounds like ole Blow is suggesting PS4 is sitting on 5GB of RAM usable for gaming (3GB for OS). Thoughts?
https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Blow/status/343882448284835841
https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Blow/status/343882482007035904
https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Blow/status/343884657080807424
https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Blow/status/343884810458128385
https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Blow/status/343884987705217024
Can you imagine how this generation might have been better if every Xbox 360 had a hard drive and the PS3 had unified memory? Every 360 game could have used the hard drive for caching and developers wouldn't have to perform juggling between the split memory pools on the PS3.
I would be fine with it personally if Sony held onto 5GB for now. 5GB is going to be enough for now, I really dont think a developer wont be able to fit within it with minimal optimization.
You cant get it back once you give it away, so they should be careful and slow about it imo.
Hell, 6 months ago I was worried they wouldnt even go with 4GB, let alone having a full 8GB.
You cant get it back once you give it away, so they should be careful and slow about it imo.
Hell, 6 months ago I was worried they wouldnt even go with 4GB, let alone having a full 8GB.
Actually, Jonathan Blows implicitely confirmed the 1 GB for PS - 3 GB for the One. He stated however that these numbers could change...
Oops, forgot the link : https://twitter.com/ScuteMob/status/343885206593359872
Oops, forgot the link : https://twitter.com/ScuteMob/status/343885206593359872
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Could have read it wrong, but that's what I understood from it...
the 1GB for the OS is a rumor and is not confirmed by anyone yet and he might be under NDA that's why he didn't go into details.
Bagel seed
Veteran
1) His game wants to use more than 5gb at the moment
2) He wants to avoid streaming and just load everything into ram
3) He can't do 2) because he can't fit it all into PS4 at once so he needs to stream
That's how I read it.
2) He wants to avoid streaming and just load everything into ram
3) He can't do 2) because he can't fit it all into PS4 at once so he needs to stream
That's how I read it.
He says "right now". We have no way of knowing if that includes all the final content, or if they're still adding stuff and he can simply project they will bust the memory limit with the final game.
D
Deleted member 11852
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This makes sense given Sony started with 2 Gb then 4Gb target memory size for PS4.
But I think 1Gb is too short-sighted and that 2Gb would be prudent to add-in functionality not even on the horizon now. So reserve 2Gb (even if less is needed now) and add an API so developers can ask for any unused RAM reserved by the system but which isn't used in the current version of the OS. That could release an addition 1Gb of RAM in the early days (where the OS runs fine in 1Gb or less) but could mean getting only 512mb a year or two down the line or nothing four years down the line. Developers shouldn't rely on it but it can be used for a scratchpad or buffers to reduce streaming.
Those aren't relevant. The context in both the tweets I posted are self-evident and built into the messages themselves in a fully self-contained manner. The first establishes that they aim to hit 5GB for RAM usage...the second establishes that they expect PS4 to have less than their target RAM usage and will thus have to use some streaming. Thus, he is effectively suggesting there is a cap at 5GB max available for games.
Someone else tried to claim he pushed back against that but when someone on twitter asked him about 1GB for PS4 OS reservations Blow immediately distanced himself from the question, implying the question's assert was incorrect.
Couple all of that with what Sony reportedly told devs while making the move to 8GB (they were trying to match MS) and you see the evidence pointing towards both being 5GB/3GB RAM configurations. Sony was either stuck at 3GB for gaming and 1GB for OS (both severe disadvantages for them) or they make the jump to 5GB and 3GB to be on par. They NEED flexibility in their OS ambitions over the next decade to compete with MS.
It's not a confirmation, but his reply does seem to indicate that 1GB is likely.
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