Unreal Engine 4 - Not As Impressive On PS4 As On PC, Comparison Between Elemental PC & PS4 Demos

DSOGaming writes: "Yesterday, Epic Games unveiled Unreal Engine 4 running on PS4. It was amazing witnessing such an engine running on Sony's next-generation platform but something felt off. Something felt different from what we remember seeing on the PC. And it appears we're right as both NeoGAF and Reddit users have been spotting various differences between these two versions of the Elemental Tech Demo. Fact is that Elemental on PC looked more impressive and more beautiful than its console counterpart. But let's take a look on a comparison between these two versions, shall we?"

[1upgamer99]

Sheesh it is a new platform. Give em time to work with the PS4 for a while. Just like Wii U. (not that Wii U has PS4's power) Still looks great!

[Root]

I know imagine how long they probably spent on that tec demo for the UE4 when they did the PC version. They probably made it look the best it could

[PLASTICA-MAN]

Useless article, Mark Rein himself explained it:

http://beyond3d.com/showpos...

[LocutusEstBorg]

The GPU in the PS4 is not even capable of running a current gen game like Battlefield 3 at 1920x1080 at 60fps with maxed out graphics like the PC version.

[Statix]

The PS4 version looks better (in some ways):

Another Comparison: http://img29.imageshack.us/...

While the PC version holds a commanding lead in particle count, I would argue the PS4 version looks better overall by virtue of more sophisticated lighting and shaders. There are additional light sources, and better, more defined specularity on the Hell Knight's armor.

[Statix]

Judging by the number of disagree votes I received (without any actual rebuttals of technical merit), I'd conclude that either a) the image didn't load for most people, or b) people tend to see what they want to see.

[Link079]

Basically the pc version looks Nextgen as the ps4 looks just ok in my eyes just wait for Retro Studio's/Nintendo's new GameEngine it will look better than this because its an Engine built solely for wiiu's strengths rather than a 3rd party GameEngine like UE that trys to be scalable on all platforms makes it a hit and miss Engine in my eyes,i think exclusive Engines are the way forward and at E3 your going to see graphics blow this ps4 away.

look the ps4 has more ram than wiiu,but it has less gpu bandwidth by quite alot,also there is about 40% of the gpgpu in wiiu that we know nothing about,plus besides the wiiu SRAM,EDRAM that we know of there is some more EDRAM in that gpgpu google it the gpgpu in wiiu can perform better i think,it's not as powerful but performance wise its more capable because of its memory intensive design.

[joab777]

You are right about one thing, exclusives are the way to go and like nintendo, sony has invested heavily in 1st party software. Now, u may be right, but i fear that nintendo may have a hard time keeping up with third party titles. I do hope i am wrong. I love nintendo but i think they missed a great opportunity to get the jump, especially at their price point. And did anyone see capcom's game? I know that ultra settings on pc would look better but thats like visiting the United States and staying at bill gates house and thinking " damn americans are rich". Maybe its a bad analogy but the reason that games are not built for beastly rigs is because mkst gamers dont have them. And it affects the games created etc. That, and piracy. So, knowing that the majority of great games are gonna be built for the median, i am happy with the ps4 and its showing. Hell, look at what naughty dog has done with the last of us at the end of this cycle. Wait until engines are built for the ps4 and the 720... And the wiiU (though i do think it will meet its match much earlier) love the controller though

[joab777]

Did someone actually sit down and compare a tech demo run on ultra high pc settings(which i gather it was built on) and compare it to a console that has lower tech specs and hasnt come out yet?

Believe me, i have considered a switch to pc gaming with upcoming gen because of the simple fact that the economy is down, companies cant charge a ton for consoles and the exponential rate at which tech is releasing on pcs, it seems as though consoles will never be able to keep up. So, why not trade in my ps3 and 360 and get a great gaming rig?

This is what i have determined. First, i am 35 and work 50 hrs a week. And with the average gamer being 31, many r probably like me. I dont have as much time to play every great game that comes out. Also, all my friends play console. Yes, i could probably get a few of us to switch over but i have other reasons, as they would. It is expensive, initially. I would not buy a rig that was as good as a ps4 or slightly better. It would have to be worth my time. I love big screens too, so i would have to spend at least 12-1500 to be satisfied, probably more. I am not a big fan of the keyboard and mouse either. Playing an fps game feels very odd almost like cheating to me (i know its not...dont get mad). On top of the initial price, my obsessive nature would force me to go better whenever a better card came out etc. I mean, if i am gonna play the best gaming has to offer, i am not gonna skimp. Then, there is software. Its no secret that it is driven by consoles and that most games dont get made for pc or are ported. So, in order to play many of the games that i love, i will ultimately give in and buy a ps4...so whats the point? I mentioned i love big screens. I also love my recliner and relaxing.

There are other reasons but, if at the outset of a new generation the burning eyes and slightly worse lighting are the only difference between the ultra settings on todays best rigs and the ps4, i will stick with the ps4 and the great games it is sure to produce. I may change my mind. If i were rich, i would simply buy everything i wanted and enjoy it all, but i am not and at this juncture the ps4 and /or 720 seem to be the better value for me.

[DaThreats]

Have them show off the same trailer in 6 years and see if the graphics will look alot better for the PS4 version. It will.

[1upgamer99]

Hey if you are a PC gamer, have at it... I have a high end PC, but still prefer consoles for games. A consoles PRIMARY concern is running games, Without WINDOWS in the background. Oh gosh edit...Perhaps 720 WILL have windows running in the background...In fact perhaps Microsoft should just stick to computers.

[Link079]

PS4 graphics looked crap SORRY FANBOYS,not impressive 1 bit,if this is UE4 on the so called most powerful nextgen console who needs UE4 its optimised to look outstanding on 2x gtx680 or what ever the best results from a console are game engines built exclusively leveraging every last drop of power from that particular console rather than these Engines that try to be powerful on all different consoles ? lets wait for Retro Studio's exclusive GameEngine on wiiu then compare that to this and you playstation fans will be upset.

[tubers]

In 6 years.. there'd be at least 7 Generations of videocards with at least +30% performance per succession.

Every refresh usually 8-12 mo. the PC will have new GPUs and the PS4 won't.

6 years from now high end PCs will do native 4K+AA @ 120 FPS easily with flagship graphics.

PS4 won't.

If higher end PCs today have comparable graphics with what the PS4 has shown and even able to output x3 1080p @ higher framerates, you'll see why some aren't as impressed.

[extermin8or]

How much did the PC running the tech demo cost- enough said; and was it running say windows in the background like most peoples pc's will be...

[Firefwy]

Elemental, Agni's Philosophy, Samaritan, etc. were all reported to be running on a single nVidia GTX 680, using various amounts of DDR3 RAM, rendering 60 frames-per-second at 1920x1080 resolution.

The fact that all were running a Windows OS (probably using a clean boot) in the background should further illustrate the power gap between PC and consoles for those who are not tech-savvy.

[sobekflakmonkey]

I have a EVGA GTX680 FTW+ 4gb version...cost me $600, in total my whole PC cost me $1700...and I only have 8gbs of ram, also I highly doubt my $1700 custom built PC could run agnis philosophy....consoles...which perform extremely well when it comes to what they're meant to do, only cost $399-$499...you get a heck of a lot more bang for you're buck when you invest in consoles, you get steady performance, and you don't have to fuck around with them either.

[extermin8or]

sobekflakmonkey thank you :p and @Firefwy-the pcs they use for the tech demo's likely have the bare minimum installed on them and haven't been used for anythingelse I doubt you can compare them to one that actually get's used in someones home for various games and the internet etc...

[-Falaut-]

That is some low shit john2, straight up. PC gamers continue to amaze me today, just as much as they did in early 2000s when I got out of the scene.

[BrianG]

Was the tech demo optimized for the PS4 hardware?

You simply can not compare PC parts to Console parts, it does not work that way.

You buy an 8 core CPU on PC, how many cores are used for gaming? 2, 4 tops.

That same CPU in the PS4 will utilize 8 cores. So an 8 core CPU on a console is BETTER than the same CPU in a PC. The same argument goes for the GPU. Can a 8800GT run God of War 3 like it is on the PS3? Doubt it.

[Link079]

Clap clap the ps4 ue4 demo still looked PANTS.

[BrianG]

PANTS? I haven't heard that one yet, not sure if it's a good thing or bad thing haha.

[ninjahunter]

Try to keep an open mind when reading this, im not bashing the PS4, i am clarifying misconceptions.

This article is relatively void, the PC version of this demo is from 8 months ago and the engine has been in development the entire time. Also, the optimization argument is also void since the PS4's architecture is almost completely standard PC based, the PS4 version would be nearly identically optimized as the PC version.

The Cpu in the PS4 is AMD APU based, estimated at 1.6ghz. This is a low voltage, budget cpu architecture. It competes with High end i3 intel CPU's and mid range i5 processors.

Quad core support in PC gaming became standardized in mid 2007, and has been fully supported ever since in fact, Almost every game released since then will take advantage of even an 8 core i7 processor, however these processors are so vastly powerful that even modern juggernaughts like crysis 3 will not even tap out a mid range i7 CPU.

Also, an 8800gt matched with a good CPU is capable of running the witcher 2 on high settings at 720p at a very solid 30fps. The witcher 2 is widely considered one of the most technically impressive games to date.

Also the only edge an 8 core PS4 CPU would have over an identical 8 core PC CPU is that the developers could code more specific multithreading methods, which are known to reduce stuttering and reduce load times, however do not affect the output potential of the CPU.

[sobekflakmonkey]

I personally do not think the Witcher 2 is a technically impressive game...I own it...I have it on PC and I can max it out in 1080p...it's not that great looking, and nothing about it is impressive really...I feel like PC gamers should stop saying that game looks amazing...thats the only reason I bought it, and I was really disappointed...

[BrianG]

This is what I'm talking about,

"Almost every game released since then will take advantage of even an 8 core i7 processor"

There is no 8 core i7 CPU.......

[aliengmr]

@sobekflakmonkey

Wrong.

[Riderz1337]

It looked awesome on the PS4 to me!

[Soldierone]

Didn't take long for PC people to get all annoying about the PS4.... I really (truly) do hope your 1000 dollar computer has games look better than a 400 dollar consoles. You don't need to point it out to me, or anyone else.

[Bladesfist]

Well I was told that ps4 games (killzone) were not capable on a PC on this site. I think we can agree both groups can be easily as annoying / stupid.

[Soldierone]

Technically speaking they cant :P Sony owns them and they are built for the PS4. haha

I'm personally just tired of PC people constantly nagging about how great their high end machines are. I do not care, you spent more money, of course it will be better. If not then you did something wrong lol

[DivineAssault]

just wait til devs optimize the games for the ps4 specific hardware.. This tech demo is like a crappy port just slapped together to show it works.. lol the things people come up with is hilarious.. a 5-10 sec video of a tech demo is not showcasing the limits.. Look at the damn specs in PS4 compared to the specs used to run the demo on PC lol

[_-EDMIX-_]

Kind of a stupid thing to post. Nothing will be as impressive tech wise as a PC. Example

PS4= 8gigs of DDR5 ram, 1.84 TFLOPS GPU power and a 8 Core CPU.

ANY DAMN PC- 32gigs of ram, 5TFLOPS GPU and 8 Core CPU.....OC'ED! *LOL. I mean this can be said for every console that will release in history....forever. This is not news. LOL.

[Muerte2494]

to be noted. that all the demo on the ps4 weren't running using the new 8gbs or DDR5. These demos were running off of outdated ps4 devkits.
http://www.eurogamer.net/ar...

"Sony revealed that its new console ships with 8GB of GDDR5 RAM, not the 4GB we previously reported. It was a pleasant surprise not just for us, but also for many game developers out there working on PS4 titles now and completely unaware of the upgrade - a final flourish to the design seemingly added in at the last moment to make PlayStation 4 the most technologically advanced games console of the next gaming era."

[MrDead]

That Eurogamer piece is not a flambait article and has no place on N4G.

[Axonometri]

The PS4 has serious pc competitive specs so far.
Without the power being saturated by a bloated piece of shit operating system it could technically be hard For mid range to upper mid range pc's to compete. Per price point. Sony listened and implemented very radically.

[WeAreLegion]

Most tech demos are running on multiple graphics cards with setups that NOBODY could possibly have/fit into a desktop case.

[aliengmr]

Okay, this is getting a bit old already.

[feels]

not real this photoshop

ps4 has 8gb super gddr5 extreme

[Hassassin]

super? extreme??
seriously??

[landog]

still looked freaking beautiful on ps4!!!

way beyond anything ever seen on any current console!

of course its not going to come close to a high end gaming rig, people dont want $900 consoles

next gen ps4/720 will be akin to a mid spec pc from 2 years ago, thats 1080p, 30-60 frames, very high settings and textures in modern engines

thats a GIANT leap over ps3/360 struggling with sub-720p, jaggies everywhere and huge framerate drops

next gen console games will look amazing, just don't expect them to be anywhere near what a $450 graphics card like a gtx 680 produces

[Bonerboy]

I've dropped consoles for pc and by no means am I a dickheaded fanboy for any platform. PC offers a lot of what consoles wont/dont. Same goes for consoles. Basically this article is retarded; comparing apples to oranges. The console is still pooping its diaper for christ sakes. Let it grow up a bit before shitting on its potential. I'll bet the next xbox will face the same stupid scrutiny as well as be compared to this and that etc etc. Again..retarded.

[landog]

i am sure the "ps4" version was running on a pc anyway, just like watchdogs and most likely all the other games shown as well, its just with a pc spec'd down to meet in line with the ps4

no games are made on consoles, no engines, no programs, nothing

every game is made on pc, and, if its a console exclusve, it is made on a pc spec'd down to meet that consoles specs, if it is a multiplat game, then an uber high end version is made for the pc and the downport goes to consoles, this is how it has always been

even uncharted 3, gears 3, halo 4, killzone 3, all made on pc

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

(watch at 1 minute in)

of course the next gen console versions of modern engines like unreal 4 and cryengine 3 are going to look nowhere near as good as the pc version, they also are only going to cost $500-$600

a gtx 680 is $450 alone

it will stomp the ps4 into the ground, and it also runs at about 167f under load

the ps3 gpu is a mobile chip, its not even capable of existing at that temp or pushing the throughput of gtx 680

do NOT expect ps4/nextbox to be even close to a modern pc, you'll just be disappointed

expect bf3 level graphics on very high (not ultra) in native 1080p at 30-40 frames with decent anti aliasing and v-sync

a huge jump compared to ps3 with bf3 at 704p native, jaggies everywhere, screen tearing and the LOWEST possible settings

[pissed999]

Pc wins suckers. It's over.

[evilhasitsway]

i really wish they would stop comparing consels to pc of corse pc will win they have more ram and more power period but there isnt that much of a difference between next gen system to pc and will be less than half the price so who is the smart one plus these are games that are showing up at launch lets see a yr down the road.