[3D_world]

The following would probably be the ideal feature set for Playstation 4

Intel 3rd Generation Core i7, tri or quad core CPU
An additional SIMD CPU, tri or quad core, vector co-processors, similar to say the PowerPC 970, 50 GB/s main memory bandwidth, 4 GB memory
A basic GPU from ati or nvidia, with highly advanced, basic features, 50 GB/s memory bandwidth
Onboard texture and z-buffer caches - critical. Was very useful on Gamecube.

[AlStrong]

You're not thinking 4th dimensionally!

[Squilliam]

What about the likely or realistic specifications?

[McHuj]

Originally Posted by AlStrong

You're not thinking 4th dimensionally!

No flops-capacitor, no sale.

Originally Posted by Squilliam

What about the likely or realistic specifications?

Don't the current rumors of 4 core AMD CPU + 1152 Shader GPU @ 800 MHz with 2-4 GB of GDDR5 seem reasonable or realistic?

I don't think there's anything that outrageous there. Cost wise it basically a 7870 with double the memory + a CPU, which at wholesale prices would probably be sub $250. Likewise power consumption should be do able as well.

[3D_world]

Interesting but clearly falsified. There's no way - the box would have to be very big, noisy, and heat-producing.

[3D_world]

Actually I think those are the likely specifications too.

[JasonLD]

Originally Posted by 3D_world

Actually I think those are the likely specifications too.

Yeah, if PS4 comes out in 2017, lol. Sony will go bankrupt in 6 months with those specs.

[3D_world]

Originally Posted by McHuj

No flops-capacitor, no sale.



Don't the current rumors of 4 core AMD CPU + 1152 Shader GPU @ 800 MHz with 2-4 GB of GDDR5 seem reasonable or realistic?

I don't think there's anything that outrageous there. Cost wise it basically a 7870 with double the memory + a CPU, which at wholesale prices would probably be sub $250. Likewise power consumption should be do able as well.

That seems very realistic - but they would necessarily have to some sort of ace up their sleeve - that's what they always do. Would Sony really go for a second place CPU manufacturer? AMD has only 10% of the PC market. If they were going for a regular CPU, they would probably go with Intel Corporation.

[AlStrong]

Originally Posted by 3D_world

Interesting but clearly falsified. There's no way - the box would have to be very big, noisy, and heat-producing.

You're right. This is prime time for Matrox and VIA to make a comeback!

[Exophase]

Cheapest Ivy Bridge i7 is about $300, but I'm sure Intel will have no problem selling them for one tenth that price or less to make these specs even remotely financially viable, right? No one wants to buy a big x86 processor manufactured by someone else, especially Intel. Especially one that'll have a vestigial parts like the IGP. They'll want to license some IP they can nestle into a custom SoC, or barring that they'll want someone else to design and manufacture the entire SoC. Integration is important here, as is not getting saddled to someone else's physical supply if you can help it.

Why on earth you'd then go with something like PowerPC 970 on top of that is a total mystery, given the i7 already has wider SIMD.. and you need a quad channel memory interface too, right? Absurd.

Sony has never released a console with anywhere close to the general purpose capabilities of a high end desktop of its time. In fact no console ever has, with the possible exception of the original XBox (which MS chose as a huge time to market investment and paid a premium for which AFAIK they have still yet to earn back).

Other than that I'd definitely like to know what you're thinking of when you mention a GPU with features that are both highly advanced and basic.

[kagemaru]

Originally Posted by AlStrong

You're right. This is prime time for Matrox and VIA to make a comeback!

Lmao at this, the tag, and this thread in general.

[AlStrong]

Originally Posted by Exophase

Other than that I'd definitely like to know what you're thinking of when you mention a GPU with features that are both highly advanced and basic.

Larrabee comes to mind!

[3D_world]

In detail. The Playstation 4 will need to cost $400 at launch, and these are its ideal specifications

The main CPU - An Intel "Ivy Bridge", 3rd Generation Core i7 processor, the 3770t:
4 cores, 3.9 ghz, 2 threads per core
8 MB total L3 cache, 256 Kbytes L2 cache per core, 64 Kbytes L1 cache per core
1.4 billion transistors, 492 million going to the memory cache, 908 million to the logic
77 watts usage, 22 nm transistor gate size
Manufacturing price - about $125
Max memory bandwidth - 25.6 GB/s (with 4 GB DDR3 main system memory)

http://ark.intel.com/products/65719/...up-to-3_90-GHz

It's pretty small and takes up little heat - it's under the Corsair fan:


The CPU's Vector Co-processor - A Power7+ CPU
8 cores, 4.4 ghz, 4 threads per core
32 MB total eDRAM L3 cache, 256 Kbytes L2 cache per core, 64 Kbytes L1 cache per core
1.2 billion transistors
200 Watts, 45 nm silicon-on-insulator, 567 mm^2 package size
Max memory bandwidth - 100 GB/s
Manufacturing price - about $150
It will need 4 GB of DDR 3 Memory

This is it in its ceramic package. It requires minimal cooling, but it does take up a lot of space:


The GPU - An Nvidia "Kepler" GK106 GPU - which is used for the Geforce GTX 650 TI card
768 SIMD cores, 928 mhz
1 GB of RAM, GDDR5
86.4 GB/s memory bandwidth
2.54 billion transistors
110 watts usage, 28 nm transistor gate size
Manufacturing price - about $60.00



Thus the next generation sees a triumvirate for the console - the main CPU, the CPU's vector co-processor, and a regular GPU. All three are necessary this generation. You can have very advanced physics simulations with this processor.

[MBDF]

Originally Posted by McHuj

No flops-capacitor, no sale.



Don't the current rumors of 4 core AMD CPU + 1152 Shader GPU @ 800 MHz with 2-4 GB of GDDR5 seem reasonable or realistic?

I don't think there's anything that outrageous there. Cost wise it basically a 7870 with double the memory + a CPU, which at wholesale prices would probably be sub $250. Likewise power consumption should be do able as well.

I like that setup, though it depends on the cpu being offered. Are we talking a 4 core steamroller or jaguar.. which would be better anyway? Maybe a combo steamroller jaguar, like two steamroller cores and 4 beefed up jaguar cores.

[Exophase]

You're just making up those manufacturing costs. But even if you weren't, why on earth would companies sell chips to Sony at cost? And you think that you can meet a $400 selling price with something that allegedly costs over $300 just for the CPU and GPU?

So really let me get this straight, you're starting with a CPU that almost anyone would consider overkill for playing games that max out the GPU you've selected.. and you want to add a huge, extremely power hungry POWER7 for what purpose exactly? And how do you propose these off the shelf parts communicate? And you want to shove over 400W of power dissipation in a console form factor, when this gen struggled to cool under 200W. This is just absurd.

[BRiT]

I'm sorry, but I can't in good conscious let this bullshit continue. It's not worth the electrons. They will be recycled in 1 day.

[Shifty Geezer]

In al seriousness, if Wii U is being powered by a Power 7, the only sensible move for Sony is to take that Power 7 and add an i7. Of course, they'd then need to use a 7xxx GPU and call the machine the PlayStation 7. It'll be advertised as the 7th wonder of the modern world, have an HTML 7 interface, a Windows 7 OS core, cost $777 dollars, be available on 7 years credit.

See, I bolded and coloured the remarkable series of logical connections that you'd otherwise miss, so it must be true.