The Big Bad Console Thread - Sway your Station with an Xboner !

joeboo_sl said:

Why the hell are these consoles needing so much RAM for their OS? Just a quick glance at my shitty Win XP desktop here at work that has all sorts of shitty, bloated work-related applications running on it, and it's only using about 1.5GB of my available RAM. 3+GB seems excessive for a console OS.

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I'm pretty sure it's so they can quickly swap seamlessly between multiple intense processes.

A bit disappointing if it ends up true, freeBSD (ps4 runs orbis a freeBSD derivative) is well under 1 gig so thats a lot of extra reserved memory for social stuff. There is the 7-15 minutes of always recorded gameplay, so depending on compression etc that could be a little bit of overhead to keep around, maybe games can turn that feature off and have more memory?

Still, most people really don't understand memory and think that somehow 4k or 1080p needs massive amounts of memory. The framebuffer for 1080p is ~60 megs (1920x1080x3 bytes per pixel) and for 4k is ~250 megs, you don't need insane amounts of memory to actually drive a display you just get better detailed textures, more of them, and more space to do cool stuff before a final frame is rendered out to screen.

Most plausible scenario: the devkit tools are taking up that shit currently and it's not the final OS reservation. And like Microsoft, Sony will put out 12gb dev kits.

Sony's single freebsd OS taking up 3.5gb is pretty unfuckinglikely.

joeboo_sl said:

Why the hell are these consoles needing so much RAM for their OS? Just a quick glance at my shitty Win XP desktop here at work that has all sorts of shitty, bloated work-related applications running on it, and it's only using about 1.5GB of my available RAM. 3+GB seems excessive for a console OS.

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Working on Win XP? That is like saying im on NT 4.0 back when Windows XP was relatively new.

Rhuobhe_sl said:

Working on Win XP? That is like saying im on NT 4.0 back when Windows XP was relatively new.

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We finally just got Office 07 about 6 months ago, and just got upgraded to IE 8 from IE 6 at the same time. Our computers suck, and there isn't a thing I can do about it. goddamn corporate

Sean_sl said:

Most plausible scenario: the devkit tools are taking up that shit currently and it's not the final OS reservation. And like Microsoft, Sony will put out 12gb dev kits.

Sony's single freebsd OS taking up 3.5gb is pretty unfuckinglikely.

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http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/di...oftware-memory

Original story: PlayStation 4 reserves 3.5GB of its 8GB GDDR5 memory for the operating system, leaving 4.5GB of space for game code, according to current PlayStation 4 documentation shown to Digital Foundry by a well-placed development source. However, further sources suggest that an additional 1GB of "flexible memory" may be reclaimed from the OS reservation, based on availability.

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Interesting.

Why would anyone care about this 'story' anyhow? Won't matter first party and third party it ends up basically the same as XBone (0.5 GB ahead/behind with the reserve deal) and ahead of a 'normal PC' (I.E. 32bit or otherwise under 4 GB usable) which means due to LCD would be not using the full RAM anyhow.

Its literally the convex of the early 'PS4 better hardware won't
matter' argument from before the price announcement. If LCD truly matters this announcement is irrelevant nonnews.

Sony released a statement:

We would like to clear up a misunderstanding regarding our "direct" and "flexible" memory systems. The article states that "flexible" memory is borrowed from the OS, and must be returned when requested - that's not actually the case.

The actual true distinction is that:

"Direct Memory" is memory allocated under the traditional video game model, so the game controls all aspects of its allocation

"Flexible Memory" is memory managed by the PS4 OS on the game's behalf, and allows games to use some very nice FreeBSD virtual memory functionality. However this memory is 100 per cent the game's memory, and is never used by the OS, and as it is the game's memory it should be easy for every developer to use it.

We have no comment to make on the amount of memory reserved by the system or what it is used for.

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So it's sounding more like possibly the 4.5gb is just regular direct memory, some X amount is used for the "Flexible Memory" virtual memory functions, and then some X amount for the OS. That makes more sense than the OS taking up 3.5gb of memory.

Wingz_sl said:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/di...oftware-memory

Interesting.

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Is this like people complaining about how much RAM Win 7 uses?

Utnayan_sl said:

What's the max ram usage on PC that isn't thrown to a dedicated video card? It's under 1.5 Gigs anyhow isn't it?

Or am I misreading how consoles work.

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Something along that lines - I think with more tweaking than the average person you can get down to 2.5GB available in 32-bit pre-videocard - with 512MB-1GB video cards being the most common the last time I bothered to check the Steam survey doodad. (And too lazy to check now in case I'm wrong - that's why)

[Which to be fair in a console comparison due to integrated memory, you should count both - but still pretty damn sure 32-bit machines still make up >50% of Steam stats at last count and 2GB+ cards still ain't common where it would break even with the "OMG BAD PS4!" hubbub here at BEST]

Some insider stuff on gaf, summary:http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthre...636106&page=30

1) Digital Foundry / Eurogamer claims in an article that 4.5 GB is available for development at launch, with 512 MB / 1 GB as flexible memory

2) Various, unbanned GAF insiders have said "That article is incorrect"

3) Thuway, Famousmortimer, BruceLeeRoy, and Verendus (all unbanned) have all heard "The memory situation on PS4 is ideal and has exceeded expectations in every way." That should mean that games at launch won't be affected by any kind of restrictions in place

4) Thuway stated that some games currently in development are using 6 GB of RAM, but also implied some form of RAM restrictions at launch is not completely out of the equation

5) Kagari (has connections to Square-Enix) also agreed with the 6 GB claim

6) VBlank Entertainment (Retro City Rampage) has denied that Sony is reserving 3.5 GB of RAM for the OS

7) NOTHING is confirmed until either Sony states something or launch RAM allocations are revealed in some way

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Xbox One to reportedly launch November 29th, beating PlayStation 4's December 13th debut


http://news.yahoo.com/xbox-one-repor...163057316.html


Now that Microsoft has done away with the controversial new policies it announced during the Xbox One's unveiling, gamers are coming around and anticipation is mounting. Pre-sales of the console have been "through the roof" according to Microsoft, and some expect Xbox One sales to crush sales of Sony's rival PlayStation 4 console. Now, if a new leak ends up panning out, the Xbox One will have another big advantage over the PS4: Two full weeks of sales before the PlayStation 4 launches this winter.

[More from BGR: Apple to release iOS 7 beta 4 today; two more betas planned, GM coming in September]

According to the Xbox One preorder page on Toys R Us' UK website, Microsoft's new video game console is set to launch on November 29th. The same site states on the PlayStation 4 preorder page that Sony's next-generation console will be available for sale beginning two weeks later on December 13th. While neither date is confirmed at this point, their presence on a website belonging to one of Microsoft and Sony's retail partners could be a good sign.


The plot thickens if this shit is true, don't see Sony letting them do this, unless Sony cant leapfrog there date due to supply.

I'm pretty sure the PS4 is launching November 5th or so. I seem to recall seeing a picture online of a European electronics store that put out their release date banners a little early.

Xarpolis_sl said:

I'm pretty sure the PS4 is launching November 5th or so. I seem to recall seeing a picture online of a European electronics store that put out their release date banners a little early.

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I have seen this as well, To me there is no way in Hell Sony lets Microsoft launch ahead of them this time they have learned from there mistakes one hopes.

Xarpolis_sl said:

I'm pretty sure the PS4 is launching November 5th or so. I seem to recall seeing a picture online of a European electronics store that put out their release date banners a little early.

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That's one week earlier than the sign from what I recall - it was the week of the 13th or something like that - early buzz was implying first week where I could hope for an early shipment to be here on my birthday (the 2nd) but the sign dashed my hopes since it was a full week and a half later or something like that.

And considering PS4 is quoted as having no supply issues while XBone does - that article is really sketchy.

That date was 100% from memory. I don't have the date as a concrete anything. I just "seem to recall" the picture saying the 5th, but it's quote possible that it said the 13th.

Sony seems intent on one upping the Xbox at every turn so I'd be surprised if the PS4 didn't release first

Nov 29th would be a weird date to launch - its black friday, which means a lot of your press is going to be drowned out by stories of fat people trampling each other to get a $20 bluray player. Plus can you imagine the shitstorm when people knock each other out to get the last xbox? Also because the day before is a holiday, means you possibly won't get online orders into peoples hands until a day or two later.