ps4的CPU和GPU都将交由AMD 设计.................... - POPPUR爱换

With the current wave of Playstation 4 leaks, it is time to spill some of the beans on what we know about the console. The short story is that it completes the AMD clean sweep of all the next gen consoles.

Yes, you heard that right, multiple sources have been telling SemiAccurate for some time that AMD won not just the GPU as many are suggesting, but the CPU as well. Sony will almost assuredly use an x86 CPU for the PS4, and after Cell in the PS3, can you really blame them? While this may point to a very Fusion/Llano-like architecture we hear that is only the beginning.

One reason we haven’t been talking much about this part is that some of the leaks from credible sources are, well, so far out there that they don’t sound believable. With each new leak, those ‘way out there’ ideas seem more and more likely. Are they pie in the sky dreams, or this Sony laying down the law as to who is king of the console business? Six months ago, we would have leaned towards “put down the crack pipe and step away from the EDA tools”, but now we think Sony is trying to take no prisoners this round.

For starters, you have an AMD Fusion type design, and the recently launched but underwhelming Bulldozer, coupled with a GCN/Southern Islands/HD7000 series core is a good start. If you look at the Bulldozer architecture, it does have some really creepy high level similarities to Cell, doesn’t it? SemiAccurate’s sources won’t spill the beans on the exact generation of CPU and GPU that are in the PS4, but we expect it to be a very customized version of an existing or near future design.

So far, so ‘meh’, but Sony isn’t stopping there, and this is what we didn’t want to believe for so long, Sony is going stacking crazy. The leaks all say that there are multiple additions to the core CPU/GPU chip, and they are not on the same die. Actually, given the steady stream of hints surrounding stacking coming from our Japanese speaking moles, the CPU and GPU could very well be on separate, or even stacked dies too. If you look at console economics, the idea is to make a really big and expensive chip that pushes the bounds of manufacturability. You could make two much less expensive chips that don’t push the boundaries nearly as hard, and end up faster than a single chip competitor like Oban.

For the PS3, Sony put two really big and expensive chips in it, and the core Cell didn’t yield well, didn’t perform as intended, and ended up with a core fused off in order to get to market. 5+ years and several shrinks later, it is easy enough to make, yields very well, and is pretty darn cheap to make. Lose your shirt at first, make it up later, and buy yourself added longevity in the process. That basic formula still works, so the PS4 might be a ‘two chip fusion’ design with the intent to weld the two when the technology allows.

If you do that, you need an interposer, something that Intel has been talking about for a while, and recently shown off parts of too. Luckily, if you know where to look, you will see that AMD is behind, but not by much. Given what they are showing off, the tech will be more than ready by any realistic PS4 ship date. With an interposer, you can do things like stack memory on it, and stack a large number low wattage chips.

One of the things that we had heard about the PS4 chip, or should we say PS4 SoC, is that Sony is really keen on the idea of TSVs. The other bit is that they are going to have lots of extras, we have heard about sensors, but that could just be part of the other odd bit, FPGAs. Yeah, there is a lot of weird talk coming out of Sony engineers, and programmable logic, aka an FPGA, is just one of the things. Additional media processing blocks, DSPs, and similar blocks are all part of the concept.

To do all of this, and I do realize how odd it sounds, you would need some monumental memory bandwidth for it not so starve. Sony is known for screwy memory architectures, if you have ever seen PS3 programming documents, you know how much pain a dev has to go through to get bits in the right place at the right time. The PS4 looks to be better in that regard, but far from perfect. Expect stacked memory, and lots of it, all over the aforementioned interposer. I know this sounds crazy, but we have been hearing it for a year plus now, and, well discounted most of it until Paul Demsey got the same story from a Sony CTO.

In the end, it looks like Sony is going to go for the take no prisoners option on the PS4. If you don’t push fab limits that hard, but do push advanced packaging to the limit, you could very well end up with a monster that is simply not manufacturable as a single die. It won’t be cheap, but it will undoubtedly punt a single chip, or a single chip with stacked DRAM, in to the weeds.

Once again, the end result comes down to the age old question of can they make it? On the surface, the answer is yes, but once manufacturing begins, things may not be quite so rosy. The talk from Sony about the PS4 that seemed like so much of a pipe dream last spring seems, well scary realistic right about now. We don’t expect the PS4 before late 2013 best case, 2014 seems much more likely, so things may change a lot before you can buy one.

So in the end, we close with a simple thought, the Playstation 4 is almost undoubtedly an x86 part with AMD graphics too. That is only the very beginning though. If Sony can back up the boasting with real silicon, and the packaging elves can make it in quantity, it should be a game changer, pun intended. Sony is aiming for the moon just like they did for the PS3. Let hope they come closer to the mark this time, game developers could sure use the power.S|A

GTX570NB 发表于 2012-3-3 17:55
拉倒吧，你以为sony瞎了眼么，就amd那点技术能力先不倒闭再说，还搞ps4.。。。你以为sony会放弃ps3以来为N卡 ...

ayufans 发表于 2012-3-3 20:04
估计你们没看过战地3...主机平台上明显是ps3的性能比360要好...

hjgzzl2 发表于 2012-3-3 18:17
抱紧大腿才是关键，当年微软在XBOX上吃了N的亏，立马改捧ATI，联手和ATI发布DX9，结果R9700杀得N人仰马翻 ...

ayufans 发表于 2012-3-3 20:04
估计你们没看过战地3...主机平台上明显是ps3的性能比360要好...

GTX570NB 发表于 2012-3-3 17:55
拉倒吧，你以为sony瞎了眼么，就amd那点技术能力先不倒闭再说，还搞ps4.。。。你以为sony会放弃ps3以来为N卡 ...

luofengqiao 发表于 2012-3-3 18:13
233
PS3很多地方跑不过XO是因为架构问题，PS3是内存256+显存256，XO是内存显存共享512+额外的10M eDRam。
...

GTX570NB 发表于 2012-3-3 17:55
拉倒吧，你以为sony瞎了眼么，就amd那点技术能力先不倒闭再说，还搞ps4.。。。你以为sony会放弃ps3以来为N卡 ...

superlyk 发表于 2012-3-3 18:13
我靠下一代PS，xbox和 wii都是AMD的了吧。。。

naze 发表于 2012-3-4 11:23
喷了主机技术是其次
肯让sony 微软一次买断设计授权才是关键
微软为什么在360上和intel nv分手

飞鸟真发表于 2012-3-4 15:46
ati倾尽全力给微软做了个芯片，然后白送一样给了微软
自己pc市场失利被收

GTX570NB 发表于 2012-3-4 15:40
不是割不割肉，要真低价做ps4 xbox720，这不是自掘坟墓吗，独立显卡销售肯定会受影响，要么不做，要做就要 ...

结果发表于 2012-3-4 10:51
游戏主机用哪家芯片都一样，包括CPU和GPU，因为没有游戏软件开发商知道哪家会占据更大的市场份额。
PS3跟X ...

hjgzzl2 发表于 2012-3-4 20:47
这话正好说反了，ATI拿到微软订单的同时也拿到了DX9的首发权，微软当年力捧合作伙伴ATI，联手发布DX9的 ...

hjgzzl2 发表于 2012-3-4 21:05
一台主机生命周期大约6－8年核心配置不会变，现在显卡都是1年一代最多2年一代，影响没有想象的大。再说了 ...

aixiangsui2012 发表于 2012-3-5 09:55
这不胡扯么？
CPU各家指令集不同，用不同的来源就代表兼容性存在困难。
不比GPU，有个共通的API，比如O ...

结果发表于 2012-3-5 10:09
我是说性能，兼容性什么意思？都是精简指令集都只为了游戏而已。易开发那是重要的，但是并没有贴着标签说 ...

aixiangsui2012 发表于 2012-3-5 10:13
如果你作为一玩家，主机刚发布你买台回来，结果发现没游戏可玩，你还会推荐别人买么？

结果发表于 2012-3-5 10:37
你还担心这个？现在不是雅达利任天堂世嘉超任那会儿了，那时候理光，摩托罗拉、包括索尼自己都能做游戏机 ...

hjgzzl2 发表于 2012-3-5 10:46
这种情况不会存在的，现在很明显各大引擎商都以主机平台做标准，PC版未来只会是附带产品，除了MMO或SLG之 ...

aixiangsui2012 发表于 2012-3-5 12:17
我说的是兼容性，懂？

机器再好，只要兼容性渣，都是渣。

结果发表于 2012-3-5 12:34
PS3能兼容大部分PS2的游戏，X360兼容XBOX的游戏很难，但是这不能改变什么，无足轻重
你有PS3游戏就必然有 ...