Nvidia Claims PS4 Is Only as Good as a "Low-End" PC

[Steven Bogos]

Nvidia Claims PS4 Is Only as Good as a "Low-End" PC

Tony Tamasi says Nvidia, who provided the GPU for the PS3, didn't want to do business with Sony for the PS4 at the price Sony was willing to pay.

"Compared to gaming PCs, the PS4 specs are in the neighborhood of a low-end CPU, and a low- to mid-range GPU side," said Nvidia's Tony Tamasi to Tech Radar. [http://www.techradar.com/us/news/gaming/consoles/nvidia-compares-ps4-specs-to-a-low-end-cpu-1138051] Tamasi is the senior vice president of content and developer at Nvidia, and he is not at all impressed with the revealed specifications for the PS4, claiming that it is outperformed by years-old PC graphics cards. "If the PS4 ships in December as Sony indicated, it will only offer about half the performance of a GTX680 GPU (based on GFLOPS and texture), which launched in March 2012, more than a year and a half ago."

Tamasi is also unimpressed with the very closed nature of consoles, and claims that releasing the PS4 with such low specifications is going to harm it in the long run. "What you get today in terms of performance is what you're stuck with five - 10 years down the road. PCs don't have these problems," he says, telling us that he much prefers working with PCs, as "they are open and can be upgraded at any time to harness the power of newer GPUs for more performance and to take advantage of newer, modern graphics technologies."

The latest console generation has made the performance gap between PC and console much more apparent, and Tamasi thinks that the next generation will only widen that gap. "If history predicts the future, then these next-generation consoles, while being more powerful than the current ones, will very quickly end up more than an order of magnitude behind the PC."

While its very easy to brush these comments off as just an industry rival trying to promote PC gaming, it should be noted that Nvidia currently provides the graphics chip technology for the PS3. The PS4 will instead use a custom Radeon GPU, with Tamasi revealing that, "I'm sure there was a negotiation that went on, and we came to the conclusion that we didn't want to do the business [with Sony for the PS4] at the price those guys were willing to pay."

Tamasi says cutting ties with Sony will allow Nvidia to focus on its other industries, such as delivering high-end graphics card for PCs, supplying the graphics chips for Apple computers, and working on its own dedicated gaming device: Project SHIELD [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121364-Nvidia-Announces-Project-SHIELD-Portable-Gaming-Device].

Source & Image: Tech Radar [http://www.techradar.com/us/news/gaming/consoles/nvidia-compares-ps4-specs-to-a-low-end-cpu-1138051]

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[Evil Smurf]

My computer is better in every way then the PS4 except for the graphics card. Also this guy sounds elitist.

 

[Reyalsfeihc]

This guy seems really pissed that they lost the bid to AMD. Nvidia in my opinion has always overcharged for their components, and for them to tout their project Shield as something they see being profitable is a joke, especially at the price-point it's currently placed at. They didn't "cut ties" with Sony and Microsoft, they lost in a bargaining match that AMD was more than willing to bend a bit for.

In regards to the inherent old age of the components that will be included in next gen consoles, people don't need a GTX 680 to run games. As a PC enthusiast I'm running high end hardware, but some people just want to play their games, and don't care about how many particles can be accurately simulated, or how sharp the lines outlining their fauna are. They simply want to play games.

To even purport that the specs represent a LOW END PC is ridiculous. The parts are outdated in comparison to modern day gaming PC's, but this is one of the best priced consoles in terms of raw performance in ages so far.

 

[GAunderrated]

My computer is better in every way then the PS4 except for the graphics card. Also this guy sounds elitist.

He does sound elitist for sure but his point still has some merit. IF the PS4 can't keep pace with PC for more than a year or two, we will have another generation where it is good but it stagnates heavily due to lack of capabilities on the console side.

 

[Oltsu]

My computer is better in every way then the PS4 except for the graphics card. Also this guy sounds elitist.

Telling the truth doesn't make you an elitist.

All of this has been known since the real PS4 specs leaked a while before the official announcement. They're using a CPU that is filled with cores that AMD intended for use in netbooks and tablets, and a GPU that is about on par with a 7850, maybe a bit lower due to the clockspeeds.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

Seems like he is openly pandering to the stereotypical PC elitist. Not cool dude, not cool. :/

 

[Something Amyss]

My computer is better in every way then the PS4 except for the graphics card. Also this guy sounds elitist.

They can feel good in the fact that their hardware outdoes my four year old specs.

 

[Abomination]

Seems like he is openly pandering to the stereotypical PC elitist. Not cool dude, not cool. :/

As opposed to doing what? Claiming something false, that the PS4 is a relatively powerful machine compared to current gaming computers?

 

[Oltsu]

A low end PC it wont be. Remember, so far all consoles are usually capable of doing a decent amount more gaming than a similar PC. With that said, very powerful it is not. Still, I really hope it has a decent GPU . It should be able to survive at least 5 years.

The kind of PC hardware required to run games at med-low settings at 720p and 30fps is surprisingly low-end. People often forget that PC gamers do usually run their games at higher resolutions, settings, etc. If you reduce those to console levels the optimization isn't that clear anymore at all.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

Seems like he is openly pandering to the stereotypical PC elitist. Not cool dude, not cool. :/

Well, that's who he sells products to. He's obviously saying this to prop up his own brand, not so much to make an observation. Because, as mentioned above, everyone who knows what specs mean knew that the PS4 was worse than a high-end PC. That's just gonna be the case! Everything is outdated as soon as you open its box, anyway.

Just a side note: I'm not really sure what a stereotypical PC elitist consists of. I'm a PC gamer, and to me the word "PC elitist" just makes me think of a moron who spends too much money on a whole lot of nothing. I dunno if their opinion is worth listening to by reasonable people. But then the word "fanboy" explicitly implies a certain degree of stupidity, doesn't it.

 

[Doom972]

Did that douche call my PC low-end? I can run any modern game on it, most of them on high settings, and still stay above 40 FPS.
I don't mind consoles holding graphics back, just the over simplified controls.

 

[Jyrik]

yeah, it's a total misnomer anyway. The term elitism implies some sort of exclusivity or special designation, whereas anyone is free to get a PC and join the "elite."

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Console hardware isn't really relevant is it? I mean, despite the specs of the X360 or the PS3, they have made some truly remarkable games for those consoles.

Conversely, just imagine how much better Uncharted, Heavy Rain or Halo would work/look on PCs.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well when you start off with that statement we just know you jelly, also I love how the queens of locking down are now all happy about open platforms.

 

[Vault101]

My computer is better in every way then the PS4 except for the graphics card. Also this guy sounds elitist.

He does sound elitist for sure but his point still has some merit. IF the PS4 can't keep pace with PC for more than a year or two, we will have another generation where it is good but it stagnates heavily due to lack of capabilities on the console side.

when has that ever been the case? consoles keeping up with PCs I mean.

 

[Xyebane]

I'd have to agree. How can anyone really justify investing in the new console generation if they are only shipping with 8GB of RAM? Does anyone really think that 8GB is going to be enough in 5 years? When the Xbox 360 and the PS3 were announced they were really amazing specs at the time and you can even see now how weak those consoles are and how they are hamstringing the industry. Now they aren't even aiming for amazing, just settling for okay. Okay now is going to be absolute crap in 5 years.

 

[Roxor]

Let the consoles stick with the low-end hardware. If they stay slow, my PC will last longer before I need to upgrade it.

 

[piinyouri]

Well that sounded a touch childish.

Really, he didn't say much at all aside from "I like PC's.
Did I mention all the downsides the PS4 has?
I like PC's."

This man makes it sound like even the manufacturers are caught up in this invisible rivalry between consoles and PC's.