Discussing PS5 Pro, XBOX, UDNA, and FSR w/ Bryan Heemskerk
Added 2024-09-13 19:23:17 +0000 UTCThe next episode of Broken Silicon will see the return of Bryan Heemskerk (Steve had to delay his episode). We will be planning to heavily discuss the following subjects:
PS5 Pro
The state of XBOX
FSR 4
AMD RDNA 4
Nvidia Blackwell
Zen 5
Arrow Lake
UDNA
...and as usual - whatever else you guys want!!! Bryan is a developer with deep technical knowledge on both PC and Console hardware - so we really can get deep into anything you suggest to us below. Just make sure your submissions are respectful, use good grammar, and are as concise as possible. :)
Last Episode Bryan was on: https://youtu.bep1x3O90L4?si=r926qw0I-FemtDkb
Bryan's Twitter Account: https://x.com/bryanheemskerk
Bryan’s Next Game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2469200/Fera_The_Sundered_Tribes/
Comments
Will Intel ditching hyper threading this generation severely habdicap gaming performance or will devs work around using just the strong p cores?
B. Fish
2024-09-15 23:07:31 +0000 UTCCan you give some insights on the incremental resources necessary developing for PC in addition to console?
B. Fish
2024-09-15 23:03:40 +0000 UTCLet’s say that Valve decides to make a big push with SteamOS, a next-generation Steam Deck and possibly more. What sorts of gamers do you think are most likely to switch - console gamers or Windows gamers who have already purchased a lot of games through Steam? On the developer side, how ready is SteamOS for native ports from a developer perspective?
Chris Rijk
2024-09-15 14:44:07 +0000 UTCA question for Bryan - one thing that has become clear with all the Zen 5 testing is that it’s very difficult to benchmark games reliably on Windows. Is this something that you’ve experienced yourself? Do you have any idea why games in particular seem so sensitive? Have you seen anything similar on any other operating system?
Chris Rijk
2024-09-15 14:43:57 +0000 UTCOne game I’ve enjoyed this year is Manor Lords. This game had just one full time developer for most of its lifetime but still has good graphics and innovative gameplay. Can you suggest any recent games from small developers that you thought were particularly good? With modern games engines being so advanced do you think it’s much more practical for a small team of skilled developers to make an impactful game?
Chris Rijk
2024-09-14 18:57:01 +0000 UTCIt’s common for new games to have a lot of bugs at release. Sometimes new hardware can be in a poor state at release too, generally on the software side. Since companies are under pressure to get a return on their investment, the sooner something is released the sooner you start to get that return. Do you feel that this pressure to release as soon as possible is getting worse? If so, what do you think should be done about it?
Chris Rijk
2024-09-14 18:55:55 +0000 UTCDirectX 12 has been out for quite some time now. While better on paper due to its low level api, it didn't come without issues. DX11 on the other hand wasn't as powerful, but easier to use. What approach (and features) would you like to see from a new DirectX? Or maybe a new version Vulkan?
Dave Scholze
2024-09-14 18:08:40 +0000 UTCRegarding the GPU performance in the PS5 Pro: The one thing I see people getting confused about is raster performance (+46%) as opposed to the RT performance uplift (2-3x). I see people "shooting for the stars" when reaching for a desktop GPU to compare against. However, (and correct me if I'm wrong here) the RT performance is just for the ray calculations (intersections, etc) - the frame still has to be rendered normally at the end of those calculations. Since, RT cannot be computed in parallel with the final output of each frame, it is performed in sequence and takes the wavefront across the GPU to provide the data to the TMUs (in AMD) or RT cores (Nvidia) but those calculations take up clock cycles which would otherwise have been spent rendering the frame. Therefore, the maximum uplift in performance can only be 46% because any RT improvement is less than the maximum rasterised render time per frame (because RT takes clock cycles away from that idealised rasterised frame). i.e. If the game is running at 100 fps rasterised, adding RT will only make it run at a lower fps. If you improve from 20fps to 40 fps using RT, then that's your 2x gain. This is why it's frustrating seeing people confusing the raster and RT uplifts (saying the Pro will perform like a much stronger card (e.g. RTX 4070 Super) because the fps output is expected to be around the RX 6800 for raster performance but better for RT performance but it can never exceed the raster fps performance of the RX 6800 as that's the maximum theoretical frametime achievable...
James Prendergast
2024-09-14 15:03:13 +0000 UTCHi Bryan, Another question on game fidelity. The improvements seem small year on year now but I remember battlefield bad company 2 and half life 2 having better physics than modern shooters. Do you think graphics will plateau and we can focus on gameplay mechanics/physics more going forward?
coltmarshmallow
2024-09-14 13:20:09 +0000 UTCHi Bryan as a developer have you ever seen a scenarios where the cross CCD latency crushed a games performance, if so was there a fix?
AnotherChris
2024-09-14 12:36:16 +0000 UTCHi Tom and Bryan. What do you guys think about the current state of Game Pass right now, the recent price increases for console Game Pass, and the expectations of Black Ops 6 somehow move the dial on Game Pass? I think if Black Ops 6 managed to salvage Game Pass it would be a short term and unsustainable gain.
MultiNati
2024-09-14 11:47:12 +0000 UTCHi Tom and Bryan. To Bryan specifically what do you think of Tom’s recent leaks of Intel cancelling the Royal Core project? What do you think is going to happen to the state of gaming CPUs in the next 5 years?
MultiNati
2024-09-14 06:54:31 +0000 UTCHi Tom and Bryan. Are we reaching the diminishing return stage for graphical fidelity? I’ve tried many UE5 games, and I think of them only 10-20% look better than what I would imagine the same game in UE4 with close to half the performance. The only exception is Black Myth Wukong which is the only UE5 game so far that truly impressed me. One more question. With the increasing popularity of Unreal Engine in movie production do you think that Epic switched masters from the games industry to the movie industry?
MultiNati
2024-09-14 06:50:56 +0000 UTCHello Bryan and Tom, Here is a lighthearted question. For context, you receive the opportunity to develop a new entry for an existing video game IP. You have full control over the development and timeline of the project. This could be a chance to resurrect a forgotten IP, fix a franchise with poor yearly releases, or make a sequel to a legendary game. What game would you make, and why?
Endless Logins
2024-09-14 01:38:57 +0000 UTCDo you think that the reaction to the PS5 Pro price might convince next gen console designers to go for an RDNA 4-like strategy of bringing the same high tier performance down to lower price brackets? Or have game devs not yet hit a technical limit that would force console makers and/or publishers to go "these graphics are good enough, make the hardware cheaper"?
Cleansweep
2024-09-14 00:33:35 +0000 UTCBryan - With XBox on the ropes and therefor DirectX 12 on the ropes, as a dev how do you see the future of Vulkan on Linux, Mac and Windows desktop? When do you see Vulkan for Windows on Arm arriving?
Kiln God
2024-09-13 22:11:15 +0000 UTCWith Apple Silicon M4 on the prowl with ray tracing, should NVidia, Qualcomm and AMD be worried?
Kiln God
2024-09-13 22:05:41 +0000 UTCHello, partially joke question. How long, before we get RTAI - real time ai game generation. You would specify what kind of game you want, how difficult and how long it should be and go play it. Or from different view, AI would make game based of your description and scenario. And do you think it could viable thing in real game studio, not just solo projects? Wish you a great day.
Kator
2024-09-13 21:44:49 +0000 UTCWhat are the thoughts and feelings from the game dev side on Intel Arc now that Alchemist has had time to "age" and Battlemage is nowhere to be found?
qhfreddy
2024-09-13 21:15:35 +0000 UTCHow disastrous would it be if Microsoft decided the next Xbox would have a Qualcomm APU?
qhfreddy
2024-09-13 21:03:35 +0000 UTCHello Tom and Bryan, I am an unreal engine hobbyist. I tried NVIDIA Omni verse tools to build digital humans like audio 2 face. Do you see Nvidia’s NIMs as just another tool? Or do you see this as a walled garden.
Bryan P.
2024-09-13 20:58:44 +0000 UTCAre you guys shocked at Mark Cerny confirming that 75% of PlayStation gamers (I'd assume this applies to Xbox as well) use performance modes in games? We've heard the rhetoric for years that console games just want 30 FPS and the best visuals they can get, but clearly once exposed to 60+ FPS gameplay they're preferring it now.
CompressedAIBlocks
2024-09-13 19:57:45 +0000 UTCTom and Bryan will RDNA 3 support FSR4?
Kiln God
2024-09-13 19:55:02 +0000 UTCWhere does Intel go here for gaming? Their dGPUs are basically dead. They cancelled Royal Core. Lunar Lake iGPU seems like it could potentially give some good competition in handhelds. Is this a start of Intel just not being a consideration for gaming going forward?
CompressedAIBlocks
2024-09-13 19:52:50 +0000 UTCTom and Bryan what are the main differences between RDNA 3, 3.5 and 4 that consumers should be aware?
Kiln God
2024-09-13 19:50:23 +0000 UTCDo you think we'll continue seeing waves of Xbox layoffs? They're obviously not doing well and have spent many years acquiring without any real output.
CompressedAIBlocks
2024-09-13 19:48:58 +0000 UTCIn many games I find myself trying out DLSS or FSR and then quickly turning it of when I notice how badly the ghosting and other artefacts are, is this an experience you see or hear of regularly? What do you think about the level of visual fidelity provided by TAA and DLSS/FSR? I've found myself getting more and more won over by the more vocal and extreme anti TAA arguments which also apply to DLSS/FSR, because in so many games the amount of temporal artefacts and reduction in sharpness is just absurd.
qhfreddy
2024-09-13 19:42:50 +0000 UTCBryan, what are your thoughts on Zen 5 from a gaming perspective? Do you think X3D chips will have a high enough performance uplift to warrant a purchase over a discounted/cheaper Zen 4 X3D if we're mostly GPU bound in 4K and certainly by a majority of titles at 1440p?
CompressedAIBlocks
2024-09-13 19:42:50 +0000 UTCWas UDNA inevitable? Did splitting their architecture into RDNA and CDNA help them in the short term and now it's a return to form?
CompressedAIBlocks
2024-09-13 19:39:49 +0000 UTCDo you know of any games that optimise specifically around AMDs multiple CCXs on certain CPUs beyond trying to keep everything on one CCX?
qhfreddy
2024-09-13 19:39:28 +0000 UTCBryan. What are your thoughts on PS5 Pro? I think it's just priced stupidly but besides that it seems smart from a design perspective.
CompressedAIBlocks
2024-09-13 19:39:01 +0000 UTCWould the Xbox console line collapsing, but the PlayStation still continuing with AMD hardware have an effect on how much games get optimised for AMD GPUs? How much cross optimisation is really done from the consoles to the PC?
qhfreddy
2024-09-13 19:38:20 +0000 UTCT&B. B&T. What are you guys expecting from FSR 4? Is AMD applying lessons learned with PSSR in it?
CompressedAIBlocks
2024-09-13 19:37:47 +0000 UTCAVX and AVX2 has steadily crept into games over the last decade, do you see AVX512 doing the same, or is the lack of a reliable implementation or some other barrier preventing it?
qhfreddy
2024-09-13 19:37:04 +0000 UTCFrom the perspective of programming games, is it noticeable when a GPU architecture is more "compute oriented" like GCN supposedly was, more gaming oriented, or trying to cater to both? Is it noticeable when there is a split between compute and gaming designs?
qhfreddy
2024-09-13 19:36:02 +0000 UTCDo you guys expect Microsoft to continue investing in Xbox HW or is it all just steering towards PC gaming and streaming?
Intel FanBoy
2024-09-13 19:25:47 +0000 UTC
