PS4 Architecture

Sony has hosted its PS4 announcement extravaganza, unveiling a number of games and exciting features. An early part of the presentation focused on the system hardware and infrastructure, however, which promises much for the capabilities of the system at launch and throughout its lifespan.

Of course, leaked specifications have been doing the rounds and were largely proven accurate, in various cases. Rumours of 8-core processing were confirmed, and much of the early segment on the hardware made clear that the system is designed to accommodate, encourage and support development efforts. It was emphasized that there is a strong element of PC-style architecture in PS4, but that it's set up to be focused on maximum gaming performance.

As the above graphic from the presentation shows, Sony is describing it as a "Supercharged" PC infrastructure, with an enhanced GPU and an X86 CPU — the latter could be significant in terms of keeping the eventual retail price manageable. A whopping 8GB of RAM — which will no doubt be put to work with various social capabilities as well as games — seems significant in terms of giving developers the space to produce sizeable gaming experiences with enhanced visuals.

It seems clear that the PS4 will have plenty under the hood to give developers freedom to push boundaries. Let us know what you think of these tech aspects in the comments below.