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Forums - Gaming Discussion - Understanding PS4 - XB1 Performance Differential, with comparison to the X360 - PS3 Gen

freedquaker on 18 February 2014

There are all sorts of claim whether not machine is faster than the other. However, the truth is not always a straight answer, black & white, usually shades of grey, depending on the circumstances. This was particularly the case with the 7th Generation but much less so in the 8th Gen. My comparisons below will NOT be technically precise but ROUGHLY ACCURATE. I will try to represent the rough performance indices with mathematical approximations and the associated graphs, based on the given premise.

A) X360 vs PS3

1) X360 was easier to program for, and you'd get higher performance with unoptimized ports.

2) As a norm, third party games will exhibit SLIGHTLY higher performance on X360

3) With the given effort and higher costs, PS3 had the potential to exhibit considerably higher performance, usually utilized only by the first party titles, given the economic incentives and the lack of multi-platform development.

B) XB1 vs PS4

1) PS4 is not only easier to program for, but also maintains a perpetual significant performance advantage.

2) As a norm, third party games will exhibit SUBSTANTIALLY higher performance on PS4

3) With the first party titles, things are complicated. The increased effort & development will make it possible to achieve higher pixel fidelity and frame rate on XB1, which is otherwise not possible (narrowing down the gap). PS4 performance on first party titles will also be substantially higher. So technically speaking, the gap may very well widen. However, if XB1 can achieve pixel parity, the perceived visual gap may decrease, at least with first party titles.

Below is a table with regards to the PERCEIVED performance for each console with regards to the effort & development costs


 Performance


Performance
Effort/Cost X360 PS3 PS3/X360   Effort/Cost XB1 PS4 PS4/XB1
3 2.16 1.34 62.3%
3 4.41 8.06 182.9%
6 3.51 2.51 71.5%
6 8.43 15.05 178.6%
9 4.66 3.61 77.6%
9 12.43 21.67 174.4%
12 5.69 4.68 82.2%
12 16.47 28.08 170.5%
15 6.66 5.72 85.9%
15 20.59 34.32 166.7%
18 7.56 6.74 89.1%
18 24.81 40.45 163.0%
21 8.42 7.74 91.9%
21 29.12 46.46 159.6%
24 9.25 8.73 94.4%
24 33.53 52.40 156.3%
27 10.05 9.71 96.7% 3rd    Party    Norm 27 38.06 58.26 153.1%
30 10.81 10.68 98.7% 30 42.70 64.05 150.0%
33 11.56 11.63 100.6% 33 47.46 69.79 147.1%
36 12.29 12.58 102.4%
36 52.33 75.47 144.2%
39 12.99 13.52 104.0%
39 57.32 81.11 141.5%
42 13.69 14.45 105.6%
42 62.43 86.71 138.9%
45 14.36 15.38 107.1%
45 67.66 92.26 136.4%
48 15.03 16.30 108.4%
48 73.01 97.78 133.9%
51 15.68 17.21 109.8%
51 78.48 103.26 131.6%
54 16.32 18.12 111.0% 1st    Party    Norm 54 84.07 108.71 129.3%
57 16.95 19.02 112.2% 57 89.78 114.13 127.1%
60 17.57 19.92 113.4% 60 95.62 119.52 125.0%

 



Playstation 5 vs XBox Series Market Share Estimates

Regional Analysis  (only MS and Sony Consoles)
Europe     => XB1 : 23-24 % vs PS4 : 76-77%
N. America => XB1 :  49-52% vs PS4 : 48-51%
Global     => XB1 :  32-34% vs PS4 : 66-68%

Sales Estimations for 8th Generation Consoles

Next Gen Consoles Impressions and Estimates

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gergroy on 18 February 2014

sounds about right



pr3st00 on 18 February 2014

Not sure how you came up with all those numbers, but they do seem to represent reality...



vivster on 18 February 2014
freedquaker said:

 

B) XB1 vs PS4

1) PS4 is not easier to program for, but also maintains a perpetual significant performance advantage.

 

Yes it is.

And now to read the rest of the post.



If you demand respect or gratitude for your volunteer work, you're doing volunteering wrong.

freedquaker on 18 February 2014
vivster said:
freedquaker said:

 

B) XB1 vs PS4

1) PS4 is not easier to program for, but also maintains a perpetual significant performance advantage.

 

Yes it is.

And now to read the rest of the post.

It's a TYPO, I meant

 

PS4 is not ONLY easier to program for....

which I corrected immediately.... sometimes you need to read the rest as well to see that it was a typo (continuing with a "but also..." structure). Don't be so quick to judge.



Playstation 5 vs XBox Series Market Share Estimates

Regional Analysis  (only MS and Sony Consoles)
Europe     => XB1 : 23-24 % vs PS4 : 76-77%
N. America => XB1 :  49-52% vs PS4 : 48-51%
Global     => XB1 :  32-34% vs PS4 : 66-68%

Sales Estimations for 8th Generation Consoles

Next Gen Consoles Impressions and Estimates

Around the Network
vivster on 18 February 2014
freedquaker said:
vivster said:
freedquaker said:

 

B) XB1 vs PS4

1) PS4 is not easier to program for, but also maintains a perpetual significant performance advantage.

 

Yes it is.

And now to read the rest of the post.

It's a TYPO, I meant

 

PS4 is not ONLY easier to program for....

which I corrected immediately.... sometimes you need to read the rest as well to see that it was a typo (continuing with a "but also..." structure). Don't be so quick to judge.

But I waited all day for a chance to correct someone :(

Still the whole post seems a bit wonky. Would you minmd explaining the numbers?



If you demand respect or gratitude for your volunteer work, you're doing volunteering wrong.

Bliss on 18 February 2014
freedquaker said:

There are all sorts of claim whether not machine is faster than the other. However, the truth is not always a straight answer, balck & white, usually shades of grey, depending on the circumstances. This was particularly the case with the 7th Generation but much less so in the 8th Gen. My comparisons below will NOT be technically precise but ROUGHLY ACCURATE. I will try to represent the rough performance indices with mathematical approximations and the associated graphs, based on the given premise.

A) X360 vs PS3

1) X360 was easier to program for, and you'd get higher performance with unoptimized ports.

2) As a norm, third party games will exhibit higher SLIGHTLY higher performance on X360

3) With the given effort and higher costs, PS3 had the potential to exhibit considerably higher performance, usually utilized only by the first party titles, given the economic incentives and the lack of multi-platform development.

B) XB1 vs PS4

1) PS4 is not only easier to program for, but also maintains a perpetual significant performance advantage.

2) As a norm, third party games will exhibit higher SUBSTANTIALLY higher performance on PS4

3) With the first party titles, things are complicated. The increased effort & development will make it possible higher pixel fidelity and frame rate on XB1, which is otherwise not possible (narrowing down the gap). PS4 performance on first party titles will also be substantially higher. So technically speaking, the gap may very well widen. However, if XB1 can achieve pixel parity, the perceived visual gap may decrease, at least with first party titles.

Below is a table with regards to the PERCEIVED performance for each console with regards to the effort & development costs


 Performance


Performance
Effort/Cost X360 PS3 PS3/X360   Effort/Cost XB1 PS4 PS4/XB1
3 2.16 1.34 62.3%
3 4.41 8.06 182.9%
6 3.51 2.51 71.5%
6 8.43 15.05 178.6%
9 4.66 3.61 77.6%
9 12.43 21.67 174.4%
12 5.69 4.68 82.2%
12 16.47 28.08 170.5%
15 6.66 5.72 85.9%
15 20.59 34.32 166.7%
18 7.56 6.74 89.1%
18 24.81 40.45 163.0%
21 8.42 7.74 91.9%
21 29.12 46.46 159.6%
24 9.25 8.73 94.4%
24 33.53 52.40 156.3%
27 10.05 9.71 96.7% 3rd    Party    Norm 27 38.06 58.26 153.1%
30 10.81 10.68 98.7% 30 42.70 64.05 150.0%
33 11.56 11.63 100.6% 33 47.46 69.79 147.1%
36 12.29 12.58 102.4%
36 52.33 75.47 144.2%
39 12.99 13.52 104.0%
39 57.32 81.11 141.5%
42 13.69 14.45 105.6%
42 62.43 86.71 138.9%
45 14.36 15.38 107.1%
45 67.66 92.26 136.4%
48 15.03 16.30 108.4%
48 73.01 97.78 133.9%
51 15.68 17.21 109.8%
51 78.48 103.26 131.6%
54 16.32 18.12 111.0% 1st    Party    Norm 54 84.07 108.71 129.3%
57 16.95 19.02 112.2% 57 89.78 114.13 127.1%
60 17.57 19.92 113.4% 60 95.62 119.52 125.0%

 


EXACTLY !

Not only PS4 has roughly 50% more Texel fill rate and 100% pixel fill rate and MORE 'real in gaming applications' memory bandwidth, it is also easier to develop for !   PS3 is slighty more powerful than 360 but a nightmare to develop for compared to 360, this is why most multiplatform games were looking/performing a bit better on 360, apart from GTAV, Tomb Raider and Bioshock Infinite, to say the last games, where PS3 had a microscopic advantage.   PS4 has ALL in his hands, MORE POWER and more friendly to develop for !



DakonBlackblade on 18 February 2014

Just wondering how you came up with these numbers, theyre nice numbers but unless theyre fundamented on somethign theyre just random so itd be nice to know where they came from. They do seen to make sense tough.



lightofhonor on 18 February 2014

Now where does the Wii U place? Obviously it will suffer in comparison to 3rd party titles, more so than XB1 (maybe 50%, 100%, 150%), but I feel that 1st party titles are capable of a perceived difference of Wii U 75%, XB1 100%, PS4 125%.

 

This could mean that a 1st party (or 1st party quality) title on Wii U is more or less visually (not technically) comparable to 3rd party XB1 games.



freedquaker on 18 February 2014
vivster said:
freedquaker said:
vivster said:
freedquaker said:

...

....

Still the whole post seems a bit wonky. Would you minmd explaining the numbers?


Don't worry about the "absolute numbers", pay attention the performance gaps  PS3/ X360 and PS4/XB1, and the general trends for their relative performances. People sometimes get lost in the details. I am not claiming these figures are accurate. They are there to provide a consistent statement of the performance across effort/time/cost criteria.

If you really would like to see the math (equations) behind the graphs, which are not precise but close enough approximations...

X360 : X^0.7
PS3  : X^0.9/2
XB1  : 2*X^0.9*(1+(X-30)/150)
PS4  : 3*X^0.9

In short, those equations imply (simple but true)

a) X360 is easier to program for and get results than PS3, which will gradually catch and pass X360 due to better yields

b) PS4 nominally produces 50% more performance but the improper use of ESRAM may increase the gap while more religious use may decrease it



Playstation 5 vs XBox Series Market Share Estimates

Regional Analysis  (only MS and Sony Consoles)
Europe     => XB1 : 23-24 % vs PS4 : 76-77%
N. America => XB1 :  49-52% vs PS4 : 48-51%
Global     => XB1 :  32-34% vs PS4 : 66-68%

Sales Estimations for 8th Generation Consoles

Next Gen Consoles Impressions and Estimates