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[Man-is-Obsolete]

They showed a lot of instant multitasking for the Xbox One, and the entire time all I could think of is in order for all that to take place the OS is going need a substantial amount of RAM to keep all of these things at the ready while also playing a game even. There were rumors a while back that 3 GB of RAM would be needed to be reserved for the OS. Is what we were shown today confirm this rumor? What does that mean for games on the Xbox One, and how will that compare to the PS4?

It seems this makes the gap between the PS4 and Xbox One even greater than simply comparing the type of RAM each manufacturer used.

***UPDATE***

From what I read at Gameinformer, 5GB is reserved for games and 3 for OS.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/05/21/xbox-hardware-evolution-chart.aspx

***UPDATE 2***

Video interview with Marc Whitten, skip to 10:15. GI interviewer lays out to Marc that the system will use 5GB for games and 3GB to Apps and OS, and how that may put them at a disadvantage to Sony only having 5GB of functional RAM for games. Then Marc straight goes on to defend their decision with no denial of it.

https://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2013/05/21/interview-with-xbox-ones-chief-product-officer-marc-whitten.aspx

Watch the video posted there.

 

[2+2=5]

Well if a game can run in background i guess there will be a good amount of memory reserved to os.

 

[OminoMichelin]

yes, I wouldnt expect less than 3GBs reserved for the OS (and everything that is connected to it).

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

So on the Panel that is going on right now they mentioned that 5GB of RAM would have been enough for games, and more than likely 4 would have, but to successfully do all of the multitasking and switching they needed 8 GB.

I would say that 3 GB reserved for the OS is all but confirmed.

 

[chubigans]

So on the Panel that is going on right now they mentioned that 5GB of RAM would have been enough for games, and more than likely 4 would have, but to successfully do all of the multitasking and switching they needed 8 GB.

I would say that 3 GB reserved for the OS is all but confirmed.

Man, the disparity between PS4 and One games is gonna be huge, isn't it?

 

[Atilac]

Given Microsoft's history and product quality, adding another OS isn't a good thing...

 

[AranhaHunter]

So on the Panel that is going on right now they mentioned that 5GB of RAM would have been enough for games, and more than likely 4 would have, but to successfully do all of the multitasking and switching they needed 8 GB.

I would say that 3 GB reserved for the OS is all but confirmed.

Very interesting. I couldn't watch the livestream, does anyone have any videos of the OS at work? I'm rather curious, one liveblog said it was real minority report work happening.

 

[LCfiner]

Man, the disparity between PS4 and One games is gonna be huge, isn't it?

first party? maybe, yeah.

third party not so much. it'll be smaller differences.

 

[Atilac]

EDIT: double POST

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

Man, the disparity between PS4 and One games is gonna be huge, isn't it?

Digital Foundry comparisons should be interesting to say the least.

first party? maybe, yeah.

third party not so much. it'll be smaller differences.

I wouldn't be so sure. Now more then ever any advantage one console has over another will be easy to maximize because everything is essentially a single PC architecture. So optimizing Battlefield 4 for the PS4 will be as easy as optimizing the PC version. At least that's how I see it shaking out.

 

[Mikey Jr.]

So the 8gb is ddr3?

How does that compare to gddr5?

 

[grumble]

Digital Foundry comparisons should be interesting to say the least.



I wouldn't be so sure. Now more then ever any advantage one console has over another will be easy to maximize because everything is essentially a single PC architecture. So optimizing Battlefield 4 for the PS4 will be as easy as optimizing the PC version. At least that's how I see it shaking out.

Well there are other considerations. They might need to shrink levels or change the gameplay in some way as the specs on one console can't handle the original vision. No amount of additional view distance will make up for that.

 

[rdrr gnr]

Man, the disparity between PS4 and One games is gonna be huge, isn't it?

Capacity after a certain amount is negligible, I believe.

 

[MedIC86]

Im really wondering (a few years in the cycle) how big a difference ddr3 vs ddr5 is gonna make. Maybe a techie can answer this.

 

[Toparaman]

Not the OS. Three OSes.

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

Well there are other considerations. They might need to shrink levels or change the gameplay in some way as the specs on one console can't handle the original vision. No amount of additional view distance will make up for that.

Oh for sure one platform will dictate the scope of a game, however, that doesn't mean the other can't have higher Image Quality and better performance.

Also everyone is comparing this in terms of today, but these consoles are going to be around for at least another 6 years and who knows what game's demands will be by then. They may need every bit of RAM they can get at that point.

 

[Vesper73]

So the 8gb is ddr3?

How does that compare to gddr5?

Hehe, nice one

 

[Forsaken82]

Man, the disparity between PS4 and One games is gonna be huge, isn't it?

Huge? No...

Noticeable? Yes...

 

[SatansReverence]

probably something like 6gb reserved initially but as time goes on and updates roll out that reserve will shrink like it did on the 360.

 

[Cmerrill]

From what I read at Gameinformer, 5GB is reserved for games and 3 for OS.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/05/21/xbox-hardware-evolution-chart.aspx

 

[Spongebob]

5 for games, 3 for OS.

 

[Painraze]

5?? Ouch...

 

[SSM25]

So the 3 GB for OS(s) is confirmed? Really?

 

[acm2000]

the way they were talking about it, suggests most the ram is free in GAME OS

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

From what I read at Gameinformer, 5GB is reserved for games and 3 for OS.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/05/21/xbox-hardware-evolution-chart.aspx

Good catch will add to OP.

 

[DopeyFish]

first party? maybe, yeah.

third party not so much. it'll be smaller differences.

the majority of the extra space isn't used all at once

it's more caching and transitional memory.

 

[thuway]

Do people finally believe the rumors or do they think we are all just making shit up to make the Xbox look weaker? It is a media machine first and foremost, and games player second.

 

[A.R.K]

Man, the disparity between PS4 and One games is gonna be huge, isn't it?

That's my question: Will the 3rd party devs take any advantage of the extra RAM (faster too), power and better architecture of the PS4 or just go with the lowest denominator porting to the PS4? I will be really disappointed if they do not take advantage of any of this to give a better version of the game on PS4.

 

[Leucrota]

Is everyone forgetting that certain calculations can be offloaded to the cloud, or did I watch the wrong stream?

 

[LCfiner]

I wouldn't be so sure. Now more then ever any advantage one console has over another will be easy to maximize because everything is essentially a single PC architecture. So optimizing Battlefield 4 for the PS4 will be as easy as optimizing the PC version. At least that's how I see it shaking out.

I hope you're right but I figure that third parties won't spend a whole lot of resources making one version way better than another. So we'll see some more particle effects and maybe more physics collisions and objects on one console. but that's what I consider fluff.

Major design issues like the size of the game world or level of AI behavior (number of NPCs and their interactions with world and player) will be restricted by the lowest common denominator console.

Is everyone forgetting that certain calculations can be offloaded to the cloud, or did I watch the wrong stream?

Yeah, I really doubt this will be for anything important. it'll be too slow to be used for anything except mundane background stuff.

 

[jabuseika]

3 GBs for the OS?

What a disaster that is.

Well, finally we know which console will have the best multiplatforms.

 

[Man-is-Obsolete]

Is everyone forgetting that certain calculations can be offloaded to the cloud, or did I watch the wrong stream?

Sure, and then you become an always online game. Plus it is not like those calculations will offset the differences set about here.

 

[ThisWreckage]

At this point, isn't it a given that PS4 versions of games are going to run better simply because of the extra and faster memory and the more impressive GPU?

 

[sflufan]

1 gig for each OS!

 

[nephilimdj]

Skype can do 720p on a 512MB RAM win8 phone and still multitask, it wont be that heavy

 

[Cidd]

So, the leak specs are pretty much confirmed? hahahahaha!

 

[Raide]

At this point, isn't it a given that PS4 versions of games are going to run better simply because of the extra and faster memory and the more impressive GPU?

1st party yeah, 3rd party... Will anyone really care?

 

[A.R.K]

Is everyone forgetting that certain calculations can be offloaded to the cloud, or did I watch the wrong stream?

I bet this was just put in to counter Sony's cloud, to say that 'hey we are doing cloud computing too'. I really doubt this can be used in any meaningful way to 'enhance' a game running in realtime on XO.

 

[ThisWreckage]

1st party yeah, 3rd party... Will anyone really care?

Yes. The 360 was the favored third party machine for a reason.

 

[PFD]

The damn thing runs 3 operating systems

 

[Grief.exe]

Im really wondering (a few years in the cycle) how big a difference ddr3 vs ddr5 is gonna make. Maybe a techie can answer this.

It would be a massive difference.

Memory Latency plays a huge part in GPU performance, having considerably slower RAM available to your GPU will bring down the overall performance.

 

[cw_sasuke]

More Ram for the OS than the whole WiiU system.

 

[Tacitus_]

Is everyone forgetting that certain calculations can be offloaded to the cloud, or did I watch the wrong stream?

Probably just for MP stuff.

 

[OminoMichelin]

Is everyone forgetting that certain calculations can be offloaded to the cloud, or did I watch the wrong stream?

Yes, just like SimCity

 

[Raide]

Yes. The 360 was the favored third party machine for a reason.

Community was bigger and DLC? Graphically it was pretty much on par with PS3. A few pro's and con's with both.

I am sure there will be a gap early on but we have seen CoD which is pretty much the best example of average graphics/gameplay that will appeal to their market and perform identically on both PS4 and XB1. Need to see more games for both before picking one side or the other.

 

[Psycho_Mantis]

so 5 GB DDR3 vs 7GB GDDR5.

God damn.

 

[Pagusas]

Is everyone forgetting that certain calculations can be offloaded to the cloud, or did I watch the wrong stream?

Thats not relevant to a discussion about local memory. Besides Sony is doing the same.

 

[DieH@rd]

From what I read at Gameinformer, 5GB is reserved for games and 3 for OS.

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2013/05/21/xbox-hardware-evolution-chart.aspx

Well, it was rumored for ages, and all VGleaks/DF/EdgeOnline rumors came true. Kudos to all of them, they reported good stuff.

so 5 GB DDR3 vs 7GB GDDR5.

God damn.

Most probably this, but Sony could easily reserve 2GB for OS just cause they can. If they dont find any use for it, they can lower OS requirement at later date.

 

[Averon]

Only 5 for games?!?! The hardware situation between the One and PS4 just gets wider.

Well, it was rumored for ages, and all VGleaks/DF/EdgeOnline rumors came true. Kudos to all of them, they reported good stuff.

Yeah. All the the awful rumors about the One was ultimately true. Which mean always-online was likely true at one point as well. The Adam Orth fiasco probably scared MS enough to dump it at the last minute.

 

[andycapps]

So the 8gb is ddr3?

How does that compare to gddr5?

Not well.