The PlayStation 5 could end up showing some 4K titles in "fake 4K" according to one commentator while another has opined that the next-gen console might be giving developers some headaches because of its AMD SmartShift technology and variable processing frequencies. The PS5 has already been under the microscope lately because of similar concerns.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/PlayStation-5-lumbered-with-displaying-some-games-in-fake-4K-and-possibly-struggling-with-SmartShift-setbacks-according-to-PS5-observers.486114.0.html
Why is this newsworthy? 'fake 4k' doesn't even mean anything - if developers go with upscaling it just means that they've determined it was better to focus on render detail over resolution - the Xbox Series X isn't going to somehow magically be able to pull off 'true 4k' with just an extra theoretical 2TF, it's always just a balancing act between visual details, frame rate and resolution and 'true 4k' is often not the right answer to that balance.
As for Smart Shift, why is this causing developers problems? It just gives them the power where they need it when they need it, it's not something they have to think about. It's a different story if they're pushing the console to its very limits but that's unlikely for several years still.
Exactly Alistair, well put, the authors here like to push controversy without facts...
Quote from: Alistair on August 14, 2020, 00:54:34As for Smart Shift, why is this causing developers problems? It just gives them the power where they need it when they need it, it's not something they have to think about.
If the computational power of the console shifts dramatically according to some opaque dynamic configuration mechanism, that is very much something the developer(s) need to think about, as it's the difference between having the power to pull-off that complex level design (or not). This is also not something they can just wait and see how it plays out in the console, as redesigning a level to work in now less powerful hardware is much more than just playing with toggles -- in the games worth playing, that is.
In short, human designers need to know beforehand what is the power available to them. From the looks of it, this dynamic mechanism is not predictable enough to make informed decisions, and that is the whole issue with it -- predictable hardware is far more important than just peak benchmark numbers. On the brighter side, it's not like dynamically scaling power is a new thing. Sony can surely fix this, but they'll likely need to sacrifice the peak numbers (i.e., those meaningless but impressive TFLOP numbers may have to go back to more realistic targets).
@Alistair this is exactly what happens this gen many games native 4k on x1x but upscaled on ps4 pro with 2 tflop difference(which depends on gpu clock, its more than likely going to be 2.8 tflop difference on average this gen) and with an improved gpu arch like rdna2 this tflop difference could be bigger than it was with x1x/ps4 pro. Difference of 12 vs 10 could be like having 6 vs 3 on GCN arch ps4 pro/x1x used.