Sources: AMD Has Created Navi FOR Sony’s PlayStation 5.

[Alby_da_Wolf]

Pemalite said:

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Alby_da_Wolf said:

If they stick with UMA, the GDDR must work again as both graphics and system RAM, so it's not very precise to compare that amount of RAM with the amount used in a discrete graphics card. Obviously a GDDR based UMA offers far greater graphics performance than cheap DDR based UMAs used in cheap PCs, while offering almost the same advantages in design simplicity, and it proved to be a great solution for a console, but should it become too expensive if RAM prices don't drop quick enough for the amount of total RAM they wish to have next gen, they could settle for going back to a classic separate memories solution, and in this case, even 12GB GDDR for the graphics would be a very good amount, while for system RAM we could maybe get 16-20GB latest DDR4 or early DDR5. This if obviously a possible scenario if they end up deciding that 16GB wouldn't be enough, as we all agree that 16GB GDDR UMA is definitely feasible and viable.  In the end, anyway, the reality is that the ridiculous RAM price situation forced devs to stop the growth of at least games minimum specs for RAM size, and as the quality of the best games increased anyway, this most probably means that lower level devs made the latest versions of game engines more CPU/GPU-intensive while keeping them not too much more memory-intensive than the previous versions, at least in the low and mid settings

Regular DDR is just as stupidly expensive as GDDR right now. 32GB of DDR4 is $500 AUD. The Xbox One S. $288.
...And that ain't even the best DDR4, but it is one of the cheapest 32GB kits.

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Sadly true. Luckily it's quite likely that in 2020 the same money will buy more RAM and better than now, but the range of possible and viable solutions between best and worst case for memory price trend is so wide that engineers will have to settle for a total amount that won't become a bloodbath even in the worst case. If next gen will start in 2020, the definitive amount of RAM will have to be decided not later than next year, so price trend next year, and the special deals console makers will be able to strike for the supplies for the first years of production will decide this matter.
Obviously, if HW makers and SW devs will decide that 16GB total RAM will be enough, at least for entry level models, next gen, then the problem is already solved 16GB GDDR UMA is the solution that will provide the best performance for money without making costs skyrocket. Amongst possible solutions one step above 16GB, I don't know if a 20GB total RAM, possibly made of 8GB GDDR and 12GB DDR could bring savings worthy the higher complication in motherboard design and lower performances compared to sticking to a 20GB GDDR UMA, while going up to 24GB total or higher, a GDDR UMA could become less and less viable. So yes, unless RAM prices start dropping significantly again, any scenario with more than 16GB could make costs and complications, even in just chosing the right memory architecture, grow more than linearly with RAM size increase.
The only good news about this is that this prudent growth in HW specs could help keeping SW development costs under control, and power consumption of entry level and mid-range gaming machines too.