Should Sony Abandon the PSP?, or You Can't Spell Ignorant without...

[dharh]

jarrod said:

dharh said:
Take a closer look at the memory. 4mb of memory for the DS and 2(main)+1(vid)+.5(sount)=3.5mb of memory for the PS1. That doesn't seem like far less memory to me. Also the highest reached polygon count of the PS1 was about 150k textured lit polygons, though SONY () said the theoretical output was 1 million 'flat, unshaded, unlit polygons.' Ultimately its the DS additional features which limit the DS to match raw power of PS1 and PSP. The wireless, the 2 screens, the touch sensitivity, the lockout limit on polygons, the smaller media. 

Of course the DSi trounces all of those systems.

No, 150k textured was the original peak N64 figure (later revised down to 100k).  Peak PS1 was 180k textured polys (revised down from 500k), peak Saturn was 200k textured "quads" (original figure, never revised).  None of them were "in game" figures, none of the manufacturers actually gave "in game" specs until Nintendo with GameCube.  Also, I was off on the DS "in game" figure, it's 120k.  It also has a higher pixel fill rate (30 million/sec versus just 4000/sec for PS1).  The big advantage for DS 3D comes it in having hardware Z-buffering however, which keeps polygons more stable and "in order" and also allows a lot of post processing effects that'd be impossible on PS1.  It's basically a class ahead of it for 3D (like N64 was).

Also, I was only comparing main RAM.  DS also has a 656KB video buffer, 512KB dedicated for texture memory, 64KB work RAM for the ARM9, 32KB for the ARM7 and 256KB flash for the OS and WiFi settings.  Plus, DS is RAM expandable, unlike PS1.

 

edit: DS does have a lockout ceiling for polys though (the 120k figure).  This is to ensure locked framerates (120k pps is for 60 fps).  Sega's Model 2 board (which was used for VF2 and Sega Rally) actually used a similar locked limit method.

You bring up N64, Saturn, why exactly? Highest count I found in a PS1 game was 150k, but if you've got a better game I ain't gonna argue. And actually the pixel count of the DS vs PS1 needs a closer look as well. The DS has a max 1024x1024 texture size of pixels or 1048576 pixels. The PS1 on the other hand has max 4000 8x8 pixels or 256000 pixels. While thats 4 to 1, its again, the polygon limit that gives the DS the disadvantage (in that department anyway).