It is without doubt that RAM or memory is about the most important item in a console. When there is enough RAM in a system it allows the developers to try different kinds of tricks and do many things there want to do. With enough RAM in a system developers can do better graphics, physics, AI and a lot more. But RAMs are very expensive these days and console makers have to keep the cost down to be able to make a console that is affordable for the consumers. Console makers will have to choose between a powerful console and an expensive one. In the end something has got to give.
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The thing to remember is these new consoles will likely have dedicated OS RAM, and then RAM that can be used for games. Personally, 4GB seems like more than enough if it's ONLY being used for the game/textures. We're still going to need at least a 12X Blu-ray drive to try and fill those 4GB up. a 12X Blu-ray drive is capable of roughly 54MB/s, so we're looking at roughly 19 seconds to fill 1GB...1GB.
So yeah, I expect 4GB to be completely honest. That said, I would love to see 8GB of RAM just to shut up some of the devs :P
The phrase: "you can never have to much" doesnt apply to consoles.
There is a limit based on the balance of everything else in the system. you cant just throw gobs of memory at something and expect the performance to be increased proportionately.
it depends on the overhead. What sort of resources are required for everything else to run in the background. 16gb...I dont even have a PC that uses that much nor do i know of any gaming PC that uses that much.
Not saying they dont exist, im just saying I personally have never seen one nor any of my extreme PC friends with one. 8gb max. Maybe 10 if you add in a 2gb video card.
Me, I have 4gb and a 1gb video card. yeah, im behind the times but it does what i need it for. As to the topic at hand, we know it wont be any LESS than 4gb which puts it possible at 4-8 maybe a little more but 16....not happening.
Especially considering the performance of games like Last of Us are demonstrating at 512mb, split in fact.
And as I pointed out in my first post, the developers will need to fill that 4GB of RAM. Yes, it should allow games to store far more in memory; world size, objects, NPCs, etc. But if they can't use 4GB solely for the game, then I personally feel they are doing a terrible job at optimizing their games.
Also, PCs have dedicated graphics cards (at least gaming PC). They hardly use 4GB shared (1 or 2GB VRAM is common now).
And lately, next gen consoles will probably run more OS services in parallel to the game, e.g. apps on top of a game (like a browser, video call??? system menus, even the store fronts) so, there will be a need to have more memory available for apps not only the game(s). I still believe those apps will be lean and 4GB is plenty in such an environment (hell, it runs usually in a phone with 1GB incl. the OS). More than 4GB is hardly imaginable for cost reasons. Even if RAM would be cheap, the least amount which gives the most features will make it in the machine; what ever is most feasible to fit the needs.
I personally have 12GB's of RAM, but upgraded from 4 because I work with some super high poly models in 3DS Max which does take up any available memory, and 4 wasn't cutting it.
I'd be surprised if the next gen has more than 2 GB's of memory, and maybe some for the OS similar to the Wii U, and possible a separated architecture for the video memory. It comes down to that consoles are much more efficient than a general purpose computer for the things they do. It would be nice to have 4GB's for long term viability, but given the need for profitability I don't see it happening. Those few extra dollars add up over millions of units.
4GB is more likely.
16GB is overkill the console price will be sky high.
the highest end PC & console games 7-8 yrs from today. We don't know what were going to see or know for sure how much of video/graphic memory or the type of hardware will needed to run them properly.
But 16gb to 32gb whatever how crazy it all sounds, but hypothetically speaking, I'm with crytek all the way with this, I've seen crytek's work on high-end pc and I'd want very much to see the same visual quality in graphic capability achieved on consoles, and if petitioning hardware designers to push harder on video/graphic MEMORY is the way to do it, I think us gamers should get on board help push too.
yeah i know he was speaking in a hypothetical manner. Yet do we really think things will be coded the way they are now....7 years from now?
The idea that we will need such amounts of memory only shows the short sighted view that thing will stay the same in regards to programming techniques but the size of the renderings will get larger.
Just as with technology getting smaller and faster so will the programming techniques in taking what amounts to a huge open world size type of game but making it fit within the palm of your hand.
In fact, not too long ago it was demonstrated that there could be a fully fledged windows type OS with internet browser and yet fit within the size of a 1.44mb floppy disk.
The future isnt about getting bigger, its about making things smaller and more compact. Newer compression algorithms and chips so fast yet so small that the equivalent of a big gaming PC in your pocket.
Consoles of the future will be portable as well as stationary. Just because you hold it in your hands when on the go doesnt mean it cant plug into a tv when you are at home. And create the full immersive HD (maybe even 3D) experience.
To sort of add to my point of better programming, just look at the games at the ps3 launch and compare them to what is coming out next year. Its the same hardware but they just got better at using it. Imagine what they can do a few years from now with something as small as a phone.
So, the only thing they would do is put so much Edram as possible and then fill the thing with DDR3 and call it a day -__-
And they need to make sure it stays below $299 or else like the article writer I'm not buying it!!!
4GB was the minimum for PCs 4-5 years ago. Fast forward to today, 4GB is still the minimum and much more isn't really needed unless you have a crap ton of background apps.
System RAM isn't the de facto element that all of a sudden makes games run better. It's just a pipeline to fit data in for faster access times when the CPU needs it. The reality for gaming is that Video Memory is going to play a bigger role. And right now top end GPU's still only have 2-3GB and it is beyond sufficient for native 1080p games.
4 GB may have been the standard for 5 years, but then again graphics and other things in games havent exactly changed radically in that time either just compare Crysis to any recent pc game youd like. 4GB has been the norm prolly because 32 bit Windows have been where the sales are at, and Consoles have less also.
But the hardware have kept going on and is 20-30 times more powerful than Ps3 and 360 hardware today.
http://www.computerandvideo...
So for a current gen game at juicy resolutions, sure 4-6 GB would be allright.
Next gen however, well lets not vote to put restrictions on the future as future games should not only run at and with better resolutions, but at a greater fidelity and with way more going on in terms of number of objects, physics, AI and so on.
Id like to se 12-16GB ram on the next systems myself to avoid major bottlenecking new hardware and potentially even launch games.
Id be very dissapointed if I knew that future games would have huge typical traits from games all the way back to 2007... In 2014.
Anything beyond 16 would be nice too unless it comes at the cost of the memory speed or other things, but 12 is what Im realistaically hoping for.
I think 2GB is probably going to be standard for next gen, but wouldn't be surprised at 4. If it's 2 there may be some extra slower memory set aside for the OS. How it's set up is a different topic however, and there are several configurations to choose from.
At the beginning of last gen everyone wanted a beast of a console. Sony delivered. (built in wi-fi, hdmi, blu-ray, built in batteries, removeable storage, blu-tooth,free online) then everyone complained of price. If you want the best, you fools need to pay the price. people just don't seem to get that.
I don't want to see all you sissies whining on here next E3 when pricing in released. You want it? Pay!
MmmmYyessss....
Consoles need to have 12 Core processors and 32GB DDR4 RAM BEFORE I FEEL THEY ARE RELEVANT...MmYyyesss!
RAM, RAM RAM? RAAM....
Oh my~
It will also need TRIPLE CROSSFIRE GPU'S!.
Also, it 'HAS' to have a price tag of at MOST $400, or......it will not be relevant....Because I said so.
MmmMYyyyesss.
6 is possible. Just that 3gb ram cards are not too commonly produced.
Pretty sure 3GB Ram sticks don't exist... You can do different combo's and configurations to get it though like 2x1024's and 2x512's in dual channel. 6GB is the same, 2x2048's and 2x1024's dual channel or if you're on a triple channel system then 3x2048's.
I don't think so, don't talk like you know anything You ...
Why I'm feeling like those who want a 4gb next gen console are pc fanboys? You guys want a low end console to bust your ego about how far behind consoles are but that will not happen specially next gen consoles will be very high end like last gen plus optimization will always nade it shine plus cloud gaming keep it up to date if anything ..
I also bet Nintendo fanboys hope for a low end console like the one they got lol
And I'm amazed on how cheap some people are in here, if you don't want to pay $600 or $800 for a launch console then just wait a year or two for it to get cheaper.
The history abd logic says ps4 will have min of 8gb ram but that was if it was launch this year but with the delay that could change to a higher end tech.
Playstation (PSOne) - 2 MB Ram
Playstation 2 - 32 MB Ram
Playstation 3 - 512 MB Ram
Playstation 4 - 8,192 MB Ram (8 GB Ram)
Notice the difference in Ram between one iteration to its previous iteration?
A few weeks ago, he posted that the next gen systems need to support 4K resolutions http://n4g.com/news/1126262...
Now he is talking about 16GIG ram? Can he pay $1000 for a console?
and I want you to buy it all for me:)
If a PS4/X720 is to hold it's ground against PC for years ahead it needs to be really powerful when released.
I think the video game consoles are a dying breed, this next generation will probably be the last one as we know it.
"on a PC, 4GB of RAM is being shared between the OS/programs and the game, etc. On a console 4GB of RAM is going solely to the game (hopefully Sony and MS give the OS it's own memory to run off of)."
Sounds like consoles.. Youtube, myspace, nexflix app more than one app open etc..
plus most pc gamer close programs or "apps" in windows 8 before playing.
Windows 8 is a phone/tablet OS on a beast pc.
That would be like putting psVita OS on a beast pc.
Windows 8 uses 300mb ram on pc and boots maybe faster than a console now?
http://www.youtube.com/watc...
how much for wiiU os again? lol
But I wonder if the next consoles will be 30fps or 60fps.. Are devs willing to give up an extra 30fps or will they want to use all the resources?
But anyway console are consumer friendly low cost gaming devices. Why is everyone wanting pc experience? Get a pc or be glad with what you got. Console gamers are not even supposed to worry about ram, cpu, gpu that you will never even see or your warranty is void. lol
Looks sounds like a pc gamer forum in here.
For M$, the leak of there so called "road map" tells us that there next console will come with Kinect 2.0 which will see vast improvements with multiple player detections. The road map also suggested the next xbox will be doing alot of multi tasking as it will come as a PVR and u will be able to take in game screenshot and record gameplay video and put them directly onto the web. All that requires more ram.
If M$ goes with 4gb then attleast half of that will go to OS to deal with PVR, party chats, kinect 2.0 feature ect. In the end, u will end up with 2gb ram for devs to play with the next 5-8 years or more and that seem very small as the years go by. PC will just stamp on consoles.
The best option for $ony and M$ is to have atleast minimum of 8gb of RAM so devs can get 5-6gb of that to play with. 16gb would be alot to ask but 8gb of Ram is feasible and i would think its the minimum requirment thats needed.
Seriously, when will these guys stop? Not that long ago, Tom's Hardware did a comparison looking at 3, 6 and 12GB setups playing the same games. They found the performance boost completely negligible. "We can only recommend larger capacities of 8 GB to 12 GB for professional applications where its usefulness has already been documented and for servers."
You can see how it might be useful to set aside a bit of ram for OS resources or something similar, but from 3GB to 12GB, performance for gaming was almost identical. I'm not a hardware guy but I've come to trust Tom's Hardware over the years. If they say it makes little difference, I believe them.
http://www.tomshardware.com...
16gb is not going to happen, it would;
A. inflate the cost (not terrible, but with consoles selling at a loss in the first year or so, and millions to sell, every bit matters)
B. be redundant and unnessasary
C. call for a larger case, again more money, and large and bulky is undesirable to most
If we get 8gb ram, thats a blessing, 4gb could happen too, and honestly, with a beast gpu and a great quad core cpu or similar, it would not matter that much
I'd personally love 6-8gb, and I think it would be smart forward thinking, but 16....not happening and not needed!
What the hell am I even saying lol
next gen consoles are damned before they even come out
Consoles beat out PCs because they were cheaper and simpler. Expensive and complex doesn't work.
They pretty much popped the tech bubble on PC gaming yet their defenders will only point to them "fixing" the problem as if it had never existed in the first place.
PC's are getting a lot more accesible, Valve made a steam UI for people that use their PC on the TV with a controller, building a PC is really easy now and you can get a mid-range PC for 400-600$ and a high end one for 1k, which isn't expensive because you get what you pay for.
PCs fleshes out more money than consoles and that has been confirmed, even EA said that they got more revenue from PCs than from the PS3.
said this is my last 4 posts on this issue
To have a $399 price point - 4GB is more like it.
Not to mention 16Gb of ram by itself is worthless without a high end CPU,GPU and game to utilize it.
After christmas I will give him SSD, and then we will see where the next bottleneck is. :P
I have wasted way over 3000 euros on my own computer, and I still am going to waste some more on it, but no matter how much money I dump to it, its still not going to run Arma 2 with view distance of 10000 and all maxed out, oh and my resolution is 2560x1440.
Oh man this is turning out to be wall of text!
Anyway to stay on subject, my wishes are SSD and 4-8 Gb's of memory.
There is no way in hell 720 or PS4 will need 16GB LOL!
I would say 6GB, or maybe 8GB
1) Consoles don't have a huge OS that a PC does
2) 1080P gaming is NOT needed. 720 is perfectly fine (only time 1080p is needed is in platform wars which PC gamers use as a desperate attempt to make them feel like the platform is relevant) when the fact is, it really doesn't make a difference.
Look at the PC - it has the highest specs, but is the least relevant gaming platform, simply because 99.9% of the games you can already play on the current consoles.
8GB would be the sweet spot.
16GB RAM would be a waste as the GPU remains static for the whole console generation - so nothing to utilize the RAM.
I'd take 60fps/1080p over 120fps/720p any day. sub HD IS the reason why games this gen look jaggy as hell and i cant stand it. Hell, even my laptop with itel HD 4000 graphics can output some games at 1080p, so consoles better do the same next gen or else I'm not even going to bother.
If Microsoft and sony try to keep their original pricing as $300 (as lowest price) which means other parts have to downgrade. We all know these days ram's price are pretty high. If they upgrade most of the parts the prices would not be $300 it's to be higher (then the doctor from Farcry 3) As most company are somewhat O.C.D with their pricing. It's probably going up by $50's.(this is going by my logic of business not real facts. I don't really know what the Microsoft and sony people are thinking about their pricing.)
My bet is that they're gonna have 8GB.
16GB would be fine for the generation after the one that is gonna start next year.