[Ars][Unconfirmed] PS4 to have an x86 AMD CPU

[busydude]

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/...tm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

The successor to the PlayStation 3, apparently codenamed "Orbis," will use an AMD x86 processor with an AMD "Southern Islands" GPU, according to rumors emerging last week.

I don't really care how it performs as long as we don't have to deal with crappy PC ports anymore.

 

[Mopetar]

Assuming that the next Nintendo console and/or Xbox console continue using the POWER architecture, come out before the next PlayStation, and sell in large quantities, there might still be plenty of "console" ports.

If everything uses AMD GPUs though, which is the current rumor, it could mean that future PC games will tend to work better on those architectures, but even then Nintendo's console is rumored to be based on AMD's VLIW architecture rather than their newer GCN, and there's no real indication what Microsoft will be using so that might not even matter much.

 

[nanaki333]

April Fools?

 

[busydude]

April Fools?

Yeah, I was wondering the same too, I'll just keep an eye on this and update once I confirm. I think this is fairly plausible.

 

[busydude]

Well, Kotaku said the same thing three days back so this is not a one off article.

Our main source supplied some basic specs for the console, but as the future is always in motion, bear in mind these could easily change between now and the Orbis' retail release. Still, if you'd like to know what developers are being told to plan for now, here you go.

• AMD x64 CPU
• AMD Southern Islands GPU

The former, that's largely something we've heard before, but the latter is interesting. That's the name given to many of AMD's 2012 roster of high-end PC cards. The PS4's GPU in particular, we're told, will be capable of displaying Orbis games at a resolution of up to 4096x2160, which is far in excess of the needs of most current HDTV sets. It'll also be capable of playing 3D games in 1080p (the PS3 could only safely manage 3D at 720p).

 

[MisterMac]

...a 6670 doesn't exactly push 1080 to the max, now does it -_-

And thats the starting point what about 1 or 2 years down the road?


Hopefully it'll bring back people to pc gaming tho

 

[Joseph F]

If it does include a Southern Islands GPU, it had damn well better be a Cape Verde XT, or better.
Otherwise, I'm not the slightest bit interested.

 

[nenforcer]

If this thing really does support 4K resolutions it's got to have some serious horsepower behind it. They would be designing this thing to last through at least 2020, when I'm guessing 4K displays would be abundant.

Considering their last console couldn't properly run at 1080P like the competition, they may be trying to address this shortcoming.

 

[Joseph F]

If this thing really does support 4K resolutions it's got to have some serious horsepower behind it. They would be designing this thing to last through at least 2020, when I'm guessing 4K displays would be abundant.

Considering their last console couldn't properly run at 1080P like the competition, they may be trying to address this shortcoming.

Neither the Xbox nor the PS3 could properly render at 1080p.
(Not counting 2D and other non-taxing games)

 

[ViRGE]

The GPU is possible; the CPU is... questionable.

While Cell hasn't exactly developed a legion of fans among developers, PowerPC has. Everyone used PPC last generation and I have not heard any complaints about it. It just seems unlikely that they're going to switch to x86 unless IBM is failing to keep up on the performance front. Otherwise, what's the benefit?

 

[Gikaseixas]

Otherwise, what's the benefit?

Moar cores

 

[taltamir]

The GPU is possible; the CPU is... questionable.

While Cell hasn't exactly developed a legion of fans among developers, PowerPC has. Everyone used PPC last generation and I have not heard any complaints about it. It just seems unlikely that they're going to switch to x86 unless IBM is failing to keep up on the performance front. Otherwise, what's the benefit?

The cell is a PowerPC architecture CPU.
1 out of order power PC main CPU (single core main CPU).
8 in order power PC support cores (larrabee like, theoretically for physics and the like; bur practically worse then having a GPU). Out of which 1 is disabled by default due to very poor yields.

 

[ViRGE]

The cell is a PowerPC architecture CPU.
1 out of order power PC main CPU (single core main CPU).
8 in order power PC support cores (larrabee like, theoretically for physics and the like; bur practically worse then having a GPU). Out of which 1 is disabled by default due to very poor yields.

I know what Cell is. My point is that the SPUs haven't garnered many fans (even if their use is necessary), but the main CPU itself is well regarded, as have the PPC CPUs in the Wii and 360.

 

[StrangerGuy]

PS2: 154 mil sold, profitable right from the start at $300

PS3: 62 mil sold, loss at initial 599 US dollars

PS4: I think I can see where this is going even with the low cost AMD parts.

 

[Olikan]

[H]ard and semiaccurate have been saying this for almost one year now

sony will use some hardcore tecnology, stacked memory, interposers...

http://semiaccurate.com/2012/03/02/sony-playstation-4-will-be-an-x86-cpu-with-an-amd-gpu/

 

[Fox5]

Funny, cpu wise, PS4 could have launched with a cpu just as fast in 2006 (or maybe 2007) with a Core 2 Quad.

AMD is more likely to be making cpus in 5 years than IBM, imo, at least the kind that would go in consoles. Consoles aren't really a super profitable market, so as high end computing demands more specialized designs, it gets harder to adapt them to consoles.
Also, this combo practically screams that the PS4 will be using an AMD fusion chip.

 

[BrightCandle]

This will be good for PC gaming. Having a slower but very similar CPU and GPU in a console will bring the two platforms a little closer together making porting performance easier.

The difference between AMD and Intel is a lot smaller than Intel and IBM or ARM.

 

[Olikan]

Funny, cpu wise, PS4 could have launched with a cpu just as fast in 2006 (or maybe 2007) with a Core 2 Quad.

consoles use a close to metal coding, so while bulldozer sucks today, it have FMA4, XOP...ISAs that intel will only have in 2013

 

[nismotigerwvu]

I know what Cell is. My point is that the SPUs haven't garnered many fans (even if their use is necessary), but the main CPU itself is well regarded, as have the PPC CPUs in the Wii and 360.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Anand post an article back around the PS3 launch about the CPUs in both of these machines being total dogs? Not to say that the underlying instruction set hasn't been well received, but I was under the impression that the implementation this time around was lacking. That said, a setup using an AMD APU with the integrated graphics being used for OpenCL/Direct compute tasks and a dedicated unit for the rendering would be a game changer.

 

[grimpr]

This would ease up the development for Sonys titles by 1000% compared the failed Cell. AMD has an advantage here, low cost, good dev platform, powerful graphics cores and robust x64 cores, Sony will couple them with Interposers and stacked memory and we will have a little beast.

I wished Microsoft would came with something like this, but instead they chose to go ARM.

 

[fixbsod]

Yeah, interestingly at the same time intel is becoming super-dominant in the PC space, AMD is the CPU and GPU manufacturer of choice for the next gen consoles...can't wait to see how this plays out.

 

[exar333]

Might not bode well for Sony with the supply issues that AMD has always had. It is definitely possible that GF will NOT produce these SKUs and that could mitigate the issue.

 

[taltamir]

Might not bode well for Sony with the supply issues that AMD has always had. It is definitely possible that GF will NOT produce these SKUs and that could mitigate the issue.

It is possible that sony, like other manufacturers, has a policy that requires at least 2 suppliers per part.
This is what started AMD in the first place. (intel sourced them as a second supplier of x86 chips for IBM).

AMD then has the advantage here by themselves only creating the designs and IP, which they then sell sony who then has it manufactured on other GF or TSMC. Since AMD concurrently manufactures the same chips on both at the moment.

 

[Lonyo]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Anand post an article back around the PS3 launch about the CPUs in both of these machines being total dogs? Not to say that the underlying instruction set hasn't been well received, but I was under the impression that the implementation this time around was lacking. That said, a setup using an AMD APU with the integrated graphics being used for OpenCL/Direct compute tasks and a dedicated unit for the rendering would be a game changer.

There was once such an article posted, and it got taken down shortly thereafter, although I can't remember why.
There are cached versions of it floating around though.

As for the 4096x2048 support, supporting something doesn't mean being able to utilise it fully.
The low end AMD cards support triple display gaming, but you wouldn't really want to try it.
It's just Sony being prepared for the next gen of 4k TVs, rather than limiting themselves to upscaling by the TV. They would do it on the console instead.

No reason to think/assume the hardware would be capable of rendering at 4k resolutions.

 

[taltamir]

There was once such an article posted, and it got taken down shortly thereafter, although I can't remember why.

Beats me too, the CPUs and GPUs on both the xbox360 and PS3 are total dogs. They were very obsolete the day they were released. PC hardware was much faster and much cheaper.
Console elitists love claiming that a console is released superior to the PC, and then a few years later the PC catches up, then it bypasses it and then a new generation of consoles is released.

This is utter nonsense.

The PS3 for example was released 3 days after the 8800GTX. Which was cheaper and vastly more powerful.