[Eusis]

What "other half"? From the quote in the OP, that's it. 4 * 4Gbit = 2 GB. What we don't know yet is how fast the eDRAM is. ... either I am confused or the majority of people in this thread are. Wii U does not have split memory pools, except for the eDRAM.

Ah, should've figured that, looked at the tl;dr version without even trying to put it together in my head.

Well, I kind of expect having MORE can, when used appropriately, balance out being a bit slower, but it will almost certainly not be much help against the next Xbox/PS.

[Friedreich]

But it isnt due to costs.

nope it's like 40 bucks in newegg. pop it right in the console for everyone

[Seance]

They would if the game had not change. But it has. It's not about the tech now, it's about how little money will you lose on the tech.

You don't honestly believe that do you? MS and Sony are gonna go hard with $399+ beasts selling at below cost.

[Brad Grenz]

What "other half"? From the quote in the OP, that's it. 4 * 4Gbit = 2 GB. What we don't know yet is how fast the eDRAM is. ... either I am confused or the majority of people in this thread are. Wii U does not have split memory pools, except for the eDRAM.

I don't think he mean literally half in terms of capacity, like those in the speculation thread who thought there would be physically separate memory buses for games (GDDR5) and the OS (DDR3). I think he's just saying the main memory bus is only half the story when you consider the embedded memory's contribution to the overall design.

[antonz]

SDDR3. Third character is a W.

Yes but what confuses me is their actual listings for the model are not placed in the DDR3 category but the GDDR category.

[Horse Armour]

Durante is right, OP amended. Wii U uses 2GB of DDR3 at a max speed of 17GB/s. Ignore what was previously posted, will get a mod to change the title.

[TheGreatDivide]

I thought it had 2gb of RAM?

E: derp

[Sid]

WTF? 2 GB DDR3, i was expecting 1GB GDDR3+1 GB DDR3.

[AniHawk]

interesting, because i thought nintendo was big into having fast parts in their console even if they weren't the most powerful. kind of harkening back to the n64 and the supposed reason of choosing carts over discs due to load times.

[Doc Holliday]

Weird seeing nintendo use "regular" ram.

[AlStrong]

it is "gDDR3," note the lower case 'g' -- I'm not sure what that means.

It's listed under gDDR3, there's a seperate category for GDDR3. What's the difference?

It just means it's DDR3 for graphics board integration (i.e. 1:1 tracing from DRAM to processor) rather than DIMMs. There are PC graphics cards that use DDR3, which would actually be considered "gDDR3", but hey... there's the naming confusion and all.

"GDDR3" is a separate technology altogether.

[Horse Armour]

interesting, because i though nintendo was big into having fast parts in their console even if they weren't the most powerful. kind of harkening back to the n64 and the supposed reason of choosing carts over discs due to load times.

Let's hope they haven't cheapened out on their eDRAM and that it's more flexible than the type in the 360.

[SSM25]

How is this being sold at a loss?

[Oblivion]

Wait, so this DOES include the video RAM?

[Teletraan1]

How many neweggs/s is this ram?

[Sid]

How is this being sold at a loss?

The controller,i guess.

[Horse Armour]

Wait, so this DOES include the video RAM?

Yes it does. The only thing not included is eDRAM.

[Perkel]

But whats being talked about is the system ram is it not not video ram?.

wasn't there information that there is no vram in system ? 2GB is shared memory between games and system.

If this is true i don't see anything different for second 1GB.

[Chiggs]

Holy shit, this system is so gimped it's not even funny. I'm stunned.

[Ydahs]

interesting, because i though nintendo was big into having fast parts in their console even if they weren't the most powerful. kind of harkening back to the n64 and the supposed reason of choosing carts over discs due to load times.

The setup's also important but yeah, odd choice of RAM.

[Durante]

Wait, so this DOES include the video RAM?

Yes, except for the eDRAM (which is pretty important to graphics processing).

How many neweggs/s is this ram?

It's less than €10 when you buy it as a consumer :P

[Matt]

Yes but what confuses me is their actual listings for the model are not placed in the DDR3 category but the GDDR category.

Forget what I said, didn't notice the lower case "g". Weird.

[Oblivion]

So what effect does RAM speed have exactly? Faster texture loading?

[Instro]

interesting, because i thought nintendo was big into having fast parts in their console even if they weren't the most powerful. kind of harkening back to the n64 and the supposed reason of choosing carts over discs due to load times.

We'll have to see what they are doing with the edram, as this is a fairly different choice for them as far as RAM is concerned.

[TheGuardian]

The eDRAM will only be large enough to store the render buffers (frame buffer, some textures, vertex buffers, etc), 99% of the game will be on this slow as hell main memory.
Like many people said already, the difference to whatever Sony and Microsoft put into their new consoles will be brutal.

[ZoddGutts]

How is this being sold at a loss?

Gamepad I suppose.

[cyberheater]

If this is correct. And the rumours on the CPU speed are also correct. Basically the only thing saving WiiU is the GPU.

The Xbox360 and PS3 out performs it otherwise.

[iammeiam]

This is very discouraging. I thought you could always count on Nntendo for fast memory, even if they weren't spec obsessing.

[Friedreich]

Damn, the newegg argument didn't pop off. heh

[Durante]

So what effect does RAM speed have exactly? Faster texture loading?

First of all, there are 2 separate metrics of interest for memory (well, there are even more, but these are the most important): bandwidth and latency. Both of those impact a huge variety of algorithms and general things a CPU or GPU might do. Generally, bandwidth mostly affects the speed of streaming computations (like those you might find on a GPU or n a CPU using SIMD), while latency mostly affects code that traverses data structures in memory (e.g. lists or trees) -- which is a lot of what any program does. Basically, almost everything is affected to some degree by memory speed.

[Chiggs]

Come on, folks...acting as if eDRAM is going to be the savior of this system is a little absurd. The memory is gimped. Utterly gimped.

I can't believe what a mess this is.

[Oblivion]

If this is correct. And the rumours on the CPU speed are also correct. Basically the only thing saving WiiU is the GPU. The Xbox360 and PS3 out performs it otherwise.

Well, the RAM amount at least is more than the PS360, so there's that.

[joshwaan]

Have to say this Nintendo been shopping at newegg seen those DDR3 prices :P

[Doc Holliday]

If this is correct. And the rumours on the CPU speed are also correct. Basically the only thing saving WiiU is the GPU. The Xbox360 and PS3 out performs it otherwise.

I thought the 360 used gdddr3 ram aswell? Why are people saying its ddr3? On the samsung page it says it's GDDdr3 not ddr3.

[wsippel]

So what effect does RAM speed have exactly? Faster texture loading?

Nope. Textures don't require much bandwidth. Regular setups need fast RAM for shit like render targets, but those should be stored in eDRAM on Wii U as far as we know, so I don't think the bandwidth will be an issue. If developers use it correctly that is.

[Perkel]

So what effect does RAM speed have exactly? Faster texture loading?

How much data can be used by game for example textures and how fast can it display.

For example Gta4 without mods on high with 1600x900 resolution takes more than 1GB of Vram.

What this mean is that Wii U can't play GTA4 on very high settings and games like Crysis2 on high is also out of question.

[Durante]

If this is correct. And the rumours on the CPU speed are also correct. Basically the only thing saving WiiU is the GPU. The Xbox360 and PS3 out performs it otherwise.

Is there anything new and concrete about that? (just woke up)

[thuway]

If this is correct. And the rumours on the CPU speed are also correct. Basically the only thing saving WiiU is the GPU. The Xbox360 and PS3 out performs it otherwise.

Why did Nintendo cheap out so much :(?

[Darryl]

I'm running out of fuel to fight the 6 year old tech argument

[shinra-bansho]

So the Wii U has more RAM, but slower RAM than current gen systems.

[Chiggs]

I think it's almost impossible to call the Wii U more powerful than the 360 or PS3. Clearly it's worse in a major category. Is this even happening? Lol

I'm starting to get that flop feeling.

[ZoddGutts]

How many neweggs/s is this ram?

For one 2GB memory stick can be bought for 10 bucks for a DDR3 1066 speed.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...8PC3%208500%29

[Sid]

So the Wii U has more RAM, but slower RAM than current gen systems.

Yup.

[Canis lupus]

Seen the Durante post and then got disappointed. :(

[EDarkness]

Why did Nintendo cheap out so much :(?

That pad isn't cheap. Hopefully by their next system they'll go all out with hardware since the tech behind the pad should be cheap enough to allow for more wiggle room somewhere else.

[Durante]

I'm running out of fuel to fight the 6 year old tech argument

This time around it's really not 6 year old tech. Just very low-end somewhat recent tech.

[Darryl]

I think it's almost impossible to call the Wii U more powerful than the 360 or PS3. Clearly it's worse in a major category. Is this even happening? Lol

Now you calm down, we still have no idea what is going on with the GPU.

[joshwaan]

For one 2GB memory stick can be bought for 10 bucks for a DDR3 1066 speed. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...8PC3%208500%29

I know it's different size and what not on the motherboard in a console, but lol damn they must have seen the Newegg prices haha :P

Muskin in that link 10 bucks 7,7,7,21, what timings would the Samsung memory in Wii U have?

[Chiggs]

Now you calm down, we still have no idea what is going on with the GPU.

I guess so. Still going to enjoy Mario Bros in HD.

[Oblivion]

First of all, there are 2 separate metrics of interest for memory (well, there are even more, but these are the most important): bandwidth and latency. Both of those impact a huge variety of algorithms and general things a CPU or GPU might do. Generally, bandwidth mostly affects the speed of streaming computations (like those you might find on a GPU or n a CPU using SIMD), while latency mostly affects code that traverses data structures in memory (e.g. lists or trees) -- which is a lot of what any program does. Basically, almost everything is affected to some degree by memory speed.

Nope. Textures don't require much bandwidth. Regular setups need fast RAM for shit like render targets, but those should be stored in eDRAM on Wii U as far as we know, so I don't think the bandwidth will be an issue. If developers use it correctly that is.

How much data can be used by game for example textures and how fast can it display. For example Gta4 without mods on high with 1600x900 resolution takes more than 1GB of Vram. What this mean is that Wii U can't play GTA4 on very high settings and games like Crysis2 on high is also out of question.

Ah, thanks.