Pro and Con of owning a PS4?

[gorcorps]

I assume this is related to the consoles' SATA II interfaces, rather than going SATA III, right?

I'm not entirely sure where the bottleneck is, but from reports I read there isn't the noticeable change you'd see from a PC installation.

I should note that IIRC this conclusion was based off of loading times of games. I believe the console is loading assets to RAM at this point, so the limitation might be memory based. I'm really not sure how the PS4 handles this so it's all speculation on my end. I just know it had to do with loading times of digital games downloaded to the HDD.

 

[Aikouka]

I think he meant external that the 3.5" is preferable.

Yeah, that's what I meant. I'd prefer a 3.5" external for its speed, but I don't need yet another power adapter plugged into my UPS. That's why I prefer an internal replacement. To note, it is possible to get a 7200RPM 2.5" internal drive, but I don't think there's a 2TB one.

 

[Lil Frier]

I'm not entirely sure where the bottleneck is, but from reports I read there isn't the noticeable change you'd see from a PC installation.

I should note that IIRC this conclusion was based off of loading times of games. I believe the console is loading assets to RAM at this point, so the limitation might be memory based. I'm really not sure how the PS4 handles this so it's all speculation on my end. I just know it had to do with loading times of digital games downloaded to the HDD.

I don't know how the RAM would be the issue. The whole show-off has been that the PS4's big win on the hardware side is that GDDR5 memory, so I don't see what would make that a bottleneck vs. a PC's DDR3 memory (from the perspective of how a PC gets much faster with a SSD, but a PS4 doesn't).

Just to take a guess, could it be a combination of a clunky OS and some rather weak CPU cores?

 

[cmdrdredd]

Does the SATA controller run on the CPU?

 

[Madia]

Is the game that you get for free with PS plus actual paid games or is it like Steam where there are hundred of free games?

The PS+ games are actual games that you can play as long as you're a PS+ subscriber. Honestly most of the good deals have been with PS3 but so far this year I've picked up Infamous First Light, Transistor, Oddworld, MGSV ground zero among others. The main problem is PS4 doesn't have a huge library so most are indie games (albeit very good ones) or games that have retailed for less than $60. I'm guessing they'll eventually put something like Killzone: Shadow Fall on there soon.

My only regret is that I didn't upgrade the hard drive when I bought it. 500gigs turns out to not be much, and there's no way to back up game downloads. So I want to upgrade it but I also don't want to have to redownload and install all of my games and updates. Bah

I went through the process and it wasn't much of a hassle to reinstall everything. I backed up all my saves to a flash drive and was only playing one game at the time so that was the first I installed. The rest I installed while I was doing other things and downloaded everything overnight. The problem is that the longer you put off upgrading the hard drive the more of a pain it's going to be.

 

[cmdrdredd]

When I upgraded my HDD I backed up everything to an external usb drive and restored from that backup after I installed the system from a thumb drive. I didn't have to download anything again.

Basically you do a full system backup to an external drive. Install your new HDD in the system. Download the system software from the website and put it on a flash drive. Start the ps4 in safe mode and initialize it. The system will format the HDD and install the system software on it. Then it starts up like a new console. Simply restore from the backup and you will be back to how it was prior to the HDD upgrade except with more space now.

I put a 1TB seagate SSHD in the ps4 and use the 500GB drive I removed as an external drive for the Xbox one with a usb3.0 drive dock. So now both my consoles have 1TB of space which is actually very useful. I didn't think I would fill 500GB if I deleted games I wasn't playing but with all the bonus games from xbl gold and psn+ that I keep installed, space is used up quickly.

 

[sze5003]

When I upgraded my HDD I backed up everything to an external usb drive and restored from that backup after I installed the system from a thumb drive. I didn't have to download anything again.

Basically you do a full system backup to an external drive. Install your new HDD in the system. Download the system software from the website and put it on a flash drive. Start the ps4 in safe mode and initialize it. The system will format the HDD and install the system software on it. Then it starts up like a new console. Simply restore from the backup and you will be back to how it was prior to the HDD upgrade except with more space now.

I put a 1TB seagate SSHD in the ps4 and use the 500GB drive I removed as an external drive for the Xbox one with a usb3.0 drive dock. So now both my consoles have 1TB of space which is actually very useful. I didn't think I would fill 500GB if I deleted games I wasn't playing but with all the bonus games from xbl gold and psn+ that I keep installed, space is used up quickly.

Yup the new update features a backup you just have to select applications so it backs up your installed games.

 

[balloonshark]

Edit: Oops, wrong topic.

 

[TeknoBug]

Pro:
- you can upgrade the HDD yourself
- small form factor
- runs cool (although games like Project CARS being played for 3+ hours makes the PS4 get hot)
- fast boot and fast game installation from disc
- DS4 controller feels great and is good in most game genres (XB1 controller with asymmetrical sticks is better for FPS gaming)
- DS4 allows headset with full audio, freeing the need to plug it in from an audio source
- UI is straight forward and tidy (although PS3's XMB UI was a lot better)
- Direct video upload to Youtube and nice on-the-fly recording features

Con:
- PS store often flaky
- PSN going down too often (LizardSquad)
- no Gran Turismo game yet
- PS Now is a ripoff
- DS4 battery life is short
- Game download is slow often (can sometimes be fixed via MTU and DNS settings)
- Shareplay still needs work

And I have more cons than pros for the XB1. lol

PS- both XB1 and PS4 uses SATA 2 but USB 3, a USB3 with a SATA 3 HDD in it will be quite a bit faster than the internal HDD in both systems. But even putting in a SATA 3 7200rpm 2.5" 1TB HDD into my PS4 I saw an improvement in game loads, but game loads will still be faster via a USB external HDD.

 

[purbeast0]

i don't see any cons to owning any console. the only pro that i see is that you can now play games on that console. the con would be not owning it, because you can't play games on that console. whether that matters or not is up to you as the buyer though.

 

[mmntech]

Does the SATA controller run on the CPU?

Judging by iFixit's teardown, there's some kind of chip just above the SATA port and the tracers lead to it. So I'm guessing that's the controller. The picture is too blurry to get the data for it. The PS4 uses an APU and not a true SoC.

 

[Lil Frier]

i don't see any cons to owning any console. the only pro that i see is that you can now play games on that console. the con would be not owning it, because you can't play games on that console. whether that matters or not is up to you as the buyer though.

There's definitely a con to owning a console. With my Wii U, it's that it takes Nintendo FOREVER to release a new game.

 

[Fulle]

The PS4's a great deal on hardware for the money, and is a good gaming platform. I like that there's a strong variety of games, which includes mainstream big publisher stuff, but also more niche stuff, like a strong amount of indies and Japanese games.

Sales aren't quite as good as Steam, but PS Plus gives a small discount on most things, and there are a decent amount of sales, which often will beat Amazon prices and such. The PS Plus "free games" offered monthly have stuff that would typically cost under $30 given away, which has resulted in a lot of indies on the PS4 so far, but usually at least something each month that's fairly well rated and worth trying out.

There's less waiting to get into a game than most other platforms. For example, if I was playing a game and put the PS4 to sleep, and then the next afternoon turned the PS4 back on, it'd come outta sleep mode in just a couple seconds, and the suspended game would launch nearly instantly to where I was before. Updates can be set to download in standby mode, and patches install pretty quickly. I have less downtime vs any other platform I can think of, actually... although I haven't compared this too much vs XBO (since I'm waiting to see how good Halo Guardians is before dropping the $$ on that one).

When I think of "cons" to owning the system, they feel small, for the most part. I would like Folders in the darn UI already, but I'm sure its on Sony's agenda for future patches. I wish there were more USB ports, and the Controller battery life was better, but I have a little USB hub I can use in those moments I need more USB ports, and I got an external battery charger (like you'd use for a phone) for $12. Controller a little low? Just plug in the external battery. Some of the Sony services are a little expensive right now (PS Now or online movie rental prices), but nobody's holding a gun to my head to use them, so I don't really consider that a con.

I guess the biggest con for me, would be the CPU cores. 8 little Jaguar cores, are perhaps easier to optimize for than PS3 SPU units, but splitting the work load across them is still probably not the easiest thing, and the performance to die space used isn't that great. I get it, at the time 64bit ARM chips weren't ready, and AMD was the best company to go to for building a console APU, but I would have much rather seen 4-6 larger CPU cores vs Jaguar cores. Jaguar cores were probably chosen due to power and heat advantages, but the performance tradeoff has resulted in games struggling to meet a stead 30 FPS, and may be to blame for the slow streaming from HDD to RAM. The XBO has the exact same issue, though, with the CPU bottleneck, since it's using Jaguar cores as well.

This last E3 helped solidify my feelings that the PS4 is a good console for me, though. I like the types of games that Playstation platforms pull in, that I can't play other places. The variety is just great, going from stuff like 'The Last Guardian', and 'Persona 5', to 'Uncharted 4', and getting good versions of the big publisher titles.

 

[thehotsung8701A]

@ Fulle

I was really impress with Uncharted 4 and Horizon more so than any game that was shown for the Xbox One.

This thread has gone off-topic for a while so let get back on topic guys.

So I want to ask the following question to all PS4 and X1 owner.

Question regarding the Xbox One.

1. Does RROD still exist? It was a pain having to return multiple 360 to get the one that had the Falcon chipset and the special Samsung drive.
2. Does moving the X1 slightly cause the disc to scratch like crazy like what happen to the Xbox 360? Something that never happen on Sony system or any system for that matter.
3. How is the quality build (referring to point 2) compare to the 360. The 360 was a crap console and Microsoft blames it customer instead of taking responsibility and fixing their cheap drive.
4. Does Origin and Uplay exist on Xbox one? Is Xbox One interface and live anything like the 360, is it better or worst? Are there things that I should know that did not exist on the 360 online?
5. Do you need Xbox live gold to download user created content, game demo, etc...? Pretty much anything that isn't playing a multiplayer online game?
6. Do you need to pay extra for service you already own like Netflix for example? That was such a cheap tactic.
7. Are there different edition of the X1 controller? Like are their upgrade to the X1 controller (not talking about elite) that I should look out for. I remember seeing either the PS4 or X1 controller that were updated with say more port for mic, etc... just a small upgrade or fix from the launch one. This question also applied to PS4 thanks.

Question regarding the PS4.

1. How long does it take to install a game? Is it true that download and update on PS4 take forever?
2. Is it true that the CPU in the PS4 is weaker than the X1?
3. Is Driveclub not really that good compare to Forza?
4. Does the PS4 and X1 have different exclusive Indie titles?

Thanks

 

[cmdrdredd]

@ Fulle

I was really impress with Uncharted 4 and Horizon more so than any game that was shown for the Xbox One.

This thread has gone off-topic for a while so let get back on topic guys.

So I want to ask the following question to all PS4 and X1 owner.

Question regarding the Xbox One.

1. Does RROD still exist? It was a pain having to return multiple 360 to get the one that had the Falcon chipset and the special Samsung drive.
2. Does moving the X1 slightly cause the disc to scratch like crazy like what happen to the Xbox 360? Something that never happen on Sony system or any system for that matter.
3. How is the quality build (referring to point 2) compare to the 360. The 360 was a crap console and Microsoft blames it customer instead of taking responsibility and fixing their cheap drive.
4. Does Origin and Uplay exist on Xbox one? Is Xbox One interface and live anything like the 360, is it better or worst? Are there things that I should know that did not exist on the 360 online?
5. Do you need Xbox live gold to download user created content, game demo, etc...? Pretty much anything that isn't playing a multiplayer online game?
6. Do you need to pay extra for service you already own like Netflix for example? That was such a cheap tactic.
7. Are there different edition of the X1 controller? Like are their upgrade to the X1 controller (not talking about elite) that I should look out for. I remember seeing either the PS4 or X1 controller that were updated with say more port for mic, etc... just a small upgrade or fix from the launch one. This question also applied to PS4 thanks.

Question regarding the PS4.

1. How long does it take to install a game? Is it true that download and update on PS4 take forever?
2. Is it true that the CPU in the PS4 is weaker than the X1?
3. Is Driveclub not really that good compare to Forza?
4. Does the PS4 and X1 have different exclusive Indie titles?

Thanks

Xbox one
1) no RROD
2) no scratches but you shouldn't move it when a disk is spinning anyway. That goes for any optical drive.
3) it's solidly built I think
4) u play does but it's totally separate. It doesn't work like on PC.
5) gold subscription is only needed for online play.
6) Netflix etc can be used with no extra subscription
7) there is a new xb1 controller that has a standard microphone port yes. I haven't seen them yet.

Ps4
1) it's pretty fast I guess less than 5 min and some games let you start it up before it finishes. Updates are pretty fast. I downloaded a 3GB update for batman and a couple dlc I got and it took less than 15 minutes. If you mean system updates, I set those to download automatically when it's in rest mode.
2) the cpu runs at a lower frequency(MHz) but it's not significant. The gpu in the ps4 has more shaders and faster memory(gddr5 vs ddr3 and a bit of esram)
3) drive club was a big problem at launch and didn't work right. Don't know if it's fixed but it's not a sim like forza motor sports. They are different games entirely. The indie titles generally seem the same between them. That is a game is available on both usually.

 

[thehotsung8701A]

Xbox one
1) no RROD
2) no scratches but you shouldn't move it when a disk is spinning anyway. That goes for any optical drive.
3) it's solidly built I think
4) u play does but it's totally separate. It doesn't work like on PC.
5) gold subscription is only needed for online play.
6) Netflix etc can be used with no extra subscription
7) there is a new xb1 controller that has a standard microphone port yes. I haven't seen them yet.

Ps4
1) it's pretty fast I guess less than 5 min and some games let you start it up before it finishes. Updates are pretty fast. I downloaded a 3GB update for batman and a couple dlc I got and it took less than 15 minutes. If you mean system updates, I set those to download automatically when it's in rest mode.
2) the cou runs at a lower frequency(MHz) but it's not significant. The got in the ps4 has more shaders and faster memory(gddr5 vs ddr3 and a bit of esram)
3) drive club was a big problem at launch and didn't work right. Don't know if it's fixed but it's not a sim like forza motor sports. They are different games entirely. The indie titles generally seem the same between them. That is a game is available on both usually.

4. Can you explain to me how Uplay on console work exactly?
7. What kind of port does your current X1 controller have or doesn't have?

PS4

I forgot to ask this in my original post but is it true that only X1 allow you to play games while your still downloading in the background? Also a question that applied to both console, how exactly do these new consoles install the games? Is it through the disc or do you actually have to download the full game, or just part of the game?

3. Thanks, I always thought Drive Club was a sim racing. Is it action sim like Grid series or is it pure arcade like the Test Drive series?

 

[sze5003]

4. Can you explain to me how Uplay on console work exactly?
7. What kind of port does your current X1 controller have or doesn't have?

PS4

I forgot to ask this in my original post but is it true that only X1 allow you to play games while your still downloading in the background? Also a question that applied to both console, how exactly do these new consoles install the games? Is it through the disc or do you actually have to download the full game, or just part of the game?

3. Thanks, I always thought Drive Club was a sim racing. Is it action sim like Grid series or is it pure arcade like the Test Drive series?

You just link your uplay account if you have one with the ps4 or xbox. If not you create one. It does not authorize anything like on PC.

The current xb1 controller has a port that plugs in a xbox one headset which comes with the system. I have not seen the new ones either.

 

[thehotsung8701A]

You just link your uplay account if you have one with the ps4 or xbox. If not you create one. It does not authorize anything like on PC.

The current xb1 controller has a port that plugs in a xbox one headset which comes with the system. I have not seen the new ones either.

The new one is coming out with the Forza 6 limited edition Xbox One console. I'm just curious to what the update/upgrade is since I don't actually know what input is available on the Xbox One.

 

[sze5003]

The new one is coming out with the Forza 6 limited edition Xbox One console. I'm just curious to what the update/upgrade is since I don't actually know what input is available on the Xbox One.

Regular one has the adapter plug in that comes with the headset. New one has a 3.5mm audio jack.

 

[Lil Frier]

4. Can you explain to me how Uplay on console work exactly?
7. What kind of port does your current X1 controller have or doesn't have?

PS4

I forgot to ask this in my original post but is it true that only X1 allow you to play games while your still downloading in the background? Also a question that applied to both console, how exactly do these new consoles install the games? Is it through the disc or do you actually have to download the full game, or just part of the game?

3. Thanks, I always thought Drive Club was a sim racing. Is it action sim like Grid series or is it pure arcade like the Test Drive series?

4. Like he said, UPlay is just a one-time setup thing. Once it's linked to your Xbox LIVE account on your first Ubisoft game, it shouldn't need any future attention (I set it up on Watch Dogs and didn't have to do anything with Monopoly).

7. It's a proprietary port. There's a $25 adapter to make any old headset work on the One's original controller, but with the new 3.5 jack, you don't need it. Also, there is the $150 Elite controller, in addition to the original and the new one with the additional headphone jack (the newer basic controller also has improved bumpers, allegedly).

On that last question, yes and no. Some games let you play before a game is done installing. However, it's usually a pretty poor experience, like having it installed to the point you can play for 5 minutes and wait. PoolNation FX allowed it, but it was only a one-person mode where you shoot balls into the pockets freely while the game installs. It's not really a good feature to rely on.

All games fully install on the HDD. The discs only serve as a license check. So, like Halo: TMCC takes up over 60 GB of space on the HDD. Most games vary from 25-45 GB, when you're talking high-end, retail titles. Indie titles are usually 2-5 GB. Given the state of gaming today, each install of a retail title tends to be paired with a needed patch, with its size often a couple of GB in size (Halo: TMCC's patch was 15 GB, but that was to put in the multiplayer, as the four games combined were too big for a single disc).

 

[thehotsung8701A]

Regular one has the adapter plug in that comes with the headset. New one has a 3.5mm audio jack.

That odd that it didn't come at launch? I'm looking at my 360 controllers and it has the 3.5mm audio jack I think. That pretty lame on Microsoft part.

I know I'm getting a PS4 because of that PS vue thing where they announce you can select and paid for individual cable channel. I really hope this is the case. I just want all the sport channels.

 

[cmdrdredd]

4. Can you explain to me how Uplay on console work exactly?
7. What kind of port does your current X1 controller have or doesn't have?

PS4

I forgot to ask this in my original post but is it true that only X1 allow you to play games while your still downloading in the background? Also a question that applied to both console, how exactly do these new consoles install the games? Is it through the disc or do you actually have to download the full game, or just part of the game?

3. Thanks, I always thought Drive Club was a sim racing. Is it action sim like Grid series or is it pure arcade like the Test Drive series?

Uplay doesn't have a client that launches the game on a console. It's more a portal for the game and I think it syncs your profile for various things like leaderboards on their server and cloud saving. My xb1 controller has a proprietary connector for a headset. I have to attach a headset adapter that cost $25 in order to use a standard headset from the 360. The port on the adapter and the 360 controller is 2.5mm. The new controller is standard 3.5mm.

You can install the game from the disk but you always need the disk. You can buy it digitally and download it and never need the disk. Once a game starts installing at a certain point it may be able to start. You cannot access the full game at that point but in the case of MLB for instance you can jump in and play a quick game while it's installing in the background. That way you aren't sitting there waiting. Drive club is a bit like need for speed I think in that it's purely an arcade racer. It has some interesting online modes though like challenging another car club to beat your time and accepting challenges. I haven't played it but the graphics and weather are supposed to be top notch. Just a lot of the online aspects didn't work correctly for a long time

 

[thehotsung8701A]

Uplay doesn't have a client that launches the game on a console. It's more a portal for the game and I think it syncs your profile for various things like leaderboards on their server and cloud saving. My xb1 controller has a proprietary connector for a headset. I have to attach a headset adapter that cost $25 in order to use a standard headset from the 360. The port on the adapter and the 360 controller is 2.5mm. The new controller is standard 3.5mm.

You can install the game from the disk but you always need the disk. You can buy it digitally and download it and never need the disk. Once a game starts installing at a certain point it may be able to start. You cannot access the full game at that point but in the case of MLB for instance you can jump in and play a quick game while it's installing in the background. That way you aren't sitting there waiting. Drive club is a bit like need for speed I think in that it's purely an arcade racer. It has some interesting online modes though like challenging another car club to beat your time and accepting challenges. I haven't played it but the graphics and weather are supposed to be top notch. Just a lot of the online aspects didn't work correctly for a long time

Awesome at the fact that you always need the disc. I'm really old school. I bought like over 50 games for both Steam and GOG during the sales and yet I'm no where as excited as going to a store and picking just 1 game that I done research on like I used to. There just something special about hard copy. This is why people still read physical books instead of having digital books.

I still remember the day I picked up Age of Mythology, Age of Empire II, Red Alert, Red Alert 2, etc... those were good times.

I'm sadden to find out that console is going digital. It has it pro and con but it take away on what makes console and PC in the past so special.

 

[Fulle]

There was a comment that the PS4 and Xbox One have similar indie titles, but well... there's actually a lot of meaningful indie exclusives, actually.

On PS4 some of the better indies that Xbox One doesn't have are Resogun, Towerfall, Helldivers, Hotline Miami, Spelunky (oddly on Xbox360 but not Xbox One). There's a lot of the older PS3 indies that were ported to PS4 that are cross-buy, and that includes like Sound Shapes, Hohokumm, Flower, and Flow. Journey, which was rated Game of the Year by a lot of places in 2012 (a crazy achievement for a short indie game), should be getting a PS4 port here really soon.

For some upcoming games the PS4 will have (at least initially) that the Xbox One won't: Rime, No Man's Sky, Starbound, The Tomorrow Children....

I haven't bought an Xbox One yet, since I'm waiting on how good the new Halo game is, but I do know that Ori and the Blind Forest isn't on PS4 (is on PC tho), and Cuphead looked really interesting at E3.

Anyway, I guess my point is that the differences in indies, actually isn't a brush off. For a while there, the XBO Parity clause was causing the PS4 to actually get a decent sized stack of exclusive indies there, since indie devs may not be able to release on multiple platforms all at once, like MS was forcing them into. Not sure if the more reasonable new management is still enforcing that at all, since for example, 'Velocity 2x' is getting a XBO port.

 

[lazybedone]

I own them both. But play the PS3 much more than I do the PS4. Mainly because of the vase amount of games I have on the Ps3/