PS4′s 7th CPU Core Appears to have Been Unlocked in Recent SDK Update

It appears that Sony may have unlocked the 7th core of the PS4′s octa-core CPU in a recent SDK update. Since the console’s launch, there have been several reports from game developers that discuss the limited access to its CPU. Based on these earlier reports, developers could only access 6 of the 8 CPU cores, with the other 2 being dedicated to handling the PS4′s operating system.

http://i.imgur.com/HFiffHe.jpg

According to the studio API patch revision history of FMOD, a popular audio gaming middleware, the low level API has recently been updated to become aware of a 7th CPU core thread that is now accessible to it. The availability of an additional CPU core to developers is bound to improve the PS4′s performance in CPU-intensive instances, provided that they aren’t limited by sequential performance. Smaller tasks such as audio and compression may also be offloaded to the 7th core.

http://i.imgur.com/sRVn2Dk.png

FMOD received a similar update back in January, when Microsoft made the 7th core of the Xbox One’s CPU accessible to developers.

http://i.imgur.com/D1Bl7Oq.png

While Microsoft has been open about the Xbox One’s SKD updates, Sony is generally quiet on the matter with respect to the PS4. News of improvements to the PS4′s SDK usually surfaces through developer presentations or middleware API revisions, such as FMOD in this case.