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Opinion: The PS4 will support 4K blu-ray

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Do you mind if I ask what it was? It would have to have been something pretty poor to have convinced you that 4K makes no difference on a TV.

I didnt say that it made no difference. I said that it was negligible comparing 1080p to 4k at a normal viewing distance. I am not talking store demos where they put you 5' from a 70" screen.
 

pswii60

Member
Ideal-Distances-Chart.jpg
That (rather silly and overposted on here as 'fact') chart actually just confirms that I was 'right' so I don't know what your point is?
I didnt say that it made no difference. I said that it was negligible comparing 1080p to 4k at a normal viewing distance. I am not talking store demos where they put you 5' from a 70" screen.
6-7' from a 55" screen is actually pretty common though, and as TVs get thinner in terms of both depth and bezel, people are buying larger screens than ever before. We're a good few years on since 32-40" was the standard.
 
That (rather silly and overposted on here as 'fact') chart actually just confirms that I was 'right' so I don't know what your point is?

My point is the same on I have been stating all along. It makes a larger impact on monitors and projectors. Who sits 6' feet away from their 55" tv? You live in a best buy or something?
 

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
None of you all can disprove what I am saying. Getting all mad about it doesn't make your point come across anymore proficiently.

Also a bit more reading:

http://www.cnet.com/news/why-ultra-hd-4k-tvs-are-still-stupid/

I don't need to disprove you, I know you are incorrect as the evidence is in my living room, no amount of googled opinion pieces is going to change that.

The Revenant and Spectre.

I have front runners for my first UHD Blu-rays.

I wouldn't take that list as gospel, the UHD's sourced from 2K masters can show noticeable improvements, even if they are not true 4K.
 
I don't need to disprove you, I know you are incorrect as the evidence is in my living room, no amount of googled opinion pieces is going to change that.
Indeed.

The beauty of UHD is like the beauty of the retina display. You can't see every pixel at normal viewing distances, and that's the whole point. Everything looks so natural, and ridiculously detailed with tons of depth. On my 950 OLED anyway, UHD content is literally insane. I can't wait until we get more content.

But as always with these things, I get to the enjoy and appreciate the difference while others try to convince themselves in to denial that it doesn't exist. Just like when I was enjoying plasma while others were banging on about how LCD was better.. yeah whatever, enjoy your shitty TVs then :)
 
What could you be giving up, exactly? What do you hope to accomplish?

Um, you've repeatedly accepted quotes from Microsoft and Sony VPs -- it's just that you cherrypick the ones that meet your predetermined conclusion.[
No I look at what they say. Ito said the PS4 drive can't read three layers and ALL blu-ray drives from at least 2010 can read three or more layers, it's in the Wiki. So I discount a statement from ignorance or deceit. I mentioned this before and still no one checks to confirm and then they can discount Ito too.

Adam Tyner said:
Go back a couple of pages to the whole thing with Masayasu Ito (who leads the engineering side of the PS4) saying that UHD BD support with the launch PS4 isn't possible. There is literally no one at Sony in a greater position of authority to speak on this than him.

I can't find a vaguely recent quote from anyone at Microsoft saying a word -- affirming, denying, or anything in between -- about UHD BD support for the Xbox One. That's what I mean, though. Jeff repeatedly references a nearly 3 year old quote from someone at Microsoft about "4K Blu-ray" as proof, but if someone from Microsoft were to say that support isn't coming, he'd dismiss that altogether. It's exactly what he did with Ito's statement.
I cited the requirements to read a UHD disk but no one reads them so I fall back to Microsoft and Sony quotes that are short and easy to understand because even you do not read the cites.

Again, Ito to support the PS4 not supporting UHD Blu-ray said the drive can't read three layers and there is no HEVC codec. At least the one point on the drive is easy to disprove. And if Microsoft's VP of Marketing and at one Point the Xbox division says the XB1 hardware can support UHD Blu-ray, that means a 2013 drive too. Then we have Microsoft announcing HEVC profile 10 for the XB1 which is also needed for UHD Blu-ray...one of the three hardware needs for UHD Blu-ray has been RECENTLY confirmed which I find supports the 2013 quote. Or are you going to say 8 months invalidates that too.

Adam I didn't start this thread with the Microsoft quote, I started with cites on what is required for UHD Blu-ray and modern DRM requirements. Sony stated the custom HDMI chip supports 120 FPS for VR which is also the HFR spec coming later in the life of UHD Blu-ray.
 
No I look at what they say. Ito said the PS4 drive can't read three layers and ALL blu-ray drives from at least 2010 can read three or more layers, it's in the Wiki. So I discount a statement from ignorance or deceit. I mentioned this before and still no one checks to confirm and then they can discount Ito too.
If Ito doesn't believe it's possible with the current PS4, it sure doesn't bode well for support anytime in the near future. But you're no longer expecting support in the near future, so whatever.
 
The latest PS4.5 Video has some info and lots of speculation. Confirmed is the PS4.5 will free up one CPU. That's exactly what would happen when Sony publishes the APIs to developers for Southbridge's True Audio for instance. This statement makes no sense in any other context. Up-scaling 1080P games to 4K not rendering them at 4K is another likely speculation by Eurogamer.

What it means is that finally the Southbridge ARM TEE will be used for things like HTML5 <video> MSE EME and Playready embedded. Apps like Netflix will drop in size and when full screen video is being displayed the AMD GPU can be turned off resulting in a less than 20 watt power mode. A Video chat program is likely and considering it's coming for the Holiday season I suspect many Consumer facing features. Finally the PS4 touted launch features are coming.

breakdown.png


With full screen video the AMD APU can be turned off and GDDR5 can be put into self refresh. ALL control is via the Southbridge ARM CPU and it can turn the APU back on in a few clock cycles as needed.
 
So I watched Titanic in 4K on my tv's 4K streaming site through Ethernet, and I didn't notice a difference from Blue-Ray. Is it because the site streams?
 
What does this have to do with the launch console and its support of Ultra HD Blu-ray? Edit: oh, you edited a bunch of junk in after posting just this.

You're using the word "confirmed" pretty loosely, but that's pretty much par for the course.
Console with up-res to 4k NOT render in 4K
The new PS4 will unlock an additional CPU core for developers

Many are stating the new PS4K or PS 4.5 confirms the Launch PS4 can't support UHD Blu-ray. I think everyone is being confused by a new PS4 SKU and at the same time a major PS4 firmware update we all know is coming about October. The Firmware update will free a CPU core that is being used for Audio.
 
...neither of which have anything whatsoever to do with the launch PS4 supporting Ultra HD Blu-ray...? I wouldn't put a whole lot of stock in that video anyway, but it's not even relevant.

You do realize that they're talking about a new piece of hardware, right, not a firmware update?

Edit: yet again, you added a bunch of junk to your post afterwards. I'm a chronic overeditor too, but it's easier to carry on a conversation when you make your point initially instead of editing it in later.
 

Phreak47

Member
Openly and willingly saying something that contributes nothing to the thread.

jeff_, you're my new favorite person ever.
 

c0de

Member
The nice thing is that we will soon see what will happen. But a7th core for audio and the mixture of technical features mixed with html tags and random acronyms makes this thread still fun to visit every once in a while
 

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
So I watched Titanic in 4K on my tv's 4K streaming site through Ethernet, and I didn't notice a difference from Blue-Ray. Is it because the site streams?

It does vary depending on the service, but those streams are known to be quite poor. If you compare a 1080p stream to a 1080p Blu-ray it will be night and day.
 

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
Titanic is not available in 4K anywhere, don't know why you think that.

AFAIK it was mastered in 4K when they created the 3D version, though I don't know if this version would be available to a streaming site at this point.
 

Ombala

Member
I wanna make an avatar bet Jeff that the original PS4 SKU will not support 4K Blu-ray when this year ends, up for it?
 

Markitron

Is currently staging a hunger strike outside Gearbox HQ while trying to hate them to death
It hasn't been released that way though, correct.

No, Fox have only released a handful of UHD's and this isn't one of them. If a 4K version exists I'm sure it will happen eventually.

I wanna make an avatar bet Jeff that the original PS4 SKU will not support 4K Blu-ray when this year ends, up for it?

Something tells me he won't take you up on that :)
 
I wanna make an avatar bet Jeff that the original PS4 SKU will not support 4K Blu-ray when this year ends, up for it?
If this new PS4k supports UHD blu-ray and the launch PS4 doesn't then yes the bet is on. I don't know when Sony is going to support UHD Blu-ray and am only guessing so I can't bet on the Launch PS4 if they aren't releasing UHD Blu-ray for the new SKU.
 
They (mostly) freed up the 7th CPU core late last year for developers, several games already take advantage of it, and some are being patched in the future to take account of it (e.g. Elder Scrolls Online). They cannot and will not unlock the final core because it's completely reserved for the OS.
I wasn't clear. Developers are using a CPU core for audio and when they use the True audio DSPs they free up that CPU core they were using for audio for other uses. It's not a OS reserved CPU that is freed up.
 

Ombala

Member
If this new PS4k supports UHD blu-ray and the launch PS4 doesn't then yes the bet is on. I don't know when Sony is going to support UHD Blu-ray and am only guessing so I can't bet on the Launch PS4 if they aren't releasing UHD Blu-ray for the new SKU.
Tbh I'm only interested in the original PS4 SKU so the bet would only be if it will get UHD Blu-ray support by the end of the year.
Whatever a new SKU supports is irrelevant to me.
 

onQ123

Member
So I watched Titanic in 4K on my tv's 4K streaming site through Ethernet, and I didn't notice a difference from Blue-Ray. Is it because the site streams?

So you watched some bootleg Blu-ray rip claiming to be 4K then wonder why you don't see a difference from Blu-ray?
 
Tbh I'm only interested in the original PS4 SKU so the bet would only be if it will get UHD Blu-ray support by the end of the year.
Whatever a new SKU supports is irrelevant to me.
You didn't get what I was saying; If the PS4K gets UHD Blu-ray March 2017 I don't expect the PS4 Launch to get UHD Blu-ray support till March either. If the PS4k GETS UHD blu-ray support before the end of the year I expect the Launch PS4 to have it also.
 

rjinaz

Member
So I watched Titanic in 4K on my tv's 4K streaming site through Ethernet, and I didn't notice a difference from Blue-Ray. Is it because the site streams?

When it comes to UHD streaming, at least on VUDU, watching a movie like Mad Max Fury Road is basically like watching a very good blu-ray (to my eyes). If you are a regular streamer you should know how amazing that is.

You want to really get blown away, buy a UHD player and watch a UHD movie.
 
Facts:
1) Sony has a BDA licence for a PC UHD Blu-ray player but has no PC platforms of their own. Microsoft has no BDA licence for a UHD Player but a VP said at launch the XB1 hardware can support UHD Blu-ray. I believe this is true for the PS4 also.
2) Microsoft's Playready ND is mentioned in Sony PDFs for the UHD Blu-ray digital bridge to allow sharing the media between platforms in the home.
3) Playstation VR goggles plug into a HDMI 2 port
4) Sony plans to support Playstation VR Goggles on PCs. The XB1 and PS4 are embedded PCs.
5) The Xtensa processsors in later AMD APUs and dGPUs can support openVX and/or the video distortion needed by VR googles. This is also true for the XB1 and PS4.
6) The Xtensa processsors in the same above can support frame rate doubling as well as UHD blu-ray up-converting and down converting video for 1080P TVs and 4K TVs (Digital bridge).
7) UHD IPTV, UHD Blu-ray and UHD Antenna TV all use the same software stack. If you can support UHD blu-ray with digital bridge then it's likely that you can support VR on the same platform.
8) UHD Antenna TV requires HEVC Multi-view and a planned future feature for Auto-stereoscopic (glassless 3D) requires HEVC Multi-view plus depth map; It requires only half again as much bandwidth and supports generating multiple angle views which Side by side can't support. HEVC Multi-view plus depth will be used for browser VR and UHD Blu-ray 3D; both require 120FPS which is a HDMI 2 feature and a UHD blu-ray HFR feature. Generating those multiple 3D views will take GPGPU performance that is only available in PCs and Game consoles and may never be in TVs.

Speculation:

1) It's obvious and has been confirmed by Sony that they plan to support their VR goggles on PCs. The XB1 is speculation. Why has their been no mention of dedicated VR goggle for the XB1. Sony's will be the cheapest and has the least demanding display which the XB1 can probably support.

2) Facebook's interest in VR is tied to Browser VR which I'd guess means it will be a big market. Bigger than VR games?
3) Any UHD Blu-ray player with digital bridge has the software stack and performance for UHD Antenna TV and if it's designed to support UHD Auto-stereoscopic 3D has the GPGPU to support Browser VR and UHD Antenna TV 3D.

Conclusion but still speculation:

Microsoft and Sony plan to support all the above and have split up the various components. This is the possible reason for the domain registration by Microsoft of Microsoft-Sony.com

How does this relate to your statement and the OP? To support VR this October they will also be supporting many of the necessary components of a UHD Blu-ray digital bridge. Up-scaling to 4K is not just a resolution, it also is a totally different color pallete going from 8 bit to 10 bit and a change in dynamic range. "The Console will have more power but is primarily for System + Media + VR".

This is a continuation of the Games first with coming features we will see in media all over again.
 
Or that the ps4k dev kits have no need for a uhd player.
It's version 2 disks which are the UHD disks with more space. They are designed for Game assets too.

https://www.blu-raydisc.info/content-protection/content-protection-rom4.php said:
5. Licensee shall ensure that each Ultra HD BD-ROM Game Console manufactured by Licensee does not play back any Ultra HD BD-ROM Game Media unless such media is protected either by its own proprietary content protection system or Ultra HD BD-ROM Mark. New Production Format Models of Ultra HD BD-ROM Game Consoles are subject to verification of compliance with the applicable part of Test Specification pursuant to Schedule B. The portions of New Production Format Models of Ultra HD BD-ROM Game Consoles that are responsible for detection and response to the absence of ROM Mark will be required to comply with the compliance and robustness requirements of Schedule H.

Licensee shall ensure that AACS Online and Online Certificate Verification is implemented in each Ultra HD BD-ROM Movie Player, Ultra HD BD-ROM Game Console and Ultra HD BD-ROM PC Application Software which complies with &#8220;BD-ROM Profile 6&#8221; as specified in the &#8220;System Description, Blu-ray Disc Read Only Format Part 3: Audio Visual Basic Specifications: version 3.XX.
 
Notice the Eurogamer article says the PS4K still has a standard blu-ray drive not version 2. So either that's for compatibility with the Launch PS4 so all games come on 50GB or smaller disks and there never will be UHD blu-ray disk on ANY PS4 including the PS4K or the drive is firmware update-able on all PS4s including Launch versions to read version 2 disks = UHD blu-ray.

I wish this could be true. But I think it's the former and we won't see it until "PS5". The home theater early adopters are willing to buy at $400 for the UHD BR player. For what kind of numbers I don't know, but I'm definitely losing hope for seeing the capability on PS4 variants.
 

Withnail

Member
Notice the Eurogamer article says the PS4K still has a standard blu-ray drive not version 2. So either that's for compatibility with the Launch PS4 so all games come on 50GB or smaller disks and there never will be UHD blu-ray disk on ANY PS4 including the PS4K or the drive is firmware update-able on all PS4s including Launch versions to read version 2 disks = UHD blu-ray.

Or, more likely, the retail PS4K has a different drive but games are restricted to 50GB to ensure the base PS4 is forward compatible.
 

Bad_Boy

time to take my meds
It's version 2 disks which are the UHD disks with more space. They are designed for Game assets too.
Im saying that whats the point of putting a uhd player in the dev kits when ps4k games will ship on the same discs as ps4 games and have to remain compatible with both systems.

I see there being a uhd player in the final consumer product but not in the dev kit. For movies.
 
Notice the Eurogamer article says the PS4K still has a standard blu-ray drive not version 2. So either that's for compatibility with the Launch PS4 so all games come on 50GB or smaller disks and there never will be UHD blu-ray disk on ANY PS4 including the PS4K or the drive is firmware update-able on all PS4s including Launch versions to read version 2 disks = UHD blu-ray.

Huh? Releasing a 4K PS4 and not including UHD bluray support? That's the one thing I thought would drive sales of this thing in a similar fashion to the PS3's success.

Naw, that can't be true. What would be the point of releasing a 'PS4K' without 4k support?
I'm just going to assume that the documentation doesnt mention it either way because they're still nailing those details down and they're irrelevant to games, since games will still have to use the same normal bluray discs across both PS4s. Developer dev kits wouldnt need UHD bluray players since theyre keeping games on a level field. The final product will have one, though. It must.

And when it does, it better have dolbyvision support since Sony is making progress in that area.
 
I don't think 4k is the official designation. Who was it that cited that? We know now the code name is Neo. But I'm not sure about the 4k moniker.
 
Or, more likely, the retail PS4K has a different drive but games are restricted to 50GB to ensure the base PS4 is forward compatible.
BD+ required to protect game disks was released for the PS3 in 2007. What makes a version 2 disk is the panasonic-sony tweak from 2010 that Sony says just needs a firmware update. The other changes to the player or encryption from drive to TEE (PS3 has this too) and white list do not come into play with Game Media. So a standard blu-ray drive can read version 2 disks after a firmware update and the only requirement for DRM is the BD+ ROM mark on the disk and the routine to verify it which is BD+ running in the TEE.

This is really simple and can be supported by all 2013 Launch game consoles. It doesn't create an issue and was not mentioned by Sony for the Compatibility between Launch PS4 and Neo. Eurogamer brought it up because they don't understand what a version 2 disk requires or is.
 
To be fair, they say there's no indication of a different drive based on what they know -- not that there won't be a change.

It's version 2 disks which are the UHD disks with more space. They are designed for Game assets too.
Come on, now. It's a storage medium. Just because they mention that in licensing doesn't mean it's designed with game assets in mind.
 
It's version 2 disks which are the UHD disks with more space. They are designed for Game assets too.

That doesn't mean that Sony is going to make that space available to devs, especially if it turns out that the current PS4 is unable to read anything beyond standard 25/50GB BD discs.
 
To be fair, they say there's no indication of a different drive based on what they know -- not that there won't be a change.

Come on, now. It's a storage medium. Just because they mention that in licensing doesn't mean it's designed with game assets in mind.
What I said still stands. You are assuming that Game Assets will never be on version 2 disks for a PS4. Sony has stated that ALL games are compatible across both the PS4 and Neo so disks that contain the games must be also. Your logic makes the BDA association rules for game consoles irrelevant for ALL game consoles and this includes the XB1. Why does the BDA have a section for UHD BD-ROM Game Consoles if it's never going to be used till about 2020 with a PS5?

Either you are accurate and the above is true or ALL PS4 drives including the launch drives can be firmware updated and there is a reason for the BDA mentioning game consoles with version 2 disks.
 
You are assuming that Game Assets will never be on version 2 disks for a PS4.
No, I'm simply saying that you're misreading, misquoting, and misinterpreting what you're referencing.

You're putting undue emphasis on a licensing category. That alone signifies nothing -- absolutely nothing whatsoever -- other than that game consoles can license UHD BD (and that the BDA would seem to have an expectation that at least one will/could). That is all I'm saying. Explain to me how a UHD BD disc is "designed for game assets" to any greater extent than a Blu-ray disc (or a flash drive, a hard drive, etc.). It's a storage/delivery medium. It's "designed for game assets" as much as it's designed to contain large archives of chicken cacciatore recipes and photos of people's cats. That it has greater capacity does not make it designed for game assets.

Do you really not see the difference between:

Digital Foundry said:
there are no indications of any changes to the Blu-ray drive.


? "No indication" is not the definitive statement you're making it out to be.
 
As I understand it the Polaris GPU + FinFET has a 2.5 X efficiency over 28nm and older GCN. Only part of this is 14nm FinFET. Of the part that is not, most of it requires the code running on it to use the hardware properly or you don't get the efficiency savings and it gets too hot and has to downclock. This is probably why older PS4 software will see no performance increase, if it tried to use the extra CUs or frequency the APU would get too hot.

The efficiency increase for Polaris designs is partly why it needs less Memory bandwidth than we are all spinning our wheels trying to justify. Yes color compression is a part of it but the GPU registers are handled in a different way more like CPU registers with L3 cache that are instead in GDDR5. This also supports preemption and context switching. It requires very fast memory like GDDR5 and HBM so we will not see a Polaris design in a APU until HBM. Why, because the APUs including the XB1 have to support network standby and they can't use GDDR5 as it's too power hungry. Sony moved the ARM block out of the APU to Southbridge so they could use GDDR5 with the PS4 APU. Because they did so they could upgrade to Polaris earlier than Microsoft can.

Key here is that with the larger faster GDDR5 you can have each wavefront or process have it's own register cache in GDDR5 instead of the smaller one use only register or cache in a GPU. The old way of using GPU registers for each different use of a CU requires copying out what is currently in GPU registers to GDDR5 then copying in new instructions is less efficient that just moving a pointer to a block of GDDR5 that acts as a GPU register. Fewer memory moves means less memory bandwidth is needed, less heat and better context switching.

This was totally predictable in hindsight. Polaris is a 14nm FinFET but could those efficiencies in Polaris be incorporated into a 28nm custom chip with twice the CUs and a frequency bump or did they need to move to FinFET too? I'd always assumed a console would not use a new process till Yields were proven and costs low enough so I assumed no 14nm FinFET Console upgrade in 2016 , it would wait for 2017-2018. IF Polaris 14nm FinFET is in the PS4 NEO then AMD has a winner and we will see cheap midrange 4TF dGPUs from AMD paired up with a Kaveri or Carrizo @ 1 TF for a Gaming PC @ $600 that can support VR. PS4 NEO at $399 has an advantage as the PC games need to be compiled to use Polaris while it can be assumed that all Sony PS4 NEO games already do so.

Sony is going to be selling the Playstation VR goggles to use on PCs, PS4 games will be ported to the PC and SONY is writing a UHD BLu-ray player for the PC. The first two will benefit if the PS4 and PCs are using the same Polaris designs. The latter I'd guess is also for VR media on UHD Blu-ray. Sony is tied to AMD and AMD needs Sony to make popular support for the new efficiencies in Polaris designs. I'd expect Sony to only release the Neo when Polaris is shipping on PCs or to only release UHD BLu-ray on the PS4 when PCs with Kaveri, Carrizo and Polaris dGPUs can support it. That appears to be this October.
 

dr_rus

Member
As I understand it the Polaris GPU + FinFET has a 2.5 X efficiency over 28nm and older GCN. Only part of this is 14nm FinFET. Of the part that is not, most of it requires the code running on it to use the hardware properly or you don't get the efficiency savings and it gets too hot and has to downclock. This is probably why older PS4 software will see no performance increase, if it tried to use the extra CUs or frequency the APU would get too hot.
1. I'd make a wild guess that this "part" is about 90% of efficiency improvement.
2. There is no "using the h/w properly", if a h/w downclock under the load then the h/w isn't designed properly.
3. All CUs are used by all PS4 s/w. Frequencies are fixed for PS4's GPU.

The efficiency increase for Polaris designs is partly why it needs less Memory bandwidth than we are all spinning our wheels trying to justify. Yes color compression is a part of it but the GPU registers are handled in a different way more like CPU registers with L3 cache that are instead in GDDR5. This also supports preemption and context switching. It requires very fast memory like GDDR5 and HBM so we will not see a Polaris design in a APU until HBM. Why, because the APUs including the XB1 have to support network standby and they can't use GDDR5 as it's too power hungry. Sony moved the ARM block out of the APU to Southbridge so they could use GDDR5 with the PS4 APU. Because they did so they could upgrade to Polaris earlier than Microsoft can.
A bunch of gibberish. Color compression isn't the only way to optimize memory access. Registers can't be in the cache, neither they are on any CPU in existence. "Polaris needs less memory bandwidth but requires very fast memory." Wait, what? There will most definitely be APUs with Polaris GPUs in them using DDR3 let alone GDDR5. You can have network standby with GDDR5, it will consume more energy than a DDR3 setup would but it'll still be a one digit number - anything below 25W should be rather trivial to cool with a passive sink which is the only technical reasoning behind having a small standby power consumption. Upgrading anything to Polaris wholly depends on Polaris availability which depends on 14LPE process, nothing in either PS4 or XBO precludes anyone from using Polaris designs in new consoles.

Key here is that with the larger faster GDDR5 you can have each wavefront or process have it's own register cache in GDDR5 instead of the smaller one use only register or cache in a GPU. The old way of using GPU registers for each different use of a CU requires copying out what is currently in GPU registers to GDDR5 then copying in new instructions is less efficient that just moving a pointer to a block of GDDR5 that acts as a GPU register. Fewer memory moves means less memory bandwidth is needed, less heat and better context switching.
Yeah, you'll have 100x performance loss this way but sure, you can have it. Registers are on chip for a reason, optimizing the register pressure is one of key performance optimizations of any GPU code. Pushing them straight into GDDR5 won't be any different from what you're suggesting. New production process allow to expand them - which is what NV is doing in Pascal - but it is basically unavoidable to have them on chip to get any kind of good performance. In any case data would be pushed into L1 and L2 caches before it will get into main memory.

This was totally predictable in hindsight. Polaris is a 14nm FinFET but could those efficiencies in Polaris be incorporated into a 28nm custom chip with twice the CUs and a frequency bump or did they need to move to FinFET too? I'd always assumed a console would not use a new process till Yields were proven and costs low enough so I assumed no 14nm FinFET Console upgrade in 2016 , it would wait for 2017-2018. IF Polaris 14nm FinFET is in the PS4 NEO then AMD has a winner and we will see cheap midrange 4TF dGPUs from AMD paired up with a Kaveri or Carrizo @ 1 TF for a Gaming PC @ $600 that can support VR. PS4 NEO at $399 has an advantage as the PC games need to be compiled to use Polaris while it can be assumed that all Sony PS4 NEO games already do so.

If a process can be used to produce mainstream GPUs it can be used to produced a console APU. Polaris GPUs should launch in summer.
 
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