![]() "First, we doubled the GPU size by essentially placing it next to a mirrored version of itself, sort of like the wings of a butterfly. But in meeting that challenge, PS4 Pro has to run the existing 700 plus range of PS4 titles flawlessly - a key requirement of the base hardware that had a profound influence on the design of the new console. The end result is a smart design that may seem somewhat conservative bearing in mind the stark reality that a 4K display is effectively running 4x the pixels of a standard HDTV. In general our target was to keep the work needed for PS4 Pro support to a fraction of a per cent of the overall effort needed to create a game, and I believe we have achieved that target." The PS4 Pro utilises FinFET production technology in order to cram over twice as much power as the base PS4 into a broadly similar form factor.Ģ4% more bandwidth, 512MB more useable memory That work was small enough that a single programmer could do it. "We showed Days Gone running on PS4 Pro at the New York event. "As a mid-generation release, we knew that whatever we did needed to require minimal effort from developers," Cerny explains. It's the same generation - and that's most telling in the actual effort developers will need to put into developing Pro software. Sony's new console is an extension to the existing model - the means by which games for the existing PS4 can be optimised to look great on the new range of 4K display hardware, while at the same time offering an enhanced experience for owners of existing HDTVs. Advanced multi-resolution support for increased performance in VR titlesīy all of these criteria, PS4 Pro is not a new generation of hardware and there are no 400 page briefings.New features from AMD roadmap - the ability to run two FP16 operations concurrently instead of one FP32, plus the integration of a work scheduler for increased efficiency.Improvements for running multiple wavefronts on the compute units - more work per CU.Primitive discard accelerator culls triangles from the scene that aren't visible.Delta colour compression technology arrives in PS4 Pro, maximising memory bandwidth.AMD Polaris energy efficiency improvements enabling more power in a console form factor.2.13GHz CPU and 911MHz GPU in Pro mode, running at 1.6GHz and 800MHz respectively in base PS4 mode in order to lock back-compat with the standard model.Half the CUs deactivate when running in base PS4 mode Double the compute units, laid out like a mirror of the original PS4's GPU.Some developers - eg the developers of Spider-Man and For Honor - producing their own 4K techniques based on four million pixel framebuffers.4K framebuffers either created from simpler geometry-only rendering or more advanced checkerboarding.New ID buffer for tracking triangles and objects, opening the door to advanced spatial and temporal anti-aliasing.Another 512MB utilised for handling a 4K version of the dynamic menu front-end.512MB available to developers for 4K render targets and framebuffers.Additional 1GB of DDR3 RAM - used to swap out non-games apps (eg Netflix) from the 8GB of GDDR5.The tech session with Mark Cerny was signposted as far back as the PlayStation Meeting at the beginning of September, and it didn't fail to deliver a treasure trove of new information on the hardware make-up of the new machine and the ethos behind it. At a glance: what Mark Cerny told us about PS4 Pro And of course, a massive revision in GPU power - Cerny refers to a 434 page, eight-hour PowerPoint presentation he gave to developers about the PS4 graphics core. Cerny has a number of criteria he believes amounts to a reset in gaming power: primarily, a new CPU architecture and vastly increased memory allocation. What becomes clear is that Sony itself - perhaps unlike its rival - does not believe that the concept of the console hardware generation is over. The question is, what that power makes possible." "When we design hardware, we start with the goals we want to achieve," says Cerny. It's a chance to confirm that the new hardware is indeed delivering the high quality 4K gaming experience I witnessed last month, but more to the point, this is where we find out how Sony has managed to accomplish this achievement - how it has deployed a relatively slight 4.2 teraflops of GPU power in such a way that makes PS4 Pro a viable console for an ultra HD display. Six weeks on from the unveiling of the Sony's latest console and I'm in a conference room in Sony's new San Mateo HQ, revisiting the bulk of the PlayStation 4 Pro titles unveiled so far, accompanied by system architect Mark Cerny.
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