30 replies to this topic

[Mewbot]

Ha! You guys are funny! Besides, I meant to post this one as the example of how good the game looks:

Better.

[IvyT]

If we look at the difference between first and third-party titles on the PS3 you can tell first-party games are usually the ones that utilize the full power of the PS3 better. So why expect different from the Wii U? It's clear that Nintendo struggled a bit with HD development but Pikmin 3 is the proof that the Wii U hardware is capable of some really beautiful, next-gen looking games. It's a shame that most people don't consider Nintendo games as "next-gen" just because they don't have "realistic graphics".

[alan123]

what i want to know is if 1GB is more than enough, why does the PS4 & X1 have 8GB ?

[Zinix]

1 Is plenty. The Wii U is meant to be a gaming device, not a PC. Microsoft and Sony aren't going to use the full 8 GB of RAM towards game. I think it was stated somewhere that the OS for the Xbone is 3 or 4GB and for the PS4 its 2 or 3. Its understandable for those devices to have such a large of amount of RAM, since they're trying to win over the PC audience. The Xbone and PS4 also need the RAM for apps, other features, etc.  Nintendo has made beautiful games in the past with limited resources before, I'm sure if they felt if the Wii U needed more RAM then they would of included more like Sony and Mircosoft did.

 

Also don't console manufacturers usually free up some of the RAM from the OS in order to use it for games later on in the console's life? I read that somewhere, I could be mistaken, but if it's true, Nintendo could do this.

[Alex Atkin UK]

The most obvious improvement is what Criteron did, you can use higher quality textures without really changing anything else about the game.  However they were able to do that easily because the PC already had those higher resolution textures.  If you don't already have those assets I doubt the developers can be bothered to create new textures to take advantage of the Wii U, for the reasons already described.  I certainly don't get the feeling most ports use the extra RAM to improve load times, as that would need a lot more effort in the porting process.

 

As for the PS4/One not having much of their RAM for games, that is false.  The PS4 has 7GB for games, the Xbox One 5GB, and some developers are already moaning about the Xbox One having less so being harder to work with.  Granted its partly so they can be lazy with optimisation, but that is not all bad as it means early games can be ported easily without worrying about RAM whereas later games which will be more optimised can really go to town on that RAM.

 

The biggest drawback with the Wii U however is not RAM, its the lack of a HDD.  It seems to slow downloads (they go faster with an external HDD), causes long load times, and makes that 1GB even more limiting as you are limited by the IO latency of the optical drive.  As mentioned above, blood stains, bullet holes, all little things like that can add to the experience and more RAM (or caching to the HDD) means you can remember those things the next time you visit that area.  Its likely these PS3/360 ports are mostly just using the extra RAM of the Wii U to make up for the loss of a HDD cache that they were using on those consoles, a HDD would have given them more flexibility to actually USE the RAM properly.

 

The reason PS4/One have mandatory installs for games is so that they can actually load things into that RAM quick enough.  I had though that was also why Wii U reserved 1GB for the OS but so far its still not optimised or everything would load instantly.  I think that is WHY the reserved so much RAM though, so they could fix it later and eventually free some of that up for games once they have the OS optimised.

 

For a good example of why having more RAM is better, have a read of this: http://www.vg247.com...5gb-of-ps4-ram/

Edited by Alex Atkin UK, 18 July 2013 - 01:55 PM.

[MorbidGod]

1 Is plenty. The Wii U is meant to be a gaming device, not a PC. Microsoft and Sony aren't going to use the full 8 GB of RAM towards game. I think it was stated somewhere that the OS for the Xbone is 3 or 4GB and for the PS4 its 2 or 3. Its understandable for those devices to have such a large of amount of RAM, since they're trying to win over the PC audience. The Xbone and PS4 also need the RAM for apps, other features, etc. Nintendo has made beautiful games in the past with limited resources before, I'm sure if they felt if the Wii U needed more RAM then they would of included more like Sony and Mircosoft did.

Also don't console manufacturers usually free up some of the RAM from the OS in order to use it for games later on in the console's life? I read that somewhere, I could be mistaken, but if it's true, Nintendo could do this.

Usually they do. At least they did last generation. They might be doing that right now, and that might be the delay in the summer update.

[Mewbot]

Idk, but later in the wii u's lifetime I hope they update the OS to use less RAM. Surely, it can't be using that whole gig of RAM. Maybe half a gig, but not a whole gig.

[cupoftea]

WHY DOES THIS THREAD EXIST ON WHAT GROUNDS ARE WE COMPARING DIRECTLY DIFFERANT MACHINES ON A MEG BY MEG BASES THAT WOULD BE IGNORENT AND DUMB?????


ps4 is a pc no ifs no buts ITS A PC FACT it also works entirly in main ram ""NO SUPER CATCH OF ANY KIND""

it also has a hacked gpu to ram set up and the slowest posible ram avalable GDDR5 200ns

ps4 reads and write with main ram constantly for all tasks like a pc its extreamly latent and has bottle necking issue's ITS A CHEAP APU NOTHING MORE !!

what do we mean by 1 gb ram are we implying its SMALL OR SOMTHING ??

wiiu is a MCM on that mcm is the biggest and most advanced gpgpu memory sub system in existence a huge amount of catch and 3 different catches

32mb edram 2mb edram 1mb sram 35mb total over 3 catches

ps4s gpu has around 512k of catch wiiu clearly has 70x more !!!!! and catches dedicated to different areas of the gpu

wiiu sends data from main ram then processes it on MCM not continualy in and out of main ram FAST DARN FAST AND EFFICENT

you are massivly reducing your main ram usage your effectivly making it a feeder of data not a main ram reads reads reads reads from edram into logic do not require main ram

wiius compression is better than last gen,and its trickery for saving space also toki turi devs saved 100mb ram for identicle textures to ps3 x360 WHY?? becausewiiu uses less ram than those machines to do the same texture storing

so wiiu is doing something clever here so more ram more power more efficency and more trickery =far more textures

xbox360 developers have said in forums id rather have x360s 10mb edram than 256mb more main ram WHY ??

wiiu main ram in gaming terms is like 3.5 x ps3 and easy up there with ps4

i think xeno/mario kart 8 did some serious ps4 slapping at e3

ps4 main ram rendering and work at 200ns latency

wiiu EDRAM rendering and work all on MCM at sub 5ns latency

1gb is plenty and more could be unlocked 8gb ram ps4 is not about power its about giving devs a LAZY MANS DEVICE TO DEV FOR

ask any engineer very fast and small beats big and slow in gaming hardware??

ps4 has 32 rops wiiu has edram overdraw and speed

ps4 waits for data and stalls 200ns wiiu waits for nothing and works fast sub 5ns and edram

GFLOPS LOL

Edited by cupoftea, 19 July 2013 - 05:27 PM.

[Arkhandar]

*cache

[3Dude]

what i want to know is if 1GB is more than enough, why does the PS4 & X1 have 8GB ?

Its enough for a system as powerful as wii u.

For systems several times more powerful, plus with many ram demanding os functions (and a bigger os) like recording stuff, kinect/camera, always running completely seperate apps etc, you are definately going to want more ram for smooth transitions with all that multitasking, and not ram starving the more powerful processors.

[cupoftea]

LETS APPLY COMMONSENSE THERE VIDEO GAMING DEVICES PC COMPUTING WAYS OF MEMORY """""DO NOT APPLY"""

 

BUT THEY DO WITH PS4 """""""""""BECAUSE ITS A PC NOT A VIDEO GAMING BOARD GET IT""""""""

 

PS4 HAS 8GB RAM WUPPPIIII DOOOOODARRRR =4X MORE RAM THAN WIIU

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>BUT AND ITS A BIG BUT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

 

WIIU HAS 70 X MORE CATCH SCRATCH PAD MEMORY ON THE GPU VS PS4 I DONT SEE MR FAKECORE MAKING THREADS ABOUT THAT @NEOGAF DO YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

LOL ADDING MORE AND MORE RAM IS POINTLESS TO GAMING CODE FAST AND SMALL BEATS BIG AND SLOW GAME ENGINEERING FACT !!!!!!!!

 

ps4 total catch gpu and cpu around 4.5mb

 

wiiu total catch = 38mb

 

ps4 gpu catch is like 512k

 

wiiu gpy catch is 35mb

 

 

lol 8gb ram I SEE THRU YOUR LIE