Next Generation Consoles Looking Great

Well all the talk on Ozbargain seems to be negative so might as well start a fight between the PC master race and console plebs :P just kidding! It would be good to have some general discussion that is not Corona related.

In all seriousness the next-gen consoles are looking great. AMD is doing well hopefully they can implement RDNA2 into the PC market as good as it seems in the console market. The better the competition the cheaper it is for us.

Interesting to see the specs and different approaches by both Sony and Microsoft. Sony went for the Intel classic of less cores faster clock speeds. While Microsoft went with more cores at a slower clock. Will this effect the longevity of the PS?

PS specs
.CPU: AMD Zen 2-based CPU with 8 cores at 3.5GHz (variable frequency)
.GPU: 10.28 TFLOPs, 36 CUs at 2.23GHz (variable frequency)
.GPU architecture: Custom RDNA 2
.Memory interface: 16GB GDDR6 / 256-bit
.Memory bandwidth: 448GB/s
.Internal storage: Custom 825GB SSD
.IO throughput: 5.5GB/s (raw), typical 8-9GB/s (compressed)
.Expandable storage: NVMe SSD slot
.External storage: USB HDD support (PS4 games only)
.Optical drive: 4K UHD Blu-ray drive

Xbox specs
.CPU: 3.8 GHz Custom Zen 2
.GPU: 12 TFLOPS, 1.825 GHz Custom RDNA 2
.Memory: 16GB GDDR6
.Memory bandwidth 10 GB at 560 GB/s, 6GB at 336 GB/s
.Storage:1 TB Custom NVME SSD with expandable storage support
.Optical drive: 4K UHD Blu-ray
.Max resolution: 4K
.HDR: Yes
.Ports HDMI, USB-A x3, storage, Ethernet, power

The Xbox GPU processing power is on the same level as a RTX2080. RDNA2 gets ray tracing so both consoles should support ray tracing i think?.

How about pricing with the Aussie dollar so bad i think the consoles could be pushing the $800 mark here? If the prices stay low enough this new generation of consoles will offer great price to performance.

Comments

  • BYO controller

  • +1

    I'd guess $1,000+. The 2080 is around $1000 alone.

    • +1

      Doesn't have much to do with anything. Both consoles are using custom SoC.

  • +2

    I do worry about pricing to be honest, I feel once they've pushed the $1K limit, they'll stay there for all consoles going forward, I am thinking the closer to the $8** range though, likely as priced as $9xx or higher people will automatically associate it with $1k.

    The specs sound amazing to be honest, but as usual with consoles it all hinges on the games, I feel thats why the Switch which honestly doesn't have "great" specs can still be an amazing console (yeah I know it has portability also).

    So I'm really interested in how both sides will go this time, I kind of have a partial love to the xbox so I'm secretly hoping they'll do well, but with the current gen all I ever play is my playstaion (and switch).

    • +1

      Exactly.
      The Xbox specs are definitely ambitious, to the point where USD$599 is actually reasonable. Especially with the current market conditions, where people are used to upgrading their devices more often, and the luxury electronics cost more. Case in point; 2011-2014 Samsung Note 1,2,3,4… compare that with the 2017-2020 Samsung Note 8,9,10,20. And the exchange rate with AUD to USD, plus shipping, and our higher goods tax means the price of the XseX is possibly going to be AUD$1,100. The PS5 could be cheaper at AUD$799. Both are stupidly more expensive than past.
      …I have a strong suspicion that Sony is going to "play it greedy" and match Microsoft's asking price.

      However, if you compare that to a current Gaming PC, it's actually good value. FOR NOW.
      The (2013-2017) old Gaming PC Standard: CPU 4c/8t, RAM 8GB DDR3, GPU 4GB GDDR5 = 1080p-60fps-Medium
      The (2016-2020) now Gaming PC Standard: CPU 6c/12t, RAM 16GB DDR4, GPU 8GB GDDR5X = 1440p-60fps-High
      The (2019-2023) new Gaming PC Standard: CPU 8c/16t, RAM 32GB DDR5, GPU 12GB GDDR6 = 2160p-60fps-Ultra

      Here's why its good value, compared to a Current Gaming PC:
      - It's priced fine
      - Competitive performance
      - We haven't seen the Nvidia Ampere (RTX 3060 or better), or the AMD RDNA2 (RX 6600 or better) cards released.
      - Both Xbox and PS5 will run out of RAM, but that will happen around 2024, so they will get bottlenecked before their lifecycle has ended in 2028.

      I think the PS5 has slightly exceeded the CPU/SSD expectations (which is great), but they've surpassed the GPU expectations many had (which is okay). However, they have come short of the Memory expectations by a lot (which is bad). This is a mixed bag. The Xbox was even worse at exceeding these expectations but cutting short of the Memory. Here's why that is important. If they put 32GB GDDR6 memory in there, that would be enough for the lifecycle of the console, even if they cut the GPU performance down, it would have been a worthy tradeoff. Since, if they release a "Pro" console midcycle, the Pro console can have the same Memory capacity, which means porting a game from the Base to the Pro is seamless. It basically would have meant the computational features are the same, so no major rewriting, but the Pro-model could run the game with a higher graphical level (resolution, settings, etc). It would be like having a Gaming PC and enjoying all your games, and then leaving the CPU/RAM/Mobo alone and just swapping out the GPU (eg RX470 to RX 5700xt) or (eg GTX 970 to GTX 1070ti).

      The deal with the SSD is also a mixed bag. Sony is using some proprietary techniques in their 800GB PS5, whereas the Xbox is using Standard/High End 1TB SSD. I think the point goes to the Xbox there, just easier to service and code games for. But then there's the point about upgradability and here MS is insisting on their proprietary storage slots. No thanks. Whereas Sony is requiring any brands, as long as it is from a pre-approved group. Not much better.

      Not to mention, the Series X is about 30% faster than the PS5. That's noticeable, but not a huge difference. Not as big of a difference as say the PS4 pro to the Xbox One X, or the Old Xbox One compared to the Base PS4. Maybe more like the Base PS4 to the Xbox One S. It will translate into next-gen games on both systems running with HDR-RayTracing, both at 4K resolution, both at 60fps framerate. Kudos to both! However, the Xbox games will eeke out slightly higher graphical settings, mostly in shadows and draw distances. Impressive!!

      The other point of contention is backwards compatibility.
      Microsoft is promising to pretty much launch the Xbox series X, with backwards compatibility for ALL their previous games. That's from the 2002 Xbox to the 2005 Xbox 360, and the 2013 Xbox One. And they will even try to upscale the games to higher resolution, better graphics fidelity/settings, and to run at a smoother 60fps framerate. Not only that, they're also championing their Cross-Play ability so games work between Nintendo and PC. It's basically the one box that does all. A standing-ovation !!!!!

      As opposed to Sony, which wasn't planning on backwards compatibility, but they've been forced to back-peddle.
      They will offer the Top 100 PS4 games to run on the PS5, without any mention of upscaling.
      However, their games from the 1995 PS1, 2000 PS2, and 2006 PS3 (which can finally be emulated on the PS5) are reserved behind a Subscription Paywall into their Cloud Streaming Service called PS Now. NOT COOL. And Sony seems reluctant to share MS's enthusiasm for cross-play.

      OVERALL, the Xbox Series X is the better value console.
      However, PS5 is going to win the next-gen console race because they are likely to release some beautiful exclusive titles. Meaning you should probably hold-off on buying either console, and invest your money into Gaming PC instead. And only buy these 2-3 years later when their prices crash and they've built a solid portfolio of exclusive games you actually want to play. So, no different to previous console launches, lol.

  • +3

    If its $1k+ it will hurt sales. The Xbox One and PS4 initially went around $550-$600. The Xbox One X was $650 at launch. I reckon around $800 is about right.
    Specs sound good. Not sure on how well Xbox is going to fair this time. They have better hardware but the exclusives are definitely lacking. They'll need a decent launch line up in order to convince most people

    • +2

      It'll come down to launch, and I would think Microsoft learnt a lot from last time. Bundling the Kinect with every console from launch increased the price and made them lose the war against Sony imo.

      Also, next gen should've launched with Cyberpunk 2077. If just 1 of the manufacturers partnered with them to make it exclusive in the first few months or something their sales would've been crazy

      • +1

        CD Projekt Red… they outright refused any exclusives.

        • I figured, just sayin it would've been good to launch on next gen, not current gen

  • -6

    these are complete trash of u cant plug in a keyboard and mouse

    • I think you can now at least on the Xbox but it defeats the purpose of a console. People buy consoles for the versatility like laying in bed playing games. When saying that you can some what do the same with PCs i use a Xbox controller when playing car games on my pc.

  • You mean I can pause my mortgage to buy one of each? Awesome.

    OAMSN the specs on these would make a very decent gaming PC so the pc master race might be challenged with these new units.

  • So the new consoles will be on par maybe with my upper midrange gaming pc? This is the first time I've not been interested in a new generation console in my life.

  • +1

    I'm excited about the high spec GPU on the consoles. For reference, the 2080 ti, a high end graphics card that costs almost $2k AUD, has 14.2 teraflops.

    Bet Sony will win this battle again with exclusive games like they did with PS4.

    • A 2080Ti is waaaay ahead of a 2080 (regular) though.

    • +1

      Better not jump the gun. We have no idea how next gen will turn out. Microsoft has been looking better recently. They're playing their cards right, and with all the new studios they've got working on exclusives, who knows what will happen.

      • I'm kind of locked in to Sony though since I've got heaps of ps4 games.

        • +1

          I mean that's fair enough. Xbox is my main because that's where I've been most of the time. All of those games will carry over into the next generation too, so I won't be switching to PS as my main.

  • +5

    They FLOPped it out and Xbox was bigger.

  • New xbox is an absolute beast. Let's hope they can back that up with the games. Exciting times ahead although agree with sentiment around pricing. With our dollar in the toilet I expect $750 minimum for us.

  • The PC argument really is tedious. I've been hearing it since the 80's, it is nothing new.

  • Correction: 12.155 TF for the Xbox Series X.

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