Memory has always been a topic of much interest for game developers. It seems that they can’t have enough memory and regardless of how much the hardware manufacturer provides, they always seem to run out of it at some point. With the current gen consoles already set for another 5-7 years, judging by their sales figures, is 8GB really enough to satisfy every developer’s requirements out there?
Both the PS4 and Xbox One feature 8GB memory which by today’s PC gaming standards is a bit below. More and modern PC game require a recommended 16GB memory. Dan Walters, Director of Calvino Noir believes that no memory is fast enough and in the end, all of that memory is not even utilized when a single frame is rendered.
“From a graphics programmer stand point, something important to remember is that you can’t read 16GB of memory per frame – no memory is fast enough,” Dan said to GamingBolt in a interview that was conducted recently. “It is unlikely you will get close to using all of that 8GB in a single frame, so this is actually more than enough.”
Few PC games such as Dying Light recommend 16 memory but Dan believes they are a waste in the end. “If a PC game needs 16GB, I would suggest they are wasteful and have a lot of stuff in memory that could just be streamed, and is rarely being used.”
Given that developers have limited frame time [16.6 ms for 60fps and 33.3 ms for 30 fps], utilizing all that amount of memory in a single frame means that a lot has to happen in that time. Obviously, the amount of stuff that is being rendered is dependent from scene to scene but in my opinion 16GB is still overkill.
But what are your thoughts on this? Do you think 16 GB of memory is a waste or will it become a norm in the future? Let us know in the comments section below. On a side note, you must check out our full interview on Calvino Noir. You can read it over here.
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