Xbox One and PS4 - Click Here if you are Fucking Confused!

[Naked Crook]

Well done...you have taken the first step to clearing up all of the question you may have about the next generation of consoles. There is no doubt in my mind that EVERYONE has seen the specs for these new consoles, and there is no doubt in my mind that everyone is adding up numbers, to see which console has the BIGGER number, all in the effort to say which console is better because it has the bigger number. Stop doing this...right now! You are doing it wrong! I want everyone to sit back, relax, and let me explain everything to you in a way that not only makes sense, but that is correct. I am going to be as informative, and as honest as I can about this stuff. I am a man of (computer) science. Scientists don't lie (except when it comes to Global Warming...fucking bullshit). The technical details extend much further then how much ram something has, or how high the clock speed on the CPU is. There are many different specs that go unseen by the naked eye, but need a Naked Crook to see them, and expose them for what they are (see what I did there?). It is easy to get confused. I will try to alleviate the confusion for you. So by now, everyone has been comparing specs of these two consoles, and making judgement calls as to which console has won the console wars. This is, by far, the dumbest prognostications I have ever read in my life. These are assumptions made by idiots who think they are technology experts becasuse they know how to put the game into the console, plug in grandmas fucking VCR or and change settings on their console better than their parents do. Fuck those people. Despite this, I want to list the specs of these consoles.   Xbox One Playstation 4 Blue-Ray Yes Yes HDD 500 GB Built In Built In and "Very Large" Motion Control Kinect Controller CPU 8-Core x86 AMD 8-Core x86 AMD RAM 8 GB DDR3 and 32 MB ESDRAM 8 GB GDDR5 USB 3.0 Yes Yes Wifi N and Wifi-Direct B-G-N Ethernet Gigabit LAN Gigabit LAN HDMI Yes, in and out Yes, out To many people, these numbers are absolute. To me, they are simply numbers. They do not tell me which console is better. This information is (almost) TOTALLY IRRELEVANT when benchmarking hardware. This crap is SUPERFICIAL. It means nothing. It is like benchmarking the performance of a car based on number of cup-holders, how much the engine weighs, and how many inches the tires are. The experts will look at this information and say "you have told me nothing". No doubt, the morons were asking questions like "what does it look like" or "What color is it". The people who know how to plug in peripherals into USB ports were asking "Will it support backwards compatibility" or "Will it support AV cables"? The real experts were asking "What is the clock speed of the RAM" or "What is the memory bandwidth of the GPU" or "What is the memory bus (how many bits is it)" or "what is the texture rate of the graphics chip" or "how many shading units does it have" or "what is the pixel rate"? These are the real questions that determine how good a piece of hardware is, and these are the questions that should be asked. Unfortunately...none of the REAL questions have been answered. The technical information on the hardware is very limited. If you want the answer to which console is better, in terms of specs...well...you will not get that answer for a very long time. The fact is...thee is not enough information to make a judgement call of this magnitude. You might be able to dig up a tiny bit more information than what is currently available (The number of Giga or even Teraflops) each consoles CPU can put out...but that is only if you are lucky. But, too be fair, lets look at what we do have: Let's talk about the RAM for a moment. I am sure every has noticed the difference in RAM. Both consoles have 8 GB of RAM. However...the Xbox One uses DDR3 RAM while the PS4 is using GDDR5 RAM. What the fuck is the difference, you ask? Well...it is quite simple really. DDR3 RAM is the current standard for standard computer memory. You know...these guys: But GDDR5 RAM is the type of memory used in graphics cards. You know...these guys: SIDE NOTE: Memory found on the motherboard is called RAM. Memory on a GPU is called VRAM (Video RAM). In the end, they are both memory, but the V determines where and what the memory is used for. There are MANY principle differences between DDR3 and GDDR5 RAM. The fact of the matter is, GDDR5 is better because it is capable of moving larger chunks of data, faster, than standard DDR3 RAM. GDDR5 is very specialized RAM intended for performance, while DDR3 is for standard use. Yes, most PCs these days use DDR3 RAM, but they use GDDR5 VRAM in the graphics card and THAT is where all of the 3D rendering is done. With that said, it is also a point to note how DDR3 and GDDR5 handle I/O operations. Typically GDDR5 is parallel (it can do an I and O operation on the same cycle) while DDR3 is sequential (either an I or an O but not both per cycle). On a technical level, this makes GDDR5 faster when dealing with memory transfers to other parts of the architecture. Here is something else to consider: Latency vs Bandwidth. Think of latency as the amount of traffic, and bandwidth as the size of a road. With this said, DDR3 RAM specializes in low-latency, low bandwidth while GDDR5 deals with high-latency, high bandwidth, but with ther added bonus of GDDR5 being intrinsically designed with parallel operations in mind. The fact is, GDDR5 is more capable of handling large workloads better than DDR3. Another thing to keep in mind is the G in our DDR. This is how it works: GDDR2 VRAM was based off of the DDR RAM architecture. GDDR3 VRAM was based off of the DDR2 RAM architecture. GDDR4 VRAM was based off of the DDR3 RAM architecture. GDDR5 VRAM is an improved version of GDDR4 VRAM. GDDR5 is still based off of DDR3 RAM architecture. GDDR was designed for one purpose, and that was to be used as video memory (VRAM). It has higher bandwidths, lower voltage rates, and higher clock speeds. In every measurable sense, GDDR5 is better than DDR3. GDDR is simply more refined, and more specialized. One thing to keep in mind is the addition of 32 MB of ESDRAM on the Xbox One. Think of this as burst memory that is used when an extra kick in the ass is needed to get memory transfer going at a slightly quicker pace. Typically, ESDRAM is built right onto the chip to make it easier to take advantage of this high-speed cache memory. Using ESDRAM can be a good idea if you are aiming to get slightly better performance and reduce cost of manufacturing. One could say, that if both Xbox One and PS4 are using APUs (single chips that integrate CPU and GPU into one chip), then it is more than likely we are looking at a shared memory architecture between our system memory (RAM) and the APU. This means, that while the Xbox One has good graphics performance, the PS4 has BETTER graphics performance...at least on the surface. The contrast of better or worse comes from the finer points, such as how large the memory bandwidth is, or how many shading units it has. ON THE SURFACE...the PS4 is better. But, there is one thing that I do have to say: I think Microsoft may of made a mistake going with DDR3 RAM. If the above explanations does not make this clear, perhaps the following will. You see, both the PS3 and The Xbox 360 used GDDR3 RAM. Yes, it is true kiddies. And while the Xbox 360 had 512 MB of RAM, as opposed to 256 MB + 256 MB on the PS3 (an important difference that involves system memory and graphics memory) they still used the same memory standard, and the PS3 used slightly higher clock speeds, and memory bandwidth sizes to make up for that fact. http://hardware.teamxbox.com/article...ifications/p1/ http://playstation.about.com/od/ps3/...sDetails_3.htm However, The PS4 is using a memory standard that is, in no uncertain terms, the SUPERIOR successor to the successor to what the Xbox One has. This is very troubling. Yes, The Xbox One is using RAM that is in no way designed to be used as VRAM. In the end, we have to remember a few things as well: The Xbox One is better than the Xbox 360. The PS4 is better than the PS3. Games, not specs, determines how "good" a console is. Let us also keep one thing in mind. If you take everything I said about DDR3 vs GDDR5, ignore everything I said about the more invisible specs, such as memory bandwidth, texture rate and all those other goodies, and make your assessment as to which console is better, and you decide that the PS4 is better...well...good for you. Someone could just as easily say that the Xbox One is meeting CURRENT hardware demands, and that the PS4 is too powerful for what the current market demands in terms of graphics capability. We must NEVER forget the Cell processor architecture people. Sony spent $400 million dollars developing the Cell...a cost that was offloaded to the end consumer (that is us). The Cell was a marvel of engineering, but it was too powerful, difficult to develop for, and far ahead of its time. This, in the long run, cost Sony an unacceptable amount of money. Could Sony be repeating history again? Could the release of a console that makes such liberal use of GDDR5 memory (a very expensive memory architecture) simply be the brainchild of the same people who created that boondoggle known as Cell? Could Microsoft actually be making the RIGHT choice by releasing a slightly less powerful, middle ground console to fall between the Wii U and the PS4 to hook, not only its fan base, but the casual Wii U players who want more muscle than the Wii U, but for not much more cash, and the folks who, in this difficult economic time, cannot afford the bigger price tag of the PS4? I don't know for sure. I am a tech guy, not a marketing logistics guy. However, I am also an Xbox guy, first and foremost. I will defiantly buy an Xbox One at launch, and perhaps a PS4 when I get bored of money and want to get rid of it. Let's find out what happens.