The PlayStation 4, reportedly codenamed Orbis, may utilize AMD's A8-3850 APU and Radeon HD 7670 GPU, sources have told IGN, offering the combined performance of both integrated and discrete graphics processors.
It's looks to me that the PS4 will be alot cheaper than the PS3 was at launch (Which is good), with decent specs to still compete. I can't wait to see what the developers unleashed for the next gen consoles.
based on the rumored specs the new Xbox/PS4 shouldn't be too expensive...those parts listed could be brought for real cheap by us reg folks just think about the deal MS/Sony are getting since buying in bulk...
RAM limitations in consoles has been the biggest stumbling block for devs in recent years. But the new consoles are almost guaranteed to have at least (if not more than) 4GB of RAM.
The rumored graphic cards in the next-gen consoles may not seem spectacular when compared against current high end PC's. But once they are optimized for the new hardware; 1st & 3rd party devs should be able to lift their restrictions & provide an impressive graphical leap forward, while hopefully still launching at an affordable price.
I don't think the PS4 will be physically upgradable (with the exception of the HDD of course); Nintendo tried that back with the N64's RAM pack and it never really took off & only managed to confuse the casual market.
Rather I'd expect the next-gen consoles to be capable of an improved Onlive-esque propitiatory cloud gaming service, for when (down the line) the PS4's (and/or Xbox 720's) physical hardware has been tapped out by the devs.
That means they could continue to produce cheap consoles & shift their attention to game publishing without the need for developing financially risky physical successors.
The worldwide market is not ready for a mass cloud gaming roll-out just yet, but 5-10 years down the line when international fiber optic infrastructures have caught up, they'll introduce it.
Still seems early to tell. The key part here is still the GPU and while 7670 is weak by 2012 standards, IGN claim that exact specs are not certain.
While it seems highly likely the CPU is a modern x86 part then that is not important at all, it really all comes down to what the GPU ends up like.
If it ends up closer to a 7670 i will be disappointed. That part is only around 3 times faster than RSX and Xenos. If they actually manage something closer to a 7870 that would be more impressive, and that would also fit on one die with an x86 quad core.....
Take it all with a dumptruck full of salt. I remember back in early 2005 it had leaked Xenos was going to be only about 150m transistors and therefore no better than midrange cards of the time.
It was revealed however within a few months that estimates had leaked for only one 'half' of the GPU which was originally built on two separate dies and the total for the graphics processor was more than twice that. Behold, Xenos was actually a pretty serious high end bit of kit when it launched inside 360 at the end of 2005.
Anything could happen. For all we know sony could use an APU AND package it with a discrete GPU die we know nothing about yet. Hybrid Crossfire. AMD dual graphics where unequal GPUs can work together in an APU based system.
Well if the rumors are true thenthe PS3 and Nextbox will be mid - mid/high PC's currently. They should be able to play all current gen games at 1080p, at least 30fps, with 4AA - 8AA. So a step of from current consoles, but not the leap everyone wants. It seems everyone's pulling a Wii this go round, but we must remember none of these games are maxed out for PC performance and console games are coded for taking advantage of the specific hardware.
This video is probably identical to what the PS4 and Nextbox will have hardware wise, however, you can expect a bit better performance because / if:
1) They don't need to run a OS like Windows.
2) If they can gain access to the GDDR5
3) Use at least 4GB of RAM
If these two things are "fixed" then you can expect another 10% - 20% boost. But here's the video.
Those Specs are definetely not midrange by todays standards. A Midrange would be a GTX 560 or a 7850 GPU. The GPU listed in those specs is more like an entry level GPU.
Yes PCs do have an OS, however OS resources have no impact on the performance of a GPU. The OS runs in the background. PCs have a boatload of ram these days, the OS just takes up space there as such it doesnt impact the performance of a GPU in any negative way.
Giving the consoles 4GB of ram is like giving a car with a 4 cylinder engine a huge fuel tank, its not really going to effect performance. Sure you could load it up with high res textures but then at that point you would also have to worry about memory bandwidth. Since its not only the size of the Memory that matters bandwidth plays a large part too. Current consoles have a bandwidth of around 25gb/s, a mid range GPU of todays time easily has more than 150GB/s hence it really matters what sort of bandwidth the next consoles will be getting.
Anyways its amusing that console gamers are getting excited over hardware that can be outperformed by PCs of simular pricing. A PC of simular hardware would provide full BC to all your current games and the games bought in the future would be cheaper too, I dont really see the benefit of owning a console anymore. People must be unable to play thousands of USD worth of games which they bought in the current gen, simply because the next boxes dont offer BC. I have over 200 games on my Steam list most of them bought on discounts, Id be very dissapointed if on my next upgrade i couldnt play all those old games, thats kinda like whats happening to the console gamers.
I was hoping more for Trinity APU line up with 7000 series embedded + 7000 series GPU. Which would likely be ready for consumers by June/July 2012. Would be vastly superior GPU wise. As the GPU in the A8-3850 is roughly around a AMD 5500 series GPU. The one in the Trinity line is suspected to be measure up more around the 6xxx-7xxx line up.
I do believe the AMD APU + GPU solution is a wise one. As it cuts down on heat while giving about the same level of power as a High end solution if the right combination is in place. My bet still remains on A10 5800 series with 7670D + 7670 GPU. As it releases to consumers in 2012 and the console is coming in 2013. It makes more sense.
Although we could see a mix match APU Design with an upcoming FX series CPU and 7670D GPU + 7670. I imagine that they will try and push for 6-8 threaded CPU. As Power 7 offers up to 32 threads for Microsoft and Nintendo depending on number of cores. I don't know if it will matter much, but still I expect some type of variation to the CPU/GPU than the A8-3850 design.
The specs may seem low by comparison to high end pc's but the advanced packaging and highly customised implementation could be a game changer, read on.. http://semiaccurate.com/201...
The Big Problem with these specs are ... they are starting with entry level system design. Sure you can optimize more and bit more and bit more and you can really squeeze the juice out of the machine but always remember this.
"When you begin with bottleneck design, you can only optimize sooooo much".
An excellent analogy to explain, you can only compress soooooo much of HD definition video file from uncompressed source. After that no matter what optimization technique you use, it'll result in loss of quality and experience.
And if we apply this analogy over here, we are already starting with compressed file (bottleneck architecture), after this any optimization will be nothing little to no gain.
I can assure you what next gen will be about with these specs ... 1080p with 30fps medium with 2/4xAA (on expense of reducing view distance and effects) or majority of developers will resort to 720p/60fps games with high settings 4/8xAA (still compromising view distance and effects).
If thats the case then Im definately not interested in next gen, because we get very few AAA titles from the first party studios and majority multiplatform games are released by non-first party developers and believe me they don't get as much time as first party developers get because of freakin deadlines set by greedy publishers.
Punch line is Im disappointed.
All I want is 1080p/60fps with High Setting and decent Anti-Aliasing from next gen as a standard, is it toooo much to ask for ... commmonnnnn .... :(
yep your right and its just too much of a coincidence along with both going down the anti-used games path,i think both have been talking to each other to keep costs down instead of trying to outdo each other and it will need both Sony n MS to use anti-used software to make that plan work.
Parity might be a good thing. It was probably demanded by 3rd party devs & publishers to ensure multiplatform development would be easier than the current-gen.
It will be in the quality of 1st party software where next-gen might be won or lost.
@Ravenor ...I was thinking the same thing. It seems like the rumored specs of each next gen system are basically the same but there are some subtle changes. It just almost feels like someone created this solid set of possible specs that could be plausible and are now leaking them back and forth to both sides of the media fence.
ATI is great, but wouldn't it be more awesome if the PS4 got a GPU from Nvidia again - which now can do amazing Anti-aliasing with little performance impact! Aliasing is definitely an issue in games. Link: http://www.guru3d.com/artic...
With AMD doing GPU and maybe CPU, BC is out of the question, it'll raise the price of the console no matter what because there is no way to emulate CELL right now, I hope they release 2 versions, an Standard PS4 without BC @ affordable price for newcomers and people who don't care about BC and a Premium PS4 with BC for the ones who care about it, win-win for all
I hope Sony uses Cell 2, wtih 24 cores, but make it easier to develop for, since there were many whiny little multiplatform developpers who cried they couldn't take it anymore lol.
I read that Sony is going to use a high end powervr series 6 gpu cluster with cell,I say that because reports of it are almost 3 years old and they also said imagination technologies was to power the ps vita which is true.
They already have a 32 spu cell processor that they could easily put into a PS4. With that and a good dedicated GPU and 6 gigs of ram imagine the possibilities.
@J-blaze And yet the 360 can't produce visuals that are similar to that of the ps3?.... Name one 360 open world game that looks better than infamous 2.... Name any game on 360 that has the same character design quality with characters of up to 256 player count, in real time.... Name any 360 game that is more intuitive than little big planet for psp, ps3 and soon to be psv.... Name any games on 360 that can showcase the value of "scale" that God of War has done on the Ps3... See you cant, and there is much more going on with the Cell than what you and I think we know and also its the first of its class that was released to consumers iinside of a games console, thus for IF Sony chooses to make a successor to the Cell then I'd expect it to be twice as efficient than that of the one found in PS3, hell the only thing that seem to be problem with game develope on the PS3 was that the RAM was very limited, 512 of it split, with the add consumption for the OS footprint... So yeah, maybe Sony is going to go with a Cell 2.0....
That was one of the most ignorant comments I've seen in a long time. The PS3 had the most powerful processor of all 3 consoles. TO put it simply the "Cell" is capable of running processing task that normally the GPU takes care of freeing up the GPU to carry out more task itself.
No other console can do that, and is why PS exclusives look as good as they do.
The reason most 360 games are on par with all but the best PS3 exclusives is that:
1) It was easier to developer for.
2) The 1 year head start gave them a greater install base making them the lead console for 3rd party development for most developers.
3) Ports to the PS3 were only running on the single core and leaving out the 6 SPE's used for gaming (there are 8, but 1 is used for XBM, and another to help the other SPE's run efficiently).
4) The Xbox 360 had a better RAM and GPU setup than the PS3. The shared memory was better suited for game development than the split 256MB that the PS3 used.
Like it or not, All of this is FACT.
There's a reason why clusters of PS3's have been used as supercomputers, and that's because the raw processing power of the Cell was above that of the other consoles.
The Cell is a powerful CPU, deves. just needed more time, and now that it's going on 6 years a PS4 with a 32 SPE Cell should be easily developed for.
@Wetnooble But once again which system was those games mention only capable of running on, so yeah its a 50/50 or even 60/40 set of cooperation between the two, and if its only "The developers" then why haven't any of the 360 developers create something as eye/mind pleasing as those mentioned PS3 title?... Viva Pinata, really?... Yeah your right leave it up to developers...
Jelly it's been proven already that gt5 is the better looking game, we have all seen the vids, reach a little more, someone might believe u one day lol
i second that notion, the CELL was and is a gamechanger. There are fight scenes in the first RFOM that still can't be replicated on the 360 and even most PC architectures.
In order to help devs out this time around Sony needs to sink money into the DEVELOPMENT TOOLS. This is the only place where MS eats Sony's lunch everytime. As a software engineer I don't want to have to worry about coding down to the metal to make my concepts work. I want a robust API that I can use to accompish my tasks. In other words there should be an intermediary that translates and manages tasks to the SPUs without my having to worry about little more than a routines memory and bandwidth footprint. To use a car as an analogy I want to get behind the driver's wheel and hit the gas pedal, not hang out of the windhshied making tweaks to the engine as a drive.
@ consoldtobots "There are fight scenes in the first RFOM that still can't be replicated on the 360 and even most PC architectures"
could you please tell us what studio you work for, and what multi-plat games you hae developed so that we know that you are qualified to make such statements. thanks
It's looks to me that the PS4 will be alot cheaper than the PS3 was at launch (Which is good), with decent specs to still compete. I can't wait to see what the developers unleashed for the next gen consoles.