Head To Head: PS4 And Xbox One APU Architecture Compared, Shows Why PS4 Has Performance Lead

Take a look at the main APU architecture for both consoles, along with their advantages and disadvantages.

[moparful99]

This makes me wonder if the complex but potentially powerful eSRAM will create a situation like on PS3 where exclusives get better over time.. But again this depends on Microsofts dedication to first party exclusives.. Im also curious how much using ddr3 and having 6 less compute units will factor into this equation..

I am definitely pleased with Sony's willingness to allow devs dictate the PS4's architecture and the results ate apparent and the benefits immediate..

[gameseveryday]

Theoretically speaking, both machines have similar peak output. PS4 excels in allocating more GPU compute units and unified memory, whereas the Xbox One has eSRAM which has a much wider bandwidth.

But as outlined in the article, developers will find working the PS4 easier and probably won't invest more of their time in using eSRAM [due to costs and time].

The only differentiating factor is the clock speed. If the rumors of PS4 having 2.75ghz clock speed turn out to be true, then PS4 won't only have overall lead in being the more powerful machine, but a 'easy to access' powerful machine.

[amiga-man]

More powerful, cheaper, better first party support, great indie support, sleeker design guess which console i'm on about

I'll give you a clue it isn't the xbox.

[NewMonday]

"The PlayStation 4 definitely holds an advantage not only in numbers, but also in the way its internal components have been set up for game development, resource allocation, data transfer and programming"

this is something many underestimate, not only is the PS4 more powerful, it also has better design, you can say better "balance"

[Edsword]

No I don't think so, the PS4 has a clear advantage that will persist throughout this gen.

[johndoe11211]

That 32mb of esram will always be a bottleneck that will hamper the growth of the xbox one.

Yes it will get better over time but it will never meet the ps4. This is not like the cell of the ps3, the cell had way more potential than that 32mb of esram.

This is the result of microsoft trying to design an entertainment machine instead of a gaming machine. They could have done so much better with the xbox one, sigh.....

[mechlord]

@Rashid Sayed

Theoretically speaking (which is not theoretical at all) the ps4 has a higher peak output.
It has been confirmed by AMD (WHo better?) and the first batches of games. What else do you want? i mean really, what else?

[Ju]

eSRAM does not have "much wider bandwidth", in fact it's lower. 100GB/s vs. 176GB/s. The 200GB/s sec are a pure theoretical number just to have something to boost about. It is 100GB/s in one direction - and in the best case in a practical application it might (!) reach 170 or something - for a very small amount of data and time. To say this clearly: XBO eSRAM can only offset the (PS4) GDDR bandwidth advantage at best but not exceed it.

[ProjectVulcan]

I said yesterday in the teardown that Xbox One probably had a larger APU than PS4 despite being slower. It takes up more die area but it is effectively slower.

Even without kinect, Microsoft have built a machine that costs as much as PS4 to build but it's quite a lot slower. Wow.

They saved 18 dollars on using DDR3 and a larger die instead of a faster chip like PS4 and buying GDDR5. For a massive performance hit.

Talk about an unlucky/poor design choice

[nix]

amiga-man, i was about to say xbox one but that clue was helpful.

is it WiiU?

[u got owned]

why are we still beating a dead horse. PS4 is more powerful #dealwithit.

[windblowsagain]

What are you on about.

PS3/360 has same peak output, but cell helped take tasks from it's GPU.

Both were 4.4gigapixels.

This new gen.

PS4 25.6 gigapixels
XBOXONE 13.1.

They are not close.

I do know the xboxone will improve somewhat. But the same can be said of the PS4.

[deecee33]

Something tells me the ESRAM isn't the only bottleneck here. Even if Microsoft's APU was hooked up to GDDR5 with unified access to that memory, the fewer GPU compute units would mean that it would lack fillrate. And as we will see, new games will only increase the geometry, texture filtering and lighting workloads over time. Maybe it's just me but I think even when the ESRAM is utilized to it's best case (NOT the theoretical max MS is so quick to toss around) developers will still be left with less fillrate to work with because the GPU can only push so many pixels, less than Sony's design.

[serratos27]

I don't understand why you got so many disagrees.

[nukeitall]

@Rashid:

Why do you have a negative slant on the Xbox One console, whereas a positive slant on PS4?

PS4 you say:
"The GPU has 20 compute units, out of which two are inactive to increase yield."

Xbox One you say:
"urthermore the Xbox One’s GPU has 14 compute units out of which two are redundant, just in case there is an issue with manufacturing."

The difference is blaring! On the PS4 you are saying it is a positive thing to increase yield whereas you are suggesting Xbox One might have production issues, when both has disabled CU's for the very same reason. It is standard practice!

Also, you say:

"[On Xbox One]Such an architecture, although complex and annoying for developers, makes it easier to..."

It is not annoying simply because there is an easier way to do things. This is how a winning architecture was only 8-years ago to deal with bandwidth issues. This is an evolution of that, with more flexibility.

What I would like to see is a more technical analysis of describing what the *real* bottlenecks are on all systems (PC, PS4, XB1 and so on) instead of parroting the old and tired 12 CUs vs 18 CUs. That is just a simple measure of epeen.

More quality articles like Eurogamer, and less mis-information, nil bias and more proper detailed analysis would earn more views from me and likely other readers.

Also, a tip! The video ads with loud noises are extremely annoying!!

[Kleptic]

^exactly...

it surprises me how complex an issue some make this out to be...

the xbox one is using a gpu that is a full series lower, if going by what AMD names discrete cards...

its a significantly less powerful gpu...plain and simple...

all other design choices between the two systems are irrelevent...the bottleneck for the xbox one vs. the PS4 will ALWAYS be its on board gpu...

Just pointing out; the xbox one likely doesn't need DDR5 to begin with, as there is no memory bottleneck in that department...The main point is that the ~7790 gpu in the xbox one is by no means a full HD gpu...and many desktop versions of that gpu are still around with ddr3 memory for the budget PC sector...if you can settle for 720 buffers, those cards still perform fine with 'slower' memory...

the PS4 on the other hand, that gpu probably would start to ring out GDDR3 memory...if it too had GDDR3, THAT would be the bottleneck, instead of the gpu itself...

both new consoles are extremely gpu centric...the gpu's are truly the most powerful parts of the consoles, as the jaguar based cpu is by no means powerful by today's standards...The xbox one is very cleverly balanced around that gpu, as is the PS4...The xbox one will never be starved for memory, but it'll also never match a PS4's gpu...which is more powerful from the get go...

[TheXgamerLive]

2.75? Hahahaha umm no! Not even 1.75ghz. They'd be best to stay at 1.5 or 1.6 do to overheating and poor cooling due to last minute gig upgrade. But 2.75 hahaha never possible.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

So Rashid gets 57 disagrees for breaking down the specifics of the two architectures, which even still is in PS4's favor, but amiga man rright below him gets 90 something agrees and a well said, just for..what? All BS aside, what is wrong with this community? It's nuts lol. And yea my PSN is KwietStorm.

[amiga-man]

Kwiet storm, Rashid is incorrect in his assertions, maybe that is why he got the disagrees.

As for the people agreeing with me all I did was point out the reality there really is nothing to disagree with.

[fr0sty]

PS4 CPU speed is said to be 1.8ghz if you look up the serial number imprinted on PS4's APU. It is also rumored to support AMD's turbo-core tech, which enables it to disable some cores and overclock the remaining cores for jobs that need a lot of performance per core and do not scale well across multiple cores. So, it can run 8 cores at 1.8ghz, but say 4 cores at 2.4ghz, assuming the rumors hold up.

As for the GPU... this is where the real difference lies.

Texture units: PS4 = 72 Xbox One = 48
Render Output Pipelines: PS4 = 32 Xbox One = 16
Compute Units: PS4 = 18 Xbox One = 12

"B.. but! The ESRAM! The Move engines!"

Both are there as a stop-gap solution to the bottlenecks in Xbox One's architecture, not as an advantage over PS4. They are disadvantages. The move engines help make getting data from main RAM to ESRAM a little bit easier for developers, but it does not change the fact that the developers are having to use a split pool of RAM (what held PS3 back so much) and that the second pool is only a tiny 32mb in size, making it essentially worthless for many functions that the GPU needs. The ESRAM, in peak performance, enjoys an ever-so-slight bandwidth advantage over GDDR5, but is crippled by its tiny size making any advantages useless.

You can't just put high performance parts on a low performance machine and expect it to outrun a high performance machine. You can't turbocharge a 4 cylinder honda into going faster than a McLaren F1.

[TheKayle1]

@ju the 176 gb/s are theorical number too..
the xb1 average read/write is around 150/160 gb/s
the ps4 is around there too...

[deecee33]

@fr0sty

The ESRAM isn't really worthless per se, it's just inadequate for deferred rendering on a 1080p frame buffer as has been shown in several articles (although it's fine for 720p), and like you said, it's a stopgap measure. Seems like MS banked on the same thing happening with devs as last gen- that they would be happy to adapt to using the ESRAM because the competition's console would be harder to use. In hindsight that was a really poor gamble- they should have known through their channels that Sony was pinging devs to find out exactly what type of architecture they'd like to see- I really don't understand how they came up so short hardware wise. CRITICAL error in my opinion. Down the road I see a Kinect-less XB1 bundle for $400 or less. The market will speak for itself regarding slower hardware for more money, and streaming video services people already pay for behind a paywall.

[jmac53]

@Kleptic

I didnt know they invented DDR5 RAM. Also, which console uses GDDR3 RAM? You should probably get the correct terms.

[dedicatedtogamers]

I do not think the ESRAM on the 360 and "teh C3ll" are comparable situations.

Cell was more powerful than the 360 CPU. There is absolutely no question about that. However, the PS3 was held back by a split pool of RAM (which hindered development and made development "harder" for a lot of games).

On the other hand, the only reason why ESRAM exists in the XBox One is to compensate for deficiencies in the DDR3 RAM pool in the XBox One. Without the ESRAM, the X1 would be even further behind in terms of hardware power. ESRAM is not some kind of "ultimate power" waiting to be unlocked. ESRAM is not "teh c3ll". ESRAM is a countermeasure to the inherently-inferior Xbox One hardware.

[CryofSilence]

eSRAM does not add to the graphics processing capabilities of the system; it only increases the bandwidth of transmitting data. It isn't conceivable that eSRAM will do anything except catch the bandwidth disparity caused by the DDR3 of the Xbox One up to the PS4 (and theoretically exceed the PS4's bandwidth). The compute cores, ROPs, etc., are what generate the graphics. And since both consoles share similar (nearly identical) CPUs, the difference will come down to the GPU capabilities.

[Ritsujun]

The eScRAM.

[WMANUW]

totally agree, Esram only serves to bridge the gap between technical and ps4 xone, I think will be just a problem for xone

[Melankolis]

I think you are right, eSRAM exist (maybe) only to compensate slower DDR3. Maybe it doesnt have anything to do directly with graphic performance.

It's not the same as PS3's Cell advantage we heard 8 years ago which turned out to be true.
Practically/theoritically we haven't found X1's advantage over PS4 yet.

[kneon]

The esram won't make much difference. It's still basically the same memory architecture as the 360 so there is no excuse for developers not knowing how to make the best use of a small pool of fast ram.

Also the eSRAM accounts for 0.4% of 8GB. There isn't enough of it to make up for the slower RAM. Copying of data between DDR3 and eSRAM does away with much of the speed advantages unless that data will stay in eSRAM for quite a while. I expect it will mainly be used as a framebuffer, just as the edram was used on the 360.

[TheXgamerLive]

Not quite right, also and the main reason graphics look best on Xbox One is the move engines.

[tagan8tr]

@Xgamer I bout choked on my own spit did you just say "the main reason graphics look best on Xbox One" ? I've said it before I'll say it again, did you just get out of a time machine from May 2013?

[rainslacker]

I think what we'll end up seeing is that X1 graphics will hit a wall as the generation goes on. The ESRam does help a bit, but at some point, that RAM may go towards other functions than graphics. As games start providing stronger AI and more complex subroutines to handle increasing demand for more complex gameplay, that data is going to be parceled more into the cache in order to make it more responsive.

There is some merit to why MS is pushing cloud so much, and it is because they didn't really make a future proof console. They made a pretty standard multimedia box that could play games, but only games that only marginally better than what we have now. Even Ryse, while nice looking, isn't anywhere close to what we'll be seeing in a few years time. Something to really think about.

The fact that the PS4 has a more powerful GPU is good for Sony, but the fact that it has unfettered access to the system memory means that much more can be done with it, since no bottleneck is being made up for.

On top of that tiled resources will mean a lot more as the generation goes on and developers start using it. Tiled resources are still in their infancy in gaming now because no one is really using them, but all trends seem to point that it's going to be the big thing for this generation of gaming. Despite what many here claim, the ESRAM is completely counter-intuitive to that principle, and it's going to show up big time in 3-4 years time.

Bring on the disagrees, wonder who can actually dispute that last part with intelligent discussion though.

[pyramidshead]

I'm not sure if that's entirely the case actually. The Cell was clearly quite powerful but it took an age of time and resources to get it to do the magic it did in the end. Remember those 2 years of PS3 when it launched? Things got better after that when Sony's ICE Team started to crack open the magic. eSRAM I think is just a simple bandaid to make up for the slow DDR3 RAM.

I poured out some tea for gamers around the world online who were banking on XB1 having super secret 2014 tech inside the box and that modified new range AMD GPU.

[CaulkSlap]

And judging by the APU die x-rays, the eSRAM bandaid cost them dearly. Sony just made the right bet all around on going with GDDR5.

[deecee33]

@CaulkSlap

Even if Sony had gone with half and half DDR3 and GDDR5 (like 4GB of each) or 2GB GDDR and 6GB DDR3. They'd still have a more powerful GPU by 40-50% on fillrate alone. The second config I mentioned would be similar to what gaming desktops are running- and thanks the the efficiency gains you get coding to the metal on a console, I'm betting they'd have still ended up with a 1080p capable machine, and it would still be more capable than Microsoft's machine. This ESRAM idea was just not a good one this gen. Cerny spoke of "time to triangle" and even those memory configs I detailed would have made that vision possible. But 8GB GDDR5 is a master stroke, without a doubt.

[CaulkSlap]

Yet in the end they can only get close to matching PS4 for memory bandwidth. XBO still has the insurmountable graphical processing disadvantage of 18 vs 12 CUs.

[Guwapo77]

not just the CUs that are important but the ROPs which directly affects the ability to display in 1080p which PS4 has 32 and Xbox1 has 16. I haven't the slightest idea why MS went this route...why gimp the GPU?

[Ju]

You can only fit so much on a SoC like this. Something's gotta give.

[dennett316]

The eSRAM is too small in this age of deferred rendering. A 1080p frame buffer is too large to push through the fast eSRAM, so devs have to put a lot more work in to try and make it work, and that leads to compromises.

[bjmartynhak]

Ta-dam

And then we can see the 720p in games that use deferred rendering. Not sure how Ryse works though.

[Blackdeath_663]

eSRAM does nothing for graphics the XBone gpu is still 50% weaker than the ps4 or whatever percentage it is at now. even when eSRAM is working at its best it can only match but not beat the bandwidth of GDDR5

[Persistantthug]

PS4's Gpu is approx 40% more powerful than the XBOX One's Gpu.

[moparful99]

Thank you all for helping me understand this better. I generally consider myself a hardcore gamer well educated on the inner workings but I struggle to keep up when it comes to the interaction of the GPU, CPU, and any outlying features like the unified memory controllers etc.

I know basic elements like GDDR5 being a graphics focused RAM and that having an APU where both the GPU and CPU are integrated into the motherboard increase communication between them and that hUMA or unified memory decreases latency etc.. But I don't quite understand exactly why that is. It all gets technical from here and some of the terms I am unfamiliar with..

I would love to learn this interaction and what makes it all work. I feel I pick up on something new just about everyday but the language grows more complex at a faster rate.

Anyway I digress, its clear to me that Sony made very good decisions in regards to the silicon of the PS4 and cannot wait to see whats in store for this incredible console.

[nosferatuzodd]

ill make it easy for you guys mark wasn't kidding around when say the ps4 was the best the man is a genius

[BadlyPackedKeebab]

The esram is uses for the back buffer. If you imagine that the image on screen is painted onto a canvas. While you are viewing one canvas another canvas is being painted into. This canvas is the esram. So the esram offers better performance than writing the back buffer back to the ddr3 when readying it to be pushed to screen. The issue is all the teztures, light maps etc still need to be read from the ddr3 so you will always feel the bandwidth limits of the ddr3 in one way or another. You will never ever ever see the advertised performance of the esram unless the render target, all game textures etc are all in that esram.

[BallsEye]

I've heard "ps3 is more powerful!It's cause of lazy developers!" from sony die hard fans for last few years when ps3 versions of multiplatform games were performing worse. Now when devs need more time to squeeze out real power of XO, and don't struggle to use full potential of ps4, all I read on n4g is "ps4 is more powerful! XO got bottlenecks and has weaker hardware!". Hypocrisy at it's finest. I just wish devs will do their best to deliver amazing quality games on both.

[wishingW3L]

you are comparing an exotic CPU to just memory.... -__-

It doesn't matter how much devs learn to use the esRam because bandwidth alone will never make up for less rops and CUs. The Cell had the ability to help the GPU to render graphics and stuff, something that a general purpose CPU couldn't. Ram on the other hand is nothing more than just memory. Memory to bandage the DDR3's bandwidth bottleneck.

[BallsEye]

@wishingW3L

Mate, you obviously have no clue about how XO works. Read up a bit. Offloading graphics computations to CPU and other small chips is exactly what xbox one is doing. Also esram is made specially for tiled resources. Tiled resources is not just textures but models, shadows etc. and esram with its capability to hold plenty of the data makes huge difference. Scene that require 3 gb RAM to render will use only 30 mb of ram. There is plenty of offloading in XO and devs need to learn to use it well. Please learn up a bit man, sharing false info is not good.

[rainslacker]

@ball

I don't think you know more than wishing in this regard. ESRAM is for frame buffers, or just as a standard memory cache.

Tiled resources REQUIRES direct access to system memory. The reason for this is to update the graphics data without having to first read, modify, then rewrite of the data. Essentially it is able to write the data that it is reading at the same time it is reading it...to put it simply. Putting that into ESRAM is completely counter-intuitive to this principle, because swapping will need to be done. This is why it was such a big deal whether or not these systems were HuMA compliant.

There is absolutely no way to put 3GB of data into 32MB of memory barring some extremely lossy compression, which would give terrible results at that ratio.

ESRAM is used to push the data through faster as a sort of pre-buffer to provide the data to the GPU in burst when it is known ahead of time. This is of course assuming that the dev wants to use it for graphics in the first place. It can also be used for the frame buffer and not something else related to game mechanics.

[TruthInsider]

Digital Foundry COD Ghosts face off is live.

I'll give you a clue, its not better on Xbone!

[imt558]

Quote :

"This makes me wonder if the complex but potentially powerful eSRAM will create a situation like on PS3 where exclusives get better over time...."

Sure, sure!

You forget one thing. PS3 is more powerfull than X360

Like this :
PS3 RSX - 176 GFLOPS, Cell - 230 GFLOPS
X360 Xenos - 240 GFLOPS, CPU - 100~115 GFLOPS

When you combine numbers, PS3 has 51 GFLOPS advantage. Well, PS3 show his graphics power when Killzone 2 arrived

Now, next-gen console.

PS4 GPU - 1.84 TFLOPS, CPU - 102 GFLOPS
XBone GPU - 1.31 TFLOPS ( 10% out for OS and Kinect )
CPU - 112 GFLOPS

So, when you combined numbers, PS4 has over 650 GFLOPS advantage, AND THAT'S NOT A SMALL DIFFERENCE. PS4 is more powerfull ( especially the GPU ), more easy for developing games, better RAM speed, better architecture design etc...

[neogeo]

Watched a video of a programmer talking about how it will be the opposite that Xbone will get worse over time due to useing more of the CPU core will strain the Xbone more and speed up the PS4's GDDR5 or something like that.

[assdan]

In practice, the difference in bandwidth should make a very big difference in performance. And it's the fact that the PS4 is less complex AND stronger to begin with.

[President]

No. a 32MB block of Esram is not comparable with a gigantic advantage like the Cell cpu.

Why is Esram such a big deal anyway? Its only 32MB, 5GB of data from the game still has to deal with the slow DDR3 ram. Compared to PS4s 6GB of ultra fast GDDR5.

[cell989]

I think there is quite some difference in comparing a superior CPU(cell) vs a theoretically faster but limited form of Ram. The only reason this was true for the PS3 was because in fact the cell was very powerful and all it needed was a lot of optimization in conjunction with the GPU. This eSRAM only offers slightly bigger bandwidth, not the same comparison in my opinion.

[blackbirdi]

wow this new -_-'

[MasterCornholio]

Looks like Microsoft decreased the size of the GPU to create space for the ESRAM.

BTW still no sign of the super secret DGPU.

[gameseveryday]

There is no super secret DGPU.

[pyramidshead]

I'll give you a hint:

p
o
w
e
r

b
r
i
c
k

[AllroundGamer]

@pyramidshead yeah they probably hid another GPU inside the power brick, that's why it's so big and so much heat is coming from it.

[MasterCornholio]

LOL

I'm just making fun of people who still believe Mr.Xs bs

[Bathyj]

'Slaps forehead'

Of course!
No one's looked in the power brick yet!

[DARK WITNESS]

Isn't the power brick powered by the cloud ?

The Cloud powers the super secret GPU....

awesome, when can we expect those native 1080p/60fps games again ??

[Ju]

Well, it sure is. It connects with a cable to the world. Who knows what it transmits over that line...

[ShwankyShpanky]

But what about the "local cloud?"

(just one of the more recent and utterly idiotic claims by the MisterXinsider)

[cell989]

dat secret DGPU is within the Kinect, it helps communicate with the cloudz, the power brick is backup processor for game installations

[Persistantthug]

It's actually 3 Gpus.

I'd show you where they are........but it's a secret.

[Sci0n]

man these xbox one fans in denial need to give it a rest and accept the truth. The xbox one will never be as powerful as the PS4 and this gen will showcase the two consoles power gap disparity allot more the further down the line we get. Microsoft told its consumers they wanted to build a all around media entertainment box and the specs of the console clearly show game performance wasn't at the top of there list. Accept the 40% power gap, accept the ddr3, accept the esram and enjoy your tv and kinect.

[ThinkBadMonkey]

I chose the PS4 as it looked more like a gaming machine on the outside with its games and features. Nice to see it has been built more like one as well.

[dennett316]

Thing is, it's no slouch in the media department either. The only real advantage MS has on that front is the ability to feed in a cable/satellite box signal and overlay it's own UI over it. Not exactly thrilling.

Plus, on PS4, something like Netflix is not behind a paywall....unlike on Xbox One, where only Gold members will be able to use the service to access their subscription.

Lastly, the PS4's internet browser tested as a lot faster than the Xbox One's version.

[ThinkBadMonkey]

The media was actually the biggest thing that put me off the Xbox. I just play games on my console and watch stuff on my laptop. Just have no need for all this extra entertainment.

Sony looks like it is 100% more switch on about what gamers want this generation, let hope thats right.

[rainslacker]

I like the media features being there on the PS4. Can't say I never use them. But it's the games that make me pick up a game console. Never in my life would I spend even $100 on a streaming device, much less $500. I also don't feel I'm the odd man out in this thinking.

If history is anything to go by, the PS4 will be quite the capable media box, and it already comes with plenty of the most popular services. Sony's Blu-Ray players come with more than both the PS4 and X1 combined, for around $100, so it's probably just a matter of time before we see them on the PS4 and even the X1. Question is, do people want to pay $60 a year for those services in addition to subscriptions if they care nothing about gaming.

I really think MS is thinking backwards on trying to get Live more popular. Free stuff is usually more popular, and the premium services those free places offer generally have tangible benefits, and not falsely inflated value.

[Mr_Luke]

News after news proving that the PS4 is more powerful? No surprises tbh. Anyway, like they say, the real difference is in the games these consoles are going to offer. I'm sure i made the right choice with my (almost here, -2 days!!) PS4 ;)))

[SirBradders]

Your so lucky my girlfriend had mine pre-ordered since June and she is making me wait till x-mas :-( I feel like crying everyday reading all these comments.

[IRetrouk]

Give her something she wants, usually works for me

[MRMagoo123]

Grow some balls and get it early.

[SirBradders]

Last year i got the new PS3 slim early the year before i got my 42 inch TV early. Her excuse is she wants me to have something to unrap this year. So im pretty much done for :-( The only thing i can look forward to is the patching out of bugs.

[IRetrouk]

Tell her to wrap a game or extra controller, or just use the puppy dog eyes on her lol

[MoonConquistador]

@SirBradders - buy your woman some sexy underwear for x-mas. Then once she opens it, ask her to slip into it in the bedroom. Voila, you now have something to unwrap yourself on x-mas day, problem solved.

[SirBradders]

@MoonConquistador You might be onto something here.

[alb1899]

True, but not 50% more power fool

[Persistantthug]

@alb1899

It's 40%.

Did you really have to ger all defensive over a trivial 10%?

[Neo-Axl]

I just got an email from Game, my PS4 is on it's way!! Finally the UK can enjoy the console too!

[moparful99]

Im excited for you brother (I assume you're male)
First game you plan to play?

[Neo-Axl]

That's the problem, I just don't know what to play first! I love feeling like this though, the inner child has the edge this evening!

(Yup, I'm a dude haha!)

[Sevir]

I gotta say, if you want an addiction and a challenge, take on Resogun!

Yesterday I finally got the platinum trophy for Resogun and I felt on top of the world, that game is insanely challenging!

https://m.facebook.com/phot...

[rainslacker]

Resogun is really addictive. Just got the plat yesterday as well. I think I've played it more than all the retail AAA games already.

I'd also recommend Lego Marvel if you're into that kind of thing. It's fun, despite the overly numerous bad jokes and puns.

[moparful99]

Lol I know that giddiness like being a kid again.. so many feels.. I highly recommend Resogun, such an amazing game although really short..

[Neo-Axl]

Will do! might need to pick up another DS4, these feelings only happen once a decade, I'll be taking full advantage!

[iiwii]

Argh! Sorry about the disagree. Finger got to fast and hit the tablet at wrong angle. AGREED on Resogun being a must have.

[Sci0n]

get battlefield 4 and killzone 4 if you can.

[Neo-Axl]

Damned right, leaning towards Killzone to show a few friends what it can do, and Battlefield for multiplayer madness, watching every review that's PS4 related like a mad man. I can't wait!

[bleedsoe9mm]

the best business model will win this generation not hardware , sony seems to be out to a early lead on that more important front as well .

[yewles1]

*sigh* I'm just going to leave this here...

http://www.anandtech.com/be...

[Blackdeath_663]

it doesn't work like that...

[yewles1]

It most certainly does, they're the same architecture.

[SirBradders]

I heard that the PS4 had the new R series AMD. I suppose we will just have to wait and see officially from official sources.

[Stick89]

Just like blackdeath said, it doesn't work like that, it all comes down to optimization.

[girevik]

Same cpu, different gpu, different memory setup... so...no, not the same architecture. Similar but definitely not the same.

[yewles1]

Not what I meant, PS4 and X1 GPU's are confirmed gimped versions of 7870 and 7790 respectively, with only two CU's cut off for yield. It's sill going to pull off the same results.

AND JUST IN CASE anyone thinks the X1 upclock will make a big difference in the long run...

http://www.anandtech.com/be...

[Ko_Uraki]

More multiplatform games sold for One=problem solved. Developers will work hard to use eSRAM. The fact that by now there are more players online for BF4 is encouraging

[MRMagoo123]

Thats because there are more fps on the ps4 ppl are split into more games, its not that hard to figure out.

[Angeljuice]

I think that has more to do with the fact that Xbox One is currently available in 13 territories vs the PS4's 1 territory. It will most definitely change come Friday.

[NoLongerHereCBA]

Im not sure about that. All depends on the time zone I guess. Currently more people have the PS4 in 1 time zone, which should mean more players online at the same time. I don't have any data though, so it could be that ppl playing on the Xbox one are playing at night, while for most ps4 ppl it is midnight or working hours.

[Blackdeath_663]

"Developers will work hard to use eSRAM" lol developer working hard made me laugh. no... no they wont

[NoLongerHereCBA]

You clearly have no idea how hard people in the industry work.

[BadlyPackedKeebab]

People like to say devs are lazy. This is never the case. Devs do the best jobs they can and beyond given the environment and time constraints but onto them by their respective businesses.

[SpinalRemains138]

They work hard.

They're just under enormous constraints from their publishers. They would give us everything we want if money weren't an issue.

[rainslacker]

Developers work hard to get the game running as best they can given the time constraints and budget put on them by the publisher.

When it comes down to it, they aren't likely to spend an exorbitant amount of time on one version of the game to optimize it for the odd man out on architecture unless absolutely necessary.

[MasterCornholio]

"Developers will work hard to use eSRAM"

How many developers worked hard to being decent multiplats to the PS3?

Not many which will be the case with the Xbox One as well.

[joeorc]

@MasterCornholio

"How many developers worked hard to being decent multiplats to the PS3?

Not many which will be the case with the Xbox One as well."

100% for the truth, its going to come down to Microsoft's 1st party efforts or they would have to spend the cash to 3rd party development studio's or publisher's in order to get that extra umph out of the xboxone's hardware. with it being x86, this time i think developer's with time tables, cannot just slow down because the publisher higher ups know that its not going to net them any extra incentive, to do that unless they are compensated for the extra effort.

and Time required, that pretty much leaves the investment direct from Microsoft, and ask yourself one thing, is Microsoft's higher up's willing to cut more into their Margins, than would they rather make more profit instead of more investment into the cost's to create such a game..my observation on this is..No Microsoft higher ups will not do it and they have showed no reason to change a method to make profit on each and every 1st party game by increasing the cost's of investment into making each game.

the cost's they see it as its not a priority over the lower investment cost to net bigger returns on the investment. Ie: lower cost to make the game = more profit.

Higher cost's to make the game = lower profit off of the game.

Microsoft will not cut their margins further for what they see is really not worth the cut, this has not changed since xbox first went out as a platform. they would rather invest into more services for XBOXLIVE.

[moparful99]

Im sorry but Sony is running away with the mindshare both for the general gaming populace and developers as well.. It appears as though PS4 will be the lead platform this generation.. Nothing is final yet but praise for the PS4 has been near universal so far.

[pyramidshead]

PS4 hasn't released yet for Europe lol... XB1 released worldwide so I'd hope there'd be more people playing the games on Live because if not then it has been a master clusterfxck for MS.

[ShwankyShpanky]

(PS4 potentially outselling Xbone 2-to-1) + (better multiplat performance on PS4) = (less multiplatform games sold for Xbone) + (overall PS4 GPU advantages) + (eSRAM remaining a bottleneck) = problem remains.

[boeso]

My opinion is if you are still thinking the X1 is a better console, you should be in politics.

[Kita2950]

Talk "GPU/CPU" and whatever other specs as i comfortably enjoy my ps4. Atleast i know it loads faster and has better user interface.

[Picnic]

The Xbox One will do fine on account of exclusive games and, to some extent, the novelty of its extra features.

Even for some PS4 owners , they'll also own an XboxOne for the exclusives.

It feels a bit to me like the Megadrive v the SNES. The SNES sold more but the Megadrive still had some beautiful exclusives and sold well for that time. If you get the right artists working on your exclusives (like Sunset Overdrive) you can have a console whose horsepower isn't quite up to the same level and still look prettier and be more fun than the closest equivalent that's on the more powerful machine- for that genre.

Exclusives are designed to suit that machine itself and the general philosophy of the company whose machine it is which is why that even if an XboxOne exclusive was (hypothetically) ported to the PS4, any extra varnish on it might actually feel not quite as authentic as the original game, especially with a different controller. For instance, Xbox multiformat games have often been slightly more vivid with the colours than Playstation ones. So the XboxOne might slightly more suit certain types of stylised games. It's a subtle distinction that might sound like I'm grasping at straws I know but basically, in a nutshell: if you like an exclusive more than any other exclusive, if only because you've never seen anything like it before, you can only play it on one console. Regardless of whether it's DDR3 or DDR5. But some might choose to punish the XboxOne for that- how many is the question but it's their personal decision alone.

[KingDadXVI]

You will see the Esram come into play but it is going to require some work on MS's part not just the developers. They are going to have to streamline their API so that it is much easier to make use of the Esram.

[Smootherkuzz]

Old news, why keep trying to drive this? People have made their choices and both are great. End of story get back to gaming fun.

[Belking]

Like anyone from gaming bolt has any credibility when it comes to this stuff...lol

[Angels3785]

Bill Gates doesn't even have crexdibility to you.....he could have explained the architecture himself and you still wouldn't believe him.

This author if you bothered to check has a long experienced history with computers and basically does the tech for gamingbolt.

Do you not see your delusion?

Killzone is said to be the best looking next gen game according to mo st reviewers EVEN POLYGON! The game is running do much at once and looks unparalleled.

Plus there was been literally almost 20 articles or more (from major credible sites) saying ps4 is more powerful...and not a single out saying xbox one is....outside of misterx....that doesn't strike you as odd?

[gamertk421]

Sorry, Ryse slays KZ in the looks department, and this is from personal observation between both playing in my house, mere feet from each other.

[Angels3785]

Your Comment history. ..and this "Xbox One for me. The Escapist can have their PS4"
Plus your one bubble shows how biased you are. You are a blatant liar.

I think ill believe the vast majority of people who ACTUALLY have both and are not tied to your petty fanboy workings. When POLYGON a site biased AGAINST playstation says killzone looks better (and pretty much every other reviewer including experts at digital foundry......you know you are desperate trying to appear some of any form of Ryse' superiority

Your opinion is about as credible as the shit I just took when compared to experts and the fact that you are a blatant liar in your comments.

"I've played both, but ignore my bias" is the oldest trick in the fanboy book....try harder.

[gameseveryday]

@Belking I appreciate your feedback. But we have conducted over 70 interviews this year. I think only credible sites get an opportunity to do that many in 11 months =)

[Sevir]

Both consoles have launched, giving total tear downs of each machine's underlying tech and have come to the same conclusion we have since the specs were rumored for each by Kotaku and Eurogamer's Digital foundry before each console was unveiled.

The result Ps4 > XBOX One.
You doubt that, look at the cross platform games, and even the exclusives on each.

Again, PS4 > XBOX One. It's ok Belking, we know you love your XBO, but seriously, being this stubborn when the facts are this obvious and with insurmountable quantifying evidents is just silly.

It's very possible to enjoy the console you chose, and you should, that machine does have some cool looking games coming, but also revel in the fact that what you chose is inferior to it's closest competitor. Screaming, pretending that the facts aren't facts, and dismissing said facts when they pop up repeatedly makes you a silly little fanboy

[DJ]

Gaming Bolt is using simple math. PS4 has 18 GPU cores. XBO has 12 GPU cores. PS4 uses fast GDDR5 memory. XBO uses slow, cheap DDR3 memory.

What does that tell you?

I mean the fact that Call of Duty Ghosts had an issue on PS4 where its framerate at 1080p was accidentally exceeding 60 FPS should tell you something. Especially since the XBO version couldn't get past 720p.

[n4rc]

Its always funny to see a bucnh of kids try to act like they know what they are talking about... Its cute to see people think they are hardware engineers now because they read stupid reviews by others that don't know what they are talking about..Lol

This isn't about the article.. Just the comments... So many people in here obviously have no clue what they are trying to argue. Just pasting figures that might as well be jibberish to them.

[Sevir]

Always the answer you get, when the facts aren't what you want them to be.

[n4rc]

Lol.. No.. THAT is the answer I expect..

Selective comprehension and hypocrisy.. You'll conveniently twist my comment in your head to make it what you want.

Its about a bunvh of idiots copy and pasting figures and keywords when they have no idea what they mean.. Just because your end result is right doesnt mean you are in any position to back it up..

99% of people here are in no way qualified to even begin to comprehend what they are saying... Its just copy and pasting.. I read it in the internet so now I'm a fkn expert..Lol and then they show it when they mix in their own wrong bs with the facts to try and exaggerate it

[Sevir]

Awww!

[TemplarDante]

Someone buy AmigaMan a drink!
Was reading your comment, FIRST ONE TO MAKE SENSE.
First two guys are in for a long gen if they think MS is going to even keep up. My opinion? After 4 years, PS4 will be stretching its legs. Xbox One will be holding us up. More so because as PC adopts DDR4 ram next year and beyond, the DDR3 ram looks more and more archaic as we progress into the gen.

[SpinalRemains138]

Honestly, this Gen is going to be the opposite of last Gen when it comes to multiplatform games. PS4 versions will have higher resolution and better frame rates.

Both machines will for sure have kick ass exclusives as we know, but the gap is there. The cross platform games are just going to be more polished and playable on PS4. That is unless the ps4 versions are gimped for parity.

Time will tell, but I for one am patiently waiting for the SONY kickass exclusives!

[lifeordeath617]

im still getting X1 because my friends are all getting one. The PS4 sounds great but im not sold on it until next year when guilty gear Xrd drops.

[Holeran]

The Xbones power comes from the special sauce that rains from the cloud giving the Xbone 4 times the power of a regular Xbone with no special sauce raining cloud thingy.

[DJ]

I'm sure Microsoft will enforce a new rule on developers to keep the exact same resolution and framerate across both platforms, or else they won't get published.

They already have a similar policy for PS3/360, and even demand royalties from PS3 sales.

[ShwankyShpanky]

Um... wtf are you talking about? Royalties for PS3 games? Got a source?

[mmj]

Look at all of that die space WASTED by having the ESRAM, if they had just gone with GDDR5 then they could have used all of that space for a better GPU.

If Microsoft were designing Xbox today they would go with the same design as PS4, GDDR5 and a better GPU.

[solidboss07]

Another article, still no clock speeds. Not that that will change anything, will just add some more interesting info. PS4 is better in every conceivable way. Clock speeds and Esram cannot change that. Where as PS3's Cell B.E. actually more than made up for the rubbish GPU (here's hoping Polyphony can show what it can really do with GT6). Not really similar to the new machines.

I hope the XB1 developers can utilise the whole console. I know PS4 gamers shall be hav'n the time of it when the big hitters arrive. YeeHaw!

[KILLERAPP]

Looking at them both shows the cultural differences to engineering of both companies. Is kind of beautiful...

[ironmonkey]

No comparisons needed anymore either. Even nba 2k14 looks better on ps4. Xboxone will be its downfall and that's ms fault. 500$ for piece of shit.

[Manic2014]

There is absolute no difference in 2k14 on both consoles. The run the same resolution and frame rate and looks extremely identical.

[Manic2014]

SO both are really powerful consoles, except the PS4 is more due to the GGDR5; powerful and less complex to develop for. i assume once the dev's get experience and it get's easier to get to 1080p native on both, hopefully the can satisfy gamers appease.

[kingPoS]

How many pixels can the gpu push; that is the question people wonder about. How fast the ram is can be determined by how many swift highway lanes are open. Be mindful of traffic jams, they 'can' happen.

Gateway MT6706 2008

[Edsword]

Let's be clear, there has not been one article, at least I have not seen one, since final specs were revealed that has claimed XB1 has superior or even equal specs to the PS4. Speculation that XB1 could close the gap some with esram is the only thing being discussed. XB1 will not have the raw processing power of the PS4. There is no secret weapon built into XB1, it is at a 30-60% disadvantage. There is also speculative talk about the Azure Cloud processing filling the gap, but no real evidence that suggest it will help with anything other than online match making. These discussions should continue if any new evidence or breakthrough is presented. Right now though, the PS4 has all the evidence on its side. My personal opinion is that will not change before the next console gen. If you are an XB fanboy, I'm sorry. If you are a PS fanboy, please get a grip. We are all gamers and should treat each other with respect.

[x-plode]

One thing I can say is I like my Xbox one,can you say that about your ps.well I guess not you are here commenting on Xbox one.if ps was so mighty and the best console ever you would not be here your almighty PS will be getting playtime oh that's right ps always had outstanding graphics but hardly no good game play,I see now your boredststion should be the name not playstation.

[ma1asiah]

This article lost all credibility about this point

"This obviously increases manual effort from the developer’s end, which has resulted in performance issues in certain video games such as Call of Duty: Ghosts."

Well thats funny these sites say otherwise when it came to COD Ghosts

"On the current-gen versions Ghosts looks nearly identical, though I did encounter occasional framerate issues during the single-player campaign on PS3 and PS4, whereas my time with the Xbox One version was stable throughout." IGN

http://www.ign.com/articles...

"I played Call of Duty: Ghosts extensively on both next-gen systems on several televisions of different sizes, and saw no differences between the two versions. The experience was virtually identical on both consoles throughout the duration of my play time." Game Informer

http://www.gameinformer.com...

"The Xbox One release's framerate was far more noticeable. As mentioned in the initial review, Call of Duty: Ghosts suffers from consistent framerate drops on the PS4, especially during multiplayer when action got especially hectic. The Xbox One version suffered no such drops, maintaining a steady 60 frames per second throughout." Polygon

http://www.polygon.com/2013...

"Word of frame rate performance issues affecting the PS4 version of Ghosts have cropped up in a number of places as the next-gen review embargo has ended." VG247

http://www.vg247.com/2013/1...

"at least the [Xbox One version] ran stable enough to keep me blaming myself and not the frame rate for any kills I may have suffered." The reviewer noted he did not have framerate issues when he played the PS4 version but acknowledged some users are reporting just that. Videogamer.com

Framerate issues judders whatever a patch had to be released to correct the issue where as this was not required for the Xbox One version to the best of my knowledge.

[Edsword]

Digital foundry actually found the PS4 was suffering from what appeared to be frame drops, but it was really because the framerate was above 60 fps. Try to keep current.

[ma1asiah]

Digital Foundry lmao the same site that fudged up the comparison video's for BF4 between the X1 and PS4. Even to the point that they admitted that the footage was doctered to support their own claims.

If you had bothered to read the bottom part of my post you would have noted this:

"Framerate issues judders whatever a patch had to be released to correct the issue where as this was not required for the Xbox One version to the best of my knowledge."

I am very much aware of DI's findings or so called findings....It does not change the fact that an issue was apparent in the PS4 version that was not noted in the X1 version and that this issue required IW to fix it.

DI and Eurogamer in general as were TheEdge once upon a time were notorious for rubbishing the PS3 and PS gamers used to call them out on their findings and articles, yet all of a sudden the tables have turned and now they are a reliable source of information WTF....hypocrisy in its simplest form...If they were wrong previously what makes them right now just because it favours your assumed purchasing decision.

So ummm how am I wrong to point out that the articles author's claims in respect of COD Ghost have not been validated by the majority of sites that reviewed the X1 and PS4 versions of the game......He could have possibly used the review copy of Dead Rising 3 as a better example as that was hugely pubicised in respect of frame rate issues, prior to a post release patch that fixed the issue.

[jacksons98]

You don't have to be techie to understand all this just use common sense.
When you buy a video card does it have DDR5 or does it have DDR3 and eSRAM? That tells you all you need to know.

[ziggurcat]

... and yet even now at the misterx delusioblog they're *still* going on about xbone secret sauce. the alleged "insider" even goes as far as to claim the xbone xrays are altered. they really need to give up, already.

[SynestheticRoar]

So sad.

[codyman45]

ps4 is still slow at downoading ps4 games plus it sucks because i went to my cell phone provider and got a wireless usb looking thing and the disc isnt supported so i cant use it at my friends house to play online

[bornsinner]

great so games will pretty much the same when they are both utilised properly .. the problem is even when xbone hasnt been utilized properly games still look the same, sure bf4 & cod run at higher resolutions but the visual difference is negligible.

just like many who prefer the xbone i will go for features & games & always buy a pc if i wanted the best graphics.

[CaliCholo]

OK WE FUCKING GET IT PS4 IS MORE POWERFUL. NOW MAKE GREAT GAMES THAT PUSH THE LIMITS

[SLUG]

The cloud will help xbox 1 to be come more powerful then ps4 just wait and see titanfull is the first of many to come with the cloud of power

[MasterCornholio]

Titan fall?

Isn't that in 720P on the Xbox One?

[SLUG]

NO it a 1080p thats a open world game and very good ai in the game

[Ingram]

pfff...they were talking about system architectures and they didn't even mention the Onion/Garlic extra bus.

These consoles have lots of secret sauce.

[georgeWbush]

@Nukeitall

If you never posted again, no one would care.

[Underworld]

I don't know much about all this. Can someone post a link to the site that says the PS4 CPU speed is 1.8ghz and explains what the CPU does. Curious to learn more. If it's true why didn't Sony announce that months ago?

Thanks

[Cyanide85]

Devs will get better at using the eSRAM everyone knows that, but I think that MS made a big mistake with the eSRAM it's too little of it they should have at least doubled the amount of the eSRAM imo.

[SLUG]

the cloud should pick it up ware the esram left off