Unreal Engine 4 Side by Side - PS4 Vs PC Comparison

Epic Games showed off a real-time demo of its new Unreal Engine 4 running on the PlayStation 4; a longer version of the same demo which they showed off during the console's announcement.

Interestingly, the same tech demo has also been showcased on the PC, months ago by Epic. Fragburn does a side-by-side comparison to give viewers an idea about how both of them looks when pitched together.

Is the PS4 able to hold its own against the presumably higher-end PC version? You be the judge!

[Ashunderfire86]

Obviously PC has little bit more detail, but the PS4 is pretty close. it is about the same, not a huge difference. I would love to see Doom 4 running on the latest PC graphic cards and PS4!!! Hope this years E3 Id Software finally show the game. I remember they promise us a update on Doom 4 after Rage release.

[cyborg]

the PS4 does a pretty good job at holding its own and it's still very early days for the console. Next-gen is going to be awesome.

[NastyLeftHook0]

ps4 version looks great to me. and so does the pc version.

[T900]

Tech Demos dont prove much, specially watching them over Youtube isnt even a comparison. Its when Developers release games and push the hardware that's when the differences show.

Once Devs start pushing hardware, most console versions of games will be running at 720p back to 30fps again. Thats the time PC will shine again.

Tech demos are designed to for marketing purposes. Let the games show themselves its at that time you can judge.

[NewMonday]

and this is before the 8g of GDDR5 RAM and full APU exploitation.

[T900]

@Kratos_kills

Every platform has its exclusives. Just depends which appeal to you. Even then its not hard owning both platforms.

[irepbtown]

The PS4 is no slack here, it looks great. However the PC version is a bit crisper, you can tell the small differences at certain points (e.g. when the door blows open, you see snow flakes in PC version, just a puff of air on PS4).

Nevertheless, I'd love to see more side-by-side comparisons. I know I'll be getting a PS4.

[ProjectVulcan]

Both can improve a bit. Early days for PS4, but also the elemental demo was first shown on PC 10 months ago and is dated as such on that platform as well no doubt.

Since then the new PC demo has moved on a little bit further with infiltrator to take advantage of newer hardware and advances in the engine.

[Muerte2494]

just to be a port over from the PC version while adding the Ice Elemental at the end. This isn't using the coding like Cell "low level GPU coding". But all in all, not bad at all. There is also too many variables that we don't know about the making of the PS4 version.

the GPU is also being underclocked at the moment. Like the psp, we can hopefully see the clockspeeds raised back to their defaults over time.

[coolmast3r]

"Obviously PC has little bit more detail". If you know what to look for in this tech demo you'll see that PS4 version lacks a lot of power demanding visual efects. Thing is, not all the gamers are be able to spot these differences, in other words to majority of people both PC and PS4 versions look almost identical.

[mistertwoturbo]

Hands down the one with the $500 graphics card wins.

[nthstew]

yup the pc version looks better because of the hardware(GTX 680 and i7 3770k)

[nthstew]

pc version looks better and has more particle effects and better antialiasing though ps4 version also looks good
just comparing $500 gpu with $499 console funny

[ATi_Elite]

I never was impressed by that Unreal Engine 4 Demo.

Now the "INFILTRATOR DEMO" is impressive

The PS4 has it's limits but Devs will still make great use of the tech.

PC's have UNLIMITED POWER so they are ALWAYS gonna be better

[kingPoS]

Or you could think of gaming pc's as locomotive engines. If you have more wood/money to burn, You'll of course go faster, longer & harder. lol

[GROTSTOMPA]

A PC/Console graphics enthusiast can see how vastly different the PC version is.. the problem with these comparisons is it takes people who are educated in both console and PC technology.. also educated in gaming engines...
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Most people don't understand what they are looking for when trying to tell graphics apart.. aside from lighting and clearly obvious effects like 3D textures.
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You have to look at the amount of particles, the shadows, the anti-Aliasing, the foliage, the wall textures, the coloration of the skin and environments.. the amount of colors present, dust, permanent/or temporary indention's like foot prints or bullet holes/damage, cloth simulation, physics, debris!, this is a few of many more you learn over time just being an enthusiast and listening to developers or being one yourself.
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If the engine comes "close" or the same as PC, it's simply the developer making it that way... also, U4 is always about trying to be equal to both sides. People forget the PC is the grandfather, or father of all gaming... the PC is used to CODE these lesser console counter parts, the PC is always at a minimum of 5 yeas in advance, always.. because it has to be that way.
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PC is clearly vastly superior.. not to mention PC users can put this crap on 1600-5,000+ pixels and nothing will even come close to it visually/crispness. Console is just now hitting the 1080p mark.

[adonisisfree]

So basically there is no real difference.

[Linsolv]

I agree that it's not a huge difference, BUT.

I don't think that the most telling difference was in level of detail.

The PS4 version, in my opinion, had a few points where things looked like, well textures. Like, the armor on the dude looked painted onto stone, rather than being made of metal.

[Arai]

Difficult to tell which version of the PS4 demo he's using for comparison.
There's a the PSMeeting and GDC13 version (GDC13 version is a bit more optimized).

Another comparison (but using GDC13 demo):
http://www.youtubemultiplie...

PSMeeting: https://i.minus.com/ibpDwjQ...
GDC2013: http://www.abload.de/img/ne...

1080p video download: http://www.shacknews.com/fi...

[Eyesoftheraven]

That YouTube multiplier is nifty! To think I thought I was clever by using my multiple monitor setup by playing separate videos on new windows for each monitor to compare.

Thanks a ton for sharing that higher quality .MOV clip! Looks far better than YouTube!

Do you happen to have a download link for the new Infiltrator demo? Or any other demos/videos for that matter?

[M-M]

Of course the PC is going to be better, but they both look amazing to me.

[Saleem101]

That demo is not running on ps4 full specs it was put together for PlayStation meeting.. developers was not aware that sony double the ram...

[NastyLeftHook0]

a disagree for stating a fact ...wow

[TheSurg]

ram wont help here....can be even 30 gigs ram. Learn the basics.

[SDF Repellent]

Ram got nothing to do with graphics, the outdated GPU and weak CPU of the PS4/X720 will always be detrimental to console, no matter which way you look at it. You can have 100gb of GDDR5 and it still wouldn't matter, PC will always have the edge.

[chukamachine]

Seriously your going with that one are you.

Ram got nothing to do with graphics, so textures are not graphics, objects don't take up ram.

Ram is needed for most things, Kinda the reason why the Wii u version of NFSMW has PC textures and consoles do not.

PS4 does not have a weak CPU/GPU.
It has an 8 core APU that has never been done.

PC only has the edge because you can keep lumping gpu's/cpu's inside it. But then it isn't the same pc is it.

[T900]

Everything needs to be balanced, sure a shortage of RAM can cause a system to choke. However remember that RAM by itself does no calculations what so ever.

Its the CPU / GPU where all the calculations take place. RAM is just a storage where the data is stored.

Having excess RAM wont do anything.

Sure the PS4 has a 8 core APU but you must remember those are Tablet cores running at a mere 1.6-1.8 GHZ. Even the GPU is a Mobile GPU hence isnt top of the line by any means. Its strictly mid range as of today and probably Low end by the time PS4 releases.

[angelsx]

Another comparsion https://www.youtube.com/wat...

[hakis86]

That's a nice comparison.
Do you guys notice what I notice - that the wawing banners and the falling rocks seem more judderish on the PS4 version?
Could this mean that the PC demo runs at 60FPS, and the PS4 version at 30FPS?
What do you think?

[Kaze88]

Yeah i also made a comparison so when i was editing frame by frame it was easy to notice that pc had twice the frames compared to ps4.

Thats pretty great comparison too, better than on the main story. heres mine http://www.youtube.com/watc... maybe not as good but decent for a first timer.

[Eyesoftheraven]

I'd say that aside from the drop in frame rate in the PS4 version, which can probably be attributed to the short amount of time for optimization they likely had to work with, the PC vs. Console bridge has been bridged to levels not worth arguing about...for now.

Very similar to last gen with early games like Call of Duty 2 PC vs Console where higher resolution and frame rates were the only differences worth talking about.

[itBourne]

Idk, I find both really lackluster. Neither look that great, textures look muddy and bland. Honestly not impressed at all. Looks like a ps3/360 cld run that just fine

[itBourne]

Not that I really care, i think this next gen will be about things other then graphics, Ai and story will be the driving point of next gen. There will be huge advances in things other then graphics. Animation will be another big point.

[mrmancs]

lense of truth roll over picture comparison is good , the lava looks better on unfinished ps4 dev kit...

[jacksheen0000]

The split screen UR4 demo is a bit confusing.

This UR4 demo is better in my opinion.

[MrDead]

Wow N4G is starting to go full retard with these comparisons.

You want to make comparisons then compare fully finished titles.

[WUTCHUGUNNADO]

This site would go stale if it actually had to wait to make an honest comparison... 90% of the articles are looking for hits off of anticipation.

[Kaze88]

Heres also another comparison which is synchronized http://www.youtube.com/watc...

Obvioysly pc looks better, tough ps4 was made on old devkit so it might look stand a chance if it was made on the lastes devkit. also both are work in progress so lets not compare this too much.

[GROTSTOMPA]

You have to remember that these graphics have been possible to achieve on the PC for a few years now, so as I'm exited that an easy/great engine like Unreal 4 is achieving this level, just don't mind me containing my excitement as a hard-core PC graphics enthusiast. The "PS4" is just now talking about coming "close" to these visuals.. when PC is well beyond these abilities, years beyond.. Crysis PC in 2007 was able to achieve detailed-cinematic in-game visual quality.. that was over 5 years ago!
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Truth is, PC will be well beyond this by the time PS4 is even on the retail shelves.. as it already is PC is beyond capable of handling this level of detail. Lets not also forget, beyond the graphics engines, PC is visually or "Pixeley" rather, getting a huge upgrade this year.. 2500 x 4,000+ pixel monitors, while consoles are just now barely-tapping into 1080p or Pixels.

- Console is not next-gen, so the people saying it kindly stop, people saying "Console is close" are simply uneducated in the technology field, I'm not being mean, but neither are they getting closer, or close to PC, it's always been a 5 year + gap in TECH. Console has a great purpose in the gaming industry.. but if you want next-gen in sometimes over 5 years advance, then build yourself a PC and join the community that has already experienced similar, but different engines. I just want to the keep the facts honest and clear. Thanks!

[MrDead]

Seems to be that you're getting confused a new engine isn't all about the pixel count.

[Skynetone]

well the first real comparison will be battlefield 4

im expecting the ps4 to do above 720p

maybe 1600x900 at 60fps and then upscaled to 1080p

[Holeran]

The pc does look better overall but how well was the code optimized for the PS4? Whoever coded for the PS4 obviously hasn't been working with the PS4 for years because it hasn't been available for even a year and even if it was the final specs weren't out until a month ago. They could definitly make it look as good as the pc if they spent enough time with the hardware.

[LOL_WUT]

PC has better textures and particle effects i'm positive the PS4 would get there.

[kingPoS]

Ahh! the nearly inescapable rule of diminishing returns. Or as others would like to say,.. You get what you pay for.

Which will hold more weight in the next gen?

[telekineticmantis]

who thinks the PS4 version looks better. I know the PC version is supposed to look better, I tought it would and almost half time time it does, but in some frames PS4 looks better. I'll watch again...

[Deathdeliverer]

Mark Rein said that it wasnt optimized and that they used like %20 of what they could have used. Why does nobody mention this?

[WickedLester]

Because that doesn't support PC dork's declaration of victory.