SPU-Based Deferred Shading in BATTLEFIELD 3 for Playstation 3

[Malacite]

SPU-Based Deferred Shading in BATTLEFIELD 3 for Playstation 3


Nifty. I don't 100% understand all the techno-jargon, but it looks like DICE is seriously trying to max out the PS3 version's performance, something only a few companies have bothered to do (Naughty Dog being the prime example).


Seriously considering getting PS3 version now over 360. I have more friends on 360, but I'm sick of 360's stupid host-lag, and the general douche-bag community. >.> plus BF is one of those games that just begs for maxing out the shinies.

Sadly, I don't think my PC is nearly good enough to crank that fucker to max so I'll wait until I get my new rig (whenever that will be) to pick it up on PC.

[Etra]

Re: SPU-Based Deferred Shading in BATTLEFIELD 3 for Playstation 3

I'll definitely be picking it up for PS3. Bad enough I use an external video card for my laptop to run XIV... Don't think my laptop could handle this game in the least bit for PC, so it makes me happy to know they're trying really hard for the PS3 version.

[DieselBoy09]

Re: SPU-Based Deferred Shading in BATTLEFIELD 3 for Playstation 3

I'll definitely be picking it up for PS3. Bad enough I use an external video card for my laptop to run XIV... Don't think my laptop could handle this game in the least bit for PC, so it makes me happy to know they're trying really hard for the PS3 version.

You use an external video card? How well does it work for you?

[Etra]

Re: SPU-Based Deferred Shading in BATTLEFIELD 3 for Playstation 3

You use an external video card? How well does it work for you?

It works pretty well. Granted, I only have a PCIe 1 slot and not a PCIe 2 on my laptop (it's almost 4 years old), so the strength of the card is cut a bit. It still works wonders, though. However, if you don't travel and don't need to take your laptop around for work or something, it's better to just get a desktop. Cost me about $600 for a sizable 1080p monitor, the ViDock 2 to get the card working, and a stronger video card than what came with the ViDock. Not to mention I had to alter the way my PC boots in order to get it working. :x

[Malacite]

Re: SPU-Based Deferred Shading in BATTLEFIELD 3 for Playstation 3

Wasn't even aware you could do that with GPUs.

[DakAttack]

Re: SPU-Based Deferred Shading in BATTLEFIELD 3 for Playstation 3

External GPUs are old news, and the PS3 community is just as douchey as any other. If you're not playing a shooter on the PC you're doing it wrong.

[DanteWolfWood]

Re: SPU-Based Deferred Shading in BATTLEFIELD 3 for Playstation 3

External GPUs are old news, and the PS3 community is just as douchey as any other. If you're not playing a shooter on the PC you're doing it wrong.

Yes and no. its just they're different types of douches. I played CoD (shut up) on both and I gotta say....the ps3 community blows the 360 community out the water. How?

360= whiny 10 year old douches that can whoop your ass. And then if you start kicking ass, they all claim your cheating...

Ps3= whiny 30 year old douches who still live with mom that don't communicate or react with other people.plus most of them are dicks.

So to me ps3>360 just because I hate sure losers and kids.

Plus ps3 is more powerful!

/endtroll

:p

[Feba]

Re: SPU-Based Deferred Shading in BATTLEFIELD 3 for Playstation 3

External GPUs are old news, and the PS3 community is just as douchey as any other. If you're not playing a shooter on the PC you're doing it wrong.

You see, posters of DiV, there are some things you just have to face up to and admit. Hitler killed a lot of Jews. America unfairly interred those of Japanese descent in a complete betrayal of her founding morals. There has never been a good Sonic the Hedgehog game. We don't like to acknowledge any of these, but ultimately we understand them to be truths, immutable as any other. And Dak, for all his flaws, has no problem recognizing what a complete and total douche he is, not just in general, but in this specific moment; how incredibly douche-y his actions are, and how he can occasionally even reach the level of the seldom-seen Total Douche Nozzle. And it because Dak realizes his doucheitude that it is not only acceptable, but nearly a point of pride, a facet of his personality, so important to the core of his being that he ought be called simply by the title Douche across all lands, in perpetuity.

[DakAttack]

Re: SPU-Based Deferred Shading in BATTLEFIELD 3 for Playstation 3

And it because Dak realizes his doucheitude that it is not only acceptable, but nearly a point of pride, a facet of his personality, so important to the core of his being that he ought be called simply by the title Douche across all lands, in perpetuity.

Make it so.

Yes and no. its just they're different types of douches. I played CoD (shut up) on both and I gotta say....the ps3 community blows the 360 community out the water. How?

Because they hacked the shit out of Black Ops? I don't know if that says more about the community or the fact that Sony doesn't care what goes down on the PSN.

Plus ps3 is more powerful!

/endtroll

:p

It isn't any more powerful than it is complex. You aren't seeing anybody use it to its fullest extent because of this, and Sony doesn't provide much support. Not only that, but one of its cores is disabled and it has half the memory of the Xbox 360. Most games on it look like garbage.

[Malacite]

Re: SPU-Based Deferred Shading in BATTLEFIELD 3 for Playstation 3

It isn't any more powerful than it is complex. You aren't seeing anybody use it to its fullest extent because of this, and Sony doesn't provide much support. Not only that, but one of its cores is disabled and it has half the memory of the Xbox 360. Most games on it look like garbage.

Wrong, wrong, and oh yeah WRONG. The so-called 'disabled" SPe is the dedicated one that's always devoted to the OS/Security. The other 6 can be used for anything, and we've only really started seeing this since Uncharted 2 - that's why that game looks so freaking amazing, and why PS3 can make games 360 just can't (along with Blu Ray that is). 360 has the more powerful GPU, but Cell's unique architecture allows it to work around it's limitations and actually out-muscle the 360, despite the Xenon having twice as many pipelines (which is why textures are often smoother on 360 versions of multi-platform games). As for the memory, again 360 has constant access to the 512 MB, minus the OS usage etc. etc. while PS3 has two sets of 256 - one for Cell and one for RSX.

This means PS3's memory is technically slower due to it being split, resulting in higher FPS on 360, but Cell can also use all of the 512 via the SPE's to multi-task, effectively getting rid of bottlenecks that might otherwise hinder the 360 (too many NPCs on screen etc).


Naughty Dog, SEGA & Insomniac say hi btw.

[DakAttack]

Re: SPU-Based Deferred Shading in BATTLEFIELD 3 for Playstation 3

The cell processor ships with 8 SPE's, of which one is disabled and another reserved for OS function. On the other hand, the Xenon processor in the Xbox 360 is simply a double-threaded, triple core processor running at 3.2GHz. Which is more complex?

Overall, the Xbox 360 actually has 522MB of RAM, which is a negligible difference. The real difference is in how much space each console has to store the game's assets. The PS3 isn't going to use memory from the GPU to store assets, leaving it with only 256MB alongside the CPU. This means fewer, smaller textures and models, which equates to a lower resolution, less detailed game world. It also means about twice as many OOM crashes.

Beyond tech specs, I work with both the PS3 and Xbox 360 for a living. I've seen what they can do, and while the Xbox 360 significantly outshines the PS3, a PC can still blow both of them out of the water. The Xbox vs Playstation argument is moot when you take a look at the bigger picture.

[Malacite]

Re: SPU-Based Deferred Shading in BATTLEFIELD 3 for Playstation 3

The cell processor ships with 8 SPE's

Wrong again.

It has 1 PPE and 7 SPE's, with 1 SPE reserved for redundancy (OS & Security) leaving developers 6 SPE's to work with.

[DakAttack]

Re: SPU-Based Deferred Shading in BATTLEFIELD 3 for Playstation 3

That video says exactly what I've been saying. Thanks.

[Etra]

Re: SPU-Based Deferred Shading in BATTLEFIELD 3 for Playstation 3

External GPUs are old news.

No one said they were new?

And I'll still be buying it for the PS3. /shrug

[Icemage]

Re: SPU-Based Deferred Shading in BATTLEFIELD 3 for Playstation 3

The cell processor ships with 8 SPE's, of which one is disabled and another reserved for OS function. On the other hand, the Xenon processor in the Xbox 360 is simply a double-threaded, triple core processor running at 3.2GHz. Which is more complex?

A few years ago, that would be a valid question. With the compilers that are now available on either platform? I don't know that it's that different in terms of complexity if you're coding close to the metal. There are philosophical differences in how you approach threading with either one, but I don't really think asynchronous multi-threading on the Xbox 360 is any less complex than asynchronous multi-threading on PS3.

Overall, the Xbox 360 actually has 522MB of RAM, which is a negligible difference. The real difference is in how much space each console has to store the game's assets. The PS3 isn't going to use memory from the GPU to store assets, leaving it with only 256MB alongside the CPU. This means fewer, smaller textures and models, which equates to a lower resolution, less detailed game world. It also means about twice as many OOM crashes.

Eh? Most texture and 3D model data is held in video ram, so I'm not really sure where you're going with this argument. Fewer, smaller textures and models? Not really. Lower resolution? Also not really. Less detailed game world? Definitely not really.

Find me an Xbox 360 game that renders as much environment as Uncharted 2: Among Thieves on PS3, or renders as many real-time objects as Super Stardust HD, and I might concede your point. As for resolution, there are noticeably more games that render in true 1080p on the PS3 than on the Xbox 360, so again, I have no idea where you're getting that idea from either.

You only get out-of-memory crashes when you aren't managing your memory assets properly, and that can happen just as easily on the Xbox 360 as it can on the PS3 because of the (overall) relatively small amounts of memory resources available overall compared to the expected complexity of graphic output.

Beyond tech specs, I work with both the PS3 and Xbox 360 for a living. I've seen what they can do, and while the Xbox 360 significantly outshines the PS3, a PC can still blow both of them out of the water. The Xbox vs Playstation argument is moot when you take a look at the bigger picture.

It's really not pertinent to talk about current PCs versus 5 year old consoles. We know modern PCs can crush any console; even when first released the Xbox 360 and PS3 weren't equivalent to bleeding edge PCs.

As for your PS3 vs. Xbox 360 comparison argument, again, reality disputes your claim. There are no significant differences in most multiplatform games today, and now that the PS3 compilers are more intelligent the last few years, there are just as many games that outperform on PS3 than Xbox 360. For every Bayonetta (360 advantage), there's a Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (superior on PS3).

At any rate, PC is definitely the best platform to get Battlefield 3 on if you want all the bells and whistles. Some of the advances DICE has made on their volumetric fog and destructible environments is nothing short of jaw-dropping.


Icemage