Here’s what a chip expert says about the PlayStation 4′s potential

GamesBeat story on spec wars start for the PS4: Here's what a chip expert say about its potential performance.

[LackTrue4K]

lol....regardless, Sony still keep its word with MS

"Will let Microsoft show there console first!!!"

P.S. Thanks Nimblest-Assassin, you just ruin my comment....
lol.....i was in search of some quick bubbles.

[Nimblest-Assassin]

exact quote

"Why go first, when your competitors can look at your specifications and come up with something better?"

So essentially they showed specs... not the physical representation of it

[GameNameFame]

Now sony make their move with much stronger spec compared to leaked Xbox spec.

article says mid to high range PC. Sounds good to me... with optimization, should be even better.

[Army_of_Darkness]

That the PC gamers will be having a lot less exclusives now lol! and even less to be bragging about;-)

[IcicleTrepan]

@GameNameFame

MS had the idiot arrested most likely because he sold equipment that physically belonged to MS aka the dev kit. That's theft. The NDA he would have signed would have stated that he didn't actually own the gear. Not because he spilled the beans, that would be a civil lawsuit.

[nukeitall]

@Army_of_Darkness:

"That the PC gamers will be having a lot less exclusives now lol! and even less to be bragging about;-)"

I have a feeling it will be completely opposite now. It is way easier to port to consoles from PC.

This makes it way easier for Steam to gain foothold as it allows developers to use the PC to it's max while easily bring it to consoles.

[Mounce]

So that means Sony has the chance to make a SEXIER looking shell of a console to hold those specs! If Microsoft shows something ugly or Xbox 360-similar. Sony will be like...LOOK AT THIS NEW FINGERPRINT BEAST! It's Sexy as FUCK.

and it sparkles...

Instant purchases everywhere.

[darthv72]

both companies (MS & Sony) would take different directions this time around. No doubt 360 and PS3 were more alike than different, it seems plausible that the PS4 and 720 will follow in the same footsteps.

The tech (rumored) for 720 seems very similar again. Maybe they have spies on both sides but an interesting bit of info I came away from the Sony event with was their decision to move away from their "own" ideas and go with something more common.

For the last 3 consoles, Sony had their own direction for the chips and specs that made their platforms different. Maybe difficult to program for (from a 3rd party POV) but we know the inhouse 1st and 2nd parties get all the good working knowledge of the systems.

MS made the 1st xbox basically a PC in a box. that was easy to develop for. They followed up with the 360 which was also easier to develop for even though it was more customized this time around. So now the idea of them making a 3rd system that would continue that trend 'most likely' is what led to Sony adopting a similar approach.

I guess, if you think about it, MS wasnt all that bad for gaming. They essentially helped sony to push the envelope and make a system that is more developer friendly. Now we just need to wait and see if MS follows along that same path OR if THEY decide to go a different route and make their system more complex.

A sort of role reversal if you wish. In the end, both look to be evolving their platforms along the usual routine. Nothing "revolutionary" but "evolutionary" with bigger, better, faster.

It may be a little while before we get another revolutionary moment in gaming. Like going from carts to CD/DVD or going from traditional buttons to full interactivity. Perhaps the next moment will be in home VR or holodeck type stuff.

I mean, we can only push the envelope of gaming on a screen so far before it ends up moving off the screen and completely surrounds you.

[SonyPS360]

So now everyone is pretending that how it looks is more important than the specs.

[g2gshow]

Microsoft is much to arrogant but they better take notice cause if they don't match the ps4 in power an think the Kinect is going to save them it better be better then just good it better be a miracle. I also see sony racking up more exclusives live dose not have the upper hand in the online space anymore.Sony is stick to the hardcore ms is chasing the dollar you only as good as you last system sony learnt that this gen now it Microsoft turn to be reminded who run's the industry THE F#@ing GAMERS

[ProjectVulcan]

Ports to PC will probably be the easiest they have ever been in the history of console generations.

X86 code for one example will just port over in a flash, and run better instantaneously on modern desktop PC CPUs. Not least of all because the devs will have to split their code to quite a lot of threads for these consoles, which will be perfect for the AMD FX series or the hyperthreaded Intel quads. Going into the future as PC hits 12+ threads in the mainstream it'll be a boon.

CPU optimisation for PC will improve vastly, which was one of the problems some games have had on the platform- mainly because previous consoles are completely different RISC based in order execution chips.

PS4 will be very good and positive for PC gamers.

[GameNameFame]

that SuperDAE leaked spec.

Not sure what you are trying to say.... MS got pissed at SuperDAE and just took different avenue to take him down.

[Lior]

Can everyone shut up about ps4 and see the new nvidia TITAN that's being released today for 1000 dollars

[I_am_Batman]

No?

[Cryptcuzz]

Most lame comment I read all day and trust me I saw a lot.

[slayorofgods]

I'm a PC gamer and I'm more excited about the PS4 release honestly.

I fully understand the power of the Titan and also how it wont be tapped into because no one (that has responsibilities) wants to shell out 1000 on a gpu.

The PS4 can run all games currently out on ultra from a pc and gaming perspective. I'm actually surprised that the PS4 stacks up as well as it does on the budget a home console has to work on.

[ziggurcat]

pc fanboys gotta try and steal any thunder that they can, i guess...

[HammadTheBeast]

Eff dat.

PS4 made entirely for gaming should be able to do around a $700 PC quality, with great quality and games. Also, Diablo coming to PS3/4 PC fanboys.

[Ser]

Nope, sorry. The PS4 is bigger news for me.

They can keep their $1000 gpu. Wake me when it's affordable.

[stage88]

.

[neogeo]

whats the cards name?

[Daves]

GTX Titan

[leogets]

no game is worth that much money to be spent on.. rediculous. nearly there with full retard

[Bigpappy]

Sony is calling out M$. They are like: Where is our hand so far, 3 Aces, do you still want to play?... We do still have 2 more cards to play.

[juandren]

More like Sony's hang is a 10, J, Q and K of the same suite. Wait for E3 and we'll see the Ace ;)

[UnholyLight]

Dont count Microsoft out yet! I was surprised that Sony unveiled so much, it was some of what I expected, and some of what I didn't (ex/ David Cage showing what the PS4 will be capable of). I expect the Xbox will have it's own bag of tricks!

Personally, both consoles are going to be INSANE. This is the first time I have been this excited about a Sony/Playstation product and is a must buy for me now. No more missing out on Killzone and such!

[Brian1rr]

Thank god they didnt disappoint now I want to know price and sign me up for 2

[ironmonkey]

Well ms what the hell do you do now? You cant match it you have to do better. Im not looking to buy both this time.

[air1]

Same here

[madpuppy]

I was an early adopter for the 360 and I am not going to make that mistake this time, It is the PS4's turn for me to stand outside of gamestop at 11:55pm to get my PS4 preorder.

I will wait and see if What MS releases is "reliable" and if they have any exclusives to make their console worth getting, if it is a little more powerful, I don't care, reliability and exclusive content are a priority and what will define which is a better console.

[Jek_Porkins]

Lets hope Microsoft comes out with similar specs, my hope is fanboys on both sides wont have the "power" argument.

In all honesty though, the first Xbox was the most powerful console and it was rarely taken advantage of, most third party games were made on PS2 hardware and ported.

The PS3 was the more powerful console and was rarely taken advantage of, most third parties games were made on 360 dev kits and ported to PS3.

So it's kind of a double edged sword, developers wont make two different games, they will make it on the less powerful unit and port it to the others, which is why similar specs are kind of important.

We haven't heard anything from Microsoft, rumors were 12-16 gigs of memory, so hopefully they work it out.

If they decide to do an announcement for the Xbox 720, here's hoping they actually show the console off, and if the next Xbox is backwards compatible with physical disk....game on...game on.

[mandf]

Can you link an article about 12-16gig? I call bs.

[adorie]

the 12-16 gigs are probably Durango Dev Kits.

[Jek_Porkins]

They usually double the specs for dev kits, so we heard 16 core and 15 gigs, I'd count on at least 8-10 cores and at least 8 gigs on memory.

[TemplarDante]

8GBDDR5....
After all the msft fanboys hoped the "rumors" of
4Gb of ram
2GB of ram
4GB of ram ...
NOTHING prepared me for 8GB GDDR5!

[dcbronco]

I sure that was more DDR5 RAM than anyone expected.

[nypifisel]

The important and interesting fact about the memory is that it's GDDR5, that is way fast, it doesn't matter if nextbox got 16GBs of RAM if it's only DDR3 it'll get its ass handed to it. I am truly impressed with the memory capabilities of the PS4, I got a 1500$ computer but not even that can match the memory speeds in the PS4 (though obviously I got a better CPU and GPU but still, impressive)

[wsoutlaw87]

Ya not only did they use faster memory than theyll most likely need for a while but they also have more of it. Sony will not regret not putting enough ram in it this time, thats for sure.

[chukamachine]

True, was expecting 4gb. knew it would not be 2gb. but 8 was a nice surprise.

@landog, are you kidding me.

lol. The witcher 3 is already a PS4 title.

http://www.computerandvideo...

Go watch the killzone demo again in hd. It's early code. But that is 100% realtime.

[RememberThe357]

"After all, modern-day game consoles pack the technology of recent supercomputers into an affordable and attractive box for the living room. As such, they are among the highest technological achievements that engineers can create."

LOL pissing off the PC guys right out of the gate.

[jmc8888]

Or lying to it's potential customers and playing off their potential ignorance.

Hey I love me some playstation, but the fact remains that is a flat out lie.

It's got the power of a GTX 580 or GTX 660.

8gb's of GDDR5 is overkill for current games, that GPU can only properly use about 2GB's of it, probably 2 for OS, the other 4????? Maybe for late cycle games to load more into it to as a band-aid for weakening power in 2017.

So just remember that, it's 8GB's of GDDR5 that has a GPU that can only utilize about 2 GB's, maybe a little more, fully.

A CPU that is 8 cores, but runs at 1.6ghz so that it effectively is less powerful than an i7 920 midrange CPU from 2008 that only had 4 cores.

The system will put out good games a notch or two below PC games at launch. So still good looking games at 1080p. But to say it's highest technological achievements is like stating to the world your junk is 14 inches long and bigger than Dirk Diggler.

[RememberThe357]

I don't think you actually understood what he was saying. He was saying that consoles need to be elegantly designed because they need to be so cost effective. Being able to design a console and chip set that is powerful enough to give developers what they want and also save the manufacturer money is a big deal and a hard thing to accomplish.

Your comment about the RAM makes sense but you seem to think you know more than you do. Take a breath and realize that your not the PS4 engineer, you don't really know whats in this system and understand that Sony wouldn't put in 8gb of RAM if the system couldn't use it. The GPU is a custom chip, if I'm not mistaken, so I assume that it's been modified to work with this specific systems specs.

Anyway we'll see whats what when these games launch. And in the end, I think we'll both be having fun.

[Daves]

As somebody who works in audio for games I'd like to point out that I'd like a reasonable chunk of that memory. (I'm ecstatic really!)

It's not just the GPU that's going to use the memory.

[BLow]

@JMC

Are you a developer? I will put money on it that developers will put all that memory to good use. Every generation, what do we hear from developers? We want more memory. We'll Sony said here you go and have fun. As as so called PC gamer, why would you be against more memory. I'm lost because that one of the many points you guys bring up when taking about your superior PC gaming rig. I'm I the only one who is confused by this guy and other like him. Oh boy.....

[Rivitur]

Steambox *cough*

[IK IR Y IP T]

That's a shame that the PS3 was suppose to be a 10 year console and they came out after the Xbox and now the Ps4 is coming out before the next Xbox believe Sony is sweating Microsoft if Sony doesn't get it right this time the play station brand will be dead just like the 200 million dollar office building Sony just sold in New York,so stop talking shit and start talking with your wallets and help Sony out and by the way,by time the Ps4 comes out it will be no better then a low-mid range Pc deal with it that's the facts re-guardless if u like it or not and yes I own all the systems so im not a Xbox fanboy but I was a fool who spent $600 at launch for a paper weight !!

[cyclindk]

... Dont think most gaming PC s (let alone low to mid range) will tout any instant on and suspend characteristics... Or any of the other SIMPlICITY features and seamless interaction, but thats just my opinion.

[jmc8888]

PC's have had suspend function on the OS for probably a decade or more. That's basically the same as they are saying. You can put it on a 'low power' mode. That's what they said. Like a PC sleep mode.

Steam has automatic updates of games, and is quite easy to have other things update automatically. Upload to youtube and stuff, which is a PC website. I mean when people post stuff to the internet, it's the PC market they're talking about.

I mean don't get me wrong, every feature adds something, but lets not pretend we can build a Taj Mahal with match sticks.

[mav805]

PS2 just recently went out of production. Just because the PS4 is being released doesn't mean that the PS3 will stop being made so it's entirely probable that it will continue to be produced for a few more years yet.

It's unrealistic to have ever thought that Sony really expected a single console to last 10 years without a new one being released.

[Pieman523]

Nice breakdown of the specs. Good read.

[izumo_lee]

Sony has always since their inception been a high quality HARDWARE maker & the news of the PS4 proves that they have not budged one inch on that matter.

With Gaikai they now have the software that Microsoft clearly had the advantage in the OS department. Clearly Sony is banking on the PS4 to be the catalyst to their rise from the ashes & become a Phoenix leading the industry once again.

[jmc8888]

Sort of. They build most of their stuff in China, so it's actually the Chinese now making their stuff.

Though when it comes to gaming, they are mostly assemblers and logistics. Sony doesn't fab the GPU's, CPU's, etc, etc. They merely have a 16-25 year old Chinese guy making 30 cents an hour assemble it. (much like everyone else these days)

Though I agree it will be the strongest console, and will lead console gaming forward, but overall gaming is much more than console...with PC's and the much smaller but still there mobile/tablet market.

But the consoles specs are a lot lower than this time last generation. If this was last generation we're getting a 30-40 percent PS3 power instead of what we got at 100 percent power. The PS4 would literally have to more than double it's power to be comparable to where the PS3 was when it launched. So yes, there is concern.

[josephayal]

It’s very comparable to a high-end gaming PC Krewell said, CONFIRMED The PS4 is a High end 2014 Gaming PC

[aquamala]

no it's a midrange gaming PC today. the CPU & GPU are nowhere near high end.

[Saleem101]

Ps4 is mid to high pc setting, pc has low, med, high, very high and ultra but its not going matter because pc graphics will get better consoles held the pc back most games are on console...

[landog]

a single gtx 680 has more processing power than the entire ps4

that said, the ps4 will still produce amazing visuals, certainly better than the sub-hd, jaggie riddles, 20 frame per second games currently on ps3/360

but i am 100% sure the ps4 will NOT be able to produce visuals like this;

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

it came out on pc 2 years ago

[BlackTar187]

i disgaree

[Felonycarclub8]

Can't pc guys and console guys get along, I think this next gen is going to be better for pc and consoles regarding games, there will be alot more multiplatform games and pc games won't get shafted because consoles are alot closer than before in performance. Don't know if I make sense?

[Saleem101]

8 gigs ddr3 vs 8 gigs gddr5 ram is a giant difference sony has Microsoft beat badly if those leaks turn out true about xbox its over.....

[Armyntt]

I apologize in advance for my ignorance in this topic. My question is, cant MS just change their specs now? I mean i understand the dev kits are out there. Whats stopping MS from grabbing a DDR5 as well with 8 gigs of RAM just to match? Im sure most of the third party devs have Sony's dev kits and MS could basically just say fuk it we have similar specs just port some stuff over.

[BlackTar187]

there is alot of behind the scenes changing you have to do to make it possible. its not as simple as plug and play

[Armyntt]

I just cant see one company being blown away with specs in todays world. MS will imo try to atleast be competitive in terms of specs. If their specs arent up to par and their graphics cant be equal in terms of atleast multiplats then the console will be DOA. MS is smarter than that.

[sjaakiejj]

They'd have to change their entire architecture to go from DDR3 to GDDR5 - it'd take years before they could release the new Xbox if they changed it to match what Ps4 has.

Instead, they'll have to stick with what they have. They may double the RAM, but aside from that there's not much they can change anymore at this point.

[leemo19]

AMD put this out to give a little better understanding of the gpu and cpu

http://blogs.amd.com/fusion...