Thursday, March 29th 2012

Sony PlayStation 4 Codenamed "Orbis", Runs AMD x86-64 CPU, Southern Islands GPU

Sony may have codenamed PlayStation 4 "Orbis" (IPA: /ˈor.bis/), according to a Kotaku report. The next-generation game console is slated for "holiday season, 2013." This information was sourced by Kotaku, from a reliable source with a good track-record of accuracy. Orbis is derived from the Latin word for "circle", or "to circle/orbit". The term "Orbis Vita" or "Orbis Vitae" denotes "the circle of life." The specifications of Orbis known so far, include AMD-made x86-64 CPU, and an AMD-made GPU, built on the Southern Islands (Graphics CoreNext) architecture. In all probability, it could be a unified SoC, a highly scalar Fusion chip.
Source: Kotaku
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111 Comments on Sony PlayStation 4 Codenamed "Orbis", Runs AMD x86-64 CPU, Southern Islands GPU

#76
Rowsol
1Kurgan14k by 2k res and the fact that when console originally release they usually are actually pretty damn good, I would put money down on you being wrong. Doesn't mean I will buy a PS4 at release, I just think you hunch is off by a long shot.
I hope you're right.
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#78
ompak5
i want to see an APU with integrated crossfire for PS4... i hope sony and AMD will do it, it will be the first console with dual GPU... hehehehe
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#79
Easy Rhino
Linux Advocate
who cares. sony treats their customers like shit.
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#80
FordGT90Concept
"I go fast!1!11!1!"
Yo_WattupThen why are most games single-threaded when the xbox has a six core cpu? (IIRC)
"Most games" on what platform? A lot of the PC games I play will use 4 cores but won't load the CPU to more than about 25% (they're GPU heavy).
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#81
Over_Lord
News Editor
Maybe it will have that HSA feature AMD has been talking about in their next gen(next year) APUs.
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#82
zootac
easy rhinowho cares. Sony treats their customers like shit.
+1
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#83
Rowsol
Easy Rhinowho cares. sony treats their customers like shit.
While this may be true I only care about the PC ports... lol. So, I kinda care.
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#84
jigar2speed
Jurassic1024Don't care, i'm not backing down from people too lazy to google and thinking AMD in some consoles makes up for a pathetic server division.
I know you, you are the one who got banned from Fudzilla.com for trolling, keep up the good work.
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#85
zootac
RowsolWhile this may be true I only care about the PC ports... lol. So, I kinda care.
SecuROM D.R.M sony made this evil for us p.c. gamers E.A games use it for p.c. games
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#86
NC37
Well either way this means one thing...the next console gen will be designed to get Sony/M$/Nintendo a return back on the hardware sooner. Xbox will have a midrange GPU, Wii U will have an older 4800 series based GPU, and the PS4 will now use AMD CPU + GPU which could possibly by a special APU design.

This is a huge change from the original reports of Sony looking to Intel for the PS4. Very glad that was changed. Intel still hasn't shown they can provide a competitive graphics option.

Using AMD x86 will also work better for porting. Could maybe see PC games scale better and become easier to port.

This is of course good in some ways but bad in others. Longevity of the console will be cut. Devs will likely try to ride out visuals even longer like they did with this current gen. No matter what I hear or read about people that say there is still more power to be tapped from these current gen, I don't believe it. I've seen more titles with borderline fps than I have not. It keeps getting worse the more they push the hardware. Can the hardware do it, yes. Can it do it and be playable? Now you are in the grey area.
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#87
Valdez
Dj-ElectriCPerformance-wise the HD7770 is about 3.5-4 times faster then PS3's GPU
You must be kidding.

The hd7770 is much more faster than that.
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#88
Valdez
NC37Well either way this means one thing...the next console gen will be designed to get Sony/M$/Nintendo a return back on the hardware sooner. Xbox will have a midrange GPU, Wii U will have an older 4800 series based GPU, and the PS4 will now use AMD CPU + GPU which could possibly by a special APU design.

This is a huge change from the original reports of Sony looking to Intel for the PS4. Very glad that was changed. Intel still hasn't shown they can provide a competitive graphics option.

Using AMD x86 will also work better for porting. Could maybe see PC games scale better and become easier to port.

This is of course good in some ways but bad in others. Longevity of the console will be cut. Devs will likely try to ride out visuals even longer like they did with this current gen. No matter what I hear or read about people that say there is still more power to be tapped from these current gen, I don't believe it. I've seen more titles with borderline fps than I have not. It keeps getting worse the more they push the hardware. Can the hardware do it, yes. Can it do it and be playable? Now you are in the grey area.
I'm also sure it will be an APU, so i don't expect a bad ass gpu like the 7970. A cape verde based gpu is more likely and a 8 core cpu (4 module).
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#89
faramir
TRWOVA10? in my consoles? :D
A10 (of Trinity) is not GCN.
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#90
Prima.Vera
RowsolJust because it's based on southern islands doens't mean it's going to be high end. I bet they put a cheapo 70 dollar one in there.
I take that bet, and I raise you another 100. :toast:
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#91
Rowsol
zootacSecuROM D.R.M sony made this evil for us p.c. gamers E.A games use it for p.c. games
That's a lot of abbreviations.
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#92
Completely Bonkers
"Orbis" is very unoriginal.

360 is a full circle.

Orbis is a circle.

Yawn. How many years late copycat is that?
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#93
Fourstaff
Completely Bonkers"Orbis" is very unoriginal.

360 is a full circle.

Orbis is a circle.

Yawn. How many years late copycat is that?
Xbox360 is reference to Sony's controllers. I fail to see your point.
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#95
btarunr
Editor & Senior Moderator
Completely Bonkers"Orbis" is very unoriginal.

360 is a full circle.

Orbis is a circle.

Yawn. How many years late copycat is that?
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#96
Aquinus
Resident Wat-man
They're both gaming consoles that you use a controller to use and that you connect to a TV. Sounds like two different products that do the same thing. Saying that one copied the other is most likely partially true, but when I actually used to play 360 games, I decided on the 360 over the PS3 because I liked the games for the platform better. As an end user, I don't really care if M$ and Sony copy each other, they can duke it out as much as they want. :p
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#97
newtekie1
Semi-Retired Folder
FordGT90ConceptThey'll still be half-baked because most games are ported from Xbox, not PlayStation, because of the reliance on DirectX. Additionally, consoles always have limited resoures especially in terms of RAM and that severely limits environment size and the like. Can't forget the lack of mouse and keyboard too. Expect the same-old-same.
You are correct, however they port from the Xbox because it is the closest to the PC. If the PS4 becomes the closest thing to the PC, then they will start porting from that. The path of least resistance. Still doesn't mean the ports will be good, for various reasons, some of which you covered...
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#98
MikeMurphy
I'm willing to bet a dual thread CPU with around 500 GNC cores paired with either very high speed DDR3 or a rejigged memory controller using GDDR5.
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#99
MikeMurphy
Oh, and this thing will get hacked soooo fast
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#100
Am*
I really can't see them using an x86 CPU after the billions they spent on the Cell (and years of pushing it on developers). My bet is they're going to use a CPU based on the Cell/ARM architecture integrated with a AMD GPU on-chip as an APU-based design.

Also I'm still yet to hear anything on even PS2 backward compatibility, if PS4 doesn't at least have this, I will probably be skipping it, especially if they go ahead with the crappy "no-used games" DRM this article is implying, which if does happen, will make hundreds of thousands of people lose their jobs that work in game stores and effectively kill competition on game pricing for their console. I will certainly be skipping this console if this does happen, as I don't buy a single game at full price.
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