This ^

...in short.

I suppose you could say that because there is 8GB of RAM it basically means there is no limitation in that area for video RAM, there may be situations where frame rate doesn't matter so if it dropped to 10 fps for a certain cutscene, more than 2GB of RAM might be used (not saying 2GB is the limit but it's the rough area that a 7850 can use to it's potential).

For example, if you up the resolution on a 7850 on "high" on a PC, you will reach a point where the frame rate is too low to play and enjoy the game, but the RAM is there to actually allow it, instead of crashing.

So, there could be games where running at 10fps or around that might be ok for a few seconds, say to show off a slow moving set piece in a new God of War game where the player isn't actually playing...

So yes, for that the extra RAM could be used for "graphics".

That would certainly be the exception though, but still nice that developers will have that choice and thinking about it I can see that actually happening a fair bit.

...strange how things work when you type your thoughts out and actually think something through :p

No. It'll be used to improve loading times and pop-in. RAM interferes most in the textures/shadow quality department. PS4's GPU won't be able to max out the RAM that way, since it would require very high-res textures and shadows to use an entire 8GB, a feat that would be impossible with the mid-end GPU that PS4 uses.

The transition from SD to HD was hard on every developer. Some devs even struggle to create better graphics, so how can they create better AI and better physics? It really just depends on the type of game. Super Mario games don't need better graphics, AI or physics to be fun right? The same can be said for Call of Duty.

So it doesn't really matter whether or not AI improves significantly. As a Nintendo gamer, you of all people should know that.

The main reason why the PS3 and its CELL processor didnt advance AI to jizz-levels is because most games went multi-platfrom. PS3 no longer had the market to itself and it devs had to make sure to build games that could easily be ported across different platforms. This won't be a problem with the 8th gen of consoles. PS4 doesn't need to dominate the market since its specs are so similar to the next Xbox and typical PCs.

Thanks you've just summed up the point I spent about 10 posts trying to explain...in the other thread.

Praise the bloody lord, and I'm not religous!

This is your answer people.

/end discussion.

You'll believe anything, there's literally no evidence to support this except 5-7 year old marketing bullshit. You're better than that!

It's been accepted for a while now that the CELL can't brush your teeth, cook a sunday dinner, or clean the windows.

Like bigger development costs and bigger costs to the consumer through possibly 70$ games and DLC expanding and being more expensive?

It will also depend on the NextXbox hardware specifications, if they also come with 8GB of RAM but only have 6 available to games, the companies will develop thinking on the less powerful one and the mayor difference will be on graphics.

I don't see what any of those tasks has to do with gaming but I agree with that assessment I suppose.  Then again I've never tried brushing my teeth with my PS3, and it is Sunday now and getting around dinner time.

RAM wil be used to increase the number of polygons and the amount of contet loaded at once. So... more detailed images, faster or non-existent load times, no pop-in and so on. Things should look better and be smoother.

Those suggesting things like "better AI" or "physics", I doubt there will be much of a benefit there. The challenge of AI is and always has been the programing of it. If all it took to make better AI was more RAM, we could throw 64 gig in a sex doll and we could all have an autonomous servant or very own terminator.

The true biggest advantage of RAM overkill though, is it makes it easier to make games. Developers will love being able to just throw all their content into memory and call it a day. This will encourage developer support for PS4, and reduce developement times/costs.

I would sure hope so since the Wiiu is already doing this.