Post: The real differences between PS4 and Xbox One performance
09-13-2013, 05:40 PM #1
rls1321
Pokemon Trainer
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PlayStation 4 is currently around 50 per cent faster than its rival Xbox One. Multiple high-level game development sources have described the difference in performance between the consoles as “significant” and “obvious.”

Our contacts have told us that memory reads on PS4 are 40-50 per cent quicker than Xbox One, and its ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit) is around 50 per cent faster. One basic example we were given suggested that without optimisation for either console, a platform-agnostic development build can run at around 30FPS in 1920×1080 on PS4, but it’ll run at “20-something” FPS in 1600×900 on Xbox One. “Xbox One is weaker and it’s a pain to use its ESRAM,” concluded one developer.

Microsoft is aware of the problem and, having recently upped the clock speed of Xbox One, is working hard to close the gap on PS4, though one developer we spoke to downplayed the move. “The clock speed update is not significant, it does not change things that much,” he said. “Of course, something is better than nothing.”

Even this close to launch, “the hardware isn’t locked,” said another source. Sony and Microsoft are each still working on the graphics drivers for each console, and Xbox One is lagging behind in this regard – Microsoft “has been late on their drivers and that has been hurting them,” said one source. Another described Xbox One’s graphics drivers less charitably as “horrible”. Both consoles’ graphics drivers will continue to improve right up to – and beyond – launch, which will even up the difference in performance a little.

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Xbox One does, however, boast superior performance to PS4 in other ways. “Let’s say you are using procedural generation or raytracing via parametric surfaces – that is, using a lot of memory writes and not much texturing or ALU – Xbox One will be likely be faster,” said one developer.

Both platform holders are, of course, encouraging developers to take advantage of each console’s unique features (the DualShock 4’s touch pad and Kinect, for example) but there’s little enthusiasm for either among the developers we spoke to. “They really want us to make use of platform specific stuff to give their version a leg up over the other,” said one source. “But unless there’s a good design reason or incentive we rarely do.”

Indeed, despite that gulf in speed, the differences between cross platform launch window games will be negligible; with tight deadlines to meet, it’s more expedient for developers to deliberately create near-identical versions.

“The poor [graphics] drivers have made it difficult to push either of them, and the developers aren’t familiar with the hardware yet,“ said one source. Another stated that we’ll begin to see far greater use of each platform’s unique features once we’re past the first wave of releases, when developers have more time and experience with each console’s quirks.

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One source even suggested that enforcing parity across consoles could become a political issue between platform holders, developers and publishers. They said that it could damage perceptions of a cross platform title, not to mention Xbox One, if the PS4 version shipped with an obviously superior resolution and framerate; better to “castrate” the PS4 version and release near-identical games to avoid ruffling any feathers.

This claim was later countered by a contact at a different studio. “It would be totally fine for us to make one version prettier without any political difficulties but it usually doesn’t make financial sense,” they said, “unless it’s a very simple tweak.”

The difference between cross platform launch window games will be small, and improved graphics drivers plus the power of the cloud might yet tip the balance in Xbox One’s favour. Nonetheless, at launch, PS4 will be the more capable console.

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... sorry I didn't put the source in here in the first place for those people that are sensitive to that kind of stuff

and I liked what this dude had to say about this
Originally posted by another user
Please let us know what source said they would "“castrate” the PS4 version" I would like to avoid purchasing any title from them.
They are not "castrating" the PC version to be on par with the consoles so there is no reason to limit the PS4 because of a weaker XB1.
I would consider this laziness on the part of the developer and pandering to MS. A developer who does not use the hardware to the best of its ability is a developer which I will avoid.
Last edited by rls1321 ; 09-13-2013 at 06:38 PM.

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The Epic
09-13-2013, 06:08 PM #2
copy paste ...this dumbass even copy pasted the first comment from the article and didnt care to include the source lol
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09-13-2013, 06:11 PM #3
GUESS_HU
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Originally posted by rls1321 View Post
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PlayStation 4 is currently around 50 per cent faster than its rival Xbox One. Multiple high-level game development sources have described the difference in performance between the consoles as “significant” and “obvious.”

Our contacts have told us that memory reads on PS4 are 40-50 per cent quicker than Xbox One, and its ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit) is around 50 per cent faster. One basic example we were given suggested that without optimisation for either console, a platform-agnostic development build can run at around 30FPS in 1920×1080 on PS4, but it’ll run at “20-something” FPS in 1600×900 on Xbox One. “Xbox One is weaker and it’s a pain to use its ESRAM,” concluded one developer.

Microsoft is aware of the problem and, having recently upped the clock speed of Xbox One, is working hard to close the gap on PS4, though one developer we spoke to downplayed the move. “The clock speed update is not significant, it does not change things that much,” he said. “Of course, something is better than nothing.”

Even this close to launch, “the hardware isn’t locked,” said another source. Sony and Microsoft are each still working on the graphics drivers for each console, and Xbox One is lagging behind in this regard – Microsoft “has been late on their drivers and that has been hurting them,” said one source. Another described Xbox One’s graphics drivers less charitably as “horrible”. Both consoles’ graphics drivers will continue to improve right up to – and beyond – launch, which will even up the difference in performance a little.

You must login or register to view this content.

Xbox One does, however, boast superior performance to PS4 in other ways. “Let’s say you are using procedural generation or raytracing via parametric surfaces – that is, using a lot of memory writes and not much texturing or ALU – Xbox One will be likely be faster,” said one developer.

Both platform holders are, of course, encouraging developers to take advantage of each console’s unique features (the DualShock 4’s touch pad and Kinect, for example) but there’s little enthusiasm for either among the developers we spoke to. “They really want us to make use of platform specific stuff to give their version a leg up over the other,” said one source. “But unless there’s a good design reason or incentive we rarely do.”

Indeed, despite that gulf in speed, the differences between cross platform launch window games will be negligible; with tight deadlines to meet, it’s more expedient for developers to deliberately create near-identical versions.

“The poor [graphics] drivers have made it difficult to push either of them, and the developers aren’t familiar with the hardware yet,“ said one source. Another stated that we’ll begin to see far greater use of each platform’s unique features once we’re past the first wave of releases, when developers have more time and experience with each console’s quirks.

You must login or register to view this content.

One source even suggested that enforcing parity across consoles could become a political issue between platform holders, developers and publishers. They said that it could damage perceptions of a cross platform title, not to mention Xbox One, if the PS4 version shipped with an obviously superior resolution and framerate; better to “castrate” the PS4 version and release near-identical games to avoid ruffling any feathers.

This claim was later countered by a contact at a different studio. “It would be totally fine for us to make one version prettier without any political difficulties but it usually doesn’t make financial sense,” they said, “unless it’s a very simple tweak.”

The difference between cross platform launch window games will be small, and improved graphics drivers plus the power of the cloud might yet tip the balance in Xbox One’s favour. Nonetheless, at launch, PS4 will be the more capable console.


Nice write up and a very good read Smile. This is beginning to look like the PS3 and Xbox 360 issues, where the PS3 had more power and the ability to have better graphics but the developers coded most games to Xbox 360 and ported it to PS3 thus making the PS3 'LOOK' like a crap console. If the developers used all of the PS3's 7 cores, instead of using Xbox's 3 cores (correct me if im wrong) then porting it, then the PS3 would of had AMAZING titles without framerate lag or any graphical issue and the games would look a lot better than on Xbox 360.
09-13-2013, 08:03 PM #4
Jango
I love my kitteh
tltr; the real difference is one is overpriced and the other is not.
09-14-2013, 02:41 AM #5
iTruceFret
[move]From now on, call me DRAGON.[/move]
This forum is a favored Sony gaming site. 90% of you will choose Sonys PS4 over Microsoft's shit box. But statistics are fact. Fuck you Microsoft. Your system is shit.
10-14-2013, 05:01 AM #6
Channel
Do a barrel roll!
thanks for sharing that, its important to know the differences even if my choice is settled for the begining ^^

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