Tesla has been shipping the Model Y equipped with the latest Hardware 4 (HW4) computer for a few months now, but hacker Green (@greentheonly) has discovered the automaker has scaled back the Model Y’s HW4 computer compared to its predecessor.
After getting his hands on another HW4 computer, this time from a Model Y, Green discovered that Tesla had downsized the RAM and storage capacity. The HW4 computer in the Model Y had 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, half of what is found in the previous generation HW3 computer (16 GB, 256 GB). As Green points out, this all but eliminates the possibility of Steam gaming coming to the Model Y, as it appears to require at least 16GB of RAM on the Model S/X.
One might speculate that Tesla’s decision to reduce the Model Y’s HW4 capabilities stemmed from cost considerations. As Green pointed out, Tesla opted for cost-effective NVMe storage units in the AMD-based systems, which could potentially compromise their longevity in the demanding automotive environment.
While the the specs may be enough when you first receive the vehicle, as time passes concerns arise about potential performance degradation due to insufficient RAM. The Model Y’s 8 GB of RAM could force users to resort to hard resets or endure lag from data swapping on the NVMe storage.
Unfortunately for Canadians, there is still no sign of HW4 in Model Y vehicles being built at Giga Shanghai. For now, only Tesla’s Fremont and Giga Texas factories are building Model Ys with HW4, and since Tesla is now shipping cars from China to Canada, we won’t be seeing HW4 until Giga Shanghai transitions their production lines.
Hm, looks like model Y hw4 infotainment side is somewhat crippled compared to hw3 units:
it has half as much RAM and half as much storage (8G and 128G respectively).
Given current requirements for steam, that crosses steam out (Even though not officially supported anyway)— green (@greentheonly) August 5, 2023
