Xbox One was supposed to be all about video games, but according to the revelations during #XboxReveal it turns out it is all but. Well, maybe it is slightly about video games. But that is not as much about video games as it is supposed to be and as we’d it like to be. The Xbox One was supposed to be a gaming console for crying out loud! But alas, it plans to “be the go-to device in your living offering entertainment in ways you cannot imagine.” Utter corporate BS!
Enough with the Xbox One small talk, we know many geeks out there would like to see where the Xbox One hardware lies in terms of processing power, and we’re here to give you just that. Some details about the hardware in the PlayStation 4 have also been revealed, so we’ll do a head-to-head to see which one you’re better off with. Some minor details (like GPU clocks, TeraFlops) might be missing, but that is only because they haven’t been confirmed yet.
As you can see, both the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 have 8-core AMD CPUs. We agree with this. 8 core processing is next gen technology, so Sony and Microsoft have that bit covered, to say the least.
Meek graphics processing
The GPU specifics for both the consoles are not in yet, but Extremetech did report a week ago that the Xbox One will be using AMD’s new Radeon HD 7790 chipset. Extremetech seem pretty sure with their statement. If this is true, that that is rather disappointing. The Radeon HD 7790 is a midrange GPU that costs $149. So much for being ‘next-gen’. Even an year old GeForce GTX 680 can trump a Radeon HD 7790. And now NVIDIA has announced that GTX 780, which is about 20% faster than the GTX 680. So clearly Xbox One will be using a previous gen graphics card, if Extremetech’s claim is true.
There are no details about the GPU in the PlayStation 4, but we expect it to be in the lines of the Radeon HD 7950, which is still faster than Xbox One’s supposed HD 7790.
Next Gen? Really?
So the Xbox One will feature a 500 GB mechanical hard drive. That means the generic 7200 rpm SATA based hard drive that has seen its lifetime crawl into 2013. This technology is about 25 years old, and yet Microsoft sees no reason to shift from it, even with the availability of faster and snappier Solid State Drives.
Sony, on the other, in an official statement indicated that the PS4’s hard drive will be “built-in.” Thanks for being specific, Sony.
The other little details
Microsoft finally adapts to the Blu-ray format. Sony emerges the winner here, as we suspect Microsoft to be paying out of their necks to implement Sony’s Blu-ray technology in the Xbox One. Sony, historically does have a knack for spotting future trends.
The Xbox One will come with a 1080p camera lens compared to the PS4’s 1280 x 800. Personally I don’t really care about camera or motion capture gaming, but Microsoft takes it over here.
Overall, we’re not overly impressed by either of the specifications, as most current mainstream gaming PC’s can easily match the performance of the so called next-gen consoles. But we’re still not punching in our figures or reaching any conclusion, as there more to be said by Microsoft and Sony about the hardware in their consoles. With E3 coming close, we can expect some light to be shed.
