Monday, April 18th 2016
PlayStation 4K to Feature a 2,304-SP AMD "Polaris" GPU
Sony's upcoming 4K Ultra HD game console, which its fans are referring to as the "PlayStation 4K," while being internally referred to by Sony as "NEO," could feature a very powerful GPU. AMD could custom-design the SoC that drives the console, to feature an 8-core 64-bit x86 CPU based on the "Jaguar" micro-architecture, running at 2.10 GHz; and a GPU component featuring 36 compute units based on "next-generation Graphics CoreNext" architecture.
36 next-gen GCN compute units sounds an awful lot like the specs of the Polaris10 "Ellesmere" chip in its Radeon R9 480 configuration, working out to a stream processor count of 2,304 - double that of the 1,152 on the current-gen PlayStation 4. The SoC is also rumored to feature a 256-bit GDDR5 memory interface holding 8 GB of memory. This memory will be used as both system and video memory, just like on the current-gen PlayStation 4. The memory bandwidth will be increased to 218 GB/s from the current 176 GB/s. Besides 4K Ultra HD gaming, this chip could also prepare Sony for VR headsets, leveraging AMD's LiquidVR tech.
Source:
GiantBomb
36 next-gen GCN compute units sounds an awful lot like the specs of the Polaris10 "Ellesmere" chip in its Radeon R9 480 configuration, working out to a stream processor count of 2,304 - double that of the 1,152 on the current-gen PlayStation 4. The SoC is also rumored to feature a 256-bit GDDR5 memory interface holding 8 GB of memory. This memory will be used as both system and video memory, just like on the current-gen PlayStation 4. The memory bandwidth will be increased to 218 GB/s from the current 176 GB/s. Besides 4K Ultra HD gaming, this chip could also prepare Sony for VR headsets, leveraging AMD's LiquidVR tech.
65 Comments on PlayStation 4K to Feature a 2,304-SP AMD "Polaris" GPU
More likely is they keep the same architecture, use a dieshrink to widen the GPU, and add more of the same exact resources that already exist. The only minor change is to include HDMI 2.0 and HDCP 2.2. They'd probably bump up the clockspeed of the Jaguar-based CPU, too.
It's a mouse and keyboard away from being a PC. Oh, how the tides have turned against console lovers (they're mad, too lol).
I think if we had a high aptitude for electronics among the general population, consoles would have died years ago.
About devs in general because some company like ubisoft fucked their own games because if the pc version was better optimized = no money from console versions.
Talking instead of japanese devs ,they don't use at all the hardware at is full potential.
How is that even possible that after being kicked in the ass for the graphics by nintendo they do after the ps2 a console like the ps3 stuck at 30 fps?
Why they call amd to develop something that the devs don't use at all?
Dark Souls 3 on pc because is a port use only 1 core but runs at 60fps if you have a good gpu.
Why they don't learn in 2016 to use all the cores of the ps4?
Right now thinking to do 4k using a new gpu and a new processor when they don't know how to use it is idiotic.
Major studio like you said want x86 /x64 because a console was a pc for gaming years a go not a multimedia system.
Maybe a regular "Slim" die-shrink update with an 4k Upscaler and UHD BluRay support or even the PS VR splitter thing built-in but not a new console...
Especially for VR I guess you have to rely on a certain amount of details just to not break the immersion.
If it truly is a Polaris GPU, it will of course be on 14nm. It is impossible that the CPU part of the new PS4 APU will use a 28nm Jaguar (or newer cores). And doing a die shrink of the said cores is unlikely, as I doubt AMD will want to do anything more with the Buldozer uarch since Zen is almost out.
The R9 480 is supposed to be in the range of the R9 390 performance wise, so about double the performance of my GTX960. A R9 390 can play games at 4K, again with settings turned down, and the games will still look decent(good enough for console peasants:laugh:).Zen is a long way away, and we already know they are releasing Bulldozer based processor on AM4 first, so they are obviously willing to continue to work with it.
The Polaris 480 should be at least as fast as the 390, so the performance increase from PS4 should be substantial.
In other words, although parts used may be similar, they WAY they are used is most definitely not similar at all. Or you could simply plug you PS4 and XBONE discs into your PC, and play the games without any problems.
For all we know, PS4K could be the exact same is current PS4, but with an additional chip; the Polaris ASIC. Wouldn't be the first time such things were done.
Case in point, I've seen my 1920x1200 monitor handle 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1280x1024, 1600x1200, 1920x1080, and 1920x1200. Further, you can enable all kinds of scaling options in the operating system and GPU settings on top of what a decent monitor can handle.
Scaling games on PC in the way that consoles do is pretty much unheard of. If anything, they do the opposite (render at 4K, display at 1080p) which is more costly than anti-aliasing but should look better than anti-aliasing. It certainly isn't something that's at the core of game development on PC like it is on consoles to meet framerate targets. Of course, one can simulate the effect by making the game use a lower resolution than your monitor (e.g. 1600x900 on 1920x1080 monitor is common).
Saying the new CPU will be a bottleneck, then pointing to a game that runs just fine on the current CPU, doesn't exactly help your argument any.
1) Distinct old/new console modes of games
2) New games required to support both
3) Old games can get patches that support more powerful hw.twitter.com/id_aa_carmack/status/436012673243693056