PlayStation 4 Could Get GPU Switching, Dynamic UI

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kellybean

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Nov 11, 2012
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Would be nice on the electric bill. Use some low priced GPU to play back movies and such and only kick on the big one for heavy games.
 

m32

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Apr 15, 2012
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If only they could wait for the AMD APUs that could be teamed up with the 8000(m?) series. I'm not saying "This is the best!," but since it is rumored to be an APU, it might be the best we can hope for.
 
G

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@m32 how much do you want to pay ?
and how should a console get an apu series wich isnt even out yet?
 

drwho1

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consoles should be open to the owner to upgrade (add RAM, switch Graphics, etc...)
without loosing your warranty nor "loosing your "privileges" as a console owner"
 
[citation][nom]drwho1[/nom]consoles should be open to the owner to upgrade (add RAM, switch Graphics, etc...)without loosing your warranty nor "loosing your "privileges" as a console owner"[/citation]

And then youd have a PC. Great idea. /s
 

KelvinTy

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My god... Even current gen trinity couldn't handle BF3 at 1080p... because of the weak CPU, how is it even possible to even more graphics intensive games?
 

freggo

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Have bin suggesting that for years. Use a low and graphics chip for 'normal' work. Desktop, Word processing, spread sheets etc. 90% of most work loads.
Power up the high end GPU when required. selected programs could on start up for examply send a system request for the GPU.

It is silly to have 50W of power wasted on "stand by" of a high powered GPU.
 

alextheblue

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[citation][nom]freggo[/nom]Have bin suggesting that for years. Use a low and graphics chip for 'normal' work. Desktop, Word processing, spread sheets etc. 90% of most work loads.Power up the high end GPU when required. selected programs could on start up for examply send a system request for the GPU.It is silly to have 50W of power wasted on "stand by" of a high powered GPU.[/citation]To be fair modern GPUs, even discrete desktop models, have very low idle power consumption. GCN in particular does very well.[citation][nom]KelvinTy[/nom]My god... Even current gen trinity couldn't handle BF3 at 1080p... because of the weak CPU, how is it even possible to even more graphics intensive games?[/citation]You're contradicting yourself a bit. If it was just graphics it would be stressing the GPU side heavily. This console will have discrete graphics too. BF3 has lots of other stuff going on, especially in multiplayer, that tax the CPU side. But "more graphics intensive games" are certainly possible on Trinity, especially given that it is a closed box and there's lots of room for optimizations (including but not limited to using the new instructions BD/PD introduced, and optimized load balancing on the GPUs for best-case multi-GPU scaling). We also don't know final core count, clocks, any other chips onboard to offload to (physics, AI), etc.
 

shloader

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Why the patent? This idea is rather obvious and discussed to its logical conclusion in the mobile computing space. So what are they patenting? The same notion in gaming consoles? Are they trying to put the remainder of the industry on notice? Do the same and we SUE! Now I'm all for the industry making this switch. This could enable faster console upgrades and more simple backward compatibility for succeding consoles but if they try to flex this patent in court it'll fall on its face.

@KelvinTy. AMD always said the architecture is scailable outside the PC space. If the die were expanded, trade a processing core for more GPU space, and change the memory controller to a 256bit GDDR5 then you'd have something much more competent. Still wouldn't quite displace a good dedicated GPU.
 

chronium

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[citation][nom]whyso[/nom]How is this different from Nvidia Optimus?[/citation]
Where does it say that it is any different?
 

xendrome

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[citation][nom]chronium[/nom]Where does it say that it is any different?[/citation]

The context of the question is posing the question that the Nvidia Optimus already exist and wasn't mentioned in the patent. So how is it different... don't be a smart a**
 

InvalidError

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[citation][nom]drwho1[/nom]consoles should be open to the owner to upgrade[/citation]
Consoles are managing to maintain their market relevance because consumers and developers can rely on the fact that every console of a particular model family will be almost exactly the same as any other console from the same family so developers only have one general platform to worry testing, debugging and optimizing for and consumers can enjoy very predictable and repeatable performance no matter which variant of a particular console they pick.

Without all the component access and modularity thanks to everything being integrated into the motherboard, consoles can achieve better performance at better efficiency in much smaller form factors and lower cost than conventional PCs can, which are all very much welcome in the consumer electronics market.

If you take most of those away, you end up with devices mechanically and electrically as complex and as expensive as PCs with none of consoles' benefits for developers and consumers alike.
 

Deadboy90

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Will it be able to do the hybrid crossfire that we see with the Llano APU and a 6670 for better performance? But, you know with Trinity.
 

InvalidError

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[citation][nom]Deadboy90[/nom]Will it be able to do the hybrid crossfire that we see with the Llano APU and a 6670 for better performance? But, you know with Trinity.[/citation]
While it should be technically possible, it would not be practical.

Since SLI/CFX work by issuing frames to the next GPU available, if one GPU is substantially faster than the other(s), frames get finished out-of-order and the IGP/slower-GPU's tardy frames simply get dropped which may make the final rendered video stuttery/choppy.

Pairing an IGP with a much faster GPU simply does not work for realtime rendering.
 

chronium

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[citation][nom]xendrome[/nom]The context of the question is posing the question that the Nvidia Optimus already exist and wasn't mentioned in the patent. So how is it different... don't be a smart a**[/citation]

You're the one to talk. If he was seriously asking that then he's on the wrong website because the only way to answer that is by comparing patents vague descriptions.
 

tipoo

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I'm confused. Wouldn't Nvidias Optimus be prior art? It switches between the Intel IGP and a discreet Nvidia chip without user interaction, dynamically and based on GPU load.

It would be interesting if the weaker GPU in the PS4 could be used for GPGPU calculations while the stronger GPU is used for graphics work in the PS4, that could help out a lot with FP heavy work. That would allow lots of physics and so on to be offloaded from the CPU.
 

chronium

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[citation][nom]InvalidError[/nom]While it should be technically possible, it would not be practical.Since SLI/CFX work by issuing frames to the next GPU available, if one GPU is substantially faster than the other(s), frames get finished out-of-order and the IGP/slower-GPU's tardy frames simply get dropped which may make the final rendered video stuttery/choppy.Pairing an IGP with a much faster GPU simply does not work for realtime rendering.[/citation]
And yet they offer it with current AMD APU's and GPU's so they must have been able to comensate it. It will also most likely be available for the PS4 as well.
 

bak0n

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[citation][nom]drwho1[/nom]consoles should be open to the owner to upgrade (add RAM, switch Graphics, etc...)without loosing your warranty nor "loosing your "privileges" as a console owner"[/citation]

They are proud of all things because equal as it means no one get an advantage over another in gaming. It's part of their model.
 

elcentral

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[citation][nom]vrumor[/nom]And then youd have a PC. Great idea. /s[/citation]

hmm true but they could be creative and add 2 extra models real models not the lame get 120Gb extra hard drive. it would be cool to get a standard low cost, a silenced half the noise but also a bump in price, and a 60fps all time model also a bit bumped cost. ofc then they haw to mass produce 3 models etc etc but one can hope.
 
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