12GB is still likely a healthy amount more than the XBox Series S which really only has 8GB total for games (2GB is slower separate RAM for their OS). And Series S basically plays all the current gen games, so the amount of RAM doesn't seem to be stopping it from getting hundreds of next-gen titles. Even GTA VI ... confirmed for the XBox Series S, so 8GB of RAM is apparently enough to run the most expensive game ever made, and quite frankly that looks far and away better than just about anything else on a PS5/XSX.
We're probably looking at 10GB for games here, so a healthy 20% more available RAM for developers over the Series S.
I would rather have more bandwidth, the bandwidth is crucial for performance, it also indicates likely a fairly beefy GPU performance, Nintendo wouldn't splurge on more expensive RAM that mostly as of now is only used in higher end devices if they didn't have the GPU that needed that much bandwidth, they'd have saved a few bucks but they didn't. LPDDR5X @ 120GB/sec is more than what most people were expecting, this likely indicates a GPU in the 4 TFLOP range (100GB/sec reserved for the GPU would be a good bet).
12GB @120GB/sec LPDDR5X versus older 16GB @80GB/sec LPDDR5 ... I think if that was the likely two options, Nintendo made the better choice. I don't see any indications that the Series S is being locked out of a major next gen games and it has even less RAM (8GB). More overall RAM than the Series S + more bandwidth than the Steam Deck + ROG Ally is a very good middle ground.
Last edited by Soundwave - on 10 May 2024
