PS4 Will Out-Power Most PCs For Years To Come

Oh come on, how can a developer actually say something this stupid? Let's just hope this guy was misquoted or his statement was taken out of context.

“It’s a perfect fit for the types of games we do, and we are confident that we’ll bring open-world gaming to a whole new level because of it. I’m glad Sony decided to go with 8gb RAM because it means that the PS4 will out-power most PC’s for years to come.

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And I saw pigs flying this morning too....

Saw that on twitter yesterday, facepalmed through my skull.

Then i saw that he said "most", so now i am heading to the Steam's Survey:

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

If you take it from here, you would kinda agree... in a very twisted way, as we all know that even if they are running steam, they aren't necessary even "entry lvl" gaming pc's (and most can be e-machines or laptops which shouldn't be compared to the ps4).

Cue word "most"

Its a 4 core/8 module CPU with a 18CU AMD GCN architecture and 8Gb of GDDR5 ram. I dont think hes necessarily wrong, 8Gb of ram with 172Gb/s of bandwidth to the CPU, with full freedom to use it as you wish, will allow some very cool open world things.

It wont overpower enthusiest PC's but def most all dell and HP's.

"My console has more RAMs than yours. It's sooo much more powerful, nub!!!"

Without reading the article, let me just say this: I'm a developer who spends 12+ hours a day on my computers, I'll have 2-3 IDEs open, Photoshop, browser with 15 tabs, music, and a whole bunch of other stuff, and my computer is running a QX9650 with only 4 gigs of RAM. I upgraded my video card when BF3 came out, and it played that perfectly fine. I honestly don't see me upgrading this computer for a few years.

I think the point is that the vast majority of casual gamers aren't going to be running rigs with the latest and greatest, so they're going to be playing these games on the lowest quality, if at all. My parents are still on a Pentium D with 1 gig of RAM even though I've offered to get them something better for 6 years now. As long as it plays the games they want, they're happy.

This guy is probably saying that it's going to be quite some time before the average PC meets the specs provided by the PS4, therefore it makes it easier to go all-out on a system instead of playing to the lowest common denominator.

Knowing that every single PS4 has 8GB of GDDR5 memory is something that not every single PC has. There is an advantage there.

I honestly took his remarks to mean regarding the RAM.
Most users out there have 2 GB of RAM and people are starting to move to four.

Here at the [H] it's easy to forget we are not the norm with 8GB or 16GB and even 32GB of RAM.

When I re-read the comments I really think he was focusing on the amount of RAM when he said it out-power PCs for years to come. In that regard, he is right.

I have many PC's.

one of them a P4 with a gt6200 PCI. Still serves me to this day.

my laptop will outperform the ps4 when it comes out.

So silly

I believe I've had 8 GB of RAM in my computer for 5-6 years now. I don't think I go overkill on the amount of RAM, either, since I stuck with the same amount in my new build.

There is nothing to be misquoted about. He is absolutely correct.

My parents, my brother's family, my sister's family and even a computer in my living room have old pentium processors with 2-4gb worth of DDR2. I would venture to say that MOST CASUAL people have something similar and don't need all the horsepower that my 680's can offer. Hell even casual gamers (cause that's honestly all the xbox and playstation are - for casual gaming) probably don't even have a dedicated GPU in their systems, so this statement is absolutely correct.

Malkizadek said:

And I saw pigs flying this morning too....

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did you play bad piggies on your iphone or what?

I consider myself an enthusiast and from what it sounds like the PS4 will out power my rig. I currently have 8gb of ram with a Phenom2 955 and a GTX275. But then again I'm likely an old man vs most people on this forum and don't have the time to game like I used to a decade ago.

It will be faster than a typical PC for years to come. However it won't be faster than PCs that people like us own.

My 30month old rig that's had a few upgrades along the way ON PAPER is more powerful than the PS4. The only exception would be the GDDR5, but it's obvious to see why it had GDDR5 RAM. Look at some AMD APU benchmarks that concentrate on RAM speed - the APU scales very well with RAM. Lets also not forget that they were rumoured to have 4GB of RAM and suddenly came out with 8 (probably in response to the 8 that's going in the Xbox) - it was probably too late in development to have separate system and video RAM so they just shoved 8 in.

Maybe if the Xbox comes out with a console that only uses GDDR5 we'll be able to buy GDDR5 RAM sticks for our systems!

Cant compare console gaming to PC.
Apples to Oranges.
They are pushing consoles because they are always cheaper than PC's for a reason.
PC Gaming has always been considered an enthusiast sport costing thousands not mere hundreds.
There are reasons why certain things cost more than others.
Lets not compare BMW's to Lamborghini's.
Thats just silly.

It's not stupid at all unless you're only going by the headlines. He makes perfect sense.

It wont have the raw HP that most enthusiest PC's have, but it should be a much more efficient machine than most enthusiest machines if not for it's memory configuration alone. Then on top of that, not having to allocate 'X' amount of CPU/GPU cycles and memory for a general use OS... and then not to forget that developers will be able to squeeze more performance from a console than a similar spec'd PC because they're only catering to one hardware config.

Knowing that every single PS4 has 8GB of GDDR5 memory is something that not every single PC has. There is an advantage there.

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That's a HUGE advantage. When software engineers and designers know that they have 8gb of memory to work with, they'll be taking advantage of it. On the PC, they have to make sure they're catering to folks with 512MB, 768MB, 1Gb and so on and will have to make some sacrifices to accomidate that.

With that said... it wont last long IMO (as long as the economy picks up a bit). But for a little while, the PS4 will likely be the best bang for the buck in terms of price for performance.

It will out-power most PCs. It won't out-power most gaming PCs, though. And, to me, that's apples and oranges. Just "having a PC" does not make you a gamer in any way, shape or form.

Dekarx said:

It will out-power most PCs. It won't out-power most gaming PCs, though. And, to me, that's apples and oranges. Just "having a PC" does not make you a gamer in any way, shape or form.

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And here I thought playing games regularly made you a gamer....

Its a glib and unfair comparison because "most" PC's are not used for gaming whereas consoles generally are. The fact of the matter is that "most" "gaming" PC's, that is PC's built or purchased for the primary purpose of playing games, will still stomp all over the PS4.

I’m glad Sony decided to go with 8gb RAM because it means that the PS4 will out-power most PC’s for years to come.

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You know, technically this is true. The problem is, this is true mainly for the PC's that people like my grandma use, and not the typical gamer. Gamers unlike my grandma do more than check their email and browse the interwebs.

I think he's correct when you actually consider what "most PCs" are... Hell I'd even go so far as to say current PS/XBOX out-power "most PCs"... but of course if there are some statistics on this that would be interesting to look at.

I'm going to guess if this guy is pressed he will quote some global market share survey that says 80% of the world is running a 32 bit OS which cannot take advantage of more than 4gb of ram. So while here in America, most gamers will have more than 8gb of ram within the next few years, and most (at least per steam survey) are already on 64-bit OS's. This guy is probably right if you count every fucking computer in the world.

Steve said:

Oh come on, how can a developer actually say something this stupid? Let's just hope this guy was misquoted or his statement was taken out of context.

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Well, he's right, sort of. Considering most PCs have mediocre intel integrated graphics, less than 4gb of ram and slow hard drives. Plus windows XP without updates.

Flame on!



I mean seriously, a console is a console. It has reasonable specs at launch and is immediately overshadowed by PC in terms of performance. Actually in this case, it's already way behind PC, by release it should be roughly two years behind PC tech.

That's not a bad thing, it's a damn console. Go plug it into your TV, pay more for games and get screwed on countless other things. However it's convenient, and big companies are happy to capitalize on that.

I really hope Steam boxes catch on, bringing power back to users. I mean why the fuck wouldn't I want my Steam library on my desktop and in my living room? I know most users don't give a rats ass and just want to pay to make their troubles go away. But that serves two things only, a lust for instant gratification and giving big companies more power with your money.

Some may cite exclusives, however I would say that exclusives have not provided enough entertainment to justify the consoles I've purchased. I hardly use them at all, I probably won't be grabbing next gens. I did grab the Wii U, but that's a great drinking console.

Apparently 8GB of unified system RAM is all you'll ever need... for years to come.

I still don't get how having more RAM makes it more powerful than most everyday computers.
You can throw in 128GB of RAM and that will mean fuck all.

Stoly said:

Well, he's right, sort of. Considering most PCs have mediocre intel integrated graphics, less than 4gb of ram and slow hard drives. Plus windows XP without updates.

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Of course he's right, but its still a stupid comparison...like saying a formula 1 race car is faster than 99% of urban vehicles sold to consumers. Well no shit its faster, you are comparing something purpose built for racing around a circuit versus an urban runabout vehicle that never needs to drive faster than 170 km/h.

face2palm said:

I still don't get how having more RAM makes it more powerful than most everyday computers.
You can throw in 128GB of RAM and that will mean fuck all.

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Exactly. He has no idea what the hell he's talking about.

RAM size has little to do with the system's performance. More RAM is going to magically execute the instructions itself.

face2palm said:

I still don't get how having more RAM makes it more powerful than most everyday computers.

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I don't get how it wouldn't make it more powerful. I guess the term "powerful" might mean something different to some people. I don't think of it as "processing power"... but if game worlds can be bigger and more detailed because of more RAM, and faster to load with less "pop-in" I'd say that's more powerful. Of course, we'll all soon see what advantages the PS4 will bring.... or, if it's not so obvious, we'll not and chuckle like we did with PS3's "cell"

erexx said:

Apparently 8GB of unified system RAM is all you'll ever need... for years to come.

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If you consider the PS3 has 512MB RAM (256MB XDR + 256MB DDR3) and can still produce some arguably great graphics.. think of what 8GB GDDR5 with the PS4, plus updated CPU and GPU will do.

Legit 1080p rendering. Higher resolution textures. Hopefully some damn AA finally.. among other things. I'm no console fanboy by any means, but that is a huge upgrade.

face2palm said:

I still don't get how having more RAM makes it more powerful than most everyday computers.
You can throw in 128GB of RAM and that will mean fuck all.

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Not just ram... it's using GDDR5 for both the CPU and GPU. According to Sony's marketing (Which I take with a giant grain of salt) claims a bandwidth of 'up to' 176GB/s.

You can throw 128GB of DDR3 memory in a PC (on top of what ever dedicated vRam you have installed on the GPU), but if a developer chooses not to take advantage of it, then what good is it? If 0.0001% of your target audience has that much memory installed, why would said developer care about supporting it? On the flip side, with the PS4, 100% of all users will have 8GB of GDDR5... so they'd be dumb not to take advantage of that.

I think some of you guys are failing to read between the lines. Just about any PC should have more raw HP... but it's the combination that will make the PS4 an attractive gaming platform for gamers and developers. Compare it to a topfuel dragster versus an F1 car. Both are beasts.... and they have similar AND very different purposes.

The Gonz said:

I honestly took his remarks to mean regarding the RAM.
Most users out there have 2 GB of RAM and people are starting to move to four.

Here at the [H] it's easy to forget we are not the norm with 8GB or 16GB and even 32GB of RAM.

When I re-read the comments I really think he was focusing on the amount of RAM when he said it out-power PCs for years to come. In that regard, he is right.

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That's something [H] readers have to understand, the PC in front of them aren't the norm. Remember, most people aren't buying desktop or top of the line laptops. For over $300, a laptop will come with a Pentium B960, and 4 gigs of ram. This is what I find in my local MicroCenter. For most people, this is all they'll need.

Compared to the PS4 where you'll get 8 Jaguar cores with a 8 gigs of ram, and decent graphics to boot. Even a similar priced desktop can't be found with specs anywhere near that of the PS4 for that price range.

Though by the time the PS4 is released who's to say? Especially with Valve making their Steam box. Also, this will drive PC makers to improve their specs at least, when the demand is there. Then there's the community hacking the PS4 and turning it into a cheap PC. That won't go well with Sony.

In terms of gaming power, yes, the PS4 will indeed out perform most PCs overall for years to come. However, most PCs have a mid-grade CPU at best and integrated graphics. Gamings PCs on the other hand are a different story...

bigdogchris said:

Knowing that every single PS4 has 8GB of GDDR5 memory is something that not every single PC has. There is an advantage there.

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I'm delighted by the ps4 because by going x86 with AMD, developers (most developers I've worked with have fairly old/underpowered systems because the most demanding thing they do all day is to stare at their code as they write it) can once again make the PC their primary development platform (Which should already be the case anyway.) People have to remember that the "8 gigs" of ram is shared between the cpu and the gpu, which effectively lowers the amount of ram usable by the cpu depending on the resolution & effects (FSAA, etc.) used by the gpu. So, are developers going to be making games that cannot run on most PCs because they will not have enough ram? No--if they have any sense, that is...

Anybody know anything concrete about the internal bus widths and speeds of the PS4? I checked here and a couple of other places and didn't see anything relating to this information. Without that information it is impossible to make assumptions about the relative performance of the PS4--AMD has already stated it's using a "semi-custom" design, so we really cannot precisely extrapolate its performance relative to AMD's stock hardware.

My box at home, for instance, has 8 gigs of dual-channel DDR3 running at 1800MHz (1600MHz overclocked.) I paid $49.99 for all 8 gigs. My gpu also has 1 gig of dedicated GDDR5 on board, and it is ~3 years old. Since the ram in the PS4 is shared between the gpu and the cpu, what's introduced is a phenomenon known as "bus contention" as the cpu & gpu "fight" over access to the shared pool of ram... This slows things down in comparison to the situation in which the cpu's pool of ram is dedicated & the gpu's pool of ram is dedicated, as is found in most gaming PCs (regardless of what Win7 & 8 "report" about shared graphics ram--in hardware the pools are separate and dedicated.)

GDDR5 in the PS4 is likely used to offset the kind of limitations we're going to see (as compared to gaming computers) in terms of bus widths and speeds, etc. My guess is that the use of GDDR5 in the PS4 is not optional but is necessary for purposes of achieving adequate performance. Consoles are always economic propositions that save money and cut corners wherever they can. Gaming PCs are economic propositions, too, only not so much as consoles.

Very simply, any performance assumptions made about any computing device merely on the basis of the total amount of ram installed are dead wrong, obviously (eg my 6-core Vishera isn't going to perform as well as a 6-core i7 3960 Extreme HT even *if* I'm running 8 gigs of ram and the i7 is running with half of that.)

Who cares? It's a Sony product, low quality and poor customer support. That means it does not matter how much RAM or what processor it has if it is broken and won't even turn on or is being sent in for repairs.

While it won't out power the majority of computers here at [H], we are still a very small sample size of the general population.

You'd be amazed how many families are still running systems that we at [H] wouldn't give to our worst enemies.

For example, my father JUST discovered multi-core CPU's and thinks he's on top of the world. My grandfather is using an Mac G3, still.

I know this is all rumor, but to what will the PS4 be comparable to (PC that is)? cpu, ram, gpu?

You are all very silly thinking that he meant the 8gb of ram is what makes this console more powerful than most pc's out there.