Why PS4 won't be cutting edge, and neither will Xbox3 - or Why Nintendo might win next gen

[JEMC]

Squilliam said:

JEMC said:

The main thing preventing that is cost. Sure, they could launch a console with 12x the power, but the cost for that would be too big to make it a viable option. And 8 times more powerful but using only 120W. At what speeds would the CPU and GPU need to operate to get the consumption that low? Wouldn't it be counterproductive?

Side note: Do you think that DDR4 will be used? If, as you say, they make it available in 2013 then it will be much more expensive than DDR3. Maybe even more expensive than GDDR5. And while the bandwidth sees a very high increment, so is the latency that almost doubles going from CAS7 to CAS13.

Speed of the CPU/GPU? I would say 1600 and 750Mhz respectively. They can be very efficient if they aren't pushing the envelope. DDR4 is the most cost efficient memory given the fact that it will be the standard used by billions of computers around the world, economies of scale and all that.

Sorry, the speed question was rhetorical. What I ment is why going with a high end part only to downclock it when you can grab a lower model without having to downclock it that gives you the same performance that the capped one.

As for DDR4, as you said, it will be. Until it becomes mainstream and is produced in mass quantities (2 years minimum) its price will be much higher than the other options.