Contrast Dev On PS4's 8 GB GDDR5 RAM: "Still Scratching Our Heads As To What To Do With It All"

"We recently spoke to Compulsions Games' Sam Abbott - currently developing Contrast for the PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC - as to the benefits of Sony's next generation hardware and how it brings the game to life."

[Donnieboi]

Well that's a good kind of "worry". It's like worrying which sports car to drive today. It's like the 1st world problems--of videogame development.

[US8F]

Haha, so true!.

Sony would probably respond like this:

"Scratch your heads today, but you still have atleast 8 years to figure out something, so take your time. If you need help, our first party studios would set some examples for you in the coming years, we are with you all the way"

[iamnsuperman]

I agree. It is more about future proofing the system. We are going to have to wait for year 2 to see what developers are doing with the extra RAM as they have time with the system

[BadboyCivic]

Wow. PS4 future looking good

[SprigganN4G]

PS4, the new PS2.

[irepbtown]

You look at the first few PS3 games (Resistence Fall of Man etc) and then compare them to The Last of Us and GTA V, you can't help but get excited for what will happen near the end of the PS4's life.

Sony... you're doing it right!

[HardcoreGamer21]

agreed!!!

[FATAL1TY]

PS4 is a beas†

PS4, the new PS2

4 > 1

399$

[sincitysir1]

@FATAL1TY haha your comment was too funny! In a good way =]

[abzdine]

one more good news for those last ones who had a doubt.

[Lvl_up_gamer]

Like I said before. 8GB of GDDR5 ram is serious overkill that will NEVER be used this gen. Meanwhile, the consumers will be paying for the extra resources that will never be used....

Stupidity.

Watch Sony drop the amount of RAM with the new PS4 slim in order to reduce production costs.....Not like Sony hasn't removed features before in order to reduce costs.

[Heartnet]

Its more to do with Time deadlines and stuff... in 8 years from now the same 2 year for AAA titles will still exsist so they wil be still scratching their heads

[dantesparda]

@lv up gamer

Wow, that was quite possibly one of the stupidest things I have ever heard on N4G, you sir take the cake. Take out RAM to reduce cost? Wow, just wow! and 8GB's will be eaten up in no time you'll see

[Murad]

That quote really makes me want to pre-order a PS4, but in all honest, I'm going to wait until all the glitches and bugs are out of the system for good.

[Persistantthug]

8 Gigs of ram is definitely alot for a console....a ton, really.

[pyramidshead]

Good analogy actually. Plus we don't want devs using it up all at once now, it's for developer freedom and longevity for when games start to get even bigger.

[Rendermonk]

@ Lvl_up_gamer

Ya, the fact of the matter is, just like the PC, some games will use the MAXIMUM RAM available to build the game. Others will only need a Gig or 2. But, having 8GB in there, will ensure that the games that DO need it, or CAN use it, will have it available to them. Smaller games like Contrast, or other indie projects, will most likely not come close to using 8GM of GDDR5 RAM. Think with your head, not your ASS.

[avengers1978]

Seems like a good problem to have.
I see a lot more freedom in games in the coming gen,
Large open worlds with insane amounts of crap you can do.

[Redrum059]

yes, ive been dying for a true open world free to do anything game. like a mgs/skyrim/gta/sim city/age of empires/command and conquer, all rolled into one game.
a game where you start as a single customized character able to 'create/upgrade/customize/ evolve' any 'objects/structures/ideas of any 'size/form/matter' such as 'essentials/weapons/buildi ngs/armies/nations/empires' ; by means of 'tools/technology/alchemy/ magic/energy/GOD like will' all for the purpose of beating the game. What ever plot/story/campaign there may be to incorporate this freedom and idea into a game is completely up to a developer.

perhaps a game too big... maybe next next gen lol.

[3-4-5]

Everyone is used to 512 MB

Wii U had 4x that.

There is also a difference between using 5GB of RAM and using 5GB of RAM efficiently.

5GB of RAM in a game now, will look different than 5GB RAM in a game 4-5 years from now.

They will once again figure out how to do more with less and 5GB will seem like 7-8 to them.

[PSN_ZeroOnyx]

PS4 gives devs 7 gigs of RAM to work with

[PSVita]

It's 7GB for the PS4. That's 14x the amount of of the ps3s just going towards the games!!

Red dead
The last of us
Demon souls
UC2
And many more have blown me away this generation I can't wait for what's next!

[3-4-5]

I know that. I'm just saying even with 5, it's a lot more than we think it is.

So with 7 it's even more than that.

Also throwing out 5gb just because I think that is the most any game announced has used so far.

[Funantic1]

Some people don't realize that with the X1's hypervisor that 1 of the 3 operating systems is allowed to shutdown or suspend itself and give games more gigs if necessary. X1 games are given at least a dedicated 5 gigs of RAM, but if developers really want to use up 7 gigs they can but the X1 just won't allow you to use the snap feature at the same time. So you won't be able to watch tv, or Skype at the same time while playing a game that uses 7 gigs which is fine with me. I've even heard that in extreme cases that a game could push 7.5 gigs of RAM in a game. But both the PS4 and X1 won't see too many games going over 5 gigs anyway.

More about the hypervisor
http://www.giantbomb.com/xb...

or watch video
http://youtu.be/fZGXdGi78xw

[AbortMission]

Wii U used twice that amount for games. 1 GB for games is pretty much last gen. When was the last game I played on PC that only required 1 GB? Most often require 2.

[imt558]

@Funantic1

OK. I think it's impossible for X1 to get 7 gigs of RAM in extreme cases. Look, many players when won't play game anymore and they want just watch basketball game, they will pause the game, watch basketball game, talk with some people trough Skype at the same time and the Bing search is on and snapping between music, game, an TV.... And 7 GIGS for game on XO?? NO! Maybe 6 Gigs, but 7... Hell no!

[DragonKnight]

@Funatic: What you don't realize is that the hypervisor shutting down an OS = Features that can't be used. One way or another, the Xbox One is technically inferior to the PS4.

[thetruthx1]

Where is that unified memory in Driveclub? Forza looks way better. Or Killzone it looks like Crysis 3 lol

[Nekroo91]

Drive Club is a free to play game, you have the choice to buy new tracks , cars, etc so pretty sure it doesent have the same budget. and it was in alpha...killzone loking like crysis 3 is a bad thing?! its one of the best liking games

[thechosenone]

Forza sacrificed a lot to achieve that level of quality like real-time weather effects day/night cycles and a limited amount of cars.

Also there's a new demo coming out for DC soon so we'll see how much it's improved since the last E3 demo.

[dragon82]

@Nekroo91

Drive Club is not a "Free to Play" game. It is a full retail release that is getting a stripped down version on PS+ that uses the "Free to Play" model by allowing you to purchase the parts that are missing. It is still a full budget retail game.

[imt558]

No, Forza 5 does not look better. Driveclub in many area has the better engine. Fully global illumination, real-time reflections, change weather and day/night cicle, big draw distance, shadows are moving when clouds moving and block sunrays.... Everything is top notch. Yeah, for now is 30 fps. But maybe Evolution will push to 60 fps until launch. But i will not be sad if game will be 30 fps. Look the Forza Forizon for example.

[Rockstar_5]

So true lmao

[thechosenone]

I forgot about the lighting..most of it is baked in from what I heard and I think only the sun's light will be dynamic. The Xb1 is very weak in power if it can't even do all of the things that GT5&6 are already doing on the PS3.

[cedaridge]

I just payed off my ps4, now I can really get excited! Bring on the PS4, BABY!

[Darth Gamer]

Bring on what ever the gaming gods can shoot at me. My PS4 was paid off a month ago and I only owe $100 more on my XBOX ONE.

[Jeebus]

Tell them to keep the Kinect. Paid!

[fattyuk]

tell them to keep the kinect?

nah there too busy shoving it down your neck as your paying the bill.

[Darth Gamer]

Thanks for the advice but I personally am not a brand fanboy. I actually am intrigued by the second gen Kinect and glad Microsoft is making it standard with every console. From what I've seen of this devise, its a beast and now I leave it up to the developers to create some great things with it. Same goes for SONY and their 8 GB of GDDR5 RAM.

I'm really not into all the childish BS that 95% for you grown men and women partake in. Why like only one? and as for you idiots who write crap like 4 > 1 and "BELIEVE" or "JUST JUMP IN" depending if your for SONY or MS, GET A LIFE! THEY ARE VIDEO GAME CONSOLES!!!!!

Let me talk to the intelligent speaking adults in the room please.

[Pope_Kaz_Hirai_II]

cedaridge + 6h ago
I just payed off my ps4, now I can really get excited! Bring on the PS4, BABY!

well 2 people think you didnt pay it off so maybe you still owe 100? :)

[cedaridge]

@Pope. I guess maybe I didn't payoff my PS4, maybe i'm just lying? Any how, I did purchase a ps4 BUT now I have to get another controller, ps plus memb, ps eye camera, and of course, Games. I got the hard part over with now I just need the accesories. I don't have to B.S bout what I have or don't have, No need for it!

[wastedcells]

Make better games with it! Simple. Be more creative. Take some risks. Reach for the stars lol.

[Gamingisfornerds]

"Some Playstation 4 developers reportedly removed one of the 4GB RAM modules to put it to better use elsewhere and allow for even better airflow in the Playstation 4, seeing as that second module would likely never be used anyway..."

That seems a bit drastic though?!

[Heartnet]

You forget the devs dont have unlimited time and game artitst and 3d models take a long time to create and are very expensive...

There was a 3d enviro artist that did a article about why only 2-3gb wud ever be used in a console simply because of time restrictions and monetary elements

[DJMarty]

@Gamingisfornerds - What utter shite.

On closed consoles systems like consoles all resources get used, thats the point of having all consoles with exactly they same specs. You can make your game use all resources all of the time.

@Heartnet - Artists & 3d models will already be done for PC, so reusing PC assets for consoles will save time/costs etc not increase costs.

[madpuppy]

just a little experiment...

I really think, In my personal opinion, that the PlayStation 4
is a really great console from what I have seen and heard about Sony's device so far.

I am very excited to get one on release day.

[Petro]

This must be some form of trolling. So I must disagree.

[madpuppy]

I just wanted to see how many people would disagree. the average disagree to any comment about anything PS4 related is around 4. The experiment was to see if people would disagree about something that stated my personal preference of the PS4 without attacking anyone or any other console. it is interesting to see the results so far, even though I have noticed a large amount of disagrees to benign statements about Sony in general and the PS4 particularly. I have to come to the conclusion that there is a concerted effort to disagree to any positive or neutral statements about the PS4, I don't understand why anyone would bother, bitterness, anger, corporate astroturfing or just disagree trolling.

just interesting... :/

[mistertwoturbo]

LOL

It's like, "Man I have a million dollars in my bank account. My life sucks I don't know what to spend it on."

[Harkins1721]

Exactly! Well said.

OT: A pic of Trayvon? Come on...

[Consoldtobots]

is this guy kidding?

how about fewer load screens?

massive battles?

photo realistic textures and lighting?

[CalvinKlein]

they wont be saying that in 4-5 years tho. NOt gonna do it with a game that can run on 360/ps3 too.

[Hitman0769]

haha comment of the year

[medman]

Naughty Dog will know just what to do with the ram, as will many of Sony's other first party devs.

[Smoovekid]

So they are just not gonna use the extra ram. :/
That is dumb.

[Donnieboi]

@Smoove:

"So they are just not gonna use the extra ram. :/
That is dumb."

That's some "smoove" trollin' (or is it willful ignorance--I can't tell). Read the article next time.

Plus this amount of RAM lengthens the lifespan of the system and could do wonders for sandbox and MMO's. Either way, even if they don't use it, it's still not a waste since the PS4 is STILL cheaper than Xbox One, yet comes with a substantially larger amount of RAM.

[Zhipp]

PS4 and Xbox One have the same amount of RAM...

[JackStraw]

^not usable ram.

edit: @below yeah i read that giantbomb article too. what i came out with was this...

so, in reality, if i want to play a game (that uses more than 5gb of ram), i'll have to sacrifice whatever else i was doing on my console (which is one of the focal points of the X1), effectively defeating whatever "advantage" it might have had.

but, also, i came to the realization of, what could i possibly be doing on my console that would need 3gb? netflix? no, can't be that. skype? no, can't be that. tv? no, can't be that. hm. maybe if i'm running multiple apps at once? possibly, but i'd never personally do that as that's what i have a pc for.

it sounds to me like microsoft tried to do something interesting, but in reality, all they did was push windows 8 on me through their console.

[Zhipp]

@JackStraw
The difference is there, certainly, but it isn't all that "substantial" as Donnieboi put it. PS4 has 7gb ram 100% dedicated to games and 1gb dedicated to the OS. Xbox One has 5gb that's 100% dedicated to games and another 3gb for the OS, 2.5gb of which, thanks to the One's "Hypervisor"(ridicul ous name, I know.) can potentially be accessed by a videogame if the need arises. There's also the possibility of M$ reducing the One's software footprint later in the generation like they did with the 360 this gen. I find this somewhat unlikely, as the One will be much more app focused, but it is a possibility.

Regardless, by mentioning the price, Donnie made it seem like the Xbox One actually has less internal memory than the PS4 period, when this isn't the case. He should've either mentioned the GDDR5 RAM like everyone else does, or specified that he was talking about ram that's dedicated to gaming specifically.

[Zhipp]

@Jackstraw(again)
Yes, you would have to sacrifice whatever else you were doing on the console at the time for your games...but...you admit yourself that there's nothing on the console that's worth 3gb of RAM anyway, so...what are you saying, exactly? You seem to have contradicted yourself.

[Heartnet]

WHY ARE U BRING UP X1!!!!!

"Still not a waste" OFC ITS A WASTE

if ur not using it and never will then its a waste! jeez some fanboyz just ridiculous..

"Still cheaper than the X1" So? does that make it less a waste? so far the ps4 is a waste cause i can get a gaming PC for that price that does everything the ps4 does and better!

[Tundra]

RAM is used for storage (in the case they're referring to.)

If their game isn't necessarily in need of a mass storage of video game assets, then the extra RAM capacity goes unneeded. As said before, games rarely go over 2GB of VRAM when @ 1080p with current gen games (for pc that is).

The extra RAM was put in to remove that specific bottleneck as the console ages.

[wishingW3L]

they rarely go over 2GB on PC because most are ports from console games with only 512MB of Ram while other simply cater to the lowest common denominator. But since all consoles will have 8GB of available Ram by default that's an advantage consoles have over the multiple configurations of the PC.

This is just simple common sense.

[christrules0041]

@wishingW3L

Yes PC's rarely use over 2GB of RAM but the GPU has RAM baked onto it. Not just 32Mb though they have 1, 2 or 3GB of RAM. 1 GB = 1,024 MB to be specific. So while PC's use 2 GB of RAM the Xbox One will have to use more system RAM to make up for them not having as much RAM baked onto the GPU.

[Tundra]

@ WishingW3L

Of course it's common sense and it's also a beginning of a new generation. Completely redone engines aren't going to sprout out of nowhere, they're going to use what they have now aka. what was used last gen. RAM usage probably won't rise much this early thus: "Still Scratching Our Heads As To What To Do With It All" pretty much explains it all.

Which sums up what I just said earlier, their game doesn't really need a capacity that large atm. Where as KZ:SF is a different story.

[thetruthx1]

Sorry guys but Smoove is right, with developing costs going up and develop teams having deadlines they aren't going to take advantage of this extra ram. Even with PC architecture quality games are still hard work. Games don't even use 5 gigs of ram. Microsoft got it correct

[pete007]

Dont worry, neither the gpu nor cpu Will handle all 7gb of data, not even an ivybridge/gtx 680 CAN !! Its all pr bullshit. Perhaps no loading times, less popups, but nothing special. Look at driveclub/30 fps.

[Smoovekid]

The components are custom, Why would they put 7 GB of ram if they cannot use it all. smh

Driveclub devs are working on 60 fps.

[Heartnet]

@Smoovekid

So every fanboy on this site and other sites can say " PS4 HAS 2GB MORE RAM " so they buy into the whole ps4 is more powerful ima buy that console mentality and therefor its no longer a waste as its sold a console..

and even if they are custom they will be significantly worse than a PC OS and hardware so they will be able to handle even less!

[THC CELL]

I'll get you started, open world game.

[Heartnet]

like every game is turning into ? Open world games get boring fast imho... they work with certain games like MMOrpgs etc but if anything assasins creed, skyrim etc show that open world games are just full of empty spaces to increase play time..

far cry 2 for instance had no reason to be that big but was just for the sake of it.

[pwnsause_returns]

good. you have 7-8 years to play around with it.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Martin Lawerence=Sony
Cops= Developers

[XtraTrstrL]

LOL.

[wishingW3L]

isn't ironic that they were the ones asking for it and now they don't know what to do with it?

[thehitman]

Not all developers asked and know what to do with it. Most gamers run on 1gb of vram so to have 8 gb of it is a insane leap in terms of power.

[pete007]

Since when ram is power??
Only on psfanboys heads. Ram is a hiway, not a powerplant, cpu and gpu are.
I believe devs CAN do alot out of theese boxes, but To Max all 8gb on graphics and calculations Will be impossible With Their respective lowspecs

[thehitman]

Woa there pete who said ram is all of that? The term "power" can represent anything. In this case I was referring to bandwidth. An increase in bandwidth increases the power of the system in how well the games can be run on higher resolutions higher frame rates more textures loading at one time. That what bandwidth does. Maybe you should get your head out ur ass before responding with some preconceived notion. I built my own PC and game more on my PC than on my ps and to max 8gb is far from impossible otherwise Sony wouldnt have wasted money on it they are not stupid they are a tech company.

[JamieL]

@ Pete
That is what I was thinking. I am the furthest thing from a tech head there could be, but I've been thinking that the whole time, are the CPU & GPU in the PS4 even capable of possessing enough info to use all that RAM? I was under the impression they are not, but I could be way off base, but if this is true, what’s the point again?

[TurboGamer]

The specs are simply to weak to utilize all that memory. They will most likely just load most of the games assets into memory when the game starts up to decrease if not eliminate load times.
The thing to remember is that when programs are optimized, the memory usage decreases until you reach that speed vs. memory usage sweet spot.
I predict that with the PS4 and Xbone the devs will simply get lazy with memory optimizations.

[Hicken]

Where'd that idea come from? How are the specs too weak?

[jivah]

Tablet cpu. It would be the same as having an ipad cpu in your console. Its just not strong enough to push that ram to the max. I wouldve preferred a better cpu which is to say an old i5 or i3 can outpace the cpu in the jaguar anytime as well as maybe if they made it with a stronger gpu. Those are the bottlenecks. The cpu standing out more out of both components..I wouldnt mind if it cost 500 with those upgrades cause that would blow the current ps4 out the water..

Either way its still nice the way it is.

[pete007]

Cpu=tablet Pc
Gpu=mid range two generations old gpu
And for ram, not released clocks, timmings, nothing!!
Only 8 gb
It reminds my only PS3 friend who sais his dual core/gts 640 was stronger cause his hd had 1 Tb !!!!!!
Lol

[Thegamer41]

@Jivah

Yes because you know better than the engineers that made the PS4. You really think they would waste money mass producing these consoles with 8GB of RAM if the CPU was a bottleneck?

I really hate when people speak as if they know everything. Its not as simple as you and others think it is.

[Bolts]

Consoles CPU have always been weak, the X One and PS 4 are no exceptions with thier low end laptop CPUs. Having an i5 strapped to it would turn the PS4 into a powerhouse but then you wouldn't be paying $400 for it.

Low end laptop CPU for a low end laptop price. Sounds about fair.

[JackStraw]

i love when people who have never developed a program a day in their life make bold and stupid statements like this. good job.

[TurboGamer]

fyi I am a 3rd year computer sciences student.
My previous semester dealt with concurrency using OpenMP, OpenMPI and pthreads. I can program in 4 languages namely C, asm, java and python. I know all about the x86 architecture. The people that agreed with my comment are also programers. The people that disagreed are fanboys with no experience in programing.
Most games next gen will at most utilize 4GB of RAM. Only exclusives will use more, refer to my previous comment as for why.

[kingPoS]

Ahhh... thy copious naivety. lol

C+ C++ Assemably Cario Visual.

It's not as black n white as you think.

[Bowzabub]

I agree Turbo, I bet 90% of devs will just dump on the memory. Thank God for 1st parties! But I agree ( to an extent).

[TrevorPhillips]

Always good news come out of the PS4, never bad news which is obviously great haha! Can't wait, not long to go boys and girl :)

[SignifiedSix91]

That's because no one posts the bad news. Its always xbox one or wiiu and we all know why.

[PSN_ZeroOnyx]

Can't post what doesn't exist. Only poorly thought out negative opinions.

[SignifiedSix91]

And that's the same exact s*** that gets posted about the other two. "Poorly thought out negative opinions".

You people are a joke.

[AceBlazer13]

Well go find the bad news an post it for us give the Xbox fanboys something to go on.If site you go on has something good to say about PS4 and negatives about xbone then common sense should kick in there.Unless sony owns the internet now or something

[ramtah]

well i guess they dont have good imagination

[slazer101]

Try and use this.

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Edit: @ramtah

Ahhhh you beat me to it.lol

[Stsonic]

Am I correct in saying the GPU also shares the memory so It's almost like having 2GB for the GPU and then 6 for everything else?

[Yodagamer]

Nope it's like the xbox 360, you can allocate how much of it to where you need it.

[JP1369]

It's unified, so there is no defined split between CPU and GPU. Resources are allocated as necessary.

Edit: Beat me to it, Yoda has.

[JackVagina]

You explained it better :)

[Stsonic]

Well the 2GB I said was just an example so I was sort of correct. Thanks for explaining.

[Nicolee]

@Stsonic 1GB is fix for OS , so you have 7GB left to use between GPU memory and system memory
example: if GPU using 2GB then you have 5GB left might use that for whatever it need depend on developer to allocate them.

[xReDeMpTiOnx]

I wonder how much ram destiny will end up using :P

And I wonder of they will use the ram advantage to make a bigger or more dynamic world than x1?

[first1NFANTRY]

So last gen devs where asking for more ram and when it's presented to them they scratch their heads as to what to do with it lol.

Atleast the option is there now. next gen needs to get rid of texture pop-ins, framerate issues etc etc.

I'm sure the extra memory can decrease these issues.

PATIENTLY WAITING FOR ND & SSM TO REVEAL THEIR EXCLUSIVE GAMES.

[Sniperwithacause]

Just because one dev group are having creative block. Don't make it seem it happens thru out to other devs. Dob you even know if these devs were the ones to ask for more ram? I know Crytek asked for it, but they only care about graphics.

[iceman06]

Probably not really related to money as much as time. Some of these devs are rushing to meet that crazy launch window deadline. I'm sure you have been through a launch before. Most of those games don't come close to touching what the system can truly do. It's a matter of time and R&D before we see devs using the systems in the proper way in which they were designed. Right now, it's just get the game on the damn systems for launch.

[kingPoS]

Give em a few years and PS4 & XB1 will have us wondering how that much was squeezed out of 8gb.

Trust me... It'll happen in due time.

OMG! how are the PS3 & 360 able to juice 512mb of ram that hard. [mind is blown]

[JackStraw]

GribbleGrunger • 10 minutes ago

A disaster genius with "proven" track records ROFL. A new superior disaster is in the making......target acquired ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°). OMG HAIL HIM!

when you go full retard

[vigilante_man]

Like a good wine the developers should get better the longer the next gen goes on. Let's hope for some amazing games!

[1lawrence]

More is better

[DarkZane]

Welcome to a world of endless wonders.

[blanket14]

no the gpu is its own ram the system ram is 8 gigs and the os uses about 1 gig so you have 7 gigs of gddr5 ram just for gams or what ever you want and the video card is its own ram.

[plaZeHD]

That is a good news. Since this means Playstation 4 will have a long lifespan.

[christrules0041]

Not really. It means they can use as much RAM as they want and be creative but there will always be a limit on the GPU. PC's in 5 years are going to be a ton more powerful and when PC's move along enough it'll be time for new consoles. Dang if it moves along fast enough we could see Titan's 2 generations from now.

[plaZeHD]

No, not really. This gen(Xbox 360 and Playstation 3) proved that even how powerful PCs are no dev will remotely touch the power of high end PCs, nor will they optimize their games just as good as they do for consoles.
Plus lots of gaming rigs are already more powerful than next gen consoles. But that didn't make Microsoft nor Sony make a new and better system.
Consoles don't rely on Gaming PC's technology for the most part.

[Bolts]

The real threat to the PS4 and Xbox One comes from the rapidly expanding powers of the tablets and cell phones. Just like how the computing powers of the current gen of tablets have breeched the PS3 and 360 domain, the same goes for Xbone and PS4.

[Reefskye]

Lots of ram always good but my problem is what use is all that ram if say 8 years from now technologically specking the CPU/GPU will be as dated as my 70yo gran? You can put 120gb of RAM in to some Motherboards but if your only using a 8800GTS and a Intel Pentium D duel core your game going to run just as shit as the same spec machine with 4gbs of ram.

[wishingW3L]

consoles are not PC. There are many things devs can do with old console hardware that they simply cannot do on the PC due to low level GPU restrictions and multiple hardware configurations.

If you put a Cell CPU on a PC it simply wouldn't work as good as it does on the PS3.

[akpenob]

Well lots is good to a certain point, remember the more ram there is the more the program has to search through to retrive the data in the memory, look at it this way, the more space you have in your house or room the more you can put in there, but it comes with a cost that when you need to a specific item from that place you also have that more search to find it again.
bottom lines that when programers say more ram is better that is the case, but at some point it will burden the system insted of being helpful

:-)

[GamingTruth]

some of you pc nerds are going to learn the hard way again to not try to compare pc hardware with custom hardware that sony has spent years developing and modifying along with developers this isnt some off the shelf parts here

[piffyd]

a gaming pc from 3 years ago CURB STOMPS the ps4 into the ground

your tears will be so tasty when this thing comes out and all the games look worse than what we had on pc 3 years ago

I literally cannot WAIT!!!!

[kingPoS]

Huh?!?

I didn't know you had a PS4 make a detailed assessment with. You've absolutely got to tell me who's selling them. That way I can make an accurate judgment call just like you.

PM me: I want to nab a early PS4 - just like you.

[Bolts]

Lol off the shelf parts is exactly what the Xbone and PS4 are. Otherwise they wouldn't be easy to program for.

[GamingTruth]

thats cause of apis not them being off the shelf pc parts

[V0LT]

This just means the console cycle will be longer than last time IMO..

[Stevino123]

It's for making streaming services fasted, and eventually since they use playstation plus now, they could bring more streaming service and it's also used to make the console run faster in general.

[koolaid251]

No video game has ever used 4 gb of ram!!!

[MariaHelFutura]

All PS4s have 7gbs (to use) of gddr5 though.

[XabiDaChosenOne]

*Yet.

[kingPoS]

Why haven't they?!?

[stragomccloud]

Some(key word here) of you Sony fanboys posting here are kind of like religious zealots. Some of these posts I'm reading here are kind of scary. You'd think that the PS4 is their lord and savior. Geez you guys, take it easy. We all love gaming here, but you guys are in blind fanaticism territory here.

[MasterCornholio]

Same goes for Xbox fanatics, PC elitist and Nintendo drones. All of them posted something stupid in the comment section of this article. This is normal behaviour for fanboys but thankfully there are some who have really good opinions and information.

Motorola RAZR i

[stragomccloud]

Yeah. But totally to a lesser extent. Nintendrones just sound stupid at times, PC elitists are trolls, and xbots are just okay with being in an abusive relationship and are constantly justifying the abuse they receive. Only the Sony fanboys border on religious fanaticism.

[Krosis]

Lol watch your disagrees mount. Your an atheist at the Vatican on this site. My advice is hold your hands in front of you and say in a monotone voice "PS4 ftw" and "greatness awaits" whilst slowly marching aimlessly. What's laughable is Sony or Microsoft doesn't pay these kids A DIME for their blind advertising--the kids pay THEM. Lol I'd say the playstation kids are worse but the xbox side was bad at the last console launch. Whichever console is "winning" that side's idiotic zombie clan dominates the forum. This flavor of idiocy is current ATM. Sit back and laugh lol

[stragomccloud]

All hallowed are the Ori! Hopefully I won't have to face the judgement of the priors of the Ori.

All fanboys are bad. It's really scary seeing how polarized "gamers" have been as of late.

I have super nifty gaming PC that I get pretty much all multi plats on, I own a Wii U, PS3, and 360. I plan on getting a PS4 eventually, and an Xbone further down the road. Since each will have some decent exclusives. Consoles really are cheap enough that there isn't really a point in choosing sides. My next video card is probably going to cost about 400. Puts things in perspective.

[Bolts]

Most PC gamers I know own consoles. Myself included. I don't think of myself of an elitist but rather an uber gamer.

Being able leverage the strengths of both the PC and PS4 is what represent true greatness :) Something the lowly single platform Sony fanboys will never understand lol.

[Krosis]

Leverage the strengths of the PC and ANY console. PS4 and Xbox One are equal to my eyes--essentially the same hardware minus the ram and a slight power advantage that will not cause drastic differences on screen. I usually end up owning all the consoles as they all have one or two games worth getting. However as of yet all the titles I care about are multiplat and therefore will be played on my PC....the consoles have yet to show me a "next gen" game that makes me say "Holy I NEED that console!"

[Locknuts]

It's pretty scary sometimes but I mostly come here for the lulz.

[jay2]

Wrong people to talk to really, They're still on the older dev kids. Ask next gen only companies who dont have this current gen to worry about what they're doing with it.

[vigilante_man]

Nice problem to have.
Congrats to Chris Froome - winner of 100th Tour De France!

We wait 99 years then us Brits get 2 winners in 12 months - drugs free!!

[jeffgoldwin]

It's like putting on monster truck tires on a sports car. Seems extreme in 1 area and bottle necked in the rest of the vehicle. Kind like this situation here...

But who really knows the future. It is better to have it and not need it vs need it and not have it. So there's always that too.

[Hicken]

What are you smoking?

[jeffgoldwin]

Hi Hickey! With your charming commentary full of positivity, how you still at 3 bubbles? Don't worry you'll lose another real soon, I have faith in you bro.

[kingduqc]

Too bad their cpu and gpu is low/mid range.

[worldwidegaming]

Id take more power over a lot of ram any day. They used to trick pc owners with that trick.
2gb ram with a crappy bus bandwith lmao! The bottleneck!
Thats what everyone will be talking about and if they can overcome it the games will be better. We all know better! More ram just means more ram! Its having a bigger room to store your stuff! Graphics are only as good as the cpu/gpu make it. When they hit the wall and games start dropping to sub 30fps is when you will start really seeing something good.
Great for the days when you had to do more with less.
Now its going to end up being a hoarders paradise with every programmer dumping their stuff in the ram.

[piffyd]

"Still Scratching Our Heads As To What To Do With It All,

especially because the gpu is made for a laptop and the 1.6 ghz cpu is like an ipad part

this ram is really nice, it's just the rest of the thing that is low-end"

fixed

[kingPoS]

Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.

[ufo8mycat]

8GB RAM is a waste.

THe PS4 has a low end cpu and a low-mid range GPU. THOSE are the bottlenecks of the system, especially the CPU, so the benefits of extra RAM has no use due to this.

You are as weak as your slowest component.

Graphics today have surpassed that imaginary 'line' that make them good enough already - anything more is overkill,therefore they made the right choice for CPU/GPU, but the RAM is overkill and not needed.

They should have honestly stuck with 6GB instead and used that free'd up $$$ for some other features or a lower price.

[wishingW3L]

if 8GB of Ram were so useless like you and many people seem to believe then Sony wouldn't have gone with it but the PS4 wasn't engineered in just a couple of weeks you know. I really doubt you guys know more about hardware than Cerny to be honest. Most of you don't even have any idea about what's low level GPU programming to begin with and how much of an advantage this is to consoles compared to PC.

Just take a few seconds to read this:

http://www.playstationlifes...

http://www.playstationlifes...

both stories were confirmed to be true from the developers Twitter account BTW.

And then we have this statement from Nvidia developer and creator of FXAA Timothy Lottes:

The real reason to get excited about a PS4 is what Sony as a company does with the OS and system libraries as a platform, and what this enables 1st party studios to do, when they make PS4-only games. If PS4 has a real-time OS, with a libGCM style low level access to the GPU, then the PS4 1st party games will be years ahead of the PC simply because it opens up what is possible on the GPU. Note this won't happen right away on launch, but once developers tool up for the platform, this will be the case. As a PC guy who knows hardware to the metal, I spend most of my days in frustration knowing damn well what I could do with the hardware, but what I cannot do because Microsoft and IHVs wont provide low-level GPU access in PC APIs. One simple example, drawcalls on PC have easily 10x to 100x the overhead of a console with a libGCM style API....

http://www.gameranx.com/upd...

[vigilante_man]

Silly comment about new gaming consoles from a PC perspective.

PCs are generic computing devices. They are made to perform many differing tasks. They are multipurpose and not optimised for any specific task.

The PS4 has been built for gaming and will perform much better because of that. You can not directly compare it to a PC. I have been using PCs for a long time and build my own. They are not the same.

All the parts have been built to work together. PCs are separate hardware put together at the end.

[SonyPS4]

Bigger worlds!

[kevnb]

honestly, with everything they want to do in the background and the low speed of the processors... in thinking they have 2 gigs for video ram, and 4 gigs for memory. But the video card is actually pretty good. What matters most is the games though, sony always delivers.

[tanookisuit]

Not to mention, another dev (don't have the article link at the moment) yelled at Cerny (sp?) saying if Sony didn't include at least 8GB they would "be dead".

[BABY-JEDI]

Could make a virtual reality head scratching simulator game! See, problem solved. Don't think it will sell though.
; (

[TheKayle1]

well if the graphics of the ps4 r that showed till now...better buy an xb1 and forget about ur scratching ..maybe coz u need to wash ur hairs

[Sidewinder-]

New top-end game engines are required to make the most of this power.

[Thunderhawkxbox]

Woow Sony devs r thick or who ever wrote this article is thick for the last time Sony only use 7 gb ram for gaming get ur act together and stop saying 8 gb . They called themselves fans but they know f** k all shit about the console

[streetbred8706]

I think it's hilarious how this "spectacular GDDR5 RAM" is more compatible with the PS4's CPU than the PS4 is with playing PS3 games

[Jamaicangmr]

Such a wonderful problem to have. :D

This is far contrast to current gen when devs complained about too lil memory. (i.e Crytek). To the idiots who say 8GB is too much i pity you because clearly you don't know how memory works.