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TIL the PS2 has more memory bandwidth than Switch

Sapo84

Sapo84

Member
Oct 31, 2017
309
I don't understand why you're making that distinction for Xbox One (actually it could also be made for Xbox 360 10MB eDRAM) but not for PS2 which had a 4MB of very fast memory eDRAM and 32MB of main memory, which was way way slower than Switch unified memory.
That seems like a pretty biased comparison, regardless of the importance of memory bandwidth in game rendering.
 
Nooblet

Nooblet

Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,637
Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PS2...they are all similar in that they had this very fast RAM on board that allowed high fiillrate provided the framebuffer sat inside the daughter die. It just doesn't work in Xbox One's favour this gen because the PS4 has GDDR5 and has a high bandwidth even without a separate daughter die. PS3 didn't have an eDRAM/esRAM or the likes, so it had lower fillrate which led to it being worse at AA and alpha effects.

Having low fillrate is not necessarily what makes deferred rendering difficult, the reason why it's difficult is because the framebuffer for a deferred renderer is a lot larger and it can't comfortably sit inside the fast memory. And if a framebuffer can't fit into it then that means the fillrate ends up suffering in the end.
 
Hilarious_Bearious

Hilarious_Bearious

Member
Nov 4, 2017
7,382
images


To be fair to FLOPS though, it is an objective measure of how well a device can perform a specific type of math. It is an excellent measure of raw computational power in a particular circumstance. Unfortunately, it's not a great universal gauge for how a computer system performs other tasks (such as rendering graphics).
 
Blackpuppy

Blackpuppy

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,206
OP, you do bring up a good point in that a console will have some leg up over another in one or a couple of specific parameters. After all, the Atari 2600 has to run ALL of its games at 60fps. Something no other console can do.

But one parameter is just one piece of the pie.
 
wrowa

wrowa

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,373
Datajoy said:
Also the PS2 has more memory card slots than the switch iirc

So that along with the bandwidth you mentioned makes it seem like the general memory situation was all around somewhat better on PS2
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Not sure if that's a joke post, but a second SD card slot on the Switch would be amazing.
 
Not Spaceghost

Not Spaceghost

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,717
Something people fail to remember is that the PS2 had the unique ability to interlace alpha effects allowing it to render large effects at 60 fps using half the resources.

Truly a modern marvel.
 
pksu

pksu

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,240
Finland
Mobile devices tend to have awful memory bandwidth for sure. That's one reason why both Vulkan and Metal have more sophisticated tiling features than typical CS way would allow and can work around the issue somewhat.
 

Roven

Member
Nov 2, 2017
893
Well of course. Or do you think a Switch could control Iraqi missile systems? Pathetic
 
Green Yoshi

Green Yoshi

Attempted to circumvent ban with an alt account
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
2,597
Cologne (Germany)
The PS2 has 4 MB Embedded DRAM video memory bandwidth at 48 gigabytes per second and the Switch has 4 GB LPDDR4 at 25 Gigabytes per second.
 
RedAhmed

RedAhmed

Member
Jan 9, 2018
3,287
Also, I'm pretty sure the PS2 has bigger fans than the Switch. It helps with the cooling. Nintendo really dropped the ball with that.
 

Deleted member 28962

User requested account closure
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Oct 31, 2017
258
Look at all these snarky responses. The ps2 has an interesting architecture. The edram gave the ps2's gpu massive amounts of bandwidth which allowed it to do effects the other 6th-gen consoles struggled with(the xbox port of MGS2 had framerate problems in the tanker scene because it lacked the bandwidth to do all the rain effects). The massive fillrate was its one big advantage as the gpu's feature-set was weaker than other gpu's of the day and it needed the aid of the cpu's vu0/vu1 co-processors to do things the other gpu's did by itself; I remember a GT dev complaining he had to do multiple-passes on a frame to get the same result other gpu's could do in one-pass.
 
Yuuber

Yuuber

Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,153
The PS2 is so powerful it can be used as missile guiding system. Nintendo's managed to release a console 17 years later that can't do that.
 

Deleted member 21601

User requested account deletion
Banned
Oct 28, 2017
810
That the F are you talking about?:

PS2: Main memory: 32 MB PC800 32-bit dual-channel (2x 16-bit) RDRAM (Direct Rambus DRAM) @ 400 MHz, 3.2 GB/s peak bandwidth

Switch: 4GB RAM @1600 MHZ Bandwith 25,6 GB GB/s
 
KDR_11k

KDR_11k

Banned
Nov 10, 2017
5,235
Heterogeneous memory like that makes development a nightmare. AFAIK the PS2 could only access a 64x128 pixel chunk of a texture at a time so texture resolutions were capped hard and everything had to be laid out to fit into those chunks.
 
mugurumakensei

mugurumakensei

Elizabeth, I’m coming to join you!
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,330
harbl-kun said:
That the F are you talking about?:

PS2: Main memory: 32 MB PC800 32-bit dual-channel (2x 16-bit) RDRAM (Direct Rambus DRAM) @ 400 MHz, 3.2 GB/s peak bandwidth

Switch: 4GB RAM @1600 MHZ Bandwith 25,6 GB GB/s
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He's comparing the framebuffer bandwidth of PS2 to main memory bandwidth of Switch.
 
hans_castorp

hans_castorp

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,459
Guys, guys. Stop with all this technical mumbo jumbo.
Can I please get a Dragon Ball comparation? It's the only way I know to understand all this stuff.
 
MP!

MP!

Member
Oct 30, 2017
5,198
Las Vegas
N64 had 562.5 MB/s memory bandwith ... N64 must be 20x more powerful than switch
 
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Alvis

Alvis

Saw the truth behind the copied door
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,233
Spain
The PS2 has TWO ports for connecting DualShock 2 controllers. The Switch has zero DualShock 2 ports. Also, the PS2 has two memory card slots. The Switch, again, has zero. What the fuck is Nintendo even doing?
 
Vex

Vex

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,213
Nintendo. Is. Done.

They really shot themselves in the foot this time around. I hope they realize how much of a mistake this is on their part. Gamers never forget. Watch out.
 
Ocean Bones

Ocean Bones

Avenger
Oct 29, 2017
4,725
hans_castorp said:
Guys, guys. Stop with all this technical mumbo jumbo.
Can I please get a Dragon Ball comparation? It's the only way I know to understand all this stuff.
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Switch = Vegeta in his new 300x gravity room trying to catch up to Goku. He's also now banging Bulma
PS2 = Yamcha that almost died in 300x gravity room, used to fuck with Bumla. Can do an excellent Wolf fang fist.
Vegeta doesn't give a fuck about the wolf fang fist and will stick to the much superior Galick Gun.
 
KRBM

KRBM

Banned
Jan 9, 2018
684
You guys got it wrong, Switch has 2 more volume buttons than PS2 and thus is the more powerful console.
 
skeezx

skeezx

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,184
sony does what nintendon't

which console has Manhunt? and can play DVDs? checkmate
 
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