Crytek developer says 8GB of RAM in current consoles may not be enough

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Sep 12, 2013
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Crytek developer says 8GB of RAM in current consoles may not be enough

http://www.neowin.net/news/crytek-developer-says-8gb-of-ram-in-current-consoles-may-not-be-enough


Months after the release of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, there are still disputes over which is the better console. Many consumers choose their main console based on exclusive titles, and while others may look at the specs of the machine, both of the consoles have similar hardware. The Xbox One has 8GB of DDR3 RAM, while the PlayStation 4 has 8GB of GDDR5 RAM. Even with this significant step up from the last generation of consoles, a developer at Crytek claims it is still not enough.

Sean Tracy, the Engine Business Development Manager at Crytek USA, states that "I would have to agree with the viewpoint that 8 gigs can easily be filled up" when asked if there would be a shortage of memory in this generation. He explained that "developers don’t necessarily even have access to all 8 gigs of it. For example, the Xbox One retains some of the RAM for OS purposes," which could cause memory constraints in the future. These concerns came about due to the shortage of memory in the last generation consoles. Even though the Xbox 360 and the PS3 both had 512MB of RAM, titles such as "Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim" ran better on the 360 due to the way memory was allocated.

Despite that, the Xbox One and PS4 have largely increased their amount of memory compared to the last gen systems. Tracy said that "we will soon find that the computational requirements of games will quickly hit the ceiling of a few gigs of ram." He concluded by saying that "it’s not the raw power alone that will allow for photo-realistic graphics, but technology that intelligently scales and utilizes all that the hardware has to offer.”
 
and if you gave them 16GB RAM they would say the same. RAM is easy to fill up. Look at how much can be accomplished with a mere 512mb. So, 5GB should give them plenty to expand their visions and ideas.
 
These are the same guys that pushed for getting 8GB of RAM in these consoles and now they say it's not enough? These companies have to stop reserving so much for their bloated OS's. Crytek and technology, they do know what they're talking about though.
 
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eVo7 said:
These are the same guys that pushed for getting 8GB of RAM in these consoles and now they say it's not enough? These companies have to stop reserving so much for their bloated OS's. Crytek and technology, they do know what they're talking about though.
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Epic pushed for 512mb last gen, does not mean that was enough. I am sure Crytek were simply pushing for as much as possible. They got 5GB, saying it may not be enough is pointless. Just make games with what you have and dedicate your time to using it wisely and efficiently.
 
VaLLiancE said:
Lol they said 8 was enough.
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Yeah, but that was before they realized 3.5GB would be dedicated to the OS. I'm still in shock the half of a full 8GB is just for the OS olalone. It's ridiculous.
 
menace-uk- said:
and if you gave them 16GB RAM they would say the same. RAM is easy to fill up. Look at how much can be accomplished with a mere 512mb. So, 5GB should give them plenty to expand their visions and ideas.
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Truth be spoken!
 
I have no doubt that as the system OS's are refined their RAM usage will be reduced.
 
Lets see now wheres that memory expansion slot on my console for future proofing...Hmmm where is it ...where is it...
 
Maybe they should concentrate more on making their games enjoyable to play, rather than making the games all about graphics.
 
MR X said:
Maybe they should concentrate more on making their games enjoyable to play, rather than making the games all about graphics.
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If most gaming message boards are to be believed, graphics are the only thing that matters. Fun is only attainable at 60Hz
 
VaLLiancE said:
Lol they said 8 was enough.
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That's actually a misquote, they said 8 should be the bare minimum.
eVo7 said:
These are the same guys that pushed for getting 8GB of RAM in these consoles and now they say it's not enough? These companies have to stop reserving so much for their bloated OS's. Crytek and technology, they do know what they're talking about though.
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They actually were quoted saying they wanted 32GB, but 8 as minimum.

Also, like you're pointing out, they never even got their "minimum", 5GB is close but no minimal effort cigar due to these consoles having OS reserves that rival PCs.
 
pravus said:
That's actually a misquote, they said 8 should be the bare minimum.


They actually were quoted saying they wanted 32GB, but 8 as minimum.

Also, like you're pointing out, they never even got their "minimum", 5GB is close but no minimal effort cigar.
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Where does Crytek say that were asking for 32GB of RAM?
 
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Im hoping these consoles have a life span more in line with the previous average of about 5 years. These things just arent going to cut it for long.
 
Adam said:
Im hoping these consoles have a life span more in line with the previous average of about 5 years. These things just arent going to cut it for long.
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and by long I estimate another 2 years.


let's be honest here, these consoles aren't even a year old and they're already showing their age. it was a good, what? 3 years at least? before anyone could claim to be able to build a PC to match (or come close to matching) 360/PS3 performance for roughly the same (read: launch) price. here it is 6 months in and with some smart shopping you can easily build a PC that can match X1/PS4 for roughly the same price (about $500).

In a years time we'll be able to build a $500 PC that will easily outclass these consoles and in two years we'll be able to buy pre-built PCs that easily match, if not exceed, the performance of these consoles.

Now, as developers learn to get more out of these consoles we'll see performance increase but because they're so close to PC architecture this time we'll also see those tricks passed on to PC development so the gap will only continue to grow as PC prices continue to drop.

I can't imagine what the landscape is going to look like in 5 years. I mean it's going to be pretty sad to see just how dated brand new console games look compared to their PC counterparts.
 
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Oh gawd. Another thread to inflate the ego of the PC Master Race. The Xbox One/PS4 will be fine. Let the developers who speak with their games do the talking this gen. Just like every other gen. That's a big reason why i love console gaming. Devs are given less to work with and still put together incredible games. It's no fun when the stacked sports team is always winning.
 
I'm kind of sad now knowing that Crytek couldn't influence MS/Sony to have more than 8GB. You would think with them asking for 32GB that they could at least convince them to settle for 16GB and be ballin'.
 
That much RAM will only do so much when you're still rolling with laptop processors.
 
You can have all the ram in the world not going to mean too much when your GPU can only access but so much per frame. Pretty much why no one would ever be like "Yea I want a 16GB 8800GT over a 4GB 780Ti"
 
Ketto said:
You can have all the ram in the world not going to mean too much when your GPU can only access but so much per frame. Pretty much why no one would ever be like "Yea I want a 16GB 8800GT over a 4GB 780Ti"
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But the RAM in the next gen consoles isn't just for the GPU only, and even if it was, the RAM has many uses not tied directly to GPU power like extra texture data and computed light maps.
 
Kassen said:
I'm kind of sad now knowing that Crytek couldn't influence MS/Sony to have more than 8GB. You would think with them asking for 32GB that they could at least convince them to settle for 16GB and be ballin'.
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16GB of DDR5 must be relatively expensive. Look how much the consoles cost now. Having two machines at or over $600 would not bode well.
 
How exactly are the consoles showing their age? there is nothing on the ps3 or 360 that comes close to inFamous and there are going to be better looking games coming. Yeah yeah I know "PC does this better PC does that better" so f'ing what these are consoles not PC's and I doubt most console players are going to care much about what's going on with PC games as long as the games they are playing on their PS4 or X1 are looking much better than the they did on consoles they replaced.
 
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One thing that's a HUGE difference between this new generation and the last...

Youtube blew up and Twitch blew up. People are watching a LOT of games being streamed and as a result they're seeing first hand what they're missing. When I watch streams of multiplat games there always a lot of people saying things like "This has to be PC because my X1/PS4 doesn't look nearly as good as that" or "How do you get your stream to look so smooth on X1?" to which others reply "He's not playing X1, he's playing PC with an X360 pad, hence the button prompts".

They're already showing their age because at the start of pretty much every other generation only a high-top end PC could keep up with the consoles when they released, that's not the case with these new consoles.

And it's only going to get worse going forward. As new technologies and software solutions are released, made popular and cheaper it's going to get worse for these consoles.

What happens to these consoles when $600 Steam machines release later this year that offer vastly improved performance and much more options for these games? Options like "I like the X360/One pad for these games, KBM for these games and the DS4 for these games" and they learn they can use all three if they wish. What happens when people (by people I mean casuals) see the plethora of choices they can have with these new "consolized" PCs?

I don't think consoles are done for, not by a long shot, mostly due to exclusive games, but come 12-18 months from now exclusive games is all they'll have going for them.

So they better be stellar.
 
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