[Info-vax] OT: SONY's PS4 announcment

[David Froble]

MG wrote:
> On 23-feb-2013 17:55, Neil Rieck wrote:
>> On Feb-20, SONY unveiled some of the technical details around their
>> eighth-generation gaming platform still commonly referred to as PS4.
>> They will be shifting away from the custom Cell Broadband Engine
>> (a.k.a. POWER) currently found in the PS3 to an 8-core x86 CPU from
>> AMD called "Jaguar".
> 
> I wonder if this was purely an economical decision?  AMD doesn't seem
> to be doing so well, in terms of performance, compared to Intel's
> "Core" offerings (last time I checked, anyway).  For that matter, also
> not that great compared to NVIDIA, in terms of graphics offerings...

When AMD bought ATI the idea was eventual integration.  The APUs are 
just that.  Several CPU cores plus a graphics all on one chip.  They 
seem to do well, (I haven't actually tried one yet), and the specs on 
the second generation APUs seem rather good.  What you're getting is a 
chip with multiple cores, plus the graphics.  No need for a separate 
graphics card.  Quite a savings there.  And the chip seems to know how 
to use the graphics engine for rather fast number crunching.  It's not 
used solely for graphics.

The damn things are really CHEAP!

If you look at price/performance, AMD is beating the heck out of Intel. 
  If their performance is not quite as good, it's still very good, and 
they are really CHEAP!

> One thing is for sure, after SuperH and MIPS in the 1990s and early
> 2000s, it's now PPC's turn to get dumped.  I wonder what IBM will
> think of this.  Either way, welcome to the x86/-64 and ARM bipolar
> world...

I doubt IBM will care much.  It was probably a nice piece of business, 
but, IBM is still building the Power systems to differentiate themselves 
from the crowd.  They may not make a profit on the chips, but they do 
well overall.  Without their own chips, they are dependent on others, 
and might not do so well.

>> The CPU hype (marketecture?) includes anembedded Radeon GPU which
>> they now refer to as an APU.
> 
> Well, one thing is for sure: AMD welcomes this!  (APU...  I'm simply
> not going to say anything.)
> 
> 
>> Apparently, the whole system (main memory and all) will feature 8 GB
>> of GDDR5RAM (usually only found on graphic cards).

Got to wonder if that requires changes in the memory management 
integrated on the chip?

> That's indeed interesting, but it's still not too much memory for the
> year 2013.  I mean, even cheap laptops have 8 Gbytes.  I mean, it's
> probably fine for the minimalistic operating systems on these units,
> but considering that these consoles only see a successor per decade
> (almost), I wonder if it will be 'enough'.

As cheap as these things are getting, you don't just change memory, you 
change the entire board.  I'd say that if the lifetime of the platform 
is a decade, there will be newer and faster chips used during that time 
period.

> It's not a bad thing, that people won't be forced to upgrade; but,
> it would perhaps make more sense to have more memory, while 'they
> are at it'.
> 
> 
>> On the flip side, there are many rumors flying around the net claiming
>> that sometime in 2013, Microsoft will announce the XBOX-720 (also heard
>> "Durango"). They will supposedly be shifting from the tri-core PowerPC
>> found in the XBOX-360 to some kind of x86 CPU from AMD.
> 
> What did AMD do to get all of them to take their business up with
> them?  Was it an act of desperation?  Now I'm curious.
> 
> 
>> So it looks like the video game publishing business (which is way bigger
>> than Hollywood)
> 
> And quickly becoming nearly as nasty, like 'showbiz'.  Despite the size
> and enormity of this (still, growing[?]) industry, there are also tons
> of layoffs.
> 
> 
>> will finally have an easier time publishing for three platforms after
>> the move to x86. My only concern is the amount of viruses and malware
>> which will spring up as a result :-)
> 
> You mean if these things will run off Windows?  That would be an
> interesting spectacle.

 From the way people here talk, I'd assume some version of Unix/Linex. 
They'd have to be stupid to get into bed with Billy Boy.

> But, even if not, then there are still plenty of other weak points.
> Should I remind anyone of the massive SQL-injection hacking that was
> done against the PlayStation 3 user network (or whatever it is/was
> called).
> 
> 
>> I never thought I'd see this industry shift from RISC to CISC.
> 
> Why, have you been in a coma in the last decade or so?
> 
>  - MG
>