Hardware power
This time around, the top two contenders for the console power crown are closer than they've ever been in terms of raw processing power. We took a
deep-dive look at the internals recently, but the long and short of it is that the basic system specs are nearly identical. The CPUs share the same architecture and multi-core design, the GPUs vary only slightly in clock speed and number of compute units, and while the PS4 has a faster unified pool of GDDR5 RAM, the Xbox One makes up for this (at least partially) with a small cache of ultra-fast ESRAM.
Specs aside, the proof of a console's power is in the pudding of its graphical output, and thus far the PS4 and Xbox One are practically indistinguishable in this regard. Others have posted
detailed breakdowns of the precise number of pixels being pushed on each system (as seen above). While we have no reason to doubt their analysis, the difference just isn't all that apparent when you're playing in a standard living room setup on a 1080p TV.
Switching between inputs while running a game like
Battlefield 4 on both systems, the only apparent difference to my eyes was a somewhat duller color palette on the Xbox One. Both versions showed the same noticeable-but-not-jaw-dropping general level of improvement in lighting effects, texture detail, and character animation when compared to the last generation of consoles. Going over to exclusive games, it's hard to compare the graphics of the Xbox One's
Forza 5 to the PS4's
Killzone: Shadow Fall and declare one the undisputed winner or loser.
We're going to give this one to the PS4 based on the higher resolution it manages on some cross-platform launch titles, but we're loath to count it as a significant negative for the Xbox One. So far the Xbox One generates images that are just as nice for all practical purposes.
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