4 ms·

So consoles have entirely given up on the market and just become branded PCs?

by s_dev 7y ago

Analemma_ 7y ago
Basically, yes. The PS5 is also going to be just an x86 Ryzen machine with the same AMD GPUs you'd get in a PC. This is sort of disappointing from a technology nerdery perspective, but after years of game developers struggling with bespoke weirdness like the PS3 Cell chip, I imagine they're welcoming the change. It also makes it much easier to handle backwards-compatibility, which most gamers treat as non-negotiable these days.
- vernie 7y ago
  This change already happened in the last generation as both the PS4 and Xbox One used Jaguar APUs with GCN GPUs.
- skohan 7y ago
  But there are some meaningful differences right? Like it's an SOC with shared CPU/GPU memory. Theoretically this could give better performance for things like loading assets, which have to go from storage -> main memory -> graphics memory on PC.
- ericflo 7y ago
  One difference is the large amounts of GDDR6 on the APUs in these upcoming consoles, which is not something PC CPUs typically have access to. (It'll have to share that memory for both graphics and compute though, so not a pure win.) I think that just that memory architecture difference alone could lead to some interesting performance characteristics compared to contemporary PCs.
pingyong 7y ago
They did that last gen already, PS4 and XB1 are just PC laptop hardware.
mortenjorck 7y ago
Yes and no. They switched a generation ago to commodity architectures (likely owing, in large part, to the very slow developer uptake of Sony's exotic Cell processor). Playstation and Xbox have both been on x86 for the better part of a decade already. But this does not make them PCs any more than Nintendo going ARM makes the Switch an Android phone. The experience of owning, using, and developing for a console remains entirely different from that of a PC, even if the underlying hardware has more in common than it did in previous generations. It's not "giving up on the market" at all.
balls187 7y ago
> So consoles have entirely given up on the market and just become branded PCs? In a way yes. Last generation you had "1/2 step" consoles, The PS4Pro and Xbox One X, which were mid generation upgrades. This generation is shifting even further towards bringing console gaming to what PC gaming is via Windows and Steam. I have PC Games I own on steam, and as upgrade my PC components over time, I still own and play my library of steam based games. There is no concept of "backwards compatibility." The belief is this is the last hard console generation, and instead overtime, their will be revisions to hardware that take advantage of leaps in technology. As games come out that require more powerful hardware, those with "Xbox Series X" will have to opt to play games via streaming service. So you can think of Xbox being the brand of a PC-like gaming experience created wholly by Microsoft. That is what their branding is trying to evoke.

So consoles have entirely given up on the market and just become branded PCs?

by s_dev 7y ago

So consoles have entirely given up on the market and just become branded PCs?

Basically, yes. The PS5 is also going to be just an x86 Ryzen machine with the same AMD GPUs you'd get in a PC. This is sort of disappointing from a technology nerdery perspective, but after years of game developers struggling with bespoke weirdness like the PS3 Cell chip, I imagine they're welcoming the change. It also makes it much easier to handle backwards-compatibility, which most gamers treat as non-negotiable these days.

vernie 7y ago
This change already happened in the last generation as both the PS4 and Xbox One used Jaguar APUs with GCN GPUs.
skohan 7y ago
But there are some meaningful differences right? Like it's an SOC with shared CPU/GPU memory. Theoretically this could give better performance for things like loading assets, which have to go from storage -> main memory -> graphics memory on PC.
ericflo 7y ago
One difference is the large amounts of GDDR6 on the APUs in these upcoming consoles, which is not something PC CPUs typically have access to. (It'll have to share that memory for both graphics and compute though, so not a pure win.) I think that just that memory architecture difference alone could lead to some interesting performance characteristics compared to contemporary PCs.

pingyong 7y ago

They did that last gen already, PS4 and XB1 are just PC laptop hardware.

mortenjorck 7y ago

Yes and no. They switched a generation ago to commodity architectures (likely owing, in large part, to the very slow developer uptake of Sony's exotic Cell processor). Playstation and Xbox have both been on x86 for the better part of a decade already. But this does not make them PCs any more than Nintendo going ARM makes the Switch an Android phone. The experience of owning, using, and developing for a console remains entirely different from that of a PC, even if the underlying hardware has more in common than it did in previous generations. It's not "giving up on the market" at all.

balls187 7y ago

> So consoles have entirely given up on the market and just become branded PCs? In a way yes. Last generation you had "1/2 step" consoles, The PS4Pro and Xbox One X, which were mid generation upgrades. This generation is shifting even further towards bringing console gaming to what PC gaming is via Windows and Steam. I have PC Games I own on steam, and as upgrade my PC components over time, I still own and play my library of steam based games. There is no concept of "backwards compatibility." The belief is this is the last hard console generation, and instead overtime, their will be revisions to hardware that take advantage of leaps in technology. As games come out that require more powerful hardware, those with "Xbox Series X" will have to opt to play games via streaming service. So you can think of Xbox being the brand of a PC-like gaming experience created wholly by Microsoft. That is what their branding is trying to evoke.