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Forums - Nintendo - 512 MB of Wii U's RAM "reserved for the OS. What's the total?

Zim on 21 May 2012
superchunk said:
Zim said:
So interestingly it seems as though Neogaf users in the know are now quite openly talking about the Wii U. One of the insiders there has been talking about how the RAM has been bumped up. Going from 1.5GB to 2GB total.

Honestly that is fantastic news and is really the absolute best situation that could reasonably have been expected.

So at the moment there is 1.5GB available for games. A pretty nice 3 times of that in the 360. With an extra 512mb currently locked away but potentially some of it becoming available.

Assuming the other parts were in line with it then it would be a very nice bump over the 360/PS3.

If you look at my next gen specs thread it has 512 XDR ram and 1GB of video ram. I'm now thinking they bumped up the regular ram and left the XDR ram for the OS to make sure the system, its tablet, and all the new Android based features run flawless while still having a large enough storage of additional ram to make games still superb.

Yup most likely. Could you link me to your next gen thread? 
Also if you need a source for the increased RAM then on this page  http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=472816&page=387  bgassassin is known as someone with inside knowledge and confirms the 2GB.



Turkish says and I'm allowed to quote that: Uncharted 3 and God Of War 3 look better than Unreal Engine 4 games will or the tech demo does. Also the Naughty Dog PS3 ENGINE PLAYS better than the UE4 ENGINE.

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superchunk on 21 May 2012
Zim said:
superchunk said:
Zim said:
So interestingly it seems as though Neogaf users in the know are now quite openly talking about the Wii U. One of the insiders there has been talking about how the RAM has been bumped up. Going from 1.5GB to 2GB total.

Honestly that is fantastic news and is really the absolute best situation that could reasonably have been expected.

So at the moment there is 1.5GB available for games. A pretty nice 3 times of that in the 360. With an extra 512mb currently locked away but potentially some of it becoming available.

Assuming the other parts were in line with it then it would be a very nice bump over the 360/PS3.

If you look at my next gen specs thread it has 512 XDR ram and 1GB of video ram. I'm now thinking they bumped up the regular ram and left the XDR ram for the OS to make sure the system, its tablet, and all the new Android based features run flawless while still having a large enough storage of additional ram to make games still superb.

Yup most likely. Could you link me to your next gen thread? 
Also if you need a source for the increased RAM then on this page  http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=472816&page=387  bgassassin is known as someone with inside knowledge and confirms the 2GB.

NEXT-GEN COMPARISON THREAD



SnesTea on 21 May 2012
mantlepiecek said:
SaviorX said:
mantlepiecek said:

512 MB RAM for an OS is too much. I don't believe this.


How much memory is usually used?

Win XP required 128 MB.

Win Vista required 512 MB - 1 GB

Win 7 requires something like 1 GB - 2 GB

 

For a gaming console OS, 512 MB is too much unless they are planning some serious multitasking. Like watching videos while playing games as well as voice chat and internet browser and stuff. And like other people stated, it gets optimised with time.

EDIT : Or it's possible that they are future-proofing wiiu. So that they could add features later on.

Beat me to it.



sergiodaly on 22 May 2012
kitler53 said:
haxxiy said:
Badassbab said:
RAM is much cheaper now so the more the merrier. Hope it has bundles of Edram. 360 Edram helped it out a lot though it started to hold it back due to small amount.


Console RAM has to be soldered onto the main board, they are way more expensive to manufacture than their PC counterparts.

That being said, I think 512 MB for OS is way too high, but it could happen for all I know. Probably the total RAM is around 1.5 GB then, with maybe an embedded GPU RAM for cheap antialiasing like the GC and the X360. 

I've heard this quite a few times now...why is that? 

because a clip-on module can, with time, develop a bad contact issue that may keep the console from boot up...

soldered, gives alot more confidence to the manufacturer.

Proudest Platinums - BF: Bad Company, Killzone 2 , Battlefield 3 and GTA4

kitler53 on 22 May 2012
sergiodaly said:
kitler53 said:
haxxiy said:
Badassbab said:
RAM is much cheaper now so the more the merrier. Hope it has bundles of Edram. 360 Edram helped it out a lot though it started to hold it back due to small amount.


Console RAM has to be soldered onto the main board, they are way more expensive to manufacture than their PC counterparts.

That being said, I think 512 MB for OS is way too high, but it could happen for all I know. Probably the total RAM is around 1.5 GB then, with maybe an embedded GPU RAM for cheap antialiasing like the GC and the X360. 

I've heard this quite a few times now...why is that? 

because a clip-on module can, with time, develop a bad contact issue that may keep the console from boot up...

soldered, gives alot more confidence to the manufacturer.

really?  that's it?   seems not worth the extra cost.  I mean, what's the failure rate on that?  can't be that high.



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TheShape31 on 22 May 2012

It'll be 2GB total.



Lusche on 22 May 2012
kitler53 said:

really?  that's it?   seems not worth the extra cost.  I mean, what's the failure rate on that?  can't be that high.


I thought they solder it not because of the costs or failure rate, but for a more compact design. I also think its cheaper to solder it directly on the board (you dont need the extra board for the ram, pins for the ram module and the clip, but not sure about that one)

That was told to me from a manufacture who assembles boards a few years ago (they build controller for industrial electromotors)



sergiodaly on 22 May 2012
kitler53 said:
sergiodaly said:
kitler53 said:
haxxiy said:
Badassbab said:
RAM is much cheaper now so the more the merrier. Hope it has bundles of Edram. 360 Edram helped it out a lot though it started to hold it back due to small amount.


Console RAM has to be soldered onto the main board, they are way more expensive to manufacture than their PC counterparts.

That being said, I think 512 MB for OS is way too high, but it could happen for all I know. Probably the total RAM is around 1.5 GB then, with maybe an embedded GPU RAM for cheap antialiasing like the GC and the X360. 

I've heard this quite a few times now...why is that? 

because a clip-on module can, with time, develop a bad contact issue that may keep the console from boot up...

soldered, gives alot more confidence to the manufacturer.

really?  that's it?   seems not worth the extra cost.  I mean, what's the failure rate on that?  can't be that high.

the soldered modules are not more expensive... they just require a custom mother board, witch are not a extra cost since all consoles use custom mother boards. don't know where that "fact" come from...

Proudest Platinums - BF: Bad Company, Killzone 2 , Battlefield 3 and GTA4

kitler53 on 22 May 2012
sergiodaly said:
kitler53 said:
sergiodaly said:
kitler53 said:
haxxiy said:
Badassbab said:
RAM is much cheaper now so the more the merrier. Hope it has bundles of Edram. 360 Edram helped it out a lot though it started to hold it back due to small amount.


Console RAM has to be soldered onto the main board, they are way more expensive to manufacture than their PC counterparts.

That being said, I think 512 MB for OS is way too high, but it could happen for all I know. Probably the total RAM is around 1.5 GB then, with maybe an embedded GPU RAM for cheap antialiasing like the GC and the X360. 

I've heard this quite a few times now...why is that? 

because a clip-on module can, with time, develop a bad contact issue that may keep the console from boot up...

soldered, gives alot more confidence to the manufacturer.

really?  that's it?   seems not worth the extra cost.  I mean, what's the failure rate on that?  can't be that high.

the soldered modules are not more expensive... they just require a custom mother board, witch are not a extra cost since all consoles use custom mother boards. don't know where that "fact" come from...

underlines seem to contradict each other.



drkohler on 22 May 2012
Lusche said:


I thought they solder it not because of the costs or failure rate, but for a more compact design. I also think its cheaper to solder it directly on the board

Every piece of plastic, every single hole in your board costs money. It is by far the cheapest solution to solder everything directly onto the board. Since a console is a fixed architecture, you do not need any slots at all, the user has no choice to change things. The expensive stuff like cpu and gpu might be in a socket if the designer thinks harvesting parts might be an option should the console fail for some reason.