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

By - Source: VG247 | B 50 comments

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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Top Comments
  • 21 Hide
    rocknrollz , November 2, 2012 6:56 PM
    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.
  • 20 Hide
    jdw_swb , November 2, 2012 7:02 PM
    16GB RAM for the dev kits.

    The dev kits always have more RAM than the final product.
  • 10 Hide
    anxiousinfusion , November 2, 2012 7:35 PM
    It's about damn time. We need to raise the lowest common denominator of graphics.
Other Comments
    Display all 50 comments.
  • 21 Hide
    rocknrollz , November 2, 2012 6:56 PM
    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.
  • 5 Hide
    yzfr1guy , November 2, 2012 6:58 PM
    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 
  • 20 Hide
    jdw_swb , November 2, 2012 7:02 PM
    16GB RAM for the dev kits.

    The dev kits always have more RAM than the final product.
  • -8 Hide
    alexmx , November 2, 2012 7:05 PM
    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.
  • 5 Hide
    mckirkus , November 2, 2012 7:06 PM
    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.
  • -5 Hide
    kriskory , November 2, 2012 7:10 PM
    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?
  • 1 Hide
    nforce4max , November 2, 2012 7:22 PM
    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.
  • 0 Hide
    segio526 , November 2, 2012 7:29 PM
    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.
  • 2 Hide
    segio526 , November 2, 2012 7:31 PM
    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.
  • 10 Hide
    anxiousinfusion , November 2, 2012 7:35 PM
    It's about damn time. We need to raise the lowest common denominator of graphics.
  • -5 Hide
    Kami3k , November 2, 2012 7:36 PM
    segio526Well, 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.


    Play at 1080p? hahaha.
  • 2 Hide
    goodguy713 , November 2, 2012 7:38 PM
    well when you have a fixed processor for a system devs can program to utilize that hardware much more effiecently problem with pc's is the vast amount of hardware out there and everything has to be coded to allow for older hardware to run it.. thats the big advantage consoles have over pc titles .. currently we just beast mode / over power the games we want to run in order to get respectible frame rates and resolutions.

    having an A10 or even a modified version would be much more of an advantage over the current gen consoles how ever Im willing to go out on a limb and say if they choose to include 4k video and such then they are more then likely going to have some form of a hybrid crossfire setup .. mind you this is still development hardware so this could change yet again but with about a year to go im betting they are under pressure to get the right price / performance and hardware combination .. what they should really do for consoles is allow for upgrading of the GPU / CPU like they do with pc's
  • 2 Hide
    Anonymous , November 2, 2012 8:09 PM
    @mckirkus

    because we all known the ps4 will be running full blown win8......
  • 5 Hide
    sarcasm , November 2, 2012 8:19 PM
    optimsedOS@mckirkus because we all known the ps4 will be running full blown win8......


    Well these are all still rumors and there's no mention of what type of GPU will be in there. Although I know the AMD Trinity has a built-in GPU, but that means they will also be able to do "crossfire" or some type of multi-gpu scaling.

    And I think they will be aiming for 1080p@30fps instead of 720p@60fps. For some reason developers don't think that consumers can see 60fps.
  • 2 Hide
    alxianthelast , November 2, 2012 8:23 PM
    Even at half or 1/4 the ram it still points to a proper 64bit console this time around.. mmm
  • -8 Hide
    Anonymous , November 2, 2012 8:24 PM
    Meh, who cares?

    By the time these so called "Next-Generation" consoles come out, PC users will already be four generations in technology ahead.

    Pfft... consoles.
  • 0 Hide
    voiidwulf , November 2, 2012 8:48 PM
    goodguy713well when you have a fixed processor for a system devs can program to utilize that hardware much more effiecently problem with pc's is the vast amount of hardware out there and everything has to be coded to allow for older hardware to run it.. thats the big advantage consoles have over pc titles .. currently we just beast mode / over power the games we want to run in order to get respectible frame rates and resolutions. having an A10 or even a modified version would be much more of an advantage over the current gen consoles how ever Im willing to go out on a limb and say if they choose to include 4k video and such then they are more then likely going to have some form of a hybrid crossfire setup .. mind you this is still development hardware so this could change yet again but with about a year to go im betting they are under pressure to get the right price / performance and hardware combination .. what they should really do for consoles is allow for upgrading of the GPU / CPU like they do with pc's


    The upgrading could work well if they designed the console to run all the games at low, and then offered like a "Medium" upgrade and a "High" upgrade and stuff. I don't think letting you put in any discrete GPU would work so well due to incompatibility and drivers.
  • 6 Hide
    emike09 , November 2, 2012 8:55 PM
    alexmxThat 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.

    You're kidding right??? We're talking RAM, not storage. The iPhone 5 has 1GB of RAM and 16/32/64GB of Storage. You're confusing Ram (memory) with storage.
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