The PS4 will have 8GB of RAM to use on the system, but Sony has clarified that only 5GB of this will be available to developers to use with games. Of the 5GB available, 4.5GB will be “Direct Memory” and 512MB will be “Flexible Memory”, managed by the PS4 OS on the game’s behalf, but 100% available to the game.
The clarification was issue by Sony to Eurogamer. The actual true distinction is:
- “Direct Memory” is memory allocated under the traditional video game model, so the game controls all aspects of its allocation
- “Flexible Memory” is memory managed by the PS4 OS on the game’s behalf, and allows games to use some very nice FreeBSD virtual memory functionality. However this memory is 100 per cent the game’s memory, and is never used by the OS, and as it is the game’s memory it should be easy for every developer to use it.
With regards to the amount of memory consumed by the OS, Sony made it’s usual “no comment” reply. “We have no comment to make on the amount of memory reserved by the system or what it is used for,” says Sony.