Why PS5 Pro Requires Extra 2 GB of RAM? Answer May Surprise You
The PlayStation 5 Pro specification has hit the internet and one detail caught the attention of gamers - RAM. Sony used an interesting patent for better optimization purposes.
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The PlayStation's specifications are a little admirable, especially when the developer touts its potential performance. However, the players noticed one detail - an additional 2 GB RAM stick. It turns out that its task is very down-to-earth and has been directed towards the convenience of the customer.
Why does the PlayStation 5 Pro have an additional 2 GB of RAM?
As revealed by the unconfirmed PlayStation 5 Pro specification, the console has 16 GB of GDDR6 (VRAM) and an additional 2 GB of DDR5. Why is that? Due to this simple reason, game developers can fully use the potential of the entire Random Access Memory (RAM), resulting in improved performance and smoother operation. RAM is used to store temporary data that is necessary for performing current tasks. That's why separating 16 GB of RAM allows for complete memory dedication to games and the scaling technology used in the console.
On the other hand, allocating 2 GB of DDR5 exclusively for the console system and any background applications, such as a communicator, significantly reduces the load on the entire system and its components. As a result, there is no conflict between games and additional programs or system operations. This results in the console operating more smoothly, so in theory, the more RAM, the better (although there are also limitations in this case). Separating games from the system positively affects performance.
The patent for shared RAM memory isn't new, however, and it has already been used in the PlayStation 4 Pro, where an additional 1 GB DDR3 RAM was built in for managing background applications. Therefore, released games could use an extra 512 MB of GDDR5 memory without needing to be involved in other tasks. In this way, similar to the PlayStation 5 Pro, the performance of the console itself was increased.
Sony doesn't want to repeat past mistakes
One of the limitations of consoles is the size of the construction, which affects the components used, the closed hardware software, and the technical limitations themselves. This means that developers sometimes have to bend over backward to make their game run smoothly on such hardware. This is perfectly illustrated by the story of the developers of Crash Bandicoot, who had to "hack" the original PlayStation to improve the animations. The problem was the insufficient amount of RAM (2 MB) and limitations in memory management.
To bypass the limitations of the PlayStation Library, Naughty Dog used advanced memory management techniques. In this method, game levels were divided into small fragments (64 KB), which were dynamically loaded from the CD to the RAM only when necessary. This led to memory savings, enabling the development of more detailed levels. Developers have created their own algorithms and libraries for this purpose, enabling them to harness the full potential of the PlayStation's graphics processor. No wonder that Sony later tried to solve such problems on its own.
