Based on current TV technology there is no reason to exceed 64 gigabytes of RAM. Even a 3D 4K display could barely use that much memory.

There are two possibilities. IF current TV technology doesn't change fundamentally over this gen (and that's quite likely; TV tech is adopted much slower than console tech) then we're looking at either 16 or 32 GB of memory. 64 if 4K starts to take off (which is sadly unlikely.) Even PCs won't really be using that much memory.

Alternatively, prototype mind-reading devices, which can pull images directly from your mind DO exist. In ten years its entirely possible we'll be looking at VR consoles, which could easily need 256 GB of memory, if not more.

I haven't even seen a comp with those specs!















Unless you count supercomputers, none of which I've seen.

Perhaps to put some more stuff in this thread: you can easily fill up ram with stuff, but it depends on what you want to do. E.g. the demo scene where you have a file size limit for your demo, the groups generate the data before the actual demo starts by calculation. This can easily mean generating gigabytes of data stored in ram. As with games: games also generate a lot of data and if there is more ram it would be used by devs. They just wouldn't have to matter that much how to squeeze all the stuff into given ram.

Not much (except faster (non existent) loading times. Look at it this way. What eats up the most amount of RAM in a game are your textures and other things that are usually tied to the GPU. But you see games also recylce textures. eg. theer is a very big difference with having 1M blades of grass with 1M individual textures and 1M blades of grass with 3 different textures repeated into a million blades.

Another way to look at it (an example so I am using estimates), any level (chapter) of Uncharted you saw on the PS3 probably required no more than 6GB of combined data to build (unique data for that level and recycled data=combined data). How much of that data needs to be on the screen is basically what needs to fit into 512mb of memory on the PS3. Now extrapolate and you have the PS4. Devs basically can move 5GB of data in and out of memory which conists of what makes up a level. If you remember that these games usually come in ~40GB download sizes, then you will see that how much of the game actually goes into making up each level you play isn't that big. especially when factoring ALL the things that goes into RAM.

Putting 64GB of RAM, you can basically load the entire game into system memory and use it as a cart and completely eliminate loading times, but there are better less costly ways of doing that.

So much RAM?! Nahh, I think it'll come down to 32.

I remember asking the same thing about 15-20 years ago when the topic of 128MB of RAM came up while most of our current computers were running 4-8MB of RAM. 1GB of RAM may as well have been science fiction.  Games will find a way to use it.

That being said, RAM's growth has slowed down considerably in the last 5-7 years. I would anticipate the PS5 having no more than 32GB of RAM. I could be wrong though.

LOL 100GB+ RAM. I edit videos for a living. Even with rendering 1080p videos. Running Photoshop, after effects, premiere pro editing another video, have Firefox open etc. My RAM usage never reaches my 24GB limit. At most I got upto was 16GB. A game console isn't gonna go near that much usage, at the same time. Unless you want to run so many games  at once. Even with 4K it isn't needed to be that huge number. The other areas need to be better. I'm rendering a 1080p at 32Mpb's video right now. My RAM usage is only 6GB.

We're not on about now though are we, we're talking 7-8 years away, when the ps3 had 256mb of ram 8gb probably seemed ridiculous back then for an idea for a ps4

It is hard to say, I wonder what people predicted previous times when a new system came out what it's hypothetical successor specs would be.

I think the coming generation may be the hardest to predict. Using something like cloud computing seems far off now, but in six years time hard to say. I think what may hold systems back is the availability of such infrastructure. If I had to guess Sony's global foot print make them very aware that cannot go too far in a new direction without alienating much of its fan base.

My guess (and it is a guess) is a system with 64GB of ram, roughly 8GB reserved for OS and other functions.

Umm yea no.