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[Cirekiller]

So here is a theory that I have heard. Note, this is not insider information. A friend who is a developer, not on consoles or PlayStation mind, thinks that the new devkits probably ship with 8GB GDDR5 but the developer tools probably take up 2-3GB on there, leaving addressable RAM at just 5GB. He said the problem is that the APU bus is 256bit which won't allow for more than 8GB RAM until 8Gbit chips are available.

He thinks that the current SDK probably does have 3.5GB reserved for for the OS functions and development tools, but when the next set of kits ship they will have 12GB of RAM and the full 7GB will be addressable.

Going by this, Sony must've let the development community know that better dev kits are coming, seeing as how we had people like Blow saying that their games were "already using" 5 GBs of RAM, or else these statements would not have been made right? So far this theory sounds like the most logical explanation for all this, thanks for sharing.

 

[Tom Penny]

Honestly now $399 is not a great value. Should be $350.

 

[Bundy]

I thought Edge leaked the 8GB RAM?

It was EDGE

 

[DJwest]

WiiU just keeps on gettin stronger :lol

lmao

 

[Khalifa Jayy]

That ram picture got me lol. Fuck

 

[DrM]

gameinformer

They are sourcing each other, like in some crazy love triangle

 

[liquidspeed]

it's enough, it's just dissapoiting considering most people were expeting 1.5GB at most for OS.

Not even that... 1 at most, at least in discussions on this forum.

 

[velociraptor]

Couldn't give a shit what NSA's best friend does. More concerned that Sony have been thick enough to follow the Steve Ballmer appreciation society at Redmond and waste 3.5GB of RAM on a games console. A GAMES CONSOLE.

I laughed, but I agree all the same.

 

[MCD]

I just love these guys who say it doesn't matter, and we shouldn't even be worried about specs. Like we should be ignorant.

Go and make games for the Wii U if it doesn't matter.

So much entitlement in this post.

 

[RedAssedApe]

3.5 GB needed to power the lightbar on the DS4.

 

[i-Lo]

What's this Arthur Gies' tweet some here are talking about?

 

[spannicus]

Breath just breath its gonna be ok. Just say wooosah and breath it does not matter that the Ps4 has 4.5 Gb for games its ok. Just relax........#TheDreamisOver lol

 

[LiquidMetal14]

So their leaked info is based solely on the dev kits? Seems like someone got their wires crossed during communication. Kind of crazy though about that dev kit hardware limitation. I'd have thought Sony would be pumping out more finalized kits by now.

There has been test HW around for a bit. I had this conversation with a friend about 2 weeks ago. He said it was final HW chasis test units. Not that the dev kits are final.

For those who've never experienced a HW launch, these things are always improving and coming together as time goes by.

 

[Dennis]

I just love these guys who say it doesn't matter, and we shouldn't even be worried about specs. Like we should be ignorant.

Go and make games for the Wii U if it doesn't matter.

Well, he is right. As a long time PC gamer I can tell you that there is no difference between having 5.5 GB RAM and 8GB RAM. None at all.

 

[PrivateWHudson]

How exactly are you extrapolating that from the amount of ram available? Do you talk to the ram?

What? How does almost half of the ram dedicated to the OS show anything but a follow the leader approach? A light weight OS to organize my games it's all I need. If I wanted all of the other crap I would have preordered an xbox. Now that all of the day one's are sold out, I may just hold off until after launch...IF this rumor is true.

 

[SirIgbyCeaser]

So here is a theory that I have heard. Note, this is not insider information. A friend who is a developer, not on consoles or PlayStation mind, thinks that the new devkits probably ship with 8GB GDDR5 but the developer tools probably take up 2-3GB on there, leaving addressable RAM at just 5GB. He said the problem is that the APU bus is 256bit which won't allow for more than 8GB RAM until 8Gbit chips are available.

He thinks that the current SDK probably does have 3.5GB reserved for for the OS functions and development tools, but when the next set of kits ship they will have 12GB of RAM and the full 7GB will be addressable.

STOP MAKING SENSE.

 

[jonscrambler]

my gaming PC I built years ago has 8 GB of ram plus 2GB in the video card... with 1GB Windows 7 usage, it already has double the ram next gen consoles can use.

 

[Orca]

Re-reading this article/interview from GamesIndustry.biz, I wonder if Yoshida is kind of hinting at this (i.e the whole 3.5GB OS thing being true):

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl...e-of-consoles-its-the-decline-of-a-generation

He says:

That's kind of bullshit though. They reduced their OS memory footprint by ~70 MB in 2010 so if they had wanted to put in cross game chat, they had the room.

 

[pharmboy044]

Looking at Vita with how much memory it uses for multitasking, I'm guessing the PS4 will be about the same. (around half of system memory)

 

[Ce-Lin]

current SDK probably does have 3.5GB reserved for for the OS functions and development tools, but when the next set of kits ship they will have 12GB of RAM and the full 7GB will be addressable.

if this is true then Richard Leadbetter desperation has reached a new low @ Eurogamer, just waiting official word from Sony.

 

[Zukuu]

what if the SHARE feature compresses the data via the dedicated chip and keeps it in the RAM to avoid permanent HDD writing?

I can't see how "having instant OS access", which is nothing more than an all- tab on the PC requires 3.5 GB - in no way. Even if they want to play it safe, that's ridiculous.

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

Xbox One OS: 3GB of RAM

PS4 XMB 2: 3.5GB of RAM

Xbox One: 5 GB of RAM available to Game Devs

PS4: 4.5 GB of RAM available to Game Devs


wow

 

[liquidspeed]

They are sourcing each other, like in some crazy love triangle

Gameinformer is sourcing Eurogamer, but Eurogamer isn't sourcing Gameinformer right? ( only skimmed the article.

 

[gundamkyoukai]

I thought Edge leaked the 8GB RAM?

They did , those guys have no idea what they are talking about like usual .

 

[djblackice]

Gies, give me my $10 or an apology you clown.

 

[FluxWaveZ]

Brad Shoemaker from Giant Bomb corroborates this Eurogamer article.

What is strange is how he got the technical difference between the two consoles wrong in May, if he knew about all this 3 months before the podcast was recorded.
(He was criticized a lot in the official giant bomb podcast thread for the downplaying of the well known specification advantages of the PS4.)

This is ridiculous.

 

[theRizzle]

Why are people using commas now instead of periods? Like what sort of messed up school does that now or is this some meme I have never heard of?

joke post?

(if somehow not, then you should read this) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimal_mark

 

[RedAssedApe]

hoping this means this is just what's available at the moment based on the current non-final dev kits (i.e. games being made for launch) and that there will be more than the 4.5/5.5GB

 

[George Claw M.D.]

Explain how it's a good thing or the right decision for those of us that just want the best possible games?

OS features can enhance game experience. Look at how Sony couldn't implement cross-game chat due to RAM limitations. Cross-game chat ended up being a huge feather in Live's cap. I don't think PS4 will need that much RAM reserved for OS functions. I just think Sony wants to remain flexible. 4.5-5.5GB is plenty for the system's early games. The reserved RAM can be decreased later on, but can't be increased if they run out of room to add features. If they reserve at least as much RAM as Microsoft is doing at the start, then Sony can react to any killer features Microsoft have up their sleeves for the Xbone. Once again, Sony don't want to get caught with another cross-game chat scenario.

And just to add a bit of conspiracy theory for added fun, who's to say Sony didn't already catch wind of some killer feature(s) that Microsoft are planning that needs that much RAM, and Sony found out in time to reserve enough RAM to implement it for PS4?

Edit: This is all just theory talk assuming the rumor is true of course.

 

[Osiris]

Why are people using commas now instead of periods? Like what sort of messed up school does that now or is this some meme I have never heard of?

Some of Europe does that for numbers. (But not the UK)

 

[DrM]

Gameinformer is sourcing Eurogamer, but Eurogamer isn't sourcing Gameinformer right? ( only skimmed the article.

There is also DF in this source citing love affair

 

[nib95]

Xbox One OS: 3GB of RAM

PS4 XMB 2: 3.5GB of RAM

Xbox One: 5 GB of RAM available to Game Devs

PS4: 4.5 GB of RAM available to Game Devs


wow

Isn't not reading the OP bannable?

PS4 according to the OP has 5.5GB of RAM available to Game devs.

 

[-COOLIO-]

on the plus side a 6 gb gtx 770 should be pretty future proof at 1080p.

 

[longdi]

sony/cerny/yoshida have not disappoint me so far. in fact they surprised me so i still believe this ram allocation is incorrect and not final.

ps4 -its not canceled $399 8gb gddr5 no drm region free 110/240v tiny footprint more powerful

how many crows were eaten back then?
Believe.

 

[ViewtifulJC]

look on the bright side, the PS store won't take forever to load up anymore

 

[rdrr gnr]

...huh?

If you look upon this change negatively then adhering to zomgbbqftw's statements is more appealing than it should be.

 

[adamsapple]

So much archive material in this thread lol.

 

[Rouke]

Why do they even need so much memory?

 

[Nightengale]

So I guess PS4 Devs have to be silent on the matter, eh? Got something to hide Sony? ;p

You're probably just joking, but NDA tends to cover a lot of stuff. Everything from license fees, cost of dev kits, exclusivity deals, etc. Naturally this includes specs.

It's just standard. MS is no different.

 

[Minigo]

Damn you Gies, don't make me post the "if it wasn't for you meddling kids" pic

 

[Into]

I thought Edge leaked the 8GB RAM?

They did, Shoemaker showed how little he knew a few Bombcasts back about the technical aspects to the consoles, and now he is claiming he had all this info months ago and Gies is Gies, no need to even comment on him.

 

[CadetMahoney]

Sony's "just games" attitude that looks to have done a 180.

oh dear.

 

[Rad-]

Wait didn't Sony already confirm the game RAM amount or am I mixing things up?

 

[Deus Ex Machina]

Isn't not reading the OP bannable?

PS4 according to the OP has 5.5GB of RAM available to Game devs.

flexible..

 

[Odrion]

on the plus side a 6 gb gtx 770 should be pretty future proof at 1080p.

Hmm, yeah.

Time to shop.

 

[Violater]

So people wanted 7gb of ram dedicated to gaming?

 

[dragonfart28]

I just love these guys who say it doesn't matter, and we shouldn't even be worried about specs. Like we should be ignorant.

Go and make games for the Wii U if it doesn't matter.

 

[darkwing]

Why do they even need so much memory?

insta-switch to Home

 

[nib95]

flexible..

And already confirmed to be being used by game devs...

 

[Black Republican]

Looks like someone got confirmation (maybe) out of a dev...though the dev insists it's no big deal.

soo... semi confirmed?