Discussing PS4 hardware and manufacturing price

[goddog]

Solid-Stark said:

goddog said:

Solid-Stark said:

Turkish said:
Isn't Steamroller AMDs next high end chip? If that is in PS4 itll be a beast.

It's their next-gen core architecture. Steamroller APU's are pegged for manufacturing sometime next year (Piledriver is just rolling out this month); however, appearantly next years APUs wont have "full Steamroller cores". Steamroller FX CPU's will be available till late 2013 at the earliest. If the PS4 is to have any form of Steamroller and come out in 2013 then it would be an APU. Waiting for the CPU would be more ideal.

Of course this is all assuming Sony goes with AMD.

 

I cant see them doing this; though the use of an APU is intriguing.

 

the heat and power draw from the bulldozer/piledriver lineage has not lived up to expectations. IPC is still low compared to prior gan AMD hardware, and they have still not reached the frequencies they really wanted to hit, while all this may be fixed in a year or two… i would place money on improved but not fixed especially the heat/power issue. 

 

unless they are being cut a really good deal i expect other cpus to be used, 

 

the APU route is tempting, but they are not putting a big enough GPU on there yet, and again heat/power is the issue … 

 

so id say look for the AMD gpu but the cpu i still see being a custom cpu - power family most likely and developed by either freescale or IBM … if a move is made to X86 … well intel would be better choice… but if they are dead set on using an APU it will be interesting to see what custom silicon they get because no current or projected  product line would meet the needs 

 

The heat/ power draw is definitely an issue. However, keep in mind that even though we are talking about off the shelf components, they would still be designed or "tweaked" for use in a console; meaning the PS4 can have an APU or FX CPU and be "cut" down to have acceptable heat and power draw. Also, same goes for the GPU. The latest rumor (which I don't believe) says the PS4 is to have a cut-down Tihiti GPU which would be the 7950. This holds as an example.

Sony going with IBM again is also a good possibility, but I don't think they will go with Intel unless Intel is the one who decides to be flexible in a deal, which is unlikely imo. I hope they go x86 as it would ease developers in developement for PS4/PC.

I originally expected Sony to announce it's next hardware early next year in an investor call, similar to the Vita, but seeing as how they are releasing some big name titles early next year, I'll put my money on E3. The later, the better.

I see e3 2013 at earliest for both MS and sony TGS 2013 might be when sony holds a special conference. although based on games coming out i still think we may see them pushed back to 2014, though only if both do a price cut this year and MS pushes out one more redesign closer to Christmas(there had been rumors of a diskless 360 ) 

I agree on the intel front, there would have to be a big deal cut. thats why i see IBM or freescale being the chip maker. though with a slightly more traditional core layout than last time. if it is AMD for the CPU it wont be off the shelf, but i cannot see them cutting down any current offering. and the constant rumors of a buyout of AMD, by various groups has to hurt chances, im still somewhat amazed they got all three gpus next gen, nvidia must have highballed or been unwilling to dedicate a design group which is surprising