Recent PlayStation 4 SDK Update Unlocks 7th CPU Core For Gaming Purposes

The PlayStation 4 is evidently winning the current console market and outselling Microsoft’s Xbox One at around a two to one ratio. Part of its appeal is the better performance in multi-platform releases and enhanced power to reach 1080p. Technically, both consoles utilize a custom 28nm Jaguar 8-core APU from AMD. Although, up to this point, the PlayStation 4 offset two cores to make the operating system run smooth and create a pleasant user-experience. Not so long ago, Microsoft overclocked the Xbox One’s GPU core clock from 800MHz to 853MHz. to try to improve graphical performance.

According to a changelog from audio software, FMOD, Sony has now unlocked the 7th core to improve performance in games. The change log reads:

Code:

“Firelight Technologies FMOD Studio API

Detailed Revision History
17/11/15 1.07.03 – Studio API patch release (build 69975)

Features:

LowLevel API – When using System::recordStart the provided FMOD::Sound can now be any channel count, up/down mixing will be performed as necessary.
LowLevel API – Improved performance of convolution reverb effect when wet is 0 or input goes idle.
LowLevel API – PS4 – Added FMOD_THREAD_CORE6 to allow access to the newly unlocked 7th core.”

Theoretically, this could be used to power the PlayStation 4’s upcoming PS2 backwards compatibility or simply enhance performance on PlayStation 4 titles. Sony have managed to optimize the operating system and reduce overheads. This means there’s no longer a 2-core requirement to power the OS. Despite this, it’s unclear how the extra core will be used and if it will make a tangible difference.