The real secret in PS3 firmware 2.80

[Krakn3Dfx]

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Thought this was sort of interesting. I don't know much about memory constraints and utilization on consoles. I know I threw 8GB in my PC and it was dirt cheap, so why consoles are still limping along with 512MB is a mystery to me.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Krakn3Dfx
I know I threw 8GB in my PC and it was dirt cheap, so why consoles are still limping along with 512MB is a mystery to me.

Obviously the specs were established a long time ago, but it does seem like memory is something they could expect to drop in price pretty quickly, so 512 MB of shared system and video memory seems pretty weak. At least the PS3 interface is really fast.

 

[SunnyD]

Generally "shared" system memory is of higher grade, usually like GDDR or something which costs significantly more to begin with rather than regular "system" RAM. In consoles, they use the higher end stuff because of bandwidth and the shared nature - they can't be bogging down the graphics with slower RAM, especially in more limited situations, so it's the best compromise.

Of course when you're expecting people to drop $600 (at launch) for a console, you may as well make it actually worthwhile.

 

[mmntech]

Originally posted by: SunnyD
Generally "shared" system memory is of higher grade, usually like GDDR or something which costs significantly more to begin with rather than regular "system" RAM. In consoles, they use the higher end stuff because of bandwidth and the shared nature - they can't be bogging down the graphics with slower RAM, especially in more limited situations, so it's the best compromise.

Of course when you're expecting people to drop $600 (at launch) for a console, you may as well make it actually worthwhile.

The PS3 uses 256mb of XDR. Given that it's RAMBUS, I would expect it costs a fortune. Theoretically, it's about twice as fast (bandwidth wise) as DDR3-1600 at 28Gbyte/s versus 11.8GB/S. I'm assuming Wikipedia means the 800mhz chips, which I'm guessing the PS3 uses.

Still, consoles are a bit behind in terms of RAM amounts. The PS3 can run Linux but this is why it sucks at it. Even the 360 only has 512mb total. It hasn't exactly hurt gaming performance though but it does place limits on how far the hardware can be pushed.