RSX architecture and cost...

??? In which case, every game console released before and after PS3 will "need" more bandwidth. What is there to discuss ?

DeanoC's comment is "bandwidth hasn't proved yet to be a problem on PS3". I'd rather ask what has proved to be a problem... but no dev would probably say.

 

Where in any of my post did I post or interpret “there is no need for more bandwidth"?

My statements dealt with developers not stating (at this time) in articles, press, news, etc... about PS3 having bandwidth issues with there current games.

So please don’t put words in my mouth….

 

So is it feasible to use the XDR as texture memory? Would the access latency involved be too high?

 

This might help you.

 

Well history has shown that even when we do say, it doesn't exactly reach public ears much. After 6 years people still think PS2 was VRam limited, XBox UMA sucked, and DC hardware had no tradeoffs whatsoever

 

Interesting tidbits. What event (and when) was this ?

 

http://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/events/EG06/index.php

 

128bits * 200 mhz = 256bits * 100mhz in terms of raw bandwidth

I read somewhere that boosting clocks is cheaper than boosting bits.

 

Ok sorry to bring this up again - Saw this odd reply on the Uncharted interview...and wondered what you guys thought of it.

 

To be honest, I think very little of it ...

 

How would you either counteract his argument, or support it? It confuses me...either how can someone come up with so much bullshit and sound reasonable, or how can someone come up with so much interesting stuff that hasnt been looked at before?

 

Complete madness, that theory is...

 

He sounds like a certain board member

 

Thanks Laa-Yosh. Where do people get these ideas from?

 

Probably to much diet-coke....

 

How does it sound reasonable though?

 

Hypothetically, lets say I'm working on a sports game which has a user controllable instant replay camera The camera often ends up in situations with heavy transparency overdraw (many full screen passes) which we have no control over since its a user controlled camera. Time is frozen in instant replay so I need all detail preserved on all textures (including the transparent textures) because that mode gets the most scrutiny by reviewers and players alike (screenshots will be taken in that mode). We also need replay to progress at 30fps minimum when the user controls time. Do you feel there is enough bandwidth on PS3 to accommodate that kind of scenario?

 

Hoping that DeanoC or nAo answer this one, but in the meantime for my own curiosity:
are you handling the transparency the exact same way on PS3 and 360? I know that they are very different in how to best handle transparancy.

A completely different but related question - I seem to recall the framebuffer can live in XDR as well as GDDR3 for the RSX in the PS3. Is alternating between a framebuffer in XDR and in GDDR3 feasible and fast enough, and does it have bandwidth advantages? (since you're now spreading the data over 2x20) Does texturing from XDR offload the bandwidth use for GDDR3 freeing it up for other purposes?

 

Perhaps reasonable isn't the right word, but he sounds so confident and produces a lot of "evidence" that he makes it sound reasonable. You get what I mean? Doesn't sound like a fanboy blabbering...

 

It's full of nonsense, making it obvious that he doesn't know what he's talking about. The RSX as some kind of super-GPU that has additional cores and what? Oh come on, it would've been known by now, assuming that something like that could exist in the first place.