So has anyone seen the news on the PS4 specs? What do you think about them? To me the specs don't make the slightest bit of sense with the system memory. It does say "custom processor", but all console processors are custom. The Jaguar cores from AMD do not contain a GDDR5 memory controller, so it would have to be some major overhaul and custom work, to the point that you couldnt even really call them Jaguar cores anymore... If this is really true then it is good news for the graphics processing on this new console because regular DDR3 greatly holds back high resolutions on integrated graphics solutions. Unfortunately it is very bad news for the CPU side of things since the system memory will have so much latency. I guess that is one of the advantages of forcing game dev's to only make games in largely multi-threaded ways now, since that will at least help reduce some of the latency problem. Graphics chips need memory designed for huge bandwidth, which usually comes at the cost of higher latency. This doesnt matter because graphics cores are massively parallel in their processing so it gets beyond the latency since so much is being done at once. The same concept will have to hold true on the CPU side of things as well or we will have a serious problem, but the main issue I see is that 8 threads is not what would be considered "massively parallel"
It is a bit strange. I haven't really read up on it. Are they putting the GPU on the same package or same die as the CPU (Edit, I'm seeing single-chip. continued below)? I chalk that list up to marketers putting together something that's supposed to be incomplete. Overall, it strikes me as something not particularly powerful. That seemed the likely direction, not wanting to drive the price up and 1080p graphics are reaching that "good enough" level. Seems like they're going to leverage GPU compute for things besides just the graphics. I think that's where "massively parallel" comes in. The Cell Processor is kind of similar in concept. A core + some more specialized processing elements. thingies about Jaguar: http://semiaccurate.com/2012/08/28/...of-the-bag-with-the-jaguar-core/#.USYvyWejJLM Everything says it only supports 4 cores and it's got some pretty crap memory bandwidth. It's a low-power Atom-competitor (though quite a bit better than Atom). I'm sure since MS and Sony are both going for this 8-core thing it's got some fancier features. I'm glad they're keeping the gigabit and optical ports. I was a bit worried that they were going to go wifi only. EDIT: They may be putting enough fast memory on-die/chip that they don't need to hook up some DDR3. Intel has been working on putting memory on chip via interposers for their IGPs. Might be similar.
To be honest, it is hard to comment on custom chips until you can throw one through the blender. 8 cores strikes me as strange due to the inability for most gaming application to use more than two or three. It will really come down to Sony providing a MAJOR improvement over the PS3 developing kit that will innately be able to offload computations/operations to separate cores while providing a robust but functional toolset to the world. Ideally, this is great, but is really hard and ended up failing on the PS3. With the release of the PS4, and needed/waiting to wait on the Ivy-Bridge-E, I may just build a workstation at home and focus my gaming on the PS4. Choices Choices. Edit: Also GOD DAMN IT SONY, learn to virtually emulate your old consoles. You have one of the largest console markets ever with the PS2, along with a well defined game base from PS1/PS3. I have no issues with buying a PS4 for $800-1000 dollars if it could emulate at least half of the games decently.
Meh, not impressed. Great news for the masses but I don't see anything revolutionary or earth shattering with this console. Feels like this is a "filler" console, one intended to stir buzz and make some cash.