Devs Really Like PS4's GDDR5 Memory, GPU Will Become Obsolete Eventually But That Doesn't Matter

"Consoles are about making the most with the hardware you currently have," says Jakub Mikyska from Grip Games

[Spinal]

Jakub is right.

But I really wish they made the consoles more expensive with hardware that can run all games at 1080p 60fps as a standard. I feel both Ms an Sony cheaped out on hardware to get that low low price.

If people can pay £500 for a smartphone I don't see anything wrong with consoles being near that price since you don't upgrade em for 6-7 years. At least then the hardware would be more capable of 1080p/60fps.

[u4one]

i completely agree. I would have paid $600+ per console if they had stronger gpu's and some degree of 4k capability - even if that was limited to media playback and apps. I mean i bought a ps3 for $599 back in the day so its not a foreign concept.

I have a Sony 4k TV now and it makes me not want to use a lot of the apps on the consoles because they max out at 1080p whereas the TV apps already have 4k sections. My consoles (ps4, x1) are barely a year old and are already feeling dated on that front at least - even moreso when you see what pc's are doing or will be doing fairly soon in terms of graphics on top of it. i dig my consoles, but yeah... definitely would have paid more for more.

[Darkwatchman]

I don't know about Xbox one, but the ps4 does have 4k output for pictures and videos

[Kingdomcome247]

I thought that both consoles were capable of 4k video. I definitely could be mistaken.

[u4one]

@LogicalReason - Yes I would because buying one better console less often is still cheaper than buying incremental consoles more often. Think of the long game. And also - the PS3 did have a rough launch but it still ended up outselling the x360 globally, so again - the long game proved successful.

FWIW i heard that the ps4 and x1 would have 4k media updates at some point in the future though info on this is scarce. I hope this is true because I also read that there could be new hardware revised consoles to handle 4k media (just simply codec decoder hardware etc, no crazy gpu, cpu upgrades).

It would be really annoying if the second scenario were true because then instead of paying say $600 for a better console initially, I'm going to be paying $8-900 because I will essentially have to buy the new updated console for a second time if I want it to support 4k playback.

I can't help but feel like the second scenario is unlikely though.

[vishmarx]

that would just kill the purpose.
sony paid heavily with $600 pricetag

people buy consoles not to compete with pc graphics but to conveniently play games.what percentage of the userbase will honestly be comfortable paying ,say $700, if it guaranteed 1080@60?
im sorry but no one really cares about it as much as the internet would lead you to believe.just because a few loudmouths here are willing to pay more doesnt make it a feasible model of business.
would i like my consoles to have more 60fps games? yes
would i be willing to give to twice the money for it? f** no.id rather play the game at half the fps and by 2 consoles or build a new pc instead
infact im 99% certain games will still be built around 30fps and just look better or support higher resolutions.
pc gets 60 fps because theres little to no pc exclusive AAA develompent or market. were devs to fully utilize a 980, then itd look jaw dropping but run at 30fps because everyone needs to SEE the best it can do,infact do you honestly think 90% of pcs would even be able to run that game?
pc games are built around console specs and because they have the additional hardware, the get to 60 more often than not
besides whats the guarantee that the additional hardware doesnt become just as obsolete a yer down the line
people always want more,with the $800 unit , theyll want every game to be 4k and then continue to whine the same way

[buttcheeks]

Yea man it amazes me how people are so simple to think that putting in better hardware and taking a loss is some magical solution when it makes the product far to expensive for the average consumer so the company's would take a loss on hardware and not have a large enough install base to profit on software and subscriptions

[hesido]

I agree with you on many points but I'd have gladly paid an extra 40-50 dollars for a better CPU! I think the GPU's are very capable in the new gen consoles, a lot of power compared to previous gen, but it's not the same case with CPU's.

Previous gen had very fast CPU's for their time (Xenon was very capable compared to PC cpus at the time, and Cell, although not super fast for general computing, blitzed through certain tasks that even current CPU's have trouble with (although for some very specific subset of problems).. New gen CPU's were anemic right at the gate.

(I have no interest in 4K yet, this will change in future, but the feature set of the console GPU's is very sufficient)

[Transistor]

When every game is 1080p 60 fps people will complain about it not being 4k.

Mainly from salty PC gamers, who secretly wish PCs got as much attention as consoles get.

[Tempest317]

Thats because likely by the time every game is 1080p60, 4k will be/have been the standard, just as 1008p60 has been the standard for a long while now. And a majority of PC gamers aren't complaining about any consoles resolution, because they're able to play games at their preferred resolution, so why would they complain? The primary groups complaining about anything are the respective fanboys of each console.

[hiredhelp]

salty pc gamers lol whats that anyways.. Listen Some PC Gamers will be stupid say about frame rate or resolution but not all of us are like that why? Cos we mature no need state the obvious what we can cant do plus i think everyone by now get that.
As for 4K its early days atm sure get decent 30fps you need top end card i mean top end sometimes couple cards But thats soon changing with next line up of GPUs We no longer be using GDDR5 and memory bandwith be hugely increased so 4k can start to become the norm on PC.
PC will always be 2 steps ahead consoles just the way its been for many years but that doesnt mean PC better than consoles, maybe in terms raw power yes but there areas that make consoles better choice.
Cheaper
Plug in play
Physical copys that not tied down to a single account
Not have worry about windows
But as a GAMER both PC and console the one thing i hate is comming on here seeing few gamers that have a pc start acting like a fanboy its petty.
Same time im fedup with same consoles choose your platform and play.

[MysticStrummer]

"PC gamers, who secretly wish PCs got as much attention as consoles get."

Worst kept gaming secret ever.

@Tempest - It's not so much complaining as showing up in console-centric articles to say "Hey what about PCs?".

4K won't be a real force in the gaming market until 4K TVs are way more common, and that won't happen this console generation.

[SilentNegotiator]

"Thats because likely by the time every game is 1080p60, 4k will be/have been the standard, just as 1008p60 has been the standard for a long while now"

lol, "standard". I'm not sure what you think a standard is, but something that the vast majority don't have does not count as much of a "standard".

[Tempest317]

@SilentNegotiator 1080p has been the primary viewing standard that pretty much all mainstream viewable media has been going for for ~3-5 years...60 fps has ALWAYS been the goal for gaming, at least since I started in 2001...just because not everyone has it doesn't mean its not the expected level of quality.

[SilentNegotiator]

It wasn't even the target of 90% of developers in the 7th gen, which started in 2005. An entire decade in which 30fps, not 60, has been the target for the vast majority of games.

I think after 10 years, it's time to stop pretending like 60fps is the industry standard.

[Psychotica]

That's stupid. Most PC gamers own consoles as well.

[Shineon]

Attention? What kind of attention are the consoles getting?

[Magicite]

You can gimp any game and make it run at 1080/60, but thats not the point.

[Xof]

Dialing down pointless visual effects is a far cry from "gimping."

[_-EDMIX-_]

? Once you know why that is, you'll know it can really happen that way.

1. Resolution and frame is developer choice. They choose that setting. If PS4 and XONE had 4 times the GPU power, Ubisoft, EA etc would just make an engine 4 times stronger...meaning that indeed they would have to choose between frame and resolution on certain titles to compete. With better GPUs, they still have to compete against each other, a game maxing out the GPU will look better then a game that lowers some settings to get 1080p or 60fps. This is just the give and take nature of a GPU on set systems.

Sooo you see lack of 1080p 60fps not because the systems can't but because developers won't make that trade off against competition. Would you market GTA SA against GTA V on PS3 and 360 and advertise that its 1080p 60fps as if that matters? Consider GTA V at the lessor frame and res STILL LOOKS BETTER, is more demanding etc. THAT is what developers have to deal with, that trade off isn't worth it to most developers, ie why GTA V was on a new engine to begin with, if Rockstar wanted that last gen, they would have never made a new engine, just keep using Renderware.... Do you really think that its cause they "can't" or that they won't?

2. Folks can pay what they want for phones....game systems are not phones, it cost MILLIONS to make some of these games, they need the install base to justify such a thing, folks don't buy game systems to have the newest fashion trend....they buy them to game. Its something that just can't be compared.

Once you know that res and frame are based on developers choice and not solely the system, you'll realize why it makes no sense. Has anyone not considered that a developer could just continue to use the same engine as last gen or just have low quality assets to stay at 1080p 60fps if indeed they even really, really wanted that?

Hell, look at how many games last gen were at 1080p, or 60fps or both, do you think those same titles stand a chance looking like last gen games with minor updates JUST to hit some number? I'm sorry but at the end of the day, gamers want a new beast engine vs set numbers.

I'll take a new GTA engine that looks like real life at a lower res and frame, then a GTA running on the same engine. Who here legit wants the next GTA to look exactly the same JUST to hit some number?

Also consider its not the power of the GPU, but the GPU's support. What damn PC game do you even see that requires whats in a PS4 or XONE in order to play? Soooooooo what does it matter what the GPU actually is if no PC developer seven require such things on PC?

Soooo if a super computer exist in Japan that is 20000 times stronger then a titan card 4 way SLI'ed..does it really matter that any thing is weaker then it if no developer on earth even uses its specs? So why care that PS4 or XONE's GPU's are what they are when no developer on PC even required such power in the first place? Your indeed seeing next gen quality as thats not the norm on PC in terms of engines as once again...how many PC titles require such power? Never mind PC GPU comparisons, they mean nothing when it comes to actual support.

[Spinal]

'Has anyone not considered that a developer could just continue to use the same engine as last gen or just have low quality assets to stay at 1080p 60fps if indeed they even really, really wanted that?'

Funny you should say that, there is a company doing just that. And the game is called Call of Duty. They release it every year as you know and it outsells all other games. its a shame really...

[Kayant]

@Spinal

For once this isn't true. COD:AW is a new engine and it shows.

[JWiLL552]

There's no such thing as "1080/60 as a standard" for consoles. That just doesn't make sense and people need to stop saying that.

With fixed resources you're always going to have the option to make a 30 FPS game with far more visual detail and many developers will continue to select that option.

Consoles will always work that way.

[OpenGL]

I agree, even if a console had a 980 or Titan in it, there would still be developers that would target the best visuals possible over a smooth framerate because visuals show up in commercials and screenshots.

This is why I thought the Uncharted 4 announcement was strange because developers ALWAYS prioritize visuals over framerate, and none of the previous installments were 60fps.

The Last of Us Remastered was 60fps because it was a PS3 game running at 1080p on PS4. Naughty Dog didn't want to create all new assets and it made fiscal sense to leave the assets more or less the same and just push a higher resolution and framerate.

[ARESWARLORD]

I would take 60 fps over higher textures or what not. Any day of the week. 60fps soild is awesome.

[jc12]

I hear ya. I wish they put dual GPUs in the PS4. Im sure that would have driven the price up, but a guy can dream...

[ARESWARLORD]

They did not need crossfire. They just needed to put better gpu's in. As a poster above said a hd 7970 would have been perfect.

[Yodagamer]

Even if the consoles could do games that were both 1080p and 60fps that looked great there would still be developers that will sacrifice the framerate for extra detail. It's just how developers are.

[DarXyde]

Is that really possible though? The thing is, hardware is stagnant. All developers would need to do is keep making more detailed/bigger games. Since they know exactly what they're working with, they would probably just push the hardware and it could never consistently hit 1080p/60fps.

In other words, if a game like Drive Club were released on a more powerful PS4, Evolution would be able to do 1080p/60fps if the graphics stayed the same, but they would likely add even MORE detail and it would still be a 1080p game at 30fps.

[fanboysmackdown]

Very good comment, I feel the same way. I'm more than willing to shell out an extra $100 for better hardware.

[Father__Merrin]

who will buy a console that expensive?

btw the overall majority dont pay £500 for a smart phone, they purchase the phone via contract. that system wouldnt work with a home console, its not as if a console is a fashion accessory etc like a good phone is

[kevnb]

Because average people don't use their consoles nearly as much.

[darkmirror]

Console prices are perfect in my opinion. If they charged more than $500 most people would just go buy a PC, myself included.

[rainslacker]

I wouldn't mind spending more for a console for it to have a longer life, and more power out of the box, but Sony received a ton of backlash for that last gen, despite losing a lot of money on every unit sold. MS received a lot of heat for pushing out a $500 console this gen.

Admittedly both those scenarios have a catch which doesn't make it applicable 100% to your argument...PS3 had a lot of new expensive tech and X1 had Kinect to drive up the price. But I think it shows clearly that price is a big factor when considering a console, and likely has more to the average customers perception than the actual hardware involved.

When it comes to consoles, so long as they improve on the last gen, it's usually good enough to most people. Unfortunately, us hardcore that would actually spend another $100(or more) on a console to have more power and hopefully better games, are far outnumbered by those that just look at initial price point. Typically the cheapest console is people's pick, but in some cases paying a bit more if there is a perceptible difference(even if only in people's minds in some cases) is acceptable.

[alabtrosMyster]

I am with you, I would have paid 50 to 100$ more for a better CPU/GPU combo!

However, there is no such thing as "hardware that can run all games at 1080p 60fps" well, unless games are designed to target this (render every frame under all circumstances in 16ms, no matter what's going on on the screen).

Now the PS4 has been often close enough and I can't recall any game except Thief that has sustained drops below 30fps at 1080p (maybe it's the games I played)... heck, we have less 900p games on the PS4 than the XB1 has ~720 (or 792p) titles!

Just to say, yes it could be better, but I find it perfectly acceptable, this is the first time I say this of a console since the Dreamcast back in 99!

[3-4-5]

* People "in the know" leaked out bit by bit, that this gen wasn't going to be as powerful as we'd really want it to be.

* Very few of you actually paid attention to that, and still you WANTED it to be A, when it was always going to be B.

* What we have is "good enough", but the next gen is going to really do what we thought this one did.

* This gen was to bridge the technology gap from the past to the future way of doing things.

[Captain_TomAN94]

I thought Sony would cheap out more and use a GPU as weak as the X1, but luckily only one company made that mistake.

There's no way to make it stronger though without either losing TONS of money or making it so far fewer people can afford it.

Yeah a $600 console 50% stronger than the PS4 would have been nice, but that's what PC is for.

[Locknuts]

I totally agree. I would have rather spent $500 on a powerful machine than $450 on a new GPU but Sony and Microsoft made my choice for me. 30fps is just not acceptable.

[UKmilitia]

i paid £379 onlaunch with killzone and fifa 15.

i would of happily paid £450 for a beefier console,but at same time im really enjoying ps4 how it is and most of games looks amazing and good enough.

bloodborne for example looks amazing.
the faster last gen dies the better looking games will become.

[Rainbowcookie]

Though I agree with you the problem comes that in different countries die ps4 is at different prices. In South africa where I live its about a third of a teachers salary already. The other problem is that all hardware becomes obsolete eventually so if you boost the hardware where do you draw the line. Adding more power might add 2 years but by that time your competitor Msoft or nintendo might have a brand spanking new machine that is better and you know the world loves updated "new" things

[Maxor]

I would gladly pay $600 for a PS4 with 1080p @ 60fps. Gladly. Hell I paid $600 for the PS3 just for the Bluray alone and at least that delivered.

[hkgamer]

i kinda agree with you, however not many people can afford that high price for gaming.
i personally dont mind paying more since i will get a good few years out of that product but the majority will complain about the prices.
remember people going crazy over the PS3 prices?

I also think that MS and Sony got fed up with not making profit from their consoles so this time round they made sure that they wont be making a loss from each console sold from the start.

[RumbleFish]

The console hardware is obsolete. It was old hardware when it released.
I'd just like to see that devs would not try to squeeze all that quality out of the hardware. Instead they should try to optimise for performance. 60fps is just so much better and more important for gameplay.
They try to come close to the visual quality of the PC and they sacrifice performance for eye candy.

[AndrewLB]

So Jakub confirmed what I've said for two years now, about how the PS4's GPU has nowhere near enough processing power to come even remotely close to saturating the amount of bandwidth provided by GDDR5. The PS4 has roughly the same memory bandwidth as my old nVidia GTX 680, while having only have the flops. And the only way to max out the GTX 680's memory bandwidth would be to run lots of anti-aliasing (MSAA, TXAA, SSAA) and crank the resolution well above 1080p.

[stragomccloud]

That's an excellent point, and it's evidenced fully by their use of non customised mobile apus.

[Spotie]

Non customized, huh?

[stragomccloud]

Well, the Xbone's version of jaguar is slightly customised. The only "customisation" really going on here is that they stuck two of those 4 core APUs together.

[Kayant]

Yh which is why there is a mobile GPU with the same compute units as the PS4's or a laptop that uses GDDR5 for system ram /s.

Both consoles have custom chips. The only customisation on the CPU side of things for XB1 apart from like you mentioned both having 8 cores was for virtualisation and the like -

"There had not been a two-cluster Jaguar configuration before Xbox One so there were things that had to be done in order to make that work. We wanted higher coherency between the GPU and the CPU so that was something that needed to be done, that touched a lot of the fabric around the CPU and then looking at how the Jaguar core implemented virtualisation, doing some tweaks there - but nothing fundamental to the ISA or adding instructions or adding instructions like that." - http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...

[PersonMan]

I never understood comments like this: "But I really wish they made the consoles more expensive with hardware that can run all games at 1080p 60fps as a standard."

If they made the consoles more powerful, we'd still be in the same exact situation because they could still use up all the extra power and we'd still have 30fps games.

How come people don't understand this? It doesn't matter how fast the machine is, they'd (the devs) still find ways to overload it and then make the decision whether to cap it at 30fps or better visuals or pair it back for 60fps.

[Corpser]

GDDR5, such amazing technology from 2007

[MasterCornholio]

Well that's what modern GPUs use.

[MrSec84]

Exactly and until PS4 came out there hadn't been a single APU that used GDDR5.

The OLED is tech that dates back to the 1960's yet it's hardly what you would call the most prevalent technology used in modern TVs, yet most people would consider it one of the most advanced technologies for displays.

[GUTZnPAPERCUTZ]

VRAM and SRAM and DDR4 are the "New" memory types that modern GPU's and CPU's use...

[MasterCornholio]

@GUTZ

Here's a list to Tomshardware GPU chart.

http://www.tomshardware.com...

Looks like the top of the line GPUs still use GDDR5 ram.

;)

[madjedi]

You mean sdram right guts, vram is just short for video memory.

DDR4 is used only for system memory and even then it is pointless vs high speed ddr3 because of it's higher price tag and minimal performance gain for general use.

Such potential in oled tvs, if only they could gets the issues ironed out.

[BiggerBoss]

GDDR5 is amazing enough to run Bloodborne and the Order 1886, so its fine for me.

[Hurfs]

No not really!

[ps5fanboy]

Yeah , that's why every PC has it as part of its architecture as does the Xbox one...oops!!

[IGiveHugs2NakedWomen]

Actually most graphics cards use GDDR5 because it's specifically designed for graphics related tasks, such as GAMING.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Current GPUs use GDDR5. APUs using GDDR5 are unique. But I'm sure you knew that already..

[OpenGL]

The first video card to use GDDR5 came out in 2008 and every high end video card on the market uses GDDR5 including the $1000 Geforce GTX Titan X. There are no HBM video cards yet.

[GreenUp]

It already is obsolete... If it wasn't, every single game would be 1080p 60fps at minimum with the atrocious graphics settings they use currently.

[MrSec84]

It's not obsolete at all, obsolete implies it's not used at all, PS4 is the most popular games console, it's also the most advanced one too date.

It's about as far from being obsolete as you can get!

[ARESWARLORD]

I guess my dreamcast is not obsolete at all. Love that SEGA DC.

[NatFanBoyRestricted]

Mrsec. I don't believe the Ps4 is really a advanced as you think. Everything's basically of the shelf. But yes it does have gddr5. But the pc used to make is games probably run ddr3. So that really doesn't feel advanced now. PS3 with the Cell I would think was more advanced. Only comes down to utilizing it.

[HighResHero]

Maybe devs should be focusing on making great games first anyway.
More titles like Bloodborne and less titles like Crysis 3 please.

[MrSec84]

@Areswarlord: Not according to the definition of the word. ;)

@Macxb1: As far as consoles go it's the most advanced system, making a comparison with PC is a red herring, not really applicable when I said "console".

Cell is old tech, from 2005/6, the CPU tech in PS4 is more advanced, same goes for the GPU and memory in use in the platform.
Efficiency of design, raw performance, PS4 is much more capable in both regards.

@HighResHero: The platform's a tool, a means to an end for gaming.
Sony always brings the variety and quality, every generation, so you shouldn't have any worries in that regard.

What 1st party and partners have in the works should be pretty amazing.
Hopefully we'll see more of that shown at E3 and later conferences this year. ;)

[_-EDMIX-_]

"If it wasn't, every single game would be 1080p 60fps" nope. That is a setting that is game dependent, not system. A developer made that call.

It has nothing to do with "can't" it has to do with WON'T!!!

That is like saying on a GPU every single game can run 1080p 60fps, that makes no damn sense if you don't factor at what quality settings, what engine etc.

That isn't a set number bud, that varies greatly depending on game, engine, setting etc.

Developers don't want low quality as a trade off, thus make the choice to not force it just or numbers.

[rainslacker]

Isn't the current PC GPU budget card that is selling the most right now in the same class as the PS4 and X1...or actually in a lower class than the current consoles?

Obsolete in computing means that it is no longer relevant to development, and I dunno about you, but it seems kind of dumb for a developer to not support the most common card being used at time the game will be released.

I hate to say it, but those budget cards are the ones that pop up most in OEM builds, and are the ones typically used for systems with integrated graphics, and they far outnumber the hardcore gaming cards by a very far margin, making them anything but obsolete. It'll be another 5-6 years before you won't see them on the shelf or in OEM builds anymore, and even then they'll still exist for another few years after that meaning some kind of support.

Heck, my relatively cheap at the time PC GPU is now almost 5 years old, and it's still over the minimum to play any game being released today outside a few games which are extremely demanding. May not look as good, but it's still supported.

[UKmilitia]

how many times do people need to be told.

U cant directly compare a consoles spec to PC,they are custom coded and games optimized to the setup.

[akurtz]

All hardware becomes absolete at one point.

[Ninver]

The moment u take it out of the store it's obsolete

[Psychotica]

Exactly, that's why it's great to have a system you can upgrade each component instead of the entire thing.

[MCTJim]

It was obsolete the day it was launched.

[F0XHOUND]

By what comparison? Ultra PC's? I'm fairly certain GTA V on high is pretty much identical, and in places inferior, to the consoles.

So obsolete by the highest level in gaming PC's can achieve? Yes. But 20m + ps4's sold, Xbox doing well too proves that the ultra end is niche and a luxury. Enjoy it, but the consoles are massively relevant to the point most big titles are, and will be being made for console then ported to pc, which ofocourse is a "definitive" version technically.

[iggsta3o5]

That is true for games ported from consoles since they are using the same models that where used on the console. When a game is ported from console the amount of polygons per model do not change what does change is mainly the resolution of the texture and certain features that only Graphics cards on PC will put out. GTA V looks similar to console because nothing but the textures changed. The best way to compare this is to look at Star Citizens average polygon count per model vs the average console game polygon count. You will see that the polygon count is higher allowing for better detail. PC games if they are developed for PC would vastly be graphically superior to current console hardware but because Publishers look towards maximizing profits they will not create a game for the PC then port it over to console as that would mean more cost. It would be easier and less costly to port games from console to PC. The other problem is that pushing graphics on PC would require more cost because it would require more development time the last game to do this was the original Crysis. Star Citizen is attempting to do just that lets see how that turns out. Basically PC gaming is expensive to develop for if your trying to utilize its potential and Publishers only care about maximizing profits and reducing cost.

[ARESWARLORD]

All depends on your viseo card. 60fps is no joke maxed at 1080p

[_-EDMIX-_]

A super computer in Japan makes ever PC GPU obsolete the day they launch.

your point?

[Psychotica]

And what games do they play??

[StormLegend]

I don't mind the graphics, everything is a giant leap from last gen. I don't care if the game has 60fps or not.
And yes I know that 60fps matter more, but it's not a big deal. Games like the Witcher 3, Batman AK, The dvision, Dying light, Uncharted 4, Tomb Raider and so on have amazing graphics!

[uth11]

I agree the graphics are great, I really don't care that some people get higher res or higher FPS on their PC. Once you get on that hamster wheel, you will always be made to feel that your system is inadequate and feel like you need to upgrade.

I'd rather enjoy what I have.

[Two-Face]

"Once you get on that hamster wheel, you will always be made to feel that your system is inadequate and feel like you need to upgrade."

Heheh. This is too funny. You must be one of those people that think all PC gamers are pirates too? Or that PC gamers never play their games, only care about specs.

Please do keep bringing them inaccurate statements without factual evidence. Something tells me you have no experience with PC.

[mkis007]

Two face...he is correct though. His analogy is pretty apt. I just spent another 1200 on my nw build and i already cant wait to upgrade next year the gpu

[uth11]

Two Face- I've built PCs for over 20 years. I've lived it, I've seen it. I'm over it

[Jedislayer]

consoles will always be obsolete the gap is usually 5-10 years from pc hardware. but this has always been the case. no new news here.

[Roccetarius]

Vulkan and DX12 is just going to make it even more obvious, so that'll be interesting to see. Not to mention we'll be seeing HBM GPU's from now on in the future.

[mkis007]

Actually ps3 and 360 were ahead of pc's for the first year or 2.

It hasnt happened since then though.

[RevXM]

Sure there is almost always a gap but 5+ years? thats stretching it even if we use ps4 as an example which I think is a somewhat lacking and underpowered console because Ps4 is still simply superior to anything you could have thrown together in 2008.

With Ps4 Id say even 3 years may be pushing it.

And last gen the gap was non existant, if not negative, because 360 and ps3 were powerhouses.

Not on paper and definitively not IRL running games has the gap been 5+ years at launch. except handhelds and maybe Wii/Wii-U. I think 0-3 years is more like it.

[SilentNegotiator]

10 YEAR GAP?!?!?!?!
Are you out of your freaking mind??

By what standard? The absolute strongest home computer in existence 10 years prior?

[rainslacker]

Think people are misinterpreting the meaning of obsolete.

Outdated is a better term IMO.

Even then, outdated is only in comparison to something else which has always been far ahead of consoles since the first 3D graphics cards started being used. Funny thing...back in the 2D days, it was actually possible to have a more powerful GPU in the console than you'd find in a PC, but no one was going around saying that PC GPU's were obsolete.

Given all that(minus the tangent), the better term would simply be outclassed by more current GPU's...as current GPU's will be outclassed by whatever comes next.

[Spotie]

Well said.

A horse and carriage is obsolete. A 60s era muscle car is outdated.

[PANDAB]

These companies will always have to grapple with balancing Price and Performance. They both obliviously could have made them more powerful...but at what cost?

I'd rather have them at a reasonable cost & performance and be able to afford one sooner than having to sacrifice an arm and a leg. With a speedier adoption rate, there will be more incentives for devs to create games for consoles.

Besides, if I'm going to spend a large amount of money to game, I'd rather have a PC.

[OC_MurphysLaw]

GDDR5 was a good decision for Sony imo, but really it was there last minute bump to 8GB that was the real great decision. Had they gone with the original 4GB it would have been brutal for them.

[OpenGL]

If the PS4 had only 4GB of RAM it would have been very interesting because it would probably would have limited the ability to run applications in the background and would have put the system at a disadvantage with the Xbox One. It would have still been faster than the Xbox One in some ways but the lack of memory would probably be a serious disadvantage.

Luckily Sony made the right decision and doubled it at the last minute.

[MasterCornholio]

Its was a good thing that they listened to the developers. The devs told them that if they went with 4GB the system would be screwed. It was a risk to adopt GDDR5 memory but luckily they got the 512MB modules in time.

[rainslacker]

I agree. Going with 8GB's was the way to go. Given how much memory is given to these systems OS's nowadays, it would have been brutal to only have 4GB's in the system, particularly with the bigger uptake of open world and MMO's in the past 5 years.

I'm not sure the change was last minute though. That's not really how these things are done. I may be wrong about the timing. However, I believe the KZ:SF dev said that the original design had 4, but devs asked for 8, which Mark Cerny commented on that they weren't sure they'd be able to get past the board due to pricing reasons. I think all this happened before the reveal though. Maybe not the actual changes as that may require some engineering to make sure it's possible, but the actual decision. It's also possible why Sony didn't have the final design ready to show at the reveal, since they may not have been sure if that design could handle the heat from 4 extra gigs of memory.

[kenwonobi]

They made the right decision. It is paying off. The games look stellar. They are things on the Ps4 which rival the Pc finally.

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

Oh god, this is gonna become one of those. 'Ps4 is revolutionary tech' things isn't it? Same shit happened with ps3.

[T2X]

I'll just enjoy my games and continue not caring. Lol!

[leogets]

Make ya right mate.. leave these nerds to it lmao..

[Dyldog69]

Basically I've put my ps4 in the closet for 3 years until this thing performs as advertised.

[mkis007]

It is an inanimate object, punishing it is inhumane; it cant defend itself. how would you feel if we put you in the closet for not performing as advertised.

[T2X]

HA! That's a good one. Are you serious?

[WilDRangeRfc]

I just ignore the tech that is available on PC as I have no interest in ever building one,I have the money to build the best available but I enjoy Xbox/Playstation/consoles,I could never play with a key board and mouse for a start even if it gives you an advantage,consoles are 5 years behind in tech so what I just game 5 years behind every gen and to me as long as consoles keep improving thats all that matters,next gen will be a massive step up but for PC gamers a few years old,I can live with that aslong as games for me keep improving visually every gen.There are all various technologies already tried and tested from cars to electronics etc that the public have to wait to get their hands on,point is there is always something better around the corner so who cares if you experience it a few years late

[andibandit]

"I could never play with a key board and mouse for a start"

you know it's not 2005 anymore right? almost all games on PC that could benefit from a gamepad, supports it nowadays.

[WilDRangeRfc]

Read my post again and concentrate when you do,where do I say you cannot use controllers with a PC, I have a 360 pad for my laptop,my point is to keep up you would need to use keyboard and mouse as they give advantages in accuracy and speed over controllers,please dont tell me your a PC gamer as this is common knowledge

[Razuel]

They should have given the hardcore gamer the option to game at 60p with an addon gpu. (xfire) Curious to see how steam gaming turns out..

[Spotie]

Splitting the user base like that would have been a horrible idea.

[Razuel]

an optional upgrade, 30-40 vs 60fps? not really.

[madjedi]

Right we had something like this before, google the 32x or sega cd, it wasn't a smart idea then nor is it now.

Either build a pc or live with what the consoles offer.

[Razuel]

1990 is irrelevant.

[madjedi]

1990 or 2020 it doesn't change the fact that it is not a smart idea to try and fragment a user base with add on hardware.

[Agent_hitman]

I really like Sony's decision to use GDDR5 for PS4. As a matter of fact, when I learned about that news I was really glad and also it's GPU with 1152 Stream processors.

[Maxor]

The best thing about the PS4 is that we no longer have to hear fanboy garbage about the "Power of The Cell" and how it's not maxed out yet. Or my personal favorite, 1080p gaming isn't important.

[windblowsagain]

Cell wasn't bull, was fast but fiddly.

They had to go with higher core count for various things going on in background on PS4.

As for 1080p/60fps.

Does not matter how much GPU you have. You can always make higher fedilty/assets and slow it down.

As most PC owners know, you find your best config with regards to rez/aa/60fps. Not always maxed. Depends on rig.

But I would also say that the CPU's inside the PS4/XB1 have more to give.

[Heavenly King]

this is basically Advanced Warfare 2

[Heavenly King]

wrong tab comment lol

[edqe]

If they like GDDR5 I guess they are going to love HBM that is going to be used on PC soon.

http://wccftech.com/amd-20n...

[PhoenixUp]

I've noticed we don't hear as many "Only possible on PS4" quotes as we did last gen where everyon kept spewing "Only possible on PS3"