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Forums - Sony - How much would it cost to throw a cell in PS4?

M.U.G.E.N on 25 January 2013
drkohler said:
M.U.G.E.N said:
Actually a user over at Gaf pointed out a patent that sony filed a while back...that allows to atatch Cell functionality to another processor..or something like that lol (pls don't ask..I have no idea what most of it means)

however the end result would be having BC + having additional processing capabilities in the system..would be amazing if they include it

It would also be an engineering nightmare of incredible proportions. Supposedly the PS4 uses unified ram shared by two processors (at some point an APU was in the rumour chain, adding a subprocessor). Imagine adding another processor (complex processor in reality) into the equation. Now you have three processors fighting on a unified bus (it doesn't help that the cell uses a different kind of memory and uses non-Intel code). Such a design would be doable - anything is doable if you pay for it. it would probably add around $200 to the production cost, so no way this is going to happen. Maybe a hardware addon (having a cell with "cell memory" and some glue logic, which could be manufactured for under $50) will appear one day, certainly the engineers have more imprtant thing to do ritght now.

hehe have no clue man. Most of these tech stuff just flies over my head :P but so far it's being discussed over at gaf and they think it's pretty feasible, from a implimentation and a financial pov so who knows :S

I think this is the patent they are talking about

http://www.google.com/patents/US20100312969

Some are speculating the special 'sauce' aka the special units in the system that Digital Foundry was referring to might be this



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DemoniOtaku on 26 January 2013
thismeintiel said:
DemoniOtaku said:
thismeintiel said:
I would imagine $50 is a pretty good estimate. However, that would also tack on an extra $50-60 to the final price of the PS4. I think they should just aim for PS1 and PS2 BC. This wouldn't cost them much and would not cut into the PS3's sales as much as a $400 fully BC PS4 would. I do think most, if not all, games on PSN will get a small update to work on the PS4, as well.

But a Full BC PS4 would be the best... because this could make some PS3 owners to buy a PS4.. by selling their actual console... You can keep playing Ps3 games and have the lastest and hotest machine of the market... at least I would do like that... fund my PS4 selling my PS3...^^

Don't get me wrong, I would love it if the PS4 was fully BC.  They could even have some catchphrase like "PS 4ever."  However, they are going to want to offset the losses made from selling the PS4 at a marginal loss with PS3 sales, which are selling at a decent sized profit.  Of course, they may have a premium bundle that is $50-$100 more expensive, and comes with full BC.  I'd buy that for a dollar.  Or 500 of them.

That's Exactly What I'm thinking.. a Basic PS4 and a Premium PS4.. those who want BC just buy the expensiver... those who keep their PS3 or just want next gen games.. buy the basic.. that's simple..



 

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DigitalDevilSummoner on 26 January 2013

Playstation 4 will not have backwards compatibility with the PS3. get over it



Turkish on 26 January 2013

The Cell is definetly not worth $50 today for Sony, it was over a little $100 when the PS3 came out. They could integrate the Cell in a premium PS4 SKU, kinda like the original 60GB PS3s.



DemoniOtaku on 26 January 2013

a 349$ Basic SKU and a 399$ better SKU with BC.. which is the problem? They can include a chip CELL to keep playing PS3's games on PS4, they did it with PS2 and PS3.. why not PS4?



 

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platformmaster918 on 26 January 2013
DemoniOtaku said:
a 349$ Basic SKU and a 399$ better SKU with BC.. which is the problem? They can include a chip CELL to keep playing PS3's games on PS4, they did it with PS2 and PS3.. why not PS4?

this is my dream scenario.  People say they couldn't make it very powerful at that point because they look at WiiU, but keep the controller simple and they could achieve 1080p 60fps with a console that costs $400 to produce (for Sony with its bulk and late 2013 prices).  Remember WiiU has a controller that costs $150.  I could settle for adding $50 on both of those prices if they needed to as I believe the market will look at the price as $400 just like they look at Xbox as costing $200 right now even though that is the barebones model.




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elazz on 26 January 2013

I think the cost will be around 40 euros max. The production cost will also be the additional cost of PS4 since their profit is in the whole system. But I've heard rumors about an external Cell chip that you can buy vor 75 dollars and connect it through a special port at the back of the PS4. Giving you the option seems best strategy for me.



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bananaking21 on 26 January 2013

i actually like the idea of the dongle that costs about 60~70 bucks. that way the ps4 would be cheaper and who ever wants to play ps3 games can get this add on for a cheap price.



Deyon on 26 January 2013

There is no way the ps4 will b/c Sony will put some of the ps3 games on PSstore so they can charge you for it like they did with the ps2 games.



VetteDude on 26 January 2013

A lot. The Chip is only part of the true cost. You have to design the motherboard with connections to the New CPU and GPU and also the Cell which is a power sucker. It increases complexity on the motherboard. Then you have to navigate connections of the Cell to system Memory and other I/O functions.