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[RibbedHero]

The official specs are in for the PlayStation 4 and what we have is, by and large, confirmation of existing DigitalFoundry stories - with one outstanding, exciting exception. At the PlayStation Meeting yesterday, Sony revealed that its new console ships with 8GB of GDDR5 RAM, not the 4GB we previously reported. It was a pleasant surprise not just for us, but also for many game developers out there working on PS4 titles now and completely unaware of the upgrade - a final flourish to the design seemingly added in at the last moment to make PlayStation 4 the most technologically advanced games console of the next gaming era.

From an engineering perspective, it's a remarkable achievement. Sony itself doesn't fabricate memory, it buys from major suppliers who advertise the parts available months (sometimes years) ahead of delivery, so we have a decent idea of what options the platform holders have on the table in creating their next-gen systems. The GDDR5 memory modules - the same used in PC graphics cards - are only available in certain configurations, with the densest option available offering 512MB per module. The startling reality is that unless Sony has somehow got access to a larger chip that isn't yet in mass production and that nobody knows about, it has crammed 16 memory modules onto its PS4 motherboard. To illustrate the extent of the achievement, Nvidia's $1000 graphics card - the GeForce Titan - offers "just" 6GB of onboard GDDR5.

The availability of these modules has also been something of a moving target throughout the development of PlayStation 4. In many ways, the genesis of the new console has been an exercise in Sony learning from the harsh lessons brought about by the PS3's custom architecture. The split RAM memory pool didn't work out so well and a unified RAM set-up was always considered a must for the new console. Early rumours suggested that GDDR5 availability could even limit PS4 to just 2GB of memory, with 4GB at one point looking rather optimistic. What changed at Sony and encouraged them to go all out with its final design is not clear, but the chances are it would have been well aware of the RAM advantage offered up by its upcoming Xbox competitor, which - certainly up to its beta hardware at least - features 8GB of more bandwidth-constrained DDR3. What shouldn't be understated is the amount of extra cash this is going to add to PlayStation 4's BOM (bill of materials) - this is an expensive, massive investment for the company.

These two figures in combination also confirm that the graphics hardware runs at 800MHz, as we previously revealed. The mooted 176GB/s bandwidth for the GDDR5 RAM is also now official, suggesting a speed there of 5.5GHz effective - in line with most current Radeon graphics cards. Previous information had suggested that Sony would be splitting GPU resources between rendering and compute functions (VGLeaks suggesting a 14/4 compute unit split between them in its SDK document leak) but the official spec talks of a unified 18 CUs, which "can freely be applied to graphics, simulation tasks, or some mixture of the two". The divide appears to be gone, and devs can apply available power as they see fit.

There was also talk of a new processing module in the PS4 hardware designed to handle tasks like background downloading. Our sources suggest a low-power ARM core designed to handle "standby" tasks along these lines, while the console also saves the current gameplay state when the system is closed down, meaning instant access to the last game you played when you power up again. OS tasks and resource allocation remain unknown (512MB or thereabouts was discussed with developers) but we now have some idea of what this system can do: Sony talks about running a web browser "and other applications" during gameplay.

But similar to that underwhelming PlayStation showing two generations ago, we remain very hopeful: there's a sense that the power is there, that we've only seen the vaguest of hints of what it's truly capable of - and that it'll take time for game-makers to fully understand quite what to do with the new tools they have available. However, from what was shown last night the slightly worrying reality is that in the short term we're looking at games and demos either already running on PC, or with equivalents available now that simply look better.

A lot more in the full article.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/df-hardware-spec-analysis-playstation-4

 

[HueyFreeman]

Awesome. The 8gb of ddr5 has me concerned pricing wise though...

 

[madmackem]

That last bit is always the case at a console launch, you get uports and games built on lower guessed specs.

 

[LiK]

I shall enjoy this.

 

[Jack_AG]

Interesting read - especially about the CUs.

 

[Napoleonthechimp]

That last bit is always the case at a console launch, you get uports and games built on lower guessed specs.

If PC ports look that good now then who knows what games built specifically for the hardware will end up looking like.

 

[bobbytkc]

However, from what was shown last night the slightly worrying reality is that in the short term we're looking at games and demos either already running on PC, or with equivalents available now that simply look better.

I don't see how this is surprising. It is exactly the same situation all the years back at the PS3 launch with Crysis. PC games will always look batter because graphics cards are available for the cost of entire gaming systems. No way around it.

 

[RibbedHero]

If PC ports look that good now then who knows what games built specifically for the hardware will end up looking like.

I think Leadbetter is saying that the worrying thing is that right now there are already games out that look better on PC than the initial games shown, and the gap will only increase. Of course PS4 games will look better as the generation goes on, but PC games will see an even bigger improvement.

I think the worrying thing is that consoles no longer have graphical power on their side (if even for a few months), and they've also lost the convenience factor to mobile games.

 

[nib95]

Unified CU's as well now. So basically going to be one of the easiest to dev for consoles ever made lol. Having said that, I still think 8GB was a bit unnecessary and am worried about how it might affect the price. If it gives me better multiplatform titles though, well worth the extra.

 

[MikeE21286]

 

[MaulerX]

"The startling reality is that unless Sony has somehow got access to a larger chip that isn't yet in mass production and that nobody knows about, it has crammed 16 memory modules onto its PS4 motherboard."



Remember that crazy Nowgamer article that nobody believed? The first to say that Sony matched Durango's 8GB RAM, the first to say it will be unveiled in February and how...gulp...it was having overheating issues? God I hope that's not true as well.

 

[EloquentM]

Dammit this thing is gonna kill my wallet. Sony is taking super losses.

 

[plagiarize]

I'm not worried about the games predominantly looking like prettier versions of what we're playing now. The hardware will let them evolve. The first few batches of titles on a system very rarely ever make you feel like, yes, this couldn't have been done before.

I'm very happy with the specs. I love that dedicated video encoder and all the fun things they're doing with that. I love that it's going to download updates while it's off, upload my gameplay while I'm still playing, etc etc.

We're still in 2013 from a game design stand point though, and that still, sadly, means aping big budget action movies, even if that is starting (I think) to change. No surprises there, and no negative marks on the PS4 for it.

It's got great network capabilities, a great controller, great specs (from a developer and gamer perspective), and it will likely come in less than $500. I'm totally on board unless Microsoft announce Alan Wake 2 for this coming winter. Given all we know about the next Xbox, I can't see it being more appealing to me beyond that... but hey, I guess we'll know in a few months eitherway.

I wish they'd said something about S3D support. 1080p 30, should make 720p 30 (3D) totally doable...

PC games are going to look better, yes... but that feature set has me really interested.

 

[scitek]

I think Leadbetter is saying that the worrying thing is that right now there are already games out that look better on PC than the initial games shown, and the gap will only increase. Of course PS4 games will look better as the generation goes on, but PC games will see an even bigger improvement.

I think the worrying thing is that consoles no longer have graphical power on their side (if even for a few months), and they've also lost the convenience factor to mobile games.

But someone said yesterday that Killzone Shadow Fall makes Crysis 3 on PC look like a Gameboy game.

 

[Miles Quaritch]

"The startling reality is that unless Sony has somehow got access to a larger chip that isn't yet in mass production and that nobody knows about, it has crammed 16 memory modules onto its PS4 motherboard."



Remember that crazy Nowgamer article that nobody believed? The first to say that Sony matched Durango's 8GB RAM, the first to say it will be unveiled in February and how...gulp...it was having overheating issues? God I hope that's not true as well.

Is there a link to this article?

I'd have thought with Sony being hardware oriented, they wouldn't go with a solution that results in overheating issues.

 

[Wishmaster92]

Great analysis.

 

[i-Lo]

Unified CU's as well now. So basically going to be one of the easiest to dev for consoles ever made lol. Having said that, I still think 8GB was a bit unnecessary and am worried about how it might affect the price. If it gives me better multiplatform titles though, well worth the extra.

Unnecessary now, yet both MS and now Sony have the foresight. There ram will be used for more than just games and it's all about pleasing the ADD stricken generation with supreme expedience between tasks.

 

[SparkTR]

I don't see how this is surprising. It is exactly the same situation all the years back at the PS3 launch with Crysis.

Crysis launched a full year after the PS3 launch, it also wasn't until two years into current gen that PC parts started to significantly overshadow consoles in regards to power. That's not the case this time by a long shot.

 

[omonimo]

"The startling reality is that unless Sony has somehow got access to a larger chip that isn't yet in mass production and that nobody knows about, it has crammed 16 memory modules onto its PS4 motherboard."



Remember that crazy Nowgamer article that nobody believed? The first to say that Sony matched Durango's 8GB RAM, the first to say it will be unveiled in February and how...gulp...it was having overheating issues? God I hope that's not true as well.

Your worrying are not unfounded. GDDR 5 with 8 GB could give overheating issues, I don't know how sony has solved this issue ( if they did)

 

[MaulerX]

Is there a link to this article?

I'd have thought with Sony being hardware oriented, they wouldn't go with a solution that results in overheating issues.

http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1769813/nextgen_xbox_720_will_be_more_powerful_than_ps4_report.html




Funny how they were also the first to mention the no native 4k resolution thing. Granted, a lot of it was way off but give them credit for getting some things right.

 

[nib95]

Unnecessary now, yet both MS and now Sony have the foresight. There ram will be used for more than just games and it's all about pleasing the ADD stricken generation with supreme expedience between tasks.

Not if Sony only reserve 512mb for the OS. Durango is different, they needed it for their OS, plus DDR3 is cheap (but slow). Sony's kind of done a me too here. They didn't need to, since 4GB GDDR5 >> 8GB DDR +32MB EDRAM.

 

[Jinko]

I think Leadbetter is saying that the worrying thing is that right now there are already games out that look better on PC than the initial games shown, and the gap will only increase. Of course PS4 games will look better as the generation goes on, but PC games will see an even bigger improvement.

I think the worrying thing is that consoles no longer have graphical power on their side (if even for a few months), and they've also lost the convenience factor to mobile games.

Consoles never really had graphical power on their side, nothing has changed since last gen in that regard.

 

[i-Lo]

Not if Sony only reserve 512mb for the OS. Durango is different, they needed it for their OS, plus DDR3 is cheap (but slow). Sony's kind of done a me too here. They didn't need to, since 4GB GDDR5 >> 8GB DDR +32MB EDRAM.

We do not know about the feature set the OS may have to present beside what has been shown. Something tells me that the OS footprint is well north of 512MB now.

 

[Binabik15]

Maybe Sony didn't show the PS4 itself because the additional RAM turend it into a huge, ugly monstrosity to fit in the mobo and cooling?

 

[Durante]

Why would there be overheating? They just need a decent thermal solution, and Sony has never disappointed in that regard. Titan has 24 GDDR5 chips at higher frequency and no heat issues.

Seriously, even with 8 GB GDDR5 PS4 will be much easier to cool than launch PS3, and Sony didn't have a problem with that either.

Maybe Sony didn't show the PS4 itself because the additional RAM turend it into a huge, ugly monstrosity to fit in the mobo and cooling?

No. It's 8 GDDR5 chips per side. Let's not get crazy here.

 

[RibbedHero]

But someone said yesterday that Killzone Shadow Fall makes Crysis 3 on PC look like a Gameboy game.

Same people who said KZ2 made Crysis look like a NES game.

 

[TGO]

Nice read, but you didn't highlight the part about games look like high end PC games in the live streams, but phenomenal in the 1080p screens released this morning.....
The jump is like PSone>PS2 judging by the official screen shots....
Anyone has these shots? Cuz the IGN stream went to shit when games were showing

 

[Izick]

This thing is going to be expensive to make, but this is a smart strategy for Sony in the long run. Instead of going the Nintendo route and having a super-outdated console at launch, they're going to have a console that might actually achieve the illustrious 10 year cycle that we slowly inch towards to every generation.

 

[nib95]

Same people who said KZ2 made Crysis look like a NES game.

KZ2 does not look better than Crysis, but KZ SF does look better than Crysis 3 (imo).

 

[i-Lo]

Why would there be overheating? They just need a decent thermal solution, and Sony has never disappointed in that regard. Titan has 24 GDDR5 chips at higher frequency and no heat issues.

Seriously, even with 8 GB GDDR5 PS4 will be much easier to cool than launch PS3, and Sony didn't have a problem with that either.

No. It's 8 GDDR5 chips per side. Let's not get crazy here.

You mean a clamshell design, correct?

 

[Durante]

KZ2 does not look better than Crysis, but KZ SF does look better than Crysis 3 (imo).

It really doesn't. It looks on par mostly, shadowing is actually slightly worse than Crysis 3 on very high.

You mean a clamshell design, correct?

Yes.

 

[SparkTR]

Consoles never really had graphical power on their side, nothing has changed since last gen in that regard.

They have historically. At launch the 360 was doing things even high-end PCs couldn't technically do. Before that pretty much every new console cycle completely decimated PC hardware at the time. PCs would eventually catch up and surpass sure, but never have they surpassed even before a new generation has started.

 

[Neuromancer]

"To illustrate the extent of the achievement, Nvidia's $1000 graphics card - the GeForce Titan - offers "just" 6GB of onboard GDDR5."

Holy shit I had no idea. That's crazy that this thing will have 8GBs.

 

[i-Lo]

It really doesn't. It looks on par mostly, shadowing is actually slightly worse than Crysis 3 on very high.

I agree. The art style however, is a different matter. It's so improper to compare a full game with a pre-alpha footage of a game that still certain visual issues to sort out and where we were only privy to a vertical slice.

 

[RibbedHero]

KZ2 does not look better than Crysis, but KZ SF does look better than Crysis 3 (imo).

KZSF looks like a slightly better Syndicate, not near C3 levels as far as I'm concerned.

 

[bobbytkc]

Crysis launched a full year after the PS3 launch, it also wasn't until two years into current gen that PC parts started to significantly overshadow consoles in regards to power. That's not the case this time by a long shot.

I am comparing hardware. Crysis runs on High end graphics cards from the end of 2006/ early 2007 (think 8800 GTX), and the PS3 never really ran Crysis all that well throughout its lifetime, even after they retooled the game for consoles.

 

[btkadams]

Nice read, but you didn't highlight the part about games look like high end PC games in the live streams, but phenomenal in the 1080p screens released this morning.....
The jump is like PSone>PS2 judging by the official screen shots....
Anyone has these shots? Cuz the IGN stream went to shit when games were showing

wouldn't the DF guys have been at the actual conference?

 

[zomgbbqftw]

"The startling reality is that unless Sony has somehow got access to a larger chip that isn't yet in mass production and that nobody knows about, it has crammed 16 memory modules onto its PS4 motherboard."



Remember that crazy Nowgamer article that nobody believed? The first to say that Sony matched Durango's 8GB RAM, the first to say it will be unveiled in February and how...gulp...it was having overheating issues? God I hope that's not true as well.

The overheating might be because Sony hadn't secured 4Gb chips yet and were using 32x 2Gb chips to make up the 8GB which would be a very complex motherboard and require serious cooling.

 

[mavs]

http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1769813/nextgen_xbox_720_will_be_more_powerful_than_ps4_report.html




Funny how they were also the first to mention the no native 4k resolution thing. Granted, a lot of it was way off but give them credit for getting some things right.

"Omni"? 3.2TFlops? They missed badly on the PS4 so far. The reports that had 4GB RAM were much closer to the final specs.

 

[cjtiger300]

KZ2 does not look better than Crysis, but KZ SF does look better than Crysis 3 (imo).

Agreed.

 

[TGO]

You would think, but they talking about the live stream
Guess they sent someone else

 

[nelsonroyale]

It really doesn't. It looks on par mostly, shadowing is actually slightly worse than Crysis 3 on very high.

Yes.

I think the scale impresses. I can't remember any scenes in crysis where there was as much geometry being thrown around as in the final scene in the demo. I think people just find it difficult to seperate technical achievements vs visual impact. The KZ demo had a bigger impact on me than Crysis 3. Nothing I have seen of Crysis 3 has impressed me as much as that city scape. That doesn't mean that it trumps crysis at all in all aspects, just a more impressive use of the resources as far as I am concerned.

 

[1-D_FTW]

Having the arm chip for stand-by mode doesn't get enough praise. I love that move. An ARM chip will allow that to be functional, but have super low power consumption. The entire design of everything is just so elegant.

 

[Miles Quaritch]

http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1769813/nextgen_xbox_720_will_be_more_powerful_than_ps4_report.html

Funny how they were also the first to mention the no native 4k resolution thing. Granted, a lot of it was way off but give them credit for getting some things right.

Thank you. Will read it momentarily.

 

[Lonely1]

It really doesn't. It looks on par mostly, shadowing is actually slightly worse than Crysis 3 on very high.

At least is arguable, unlike KZ2 vs Crysis.

 

[Lonely1]

Having the arm chip for stand-by mode doesn't get enough praise. I love that move. An ARM chip will allow that to be functional, but have super low power consumption. The entire design of everything is just so elegant.

Well, is not the first console to do that. ( Wii U and Wii did I believe).

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Awesome. The 8gb of ddr5 has me concerned pricing wise though...

Tretton hinted that it'll be cheaper than PS3's launch.

 

[grumble]

Not if Sony only reserve 512mb for the OS. Durango is different, they needed it for their OS, plus DDR3 is cheap (but slow). Sony's kind of done a me too here. They didn't need to, since 4GB GDDR5 >> 8GB DDR +32MB EDRAM.

Some of the features they've announced would require a lot of ram at once. Save states and task switching for example.

 

[TGO]

Perhaps it was the quality of the livestream but interior car modelling actually seemed to be a step down from GT5

I recall the dev talking about the insane details even on the material in the car seats which even reacts to being brush against or something, I couldn't see it in the stream
But he showing something off, I think we are missing something here

 

[MaulerX]

"Omni"? 3.2TFlops? They missed badly on the PS4 so far. The reports that had 4GB RAM were much closer to the final specs.

Yea, some of that stuff is pretty out there. Hence why nobody believed it. But looking back, some things were true. It'll be interesting if Microsoft did indeed respond in some way that may not be necessarily be as they reported. I guess time will tell.