Anandtech XB1 PS4 CPU/Video/Memory Performance Evaluation

[PliotronX]

Memory bandwidth isn't really a big deal here. It would have been, had the XB1 come with 32 ROPs, but with 16, the problem is essentially alleviated. ROPs are huge consumers of bandwidth, and when a GPU is bandwidth starved, it's almost always because of the ROPs. There's a good reason that AMD chose to feed their 32 ROPs in Tahiti with an extra 64 bit memory controller -- they couldn't get their memory bus speeds high enough to keep the ROPs fed, so they had to get extra bandwidth from somewhere. (This was likely more of a design decision rather than a "couldn't do it" sort of thing, but my point remains: ROPs are very bandwidth-hungry).

My biggest issue with the consoles, at least from a performance perspective, is their idle power. I don't actually care about the consoles at all, so the specs are rather meaningless to me, but that idle power draw is something out of pre-power-gating 2006. It's bothersome for me to see processors that are going to be in tens of millions of systems, if not more, that have such awful power draw at idle. It's just plain wrong that so many years have gone by and these things still hog that much power doing next to nothing. I blame the software though, and not the silicon. I really hope that there are some software updates that clamp down on idle and standby power.

Ahhh come now, the TV's they hook up to draw more power when they're on. Laptops draw more when charging. We're getting more and more alternative energy sources every year.

 

[Homeles]

Ahhh come now, the TV's they hook up to draw more power when they're on. Laptops draw more when charging. We're getting more and more alternative energy sources every year.

Just because others are "sinning" doesn't mean you should. Pardon the "extreme" word choice, but I hope my point is clear.

It's just really bizarre that there's zero improvement, or regression even, over the last generation.

 

[PliotronX]

Just because others are "sinning" doesn't mean you should. Pardon the "extreme" word choice, but I hope my point is clear.

It's just really bizarre that there's zero improvement, or regression even, over the last generation.

I understand what you're putting out there, the lack of improvement is disconcerting but really, we're sitting here typing on PC's probably using twice the power playing music through a sound system using more power. It's a nonissue when helium escaping is a bigger problem.

 

[Rickyyy369]

God that Xbox One looks awful.. It looks like 720p with no AA at medium settings. Jaggies all over the place. The PS4 looks rather impressive in comparison.

 

[PliotronX]

God that Xbox One looks awful.. It looks like 720p with no AA at medium settings. Jaggies all over the place. The PS4 looks rather impressive in comparison.

That's what I'm talking about, it seems MS has lost focus on games which they did best last round in favor of this "home entertainment vision." A Roku is much cheaper and smaller and natively compatible with Plex.

 

[Obsoleet]

The single fact that neither the PS4 or Xbox One can run a growing number of titles in 1080p. Not to mention the medium settings or below mixed with for example 720p. Plus the dynamic downscaling even further when the game gets more demanding. Thats seriously a dissapointment. Specially when both consoles have been announced from both companies to last atleast 10 years.

And to the OP, BF4 runs at medium settings at best on consoles. And lower res.

Wow. You actually sold me on the PS4 over PC. $400 and I'm done, for that IQ?? That's a great deal.

 

[5150Joker]

Wow. You actually sold me on the PS4 over PC. $400 and I'm done, for that IQ?? That's a great deal.

The PS4 is using blurry fxaa. If that impresses you, then your bar is set pretty low for IQ.

 

[BallaTheFeared]

Wow. You actually sold me on the PS4 over PC. $400 and I'm done, for that IQ?? That's a great deal.

All you'd have to do is spend $125 on a 2GB 7850 and your PC would already be as good if not better. But you're moving to an APU, so obviously your idea of good enough is far below what the typical PC gamer feels is required to say the same.

 

[blackened23]

All you'd have to do is spend $125 on a 2GB 7850 and your PC would already be as good if not better. But you're moving to an APU, so obviously your idea of good enough is far below what the typical PC gamer feels is required to say the same.

I'm not so sure. I toyed around with a buddies PS4 and I played BF4 on it, which was highly impressive. Very impressive in fact - it looks pretty darn amazing, and is 1080p / 60 fps in 64 player MP. Now, I don't know what a 7850 would do but 60 fps 1080p in 64 player MP? That may be questionable.

Obviously the PC version will look better with super high end hardware, but I really think a PS4 outdoes the 7850. Honestly, the PS4 beat my expectations with AC4 and BF4, they really do look great *and* they have AA (on the PS4 at least) - They really do look jaw droppingly good for a console games I guess, you really have to see it first hand. I know you'll want to say "but PC is better" and yes, a high end PC is better. No question. I don't think a 7850 is though. All around i'm looking forward to PS4 exclusives to see what the hardware can really do based on the early good showing.

 

[sniffin]

The PS4 is using blurry fxaa. If that impresses you, then your bar is set pretty low for IQ.

I only run FXAA in BF4 with a 7970. Does the job with no perf hit and I stay closer to glorious 120fps. If you're under 100fps while running Ultra and MSAA youre doing yourself a disservice unless you stare at rays while you play. High + FXAA is 95% of the IQ and a ton more fps

edit: I'm assuming Post Processing is FXAA in BF4. And the option allows you to adjust FXAA quality

 

[BallaTheFeared]

I'm not so sure. I toyed around with a buddies PS4 and I played BF4 on it, which was highly impressive. Very impressive in fact - it looks pretty darn amazing, and is 1080p / 60 fps in 64 player MP. Now, I don't know what a 7850 would do but 60 fps 1080p in 64 player MP? That may be questionable.

Obviously the PC version will look better with super high end hardware, but I really think a PS4 outdoes the 7850. Honestly, the PS4 beat my expectations with AC4 and BF4, they really do look great *and* they have AA (on the PS4 at least) - They really do look jaw droppingly good for a console games I guess, you really have to see it first hand. I know you'll want to say "but PC is better" and yes, a high end PC is better. No question. I don't think a 7850 is though. All around i'm looking forward to PS4 exclusives to see what the hardware can really do based on the early good showing.

They can't maintain 60 fps in SP, what makes you think they're doing it in 64 MP?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWzkw32amOM

Also it runs at 900p, not 1080p.

7850 OC will give you more horsepower, assuming your CPU isn't necking it's probably going to give you similar/better IQ output. This is pre Mantle, of course.

 

[AnandThenMan]

I'm really impressed by the multitasking of the Xbone, have not seen the PS4 in action yet.

 

[PliotronX]

I'm really impressed by the multitasking of the Xbone, have not seen the PS4 in action yet.

Multitasking is the PC's domain though. When I fire up a game console it's not to multitask... JMO

 

[Erenhardt]

7850 OC will give you more horsepower, assuming your CPU isn't necking it's probably going to give you similar/better IQ output. This is pre Mantle, of course.

Plain 7850 is slower then PS4 APU. Previously you said 7850 is better for average joe than ps4. Now, you expect him to overclock his system to match ps4 specs?

You cant put 'console' and 'overclock' in one sentence. These are two different worlds.

PS4 is pretty impressive gaming device for the price. Ofc, you could build better PC for the same money, getting used parts, cutting it thin. But a console is a one solid package. There is no issue solving, driver upgrade/downgrade, multiple parts that can fail and need to be replaced.

I think that generation is more exciting than previous one. We have so different systems now. Picking up one means not having some nice features of the other system. Such a trade-offs, its hard to decide.

 

[Erenhardt]

Multitasking is the PC's domain though. When I fire up a game console it's not to multitask... JMO

Wrong. Xbone is for living room. So many times, back when I had PSX, I had to skip my games, because my parents wanted to watch News or something. To do this I had to puse/save and unplug the console from TV, put "cable" cable back in... way too much hassle.

With Xbox, you don't even need your remote to change from game to TV in seconds.

 

[Ferzerp]

I really hope that there are some software updates that clamp down on idle and standby power.

The "idle" power on both consoles is higher than my little HTPC displaying 1 cable channel to connected TV and streaming or recording 3 others......


It's a little insane.

 

[Erenhardt]

The "standby" power on both consoles is higher than my little HTPC displaying 1 cable channel to connected TV and streaming or recording 3 others......


It's a little insane.

Is it recording on SSD? Otherwise I can't see how your system consumes less than 15Watts (9for PS4) with hard drive that uses 6W. Or doesn't NAS count in power consumption?

 

[Kallogan]

Games from google store on my 60 euros Android mini pc key look better than consoles. And i can play at real 1080p with keyboard and mouse lol. 8W at full load lol.

 

[AnandThenMan]

Multitasking is the PC's domain though. When I fire up a game console it's not to multitask... JMO

That is not the mission of the Xbone at all, watch some videos of the Xbox One in action. It does a great job of going between games, TV, encoding/uploading game clips etc. the multitasking is fast and seamless. Very impressive considering the Jaguar cores are supposedly "weak" and the CPU in general is supposed to be "slow".

 

[Ferzerp]

Is it recording on SSD? Otherwise I can't see how your system consumes less than 15Watts (9for PS4) with hard drive that uses 6W. Or doesn't NAS count in power consumption?

See my edit, I typed standby but meant idle.

 

[sm625]

Ahhh come now, the TV's they hook up to draw more power when they're on. Laptops draw more when charging. We're getting more and more alternative energy sources every year.

Smoke what? US energy consumption peaked more than 5 years ago. We've gone from a historical rising trend of 1% to a decline. Our energy consumption is now more than 10% below the 50+ year historical trendline that was broken in 2008. There is no energy source rising up to replace what is going away. Natural gas consumption is at 50 year lows. (see Figure 2.2 of The EIA Nove 2013 Short Term Energy Outlook. ) I think we should be very concerned about the idle power of these consoles.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Their idle power is really bad. Even my PC is around half of the PS4.

And specially in a more energy conserving aware world. They slip on this?

As the article state, even IB-E+Titan idles at lower than the PS4.

 

[Erenhardt]

It probably mines bitcoins in the meantime. Sneaky bastards!

 

[Ferzerp]

Their idle power is really bad. Even my PC is around half of the PS4.

And specially in a more energy conserving aware world. They slip on this?

As the article state, even IB-E+Titan idles at lower than the PS4.

I'm not sure why you're specifically calling out the ps4. Both are atrocious.

My gaming PC idles around the same as the PS4 (within 5W or so), and it's a power hog with all the extra cooling (2 "hybrid" coolers), and 3 drives, and 2 GPUs, twice the memory, far more processing power, etc.


edit: The load power usage numbers aren't bad, I'm just a little baffled why the idle is so poor.

 

[ShintaiDK]

I'm not sure why you're specifically calling out the ps4. Both are atrocious.

My gaming PC idles around the same as the PS4 (within 5W or so), and it's a power hog with all the extra cooling (2 "hybrid" coolers), and 3 drives, and 2 GPUs, twice the memory, far more processing power, etc.

Calling out on the PS4? Half of the PS4 was simply above what my PC uses in idle for sure.