PlayStation 6 neutered in memory? Sony should consider cuts for PS6

Sony recently indicated that the memory crisis was causing the Japanese gaming giant some difficulties in planning for the PlayStation 6. Now a usually reliable source claims that Sony is considering cuts to storage.

24 GB VRAM instead of 30-32 GB?

Up to now there has always been talk that Sony wants to equip the PlayStation 6 with a full 32 gigabytes of VRAM. Given the massive pressure from storage prices driven to astronomical heights by the AI ​​boom, nothing could come of this, at least for the time being. Sony is reportedly considering reducing the planned storage capacity. Like the leaker who is considered reliable KeplerL2 in the NeoGAF forum Sony is currently examining the extent to which costs can be saved on the PS6 by limiting the VRAM configuration to just 24 gigabytes. In the current situation, Sony would probably be able to cut around $60 from its “Bill of Materials” (BoM).

Little adjustments to the basic hardware required

The BoM consists of the costs that a device manufacturer has to pay for the various individual components when purchasing and also determines how high the margin on a product ultimately is. KeplerL2 now assumes that Sony not only wants to use less VRAM, but could also provide the memory with a slower connection via a 128-bit bus in order to reduce its costs. The group would be able to achieve additional savings because simpler or less high-quality memory controllers could be installed. If less and slower memory is installed, Sony can also use controllers whose performance is not sufficient for stable operation with faster and larger memory, goes the logic.

Meanwhile, the effort required to adapt the basic hardware should be low. All Sony would have to do is deactivate one of the memory controllers in AMD’s custom APU planned for the PlayStation 6. It is possible that the memory capacity could also be increased at a later date as part of a new hardware revision if memory prices fall again during the life cycle of the PS6.