Report: Sony's PS4 Orbis Dev Kit Runs on Modified AMD A10

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By Wolfgang Gruener
published

There are reports that Sony has begun shipping a new version of its Orbis PS4 development kit.

Initial information suggests that the hardware runs on AMD's Trinity APUs. Apparently, the updated kit is delivered in a common case housing the modified A10 processor. A third and final version of the development kit is expected to be available in January.

There were no details about the APU itself, but VG247 mentioned that the systems come with either 8 GB or 16 GB of system memory. The final console will get a Blu-ray drive and a standard 256 GB of storage, which, if correct, would clearly point toward a solid state drive. The direction Sony is taking appears to be clearly toward a much more affordable console at launch. The PS3, which was priced at $599 for the 60 GB version at launch in 2006, had an estimated production cost of more than $900 at the time.

There was no information on a potential availability. However, a demonstration at E3 2013 and a released just in time for Christmas 2013 seem very likely at this time.

Read more about Trinity here in our review.

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Wolfgang Gruener
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50 Comments Comment from the forums
  • megamanx00
    16GB of RAM? That's gonna drive up the price.
    Reply
  • rocknrollz
    16GB of RAM is only like 70 dollars for us consumers. For a company like Sony to get mass quantity's and probably modified to be more price minded, it isn't that much.
    Reply
  • yzfr1guy
    R U Kidding me M.M.? Ram is dirt cheap.

    I welcome the PS4 as I loves me some Playstation gameplay, to h3ll with Microshaft RexBox! :P
    Reply
  • jdw_swb
    16GB RAM for the dev kits.

    The dev kits always have more RAM than the final product.
    Reply
  • alexmx
    megamanx0016GB of RAM? That's gonna drive up the price.
    That statement is not entirely false, don't you guys remember when the iphone 5 BOM came out? the memory jump from 16 to 32 GB was around 10-12 USD and yet they charge you over 100 USD when buying it?

    The same model goes for almost any industry. Other than creating an artificial gap between devices, there isn't a real reason of why should 16/32 additional GB of storage be hundreds of dollars more expensive.
    Reply
  • mckirkus
    I just bought 8GB of RAM for $34 and an A10 AMD CPU for $120. Guessing they're using a variant of the A10 5700 which runs at 65 watts (instead of the 5800 @100w). Build a cheap custom motherboard and PSU and you have a console for $200 in parts plus storage.

    The 256GB SSD sounds less probable. If they can buy in bulk for $100 each and their goal is to make it a lot cheaper than PS3 then 128GB is a good bet. If they sell it at cost you're looking at a $250 to $300 PS4.
    Reply
  • kriskory
    256gb SSD and they are moving toward a more affordable console at launch? a 500gb regular HD would be more affordable, one would think.

    Its interesting that it runs on a A10 apu though, would that make it to the final ps4 though? I dont see how the A10 could drive games at 1080p native resolution which is what the ps4 should be doing?
    Reply
  • nforce4max
    I wonder what custom logic or rom that was used in that A10 but I assume that the rest of that console is very close to off the shelf standards aside from a few things.
    Reply
  • segio526
    yzfr1guyR U Kidding me M.M.? Ram is dirt cheap. I welcome the PS4 as I loves me some Playstation gameplay, to h3ll with Microshaft RexBox!How old are you? I thought gaming fanboy-ism stopped once you were old enough/employed to buy all the consoles you want to play games on.
    Reply
  • segio526
    kriskoryIts interesting that it runs on a A10 apu though, would that make it to the final ps4 though? I dont see how the A10 could drive games at 1080p native resolution which is what the ps4 should be doing?Well, considering that the PS3 and 360 can play (some) games at 1080p and they have crap for hardware (by today's standards), I think they'll be OK.
    Reply