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[Dr.D00p]

16GB of RAM is not enough, not when you're talking about ultra high quality 4K textures alone needing at least 6GB, preferably 8.

It will be at least 20GB, most likely 24GB.

Microsoft will not play 2nd fiddle to Sony for another generation when it comes to new hardware launches.

 

[Rolling_Start]

Sure, it's an improvement over current gen but games on PC can easily use 10-13GB now which is why I upgraded to 32GB. last night I was playing RDR2 and it was using 12GB. The Division 2 i have seen use 13GB. and that's just RAM. RDR2 can use 5-6GB VRAM on top of the 12GB RAM. Consoles i think will need to share their RAM between the CPU + GPU.

It's worth pointing out that those games you're describing as using 10+ GB of main ram can run very well in 5GB of shared memory. It sounds like they're using ram - when available - as a large, essentially free bonus cache.

It's reasonable to assume that a console with 13 GB of memory for games, will be able to deliver results far beyond any PC game that's currently able to use similar amounts of memory, when available.

 

[ResilientBanana]

That's just vram, consoles have unified ram so need to include system ram as well.

While 24 seems like overkill, so did 8 at the beginning of this gen.

Right but the OS is light weight.

 

[mckmas8808]

I figure the rumour about Lockhart being 16GB with 13GB for games seems reasonable. If so, good to see that the dash reserve hasn't grown with support for 8K.

PS5 and Anaconda will probably have more. Even as little as 20GB would be okay.

Bus arrangements for the high end machines is likely to be 256-bit, 320-bit or 384-bit. With 8, 12 and 16 gbit memory modules all being possibilities that leads to a lot of possible configurations. 8 x 16 gbit chips for 256-bit bus seems reasonable, giving 16 GB. 320 and 384 bit buses would give 20 GB and 24 GB respectively, all without needing to use a clamshell arrangement (though this could be used for cloud units and dev kits).

If I had to guess, I'd say 20 or 24 GBs. In the case of MS, this might allow for 40 or 48 GB for cloud units, and both MS and Sony traditionally like to have more memory in dev kits.

The rumor is Lockhart has way less RAM than 16 GBs. Closer to 8 GBs.

 

[Rolling_Start]

The rumor is Lockhart has way less RAM than 16 GBs. Closer to 8 GBs.

I stand corrected then.

13GB for games for Anaconda will be ... okay I guess, but I was hoping for more. Still, at least there's that SSD.

I suppose Lockhart would be 9GB then (from 12), like the X1X. Definitely going to be cutting back on dem LODs. On the plus side, this probably means you could get away with only 6 chips while still having a relatively phat (for the performance level) 192-bit bus with no clamshell needed. MS would have to be aiming for $300 or less for this thing.

 

[johntown]

While it could be 24GB I don't see that happening because they always need to save as much cost as they can to keep the base price down and there is really no reason (currently) to have 24GB.

Are there even any current games that have a recommended 24GB of RAM?

 

[ThaMonkeyClaw]

16gb GDDR6 + 4gb LPDDR4
With fast ram + fast SSD + a proper configuration, there is no need for more than 16gb for games.

I chose 24GB on the poll, but in reality I think it is going to be very close to something like this, just makes more sense since you don't need to waste preciously fast GDDR6 on the OS tasks and DDR4 will more than suffice which would give that full 16GB of GDDR6 to the games mixed with the ultra high speed SSD it will be leaps and bounds over what we currently have!

 

[ThaMonkeyClaw]

RAM was getting 16 times larger every gen:

- SNES had 128KB

- PS1 had 2MB (16x)

- PS2 had 32MB (16x)

- PS3 had 512MB total (16x)

- PS4 has 8GB (16x)

So this gen is going to break that momentum and slow down considerably. 16GB is just 2x compared to last gen. Now i would not expect 128GB of RAM (16x) but it looks like RAM requirements have reached a ceiling for videogames.

Storage requirements though... That's a different story.

I think if we still had mechanical drives in the next gen consoles they would still need a really hefty amount of RAM, but I think with the high speed SSD it is kind of changing the dynamic of the whole situation, being able to stream data into RAM at that speed makes the need for excessive amounts of RAM unnecessary, I think if they went above 24GB the return on investment just won't be there, but I seriously see 16GB of RAM with a seperate 4GB of slower DDR4 for the OS happening.

 

[The Pleasure]

I hope they ram at least 24gbs. Don't want the switch 2 being anywhere near the consoles levels. I want a clear chasm in power that makes my eyeballs explode. 600+ aint a problem.

 

[Ingeniero]

16 GB fam, enough,

 

[nkarafo]

I think if we still had mechanical drives in the next gen consoles they would still need a really hefty amount of RAM, but I think with the high speed SSD it is kind of changing the dynamic of the whole situation, being able to stream data into RAM at that speed makes the need for excessive amounts of RAM unnecessary, I think if they went above 24GB the return on investment just won't be there, but I seriously see 16GB of RAM with a seperate 4GB of slower DDR4 for the OS happening.

SSDs aren't fast enough to replace any amount of RAM. They are like 10 times slower or more. I still use mechanical drives for my games on PC and RAM usage is the same as when i stream them from the SSD.

The thing you are talking about was true for old skool ROM cartridges. These were as fast as any RAM at the time. Factor 5 did use streaming directly from the cart with their N64 games afaik.

 

[ThaMonkeyClaw]

16GB GDDR6 for games + 8GB LPDDR4 for OS/background = totaling 24GB

Here is my official guess.

 

[ThaMonkeyClaw]

SSDs aren't fast enough to replace any amount of RAM. They are like 10 times slower or more. I still use mechanical drives for my games on PC and RAM usage is the same as when i stream them from the SSD.

The thing you are talking about was true for old skool ROM cartridges. These were as fast as any RAM at the time. Factor 5 did use streaming directly from the cart with their N64 games afaik.

I am not disagreeing with you on that, but supposedly the SSD in the PS5 is faster than anything that is currently out so being and looking at currently Gen 4 PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives, they have read speeds in the 5GB/sec range, and you also have to remember that games right now aren't optimized for those drives so you have to take that into consideration as well. On top of all that they have to keep the costs from going through the roof and RAM can easily make that price skyrocket, which I know we all don't want another PS3 type pricing disaster.

 

[Rolling_Start]

SSDs aren't fast enough to replace any amount of RAM. They are like 10 times slower or more. I still use mechanical drives for my games on PC and RAM usage is the same as when i stream them from the SSD.

That's because those games are designed to work with mechanical drives, so they behave the same way regardless of which drive you run them off.

Next gen consoles will be able to rely on always having an SSD present - and very fast ones at that.

 

[Shangounchained]

Y

High end GPU's only have 11GB

they have 11 because current games don't need more, current games are PS4 and Xbox one ports so they only need 5-8gb at max and pc also has system ram so it can use it when vram is full

 

[ResilientBanana]

Y
they have 11 because current games don't need more, current games are PS4 and Xbox one ports so they only need 5-8gb at max and pc also has system ram so it can use it when vram is full

There is a PCIe 4 NVME for back up memory if it needs it.