PS4 specs compared to PC

[johndud]

Can someone tell me how the PS4 specs compare to PC's now, I read this article that was so vague it just said the games look good. Here is the article in question with specs.

http://www.***/b/news/archive/2013/02/20/how-powerful-is-sony-s-playstation-4-hardware.aspx

 

[Kamen_BG]

We don't now the specs in detail, but from what i've read it uses and AMD Jaguar CPU whose cores do not share recources, so somewhere around FX 8350 in speed.
And its graphics card is slightly faster than the HD 7870, so expect 660 Ti performance.
A PC with those specs will be able to play most games at very high details or even ultra.

 

[simon12]

As far as I can tell the only 100% official specs are
"The PS4 system architecture is distinguished by its high performance and ease of development. PS4 is centered around a powerful custom chip that contains eight x86-64 cores and a state of the art graphics processor.
The Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) has been enhanced in a number of ways, principally to allow for easier use of the GPU for general purpose computing (GPGPU) such as physics simulation. The GPU contains a unified array of 18 compute units, which collectively generate 1.84 Teraflops of processing power that can freely be applied to graphics, simulation tasks, or some mixture of the two.
PS4 is equipped with 8 GB of unified system memory, easing game creation and increasing the richness of content achievable on the platform. GDDR5 is used for this memory, giving the system 176 GB/second of bandwidth and providing a further boost to graphics performance."
I thought the Jaguar cores where a hoax but many sites still say its correct. If it is jaguar cores they are not close to an FX 8350 but more like an 8 core atom but the GPU will be impressive so I assume games will be writed to use the GPU much more heavily than the CPU. Also 8Gb DDR5 RAM sounds expensive and surely a jaguar core will not be able to run with DDR5, I am no expert but its like AM2 CPUs cannot use DDR3 memory so I suspect the CPU will not be one that will ever be a retail PC CPU.

 

[da3ndorphin3]

Main Processor
Single-chip custom processor
CPU : x86-64 AMD “Jaguar”, 8 cores
GPU : 1.84 TFLOPS, AMD next-generation Radeon™ based
graphics engine

Memory
GDDR5 8GB

Hard Disk Drive
Built-in

Optical Drive
(read only)
BD 6xCAV
DVD 8xCAV
I/O
Super-Speed USB (USB 3.0) 、AUX

Communication
Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T)
IEEE 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth® 2.1 (EDR)

AV output
HDMI
Analog-AV out
Digital Output (optical)

 

[da3ndorphin3]

Woooooooowwwwwwwww. 1.6GHZ CPU speed... Get your walkin' cane
out Grandma, it's time to do some processing :-0

So what x86 cpu architecture exactly means for future of pc gaming..?
Easier porting of multiplatform games? If its still going to be ported to pc (which make sense) is it going to be much more easier to do-translate-
we could get much more optimized games that can show more power on pc then current gen games in this cycle?

 

[DragonClaw]

As far as I can tell the only 100% official specs are
"The PS4 system architecture is distinguished by its high performance and ease of development. PS4 is centered around a powerful custom chip that contains eight x86-64 cores and a state of the art graphics processor.
The Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) has been enhanced in a number of ways, principally to allow for easier use of the GPU for general purpose computing (GPGPU) such as physics simulation. The GPU contains a unified array of 18 compute units, which collectively generate 1.84 Teraflops of processing power that can freely be applied to graphics, simulation tasks, or some mixture of the two.
PS4 is equipped with 8 GB of unified system memory, easing game creation and increasing the richness of content achievable on the platform. GDDR5 is used for this memory, giving the system 176 GB/second of bandwidth and providing a further boost to graphics performance."
I thought the Jaguar cores where a hoax but many sites still say its correct. If it is jaguar cores they are not close to an FX 8350 but more like an 8 core atom but the GPU will be impressive so I assume games will be writed to use the GPU much more heavily than the CPU. Also 8Gb DDR5 RAM sounds expensive and surely a jaguar core will not be able to run with DDR5, I am no expert but its like AM2 CPUs cannot use DDR3 memory so I suspect the CPU will not be one that will ever be a retail PC CPU.

8 GB of Unified System Memory would mean memory available for processing + rendering is equal to 8 GB.
Or, it can also be 8GB GDDR5 of Graphics Memory + X GB DDRX of RAM.
Or, it uses the Memory used as RAM is nothing but the Graphics RAM it self. [:O. It's possible?]

But the word is, that the PlayStation 4 indeed uses GDDR5 Memory as the System RAM.

As for the Graphics Processing Power, the

GTX 580 has 1581.1 Gigaflops
GTX 590 has 2488.3 Gigaflops

GTX 660 has 1881.6 Gigaflops
GTX 670 has 2459.5 Gigaflops
GTX 680 has 3090.4 Gigaflops

PS 4 has 1843.2 Gigaflops

So again, a new gaming PC will beat the PS 4 in Graphics Processing [don't know about how PS4 will use the 8 GB Memory it has, but 680 has 4 GB GDDR5, and 690 has 2*4 GB GDDR5].

Even if the PS 4 has 8 GB DDR5 exclusive RAM, and considering the fact that GDDR 5 architecture is based on DDR3 SDRAM memory, 16 GB of DDR3 RAM on a PC will be pretty close [Not exactly perhaps, I do not know. GDDR5 is supposedly a huge boost].

Edit:
Just now found that 8GB of unified memory is being used. So, it's... "the Memory used as RAM is nothing but the Graphics RAM it self". Or may be the other-way round, which ever way you like to call it.

Thanks,
Rick

 

[DragonClaw]

Woooooooowwwwwwwww. 1.6GHZ CPU speed... Get your walkin' cane
out Grandma, it's time to do some processing :-0

So what x86 cpu architecture exactly means for future of pc gaming..?
Easier porting of multiplatform games? If its still going to be ported to pc (which make sense) is it going to be much more easier to do-translate-
we could get much more optimized games that can show more power on pc then current gen games in this cycle?

Yea, x86 Architecture should mean that only. Easier to port the games. No need to write the code from the very scratch.
By the way, back compaitability of PS3 games are planned on the PS4. So may be, the Jaguar is something special and not like the Intel 8086 CPU x86. Or, they have managed to optimize the device so heavily that the PS4 can run PS3 games in a Virtual Machine.

 

[klsdivan]

They are planning to support older generation's games through the cloud, although only the PS1 has the green light for now and they are hoping to add the PS2/3 to that.

 

[DragonClaw]

They are planning to support older generation's games through the cloud, although only the PS1 has the green light for now and they are hoping to add the PS2/3 to that.

Okay. That's cool. So the PS4 should be a true 86x Device. GTA 6 should run on the GTX 980 smoothly then.

 

[da3ndorphin3]

8 GB of Unified System Memory would mean memory available for processing + rendering is equal to 8 GB.
Or, it can also be 8GB GDDR5 of Graphics Memory + X GB DDRX of RAM.
Or, it uses the Memory used as RAM is nothing but the Graphics RAM it self. [:O. It's possible?]

But the word is, that the PlayStation 4 indeed uses GDDR5 Memory as the System RAM.

As for the Graphics Processing Power, the

GTX 580 has 1581.1 Gigaflops
GTX 590 has 2488.3 Gigaflops

GTX 660 has 1881.6 Gigaflops
GTX 670 has 2459.5 Gigaflops
GTX 680 has 3090.4 Gigaflops

PS 4 has 1843.2 Gigaflops

So again, a new gaming PC will beat the PS 4 in Graphics Processing [don't know about how PS4 will use the 8 GB Memory it has, but 680 has 4 GB GDDR5, and 690 has 2*4 GB GDDR5].

Even if the PS 4 has 8 GB DDR5 exclusive RAM, and considering the fact that GDDR 5 architecture is based on DDR3 SDRAM memory, 16 GB of DDR3 RAM on a PC will be pretty close [Not exactly perhaps, I do not know. GDDR5 is supposedly a huge boost].

Edit:
Just now found that 8GB of unified memory is being used. So, it's... "the Memory used as RAM is nothing but the Graphics RAM it self". Or may be the other-way round, which ever way you like to call it.

Thanks,
Rick

8GB of unified memory will be shared between GPU,CPU and OS.So probably OS with all this multi-tasking etc. would consume max of 2gb,gpu takes 2gb and they will have 4gb ram at disposal.Its a huge leap over current gen consoles. And its also developer-friendly(at least for PS4).
But still i dont think it will match the 2005/06 consoles when they were on par with highest most expensive pc hardware.PC-s have already minimum of 2-3gb gpu,8gb ram so like that has been told,launch game would be on par with crysis 3 graphics.
Although developers can develop games "hardware to the metal" for consoles and optimizing,also this would mean even a year after graphics would go from very high-high, few years low-medium.
Not impressed with games like killzone,destiny ,looks like pre-rendered sh*t.But still will be huge leap forward. It would be nice to know most important thing,if they manage to make analog sticks more precise...?is it even possible to do that?

 

[Bombhead]

Just like ALL previous consoles, bet they cut corners with the quality of heatsink and thermal grease. Meaning breakdowns due to overheating after weeks, maybe months, of use.

I'm not complaining, I won't buy one of the damn things, but I'll make some money repairing them. Gotta love the corporate ethic of 50% quality, 50% skimp.

 

[johndud]

I appreciate all the info, I watched a reveal trailer on a new capcom game and it looked really really good, it was said it was gameplay so I kinda freaked out and took to the forums!

http://www.***/b/news/archive/2013/02/20/capcom-announces-new-ip-for-ps4.aspx

 

[michaelmk86]

1152 shader units and 1,84 teraflops point to HD7850 specs

 

[DragonClaw]

8GB of unified memory will be shared between GPU,CPU and OS.So probably OS with all this multi-tasking etc. would consume max of 2gb,gpu takes 2gb and they will have 4gb ram at disposal.Its a huge leap over current gen consoles. And its also developer-friendly(at least for PS4).
But still i dont think it will match the 2005/06 consoles when they were on par with highest most expensive pc hardware.PC-s have already minimum of 2-3gb gpu,8gb ram so like that has been told,launch game would be on par with crysis 3 graphics.
Although developers can develop games "hardware to the metal" for consoles and optimizing,also this would mean even a year after graphics would go from very high-high, few years low-medium.
Not impressed with games like killzone,destiny ,looks like pre-rendered sh*t.But still will be huge leap forward. It would be nice to know most important thing,if they manage to make analog sticks more precise...?is it even possible to do that?

A huge leap over older gen consoles cannot be said. Both uses different architecture, and can not be compared based on their increasing order of values. PS4 being more close to PC, we can compare the specs directly with PC, unlike what we could not do for PS3.
Also, the memory can not be compared with even the modern day PCs, as none of the PCs use GDDR5 memory as System RAM.
GDDR5 Memory running at 1500 MHz, can transfer data at 48 GB/s [value based on high-end video card].
On the otherhand, a DDR3-3000 [the best specification] at 375 MHz can provide a maximum of 24 GB/s.

But again, as the 8 GB is shared between the GPU and the System, nothing can be said conclusively.


As for games looking awesome, they always do when seen in trailer videos.

Rick

 

[DragonClaw]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6770/sony-announces-playstation-4-pc-hardware-inside

Update: I've confirmed that there are 8 Jaguar based AMD CPU cores inside the PS4's APU. The CPU + GPU are on a single die. Jaguar will still likely have better performance than the PS3/Xbox 360's PowerPC cores, and it should be faster than anything ARM based out today, but there's not huge headroom going forward.

 

[da3ndorphin3]

A huge leap over older gen consoles cannot be said. Both uses different architecture, and can not be compared based on their increasing order of values. PS4 being more close to PC, we can compare the specs directly with PC, unlike what we could not do for PS3.
Also, the memory can not be compared with even the modern day PCs, as none of the PCs use GDDR5 memory as System RAM.
GDDR5 Memory running at 1500 MHz, can transfer data at 48 GB/s [value based on high-end video card].
On the otherhand, a DDR3-3000 [the best specification] at 375 MHz can provide a maximum of 24 GB/s.

But again, as the 8 GB is shared between the GPU and the System, nothing can be said conclusively.


As for games looking awesome, they always do when seen in trailer videos.

Rick

Yeah i like that 8gb gddr5,its gonna make open-world games much more bigger and full of life.I dont know how will graphics exactly be,every trailer/gameplay i looked was in compressed 720p video so its hard to say yet.I still remember looking trailer of Halo 4,it make me wow-ed but after i bought i was dissapointed,everything that was awesome was pre-rended video shortcuts.Maybe i was just expecting to much from officilal trailer/gameplay.

 

[da3ndorphin3]

1152 shader units and 1,84 teraflops point to HD7850 specs

I heard in some news they could even go with a new HD 8000 series. Something like 8770.Because of new architecture and low power consumption.

 

[johndud]

Yeah i like that 8gb gddr5,its gonna make open-world games much more bigger and full of life.I dont know how will graphics exactly be,every trailer/gameplay i looked was in compressed 720p video so its hard to say yet.I still remember looking trailer of Halo 4,it make me wow-ed but after i bought i was dissapointed,everything that was awesome was pre-rended video shortcuts.Maybe i was just expecting to much from officilal trailer/gameplay.

This wasn't compressed at all.

http://www.***/b/news/archive/2013 [...] r-ps4.aspx

 

[mathew7]

I should point out that x86 does not guarantee a smooth port between PC and console. Why? Because the game itself can be recompiled for any processor. It's the API of the OS (Windows vs. Sony's) and GPU that need adaptation.
Regarding current consoles, Xbox 360 ports to PCs were easiest because the PC target is MS-established (Windows-compatible APIs and DirectX).
For PS3, developers had to adapt their code to 2 different (and competing) beasts.

So again, the architecture by itself is irrelevant. It's the OS variety that creates problems.

 

[DragonClaw]

I should point out that x86 does not guarantee a smooth port between PC and console. Why? Because the game itself can be recompiled for any processor. It's the API of the OS (Windows vs. Sony's) and GPU that need adaptation.
Regarding current consoles, Xbox 360 ports to PCs were easiest because the PC target is MS-established (Windows-compatible APIs and DirectX).
For PS3, developers had to adapt their code to 2 different (and competing) beasts.

So again, the architecture by itself is irrelevant. It's the OS variety that creates problems.

But in general the consoles are starting to use hard-ware that's similar to PCs. Now expecting the X-Box 720 to have similar specs to the PS4 [they can not be widely different, there will surely be competition from the price point of view between PS and X-Box], and agreeing to what you say, porting X-Box 720 games to PC will be the most smooth task.
That should leave developers to investing time on optimizing the games to run on Windows better.

 

[da3ndorphin3]

Is it even possible to make analog stick more accurate on new consoles? I dont even remember if ps3 analog sticks controllers are more accurate then ps2 controllers?(i didnt play ps2 for like 7-8years)

 

[casualcolors]

Is it even possible to make analog stick more accurate on new consoles? I dont even remember if ps3 analog sticks controllers are more accurate then ps2 controllers?(i didnt play ps2 for like 7-8years)

Well... not really. You can change deadzones (although reducing them doesn't achieve much since they are set to compensate for the majority of people's comfort levels as well as to negate gameplay impact from stick wobble with age). What you can do most easily, and what Sony has actually done, is change the shape of the dome on the analog stick to make it easier to manipulate. Whether or not Sony's new design is an improvement will be a matter of opinion, but as long as the plastic isn't too slick I think it looks like an improvement.

The console itself is nothing exciting. It's roughly what everyone had been predicting all along. I think that the redesign of the controller (changing the shape of the analog sticks) as well as reshaping the triggers to meet with demands are the most important changes to me. Well, important so long as someone figures out how to get the controller working on Windows

 

[lostgamer_03]

It's going to have 2 times the performance of the PS3.

It will feature a next-gen AMD APU. The CPU will have 8-cores and each core will only be running at 1.6 GHz. The GPU is still kind of a mystery, but it's expected to be next-gen, as said before. No further details was shown.

8 GB of DDR5 memory.

It's what we can expect so far, so it's still a little unclear of the performance, but double of the PS3 would be kind of a budget - mid-range PC at this very moment I believe.

 

[casualcolors]

It's going to have 2 times the performance of the PS3.

It will feature a next-gen AMD APU. The CPU will have 8-cores and each core will only be running at 1.6 GHz. The GPU is still kind of a mystery, but it's expected to be next-gen, as said before. No further details was shown.

8 GB of DDR5 memory.

It's what we can expect so far, so it's still a little unclear of the performance, but double of the PS3 would be kind of a budget - mid-range PC at this very moment I believe.

I get the feeling it's also going to cost in the ballpark of a budget mid-range PC.

 

[lostgamer_03]

I get the feeling it's also going to cost in the ballpark of a budget mid-range PC.

Exactly, I heard it would be around 430-530$ and a proper mid-range PC would be about the price of 600$, so very close in terms of price. Though at the time it'll be released better hardware will probably be out and you can get a better PC for that kind of money.