PS4's 8GB RAM was kept secret from third-party devs until console revea

[+Audioboxer Subscriber²]

Third-party developers were not aware that PlayStation 4 would include 8GB of GDDR5 RAM until Sony's reveal event in February - despite having received development kits long before the console's announcement.

Speaking with VideoGamer.com, Just Add Water's CEO Stewart Gilray - who is developing a mystery title for PlayStation 4 - revealed that third-parties were initially told that the console would feature only 4GB of RAM, and were left happily surprised when the system's lead architect Mark Cerny discussed the console's specs on stage.

"We were told [PS4] was 4GB originally," Gilray told us, "and we first knew it had 8GBs when Mark said at the event's stage, 'And it has 8GB of memory.' We'd had kits at that point for a good while."

Gilray suspects that only "a couple of really close first-parties" knew PS4 would feature 8GB prior to the console's announcement, "but I think most third-parties, if not all third-parties were like, 'Yeah, 4GB, awesome, can't wait.'

"It's a fantastic amount of memory," he continues, "especially DDR5 memory, because it's so fast you don't have to have everything there at once. You can swap it in and out instantly, effectively. But when they said 8GB it was like, 'Ooookay.'"

Leaked systems specs for PlayStation 4 - back when it was still going under its codename 'PlayStation Orbis' - also suggested that the console would only include 4GB of RAM.

An "added bonus" of PS4's memory is that Sony has "already ring-fenced the system memory away from the game memory," Gilray adds, "so there's none of this business that we had with PS3 of having to share memories.

"When you press the PlayStation button on a PS3 game, you get the basic XMB up [but] to do anything you have to quit the game, because of the memory for it. With PS4 we don't have that because the system memory is already ring-fenced for itself."

Gilray's comments suggest that third-party developers could have been developing PS4 games targeting lower system requirements than the console's actual capability - which could go some way to explaining the suspected 30fps cap on the Unreal Engine 3-powered Thief.

Source: http://www.videogamer.com/news/ps4s_8gb_ram_was_kept_secret_from_third-party_devs_until_console_reveal.html

[ctrl_alt_delete]

I don't think that's true. I think it really had 8gbs until they bought one of the Durango dev boxs :-D.

Well who really knows they could say anything they want at this point

[n_K]

'Gilray's comments suggest that third-party developers could have been developing PS4 games targeting lower system requirements than the console's actual capability - which could go some way to explaining the suspected 30fps cap on the Unreal Engine 3-powered Thief.'

How? If a PC with 4GB of RAM can run a whole multi-tasking OS with multiple services, how can a DEDICATED gaming console not do the same with equivalent system specifications?

[SharpGreen]

'Gilray's comments suggest that third-party developers could have been developing PS4 games targeting lower system requirements than the console's actual capability - which could go some way to explaining the suspected 30fps cap on the Unreal Engine 3-powered Thief.'

How? If a PC with 4GB of RAM can run a whole multi-tasking OS with multiple services, how can a DEDICATED gaming console not do the same with equivalent system specifications?

That PC's OS has a swap file/virtual memory backed by a hard drive.

[theyarecomingforyou]

Gilray's comments suggest that third-party developers could have been developing PS4 games targeting lower system requirements than the console's actual capability - which could go some way to explaining the suspected 30fps cap on the Unreal Engine 3-powered Thief.

RAM doesn't have anything to do with framerate caps, unless there's a huge amount of caching (very unlikely) - all it means is that the game can store higher quality assets. The reason that developers are targeting 30fps is that the GPU isn't powerful enough to handle 60fps, which isn't surprising given the cost constraints. Unfortunately that means that right off the bat that the next-gen consoles are going to be behind PC gaming, which is unusual.

[notuptome2004]

RAM doesn't have anything to do with framerate caps, unless there's a huge amount of caching (very unlikely) - all it means is that the game can store higher quality assets. The reason that developers are targeting 30fps is that the GPU isn't powerful enough to handle 60fps, which isn't surprising given the cost constraints. Unfortunately that means that right off the bat that the next-gen consoles are going to be behind PC gaming, which is unusual.

did you see the next Killzone that shows it is not a GPU not so powerful and the game is running @ 1080p full spec with 60FPS so i would not say the GPU is not powerful it is allot of power and remember that game was shwon off using only what was done on a 4gb Dev kit not the new 8gb one

[ShadowMajestic]

I do wonder at how much loss they gonna sell this one :)

Sony makes a huge risk every time with the Playstation.

Do wish Ken Kutaragi would still run the division though, that guy had a vision(even if you don't like Sony/Playstation, that guy deserves respect). Convinced Sony to lose billions into a project originally started for Nintendo.

[Aaron Olive]

I do wonder at how much loss they gonna sell this one :)

Sony makes a huge risk every time with the Playstation.

Do wish Ken Kutaragi would still run the division though, that guy had a vision(even if you don't like Sony/Playstation, that guy deserves respect). Convinced Sony to lose billions into a project originally started for Nintendo.

Ken Kutaragi almost put the PS brand 6 feet under with his stupid aspirations, the first public appearance of the PS3 @ E3 2005 had 6 USB ports, 2 HDMI ports and 3 Ethernet ports. I don't miss him at all and I'm sure Sony is not going to sell the PS4 at a loss like they did the PS3 in 2006, simply cause they can't afford to.

[dead.cell]

Ken Kutaragi almost put the PS brand 6 feet under with his stupid aspirations, the first public appearance of the PS3 @ E3 2005 had 6 USB ports, 2 HDMI ports and 3 Ethernet ports. I don't miss him at all and I'm sure Sony is not going to sell the PS4 at a loss like they did the PS3 in 2006, simply cause they can't afford to.

What are you talking about? That would've tripled the internet speed!! That would've been amazing! :woot:

[Aaron Olive]

What are you talking about? That would've tripled the internet speed!! That would've been amazing! :woot:

Hardy har. :rolleyes:

[Shiranui]

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidge Racer!

[Ambroos]

'Gilray's comments suggest that third-party developers could have been developing PS4 games targeting lower system requirements than the console's actual capability - which could go some way to explaining the suspected 30fps cap on the Unreal Engine 3-powered Thief.'

How? If a PC with 4GB of RAM can run a whole multi-tasking OS with multiple services, how can a DEDICATED gaming console not do the same with equivalent system specifications?

This is 8GB RAM shared by the CPU and GPU. On any gaming-oriented PC you'd need 4GB to 6GB of RAM to load Windows and the game at the same time, plus your GPU would have a fair amount of RAM too, usually 1GB or 2GB. Add those two together and round it up to a safe amount and you've got 8GB of RAM.

[Aaron Olive]

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiidge Racer!

$599 US Dollars

[francescob]

Ewwww!! Only 3 ethernet ports and 2 HDMIs? What's that, a console based on authentic Japanese history?

GIANT ENEMY CRAB! GIANT ENEMY CRAB!

Oh no, they're real!

[Shiranui]

I would pay 600 if they would stick an SDD in there and let you use an external HDD as well.

[TheLegendOfMart]

If its like the PS3 then you can always put an SSD in yourself and have an external USB HDD for movies, music, etc..

[AbandonedTrolley]

did you see the next Killzone that shows it is not a GPU not so powerful and the game is running @ 1080p full spec with 60FPS so i would not say the GPU is not powerful it is allot of power and remember that game was shwon off using only what was done on a 4gb Dev kit not the new 8gb one

Erm it's 30FPS :s

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-killzone-shadow-fall-demo-tech-analysis

30FPS is the target for Killzone: Shadow Fall, and we don't detect a single dip in performance from this based on the uploaded gameplay feed - a fact mirrored in the 1080p trailer we also have available. It's fair to assume that 30FPS remains the console standard for next-gen. Update: note that all of the material we have available is limited to 30FPS

[HawkMan]

Kept secret or last minute change after leaks of the competition... no one except Sony knows and they can claim whatever they want.

good news for the end user in any case

[TheLegendOfMart]

Yeah it was clearly a last minute change after Durango spec leak, it doesn't make sense to tell developers that you only have 4GB and then spring 8GB at the last minute.

[Stew Gilray]

Wow, people have really picked up on my comment...

Hope I don't get ripped a new one by Sony :-/

[Skiver Veteran]

What I don't get is there was an article very recently about how Sony took a year to create the hardware spec for the PS4 so that there would be no performance bottle necks.

Surely if this is "true" then dev's believing there were only 4GB and it turning out that there is actually 8GB is that after a year of planning, they still got it wrong and had to change last minute OR they lied to their developers from the start which begs the question - why?

What would/could you achieve by doing this? I'm no developer but I would image if you spend any amount of time working to a certain limit (4 vs 8 GB) to then be told actually we just raised the bar I would be incredibly annoyed! I'm not saying its a start again job but I would imagine you either then have to settle with what you have regardless or go back and adjust various items which is going to mean re-testing various items and just increasing the time it takes to get your product out.

[Nilus]

Less kept secret and more kneejerk reaction to the Durango spec leak.

Probably why they didn't show the console off then as they will have to change size/shape once they work out how they're actually going to place that extra 8 ram chips.

[AbandonedTrolley]

Wow, people have really picked up on my comment...

Hope I don't get ripped a new one by Sony :-/

They are going to come take 4GB of Ram from you so you have to work with the lower spec! ;)

Thing is I thought this was pretty well known anyway that the extra RAM was a last minute choice from Sony or at least not told to the devs.

[Stew Gilray]

Thing is I thought this was pretty well known anyway that the extra RAM was a last minute choice from Sony or at least not told to the devs.

Oh completely, but always seems to be things I say that get syndicated to **** and back :-/

I bet there's a neogaf thread about it now :(

EDIT: Just looked, yes, there IS a neogaf thread about it.

[Nilus]

I think that even though this was quite clearly a kneejerk reaction, some sources were saying Sony were talking about 4GB GDDR5 less than a week before the reveal, this is nothing but goodness from a gaming point of view. I mean which PCs these days have 8GB GDDR5 in them? None but the top end sli/crossfire boxes.

Let's hope Microsoft can top it.