Friday, November 2nd 2012
Sony PlayStation 4 "Orbis" Kits Shipping to Developers, Powered by AMD A10 APU
According to a VG 24/7 report, Sony began shipping development kits of its upcoming game console, PlayStation 4, codenamed "Orbis" to developers. The kit is described as being a "normal sized PC," driven by AMD A10 "Trinity" APU, and 8 or 16 GB of memory. We've known from reports dating back to April that Sony plans to use a combination of APU and discrete GPU, similar to today's Dual Graphics setups, where the APU graphics core works in tandem with discrete mid-range GPU. The design goal is to be able to play games 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution, with 60 Hz refresh rate, and with the ability to run stereo 3D at 60 Hz. For storage, the system has a combination of Blu-ray drive and 250 GB HDD. Sony's next-generation game console is expected to be unveiled "just before E3," 2013.
Source:
VG 24/7
354 Comments on Sony PlayStation 4 "Orbis" Kits Shipping to Developers, Powered by AMD A10 APU
Or if the hardware is really "nothing else" but a amd64 based PC, what's could be the business strategy here? Are they going to team up with Valve/Steam against MS or something?
I call BS. More probably 720p upscaled
I decided against an A10+6670 for my wife's new system because getting acceptable 1920x1200 performance meant lowering the quality down to low-medium settings. But in a controlled console environment with tight stacks, it shouldn't be a problem to bump up the eye candy.
So, unless they've got some GPU secret sauce in there that they're not announcing, even given the fact that they can get more out of console hardware than PC, I find it extremely unlikely that they're going to be churning out 1080p 60fps in anything demanding.
Next gen consoles are supposed to be the playground for Unreal Engine 4, and if you think that's going to run at 1080p 60fps on anything less than a high end graphics card, you're crazy. How high end, I don't know, but definitely something many tiers above an APU.
If the new Xbox follows the APU with discrete graphics route, they'll certainly be cashing in, making the big monies. Glad to see their success with their architecture, maybe when they port the games to pc they might work and look a little better, for AMD systems of course. Sleeping Dogs will love this xD
It's the same reason why Gran Turismo 5 looked so damn good on a hardware that was speced as GeForce 7900...
Now, if they have an APU + some sort of midrange GPU in there, I'd find it more plausible, but I just have a hard time buying that they're going to be rendering things at a smooth 60fps at full 1080p when all the rumors about the hardware are that it's on the low-end side of things.
I guess we'll find out in a year or two.
Also explains what I heard about them being substantially cheaper like $250~$299 instead of $500+ Using standard x86 parts would help with costs, The bad news is there still wont be any games.
Everyone I know who has a PS3 never uses it except as a BD player.
Heresy!
In other words, we still don't know enough to do more than speculate. And I'm speculating that 1080p 60fps is a pipe dream unless they're going to be turning settings down considerably.