What if it's/they're more powerful?

Well the Nextbox will be revealed tomorrow ladies and gentlemen and the rumors are starting to take off like a rocket.

The biggest rumor and question is what if it's more powerful than the PS4?

I say great, more power is always a good thing, but will that hurt Sony? No, not really. It'll give fans bragging rights for the first year or two, but after that it's back to which console has the best games.

One thing to clarify is that the Nextbox will not be featuring a GTX Titan inside the console. The GPU is too big, it would cause significant overheating issues (you though RROD was bad), the price would be over $1,000, and the size of the console will be off putting to many consumers. That being said it is possible to achieve the 4+ GFLOPS that is being hypothesized for the console, and even Sony could boost their performance up to a similar level.

The answer, Crossfire (Xfire).

By running the PS4's APU in Xfire Sony will be able to increase the consoles performance from 4.5x the PS3's up to 7x - 9x (7x = a low of 50% and 9x = theoretical max of 100%), or 2.76 - 3.68 TFLOPS. That's comparable to a low of a HD 7950 with a high of a HD 7970 (both original versions of those GPU’s).

We don't know what MS is using to power the Nextbox, but if they decide to go with AMD's 7970m in Xfire or a custom amplified version of the 7970m then they could very well reach their newly rumored goal of 4+ TFLOPS without breaking the bank or having a 2nd oven under your TV.

Now do I see this happening?

It’s possible, but No. I will say it fits right in line with the expected performance jump from one console generation to the other. Also subsidizing of both consoles would become a requirement to get the console prices down to remotely sellable levels (PC’s and laptops with similar specs. range in $2,000 price range). Sony also said their specs. were subject to change which usually means something could be cut before launch, but this could be the rare case of something improving before launch. Sony also kept secret about the 8GB of GDDR5 RAM from developers, who believe that only 4GB’s were being used, so it’s possible they didn’t know to expect a second GPU / APU to be in a newer devkit.

But that’s all wishful thinking. There’s little reason to really design custom hardware when PC hardware is as good as it is (modifications maybe). So if MS comes out with a more powerful console my guess is it’ll simply be using a modified 7970m which would grant them anywhere from a 10% - 40% power boost over the PS4 (good boost, but not leagues apart). So enjoy your wonderful new semi-custom mid-range gaming PC’s sponsored by Sony & MS, which is more than enough for most console gamers.

[dedicatedtogamers]

Microsoft is going the "entertainment box" route. I highly doubt they will be worried about power. Now, I'm not saying the NextBox will be a slouch. Rather, the hardware will be tailored to multimedia/social functions, similar to the PS4 (where a good piece of those 8 Gigs of RAM are devoted to the Share function). The graphics will obviously be better than the 360, but the hardware will likely be more multi-functional like a PC.

[khowat]

I say they might actually go for power, microsoft has always had this thing about how you can do whatever kinect and social media stuff you want but as long as you keep the "hardcore" with graphics and dreary, apocalyptic, space marine shooters, and COD, you'll be good. I imagine them give it more power than the ps4, just so they can say it has more power than the ps4 and just to enhance the visuals of their other games, But IMHO all the playstation fan(boy)s think that the nextbox is gonna be a little bit dry when it comes to new ip and first-party stuff but that might not be fair because as much as we hear about the suicidal kinect stuff microsoft is going on about maybe they're not complete idiots

[SilentNegotiator]

I don't think it will be a big deal *IF* it's only because Microsoft went a different route with hardware and happened to have something more powerful.

If they did what happened this gen and more or less stole* what was developed for the PS3, that would be bad, because then Microsoft would get the same benefits of the unified (and very likely comparatively cheaper) hardware.

* http://www.destructoid.com/...

[Software_Lover]

............ I cant believe you actually believe that garbage. The two processors are completely different. When I say completely different I mean in no way shape or form do they perform in the same manner. NO WAY CLOSE.

Sony was delayed because they had to get a GPU at the last minute, amongst other things (laser problems).

The 360 is basicly a PowerPC (PRE INTEL MAC) based system. The CELL was something new.

[NYC_Gamer]

I doubt the consoles will be that much different besides from minor tweaks

[Christopher]

I still won't care and will still buy based on their offerings that fit my desires and not which one can pump out the best graphics.

[DragonKnight]

If there is going to be a difference in power, you can rest assured that, regardless of who's more powerful, the difference will be so small as to not make any real difference at all.

[kewlkat007]

I heard it's supposed to be DirectX 11 capable, will that make a difference?

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

This image should explain what DX11 can do.

http://www4.picturepush.com...

[BitbyDeath]

I'd rather it have more power than a lot less power otherwise multiplatform games will be held back on the PS4 to support a lower-end machine.
Overall though I don't expect much power difference between the two.

[jessupj]

I was going to say this as well. I'd rather the Xbox Fusion be slightly more powerful than the PS4 so there'll be no downgrading to the lowest common dominator.

Unless of course MS has decided to abolish it's policy of requiring multiform games to not perform better on the competition.

[nypifisel]

Pretty sure the rumours always been the other way around. The nextbox goals doesn't demand it to be the most powerful.

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

By using a gaming client similar to steam, the Ps4 will be 7X stronger than the Ps3? Whatever you're smoking, gimme some of that.

[GamersRulz]

It wont be more powerful than PS4...I know that :)

[khowat]

How do you know that

[LightofDarkness]

It won't matter nearly as much if one is more powerful than the other this gen as it did even in the last one.

As graphical complexity goes up, it can deliver exponential returns in quality in the beginning. But at a certain point, the amount of power required to produce tangible returns and improvements like we were accustomed to seeing goes up substantially.

I believe a developer from Crytek once stated that even if you increased computing power 10-fold, you'd barely see a two-fold increase in image quality, and these returns would diminish even further beyond that.

So if one is even 20% faster than the other, it might only lead to slightly better framerates and load times or a little extra post-processing this gen, certainly in the beginning. The rumoured specs for the Xbox are so close to the PS4 that I can't imagine either one holding the other back in any significant manner.

Power won't really matter so much this gen, it's going to come down to games and services. Based on something I know about the next Xbox that they show no signs of backing away from (you'll hear about it today I'd say), I doubt I'll be buying it anywhere close to launch. Playstation exclusives hold more sway with me so I'll be buying that one first and we'll see about the Xbox later. But it's down to your preference. Don't let power sway you too much.

[TABSF]

The PS4 GPU is only around 1.84TFLOP/s so if you do the Calculation of clock speed, unified shaders and cycles you'll get the TFLOP/s

800 MHz x 1156 Cores x 2 Cycles = 1,849,600MFLOP/s or 1,849GFLOP/s or 1.84TFLOP/s

The PS4 at best will compete with a HD 7870 GHz Edition and is no where near the RAW capabilities of a HD 7950 or 7970

HD 7950 = 925 MHz x 1792 Cores x 2 Cycles = 3.31TFLOP/s
HD 7970 = 1050 MHz x 2048 Cores x 2 Cycles = 4.30TFLOP/s
HD 7990 = 1000 MHz x 4096 Cores x 2 Cycles = 8.19TFLOP/s

as a comparison

GTX 670 = 1084 MHz x 1344 Cores x 2 Cycles = 2.91TFLOP/s
GTX 680 = 1110 MHz x 1536 Cores x 2 Cycles = 3.40TFLOP/s
GTX 690 = 1058 MHz x 3072 Cores x 2 Cycles = 6.50TFLOP/s

GTX Titan = 876 MHz x 2688 Cores x 2 Cycles = 4.70TFLOP/s

Its not always about TFLOP/s though because GTX 670 out performs HD 7950 in a lot of circumstances.

HD 7970 GHz edition does out do GTX 680 but not by a lot and its dependant on the game.
The HD 7990 does out perform the GTX 690 in a lot of situations but again its dependant on the games.

GTX Titan is a whole different kettle of fish, its almost got the performance of 2 GTX 680 (effectively GTX 690) but its all on one die eliminating SLI issues such as no support or micro-stuttering.