Gamers eager for the next-generation of video games stayed true to their "shut up and take my money" meme, buying millions of Xbox One and PS4 consoles in November.
However, the record-breaking sales haven't brought to light which new system will be favored over the next decade, so the Xbox One vs PS4 comparison needs an update.
That's good because we know a whole lot more about Microsoft and Sony's consoles today than we did when they were officially announced in early 2013.
With PS4 in hand and Xbox One in, well, two hands, we've extensively tested everything: the final specs, the graphics performance, right down to the latest firmware updates.
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Xbox One vs PS4 dimensions, design
Looks do matter when you're buying expensive electronics that are going to sit front and center in your living room entertainment system for the next ten years.
The hardware specs are comparable, but Microsoft and Sony really contrasted when it came to the designs of Xbox One and PS4.
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Xbox One is a menacing gaming beast that looks like a black Monolith straight out of 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's 13.5 in x 10.4 in x 3.2 in and it's completely filled with vents. No Red Ring of Death this time around.
It towers over everything (though you're advised not to stand it up vertically), and completely dwarfs our smallest electronics like the app-filled Chromecast.
The PS4 presents a sleeker design that has a unique angular shape to it. The widest regions of Sony's half-matte, half-gloss machine are 10.8 in x 12 in x 2 in.
That's fairly compact, especially when weighed against the Xbox One. And on the subject of weight, PS4 is 2.75 kg while Xbox One is a more hefty 3.56 kg.
PS4 also hides its ports rather well, though, as we pointed out in our video comparison of the consoles, this makes it difficult to plug cables into the back of the system in a pinch.
The future of gaming, in association with O2 Guru
PS4 vs Xbox One CPU, graphics chip comparison
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It's what's inside that counts, and even though Nvidia thinks these specs are comparable to a low-end CPU, Xbox One and PS4 multiply the power of Xbox 360 and PS3. More importantly, they boast smarter designs internally, drawing from mistakes made last generation.
Nvidia rival AMD can be found inside both systems. Xbox One has a custom 1.75GHz AMD 8-core CPU, a last-minute upgrade over its original 1.6GHz processor.
That's actually the CPU speed thought to be behind PS4, which contains a similar custom AMD 8-core CPU with x86 based architecture. Sony hasn't confirmed the official speed.
This would represent a roughly 10% increase in processing power for Xbox One, though it's certainly going to be some time before developers can fully take advantage of accelerated hardware on either side of the console war.
The opposite is true when it comes to the graphics processor. PS4 boasts a 1.84 teraflop GPU that's based on AMD's Radeon technology. Xbox One graphics chip, also with an AMD Radeon GPU, has a pipeline for 1.31 teraflops.
PS4 has an edge when it comes to RAM
One of the more controversial areas under the consoles' matte black hoods is the memory. It's not the amount of memory that has everyone ready to fight about RAM - both Xbox One and PS4 contain a meaty 8GB of RAM - it's the type of memory used.
Xbox One has 8GB of DDR3 RAM, while PS4 has a distinct advantage with faster 8GB GDDR5 memory. But wait, there's more. Both consoles require a portion of the RAM to run the operating system.
PS4 reserves up to 3.5GB of memory for its operating system, leaving developers with 4.5GB, according to documentation. They can sometimes access an extra 1GB of "flexible" memory when it's available, but that's not guaranteed.
Xbox One's "guaranteed memory" amounts to a slightly higher 5GB for developers, as Microsoft's multi-layered operating system takes up a steady 3GB. It eeks out a 0.5GB win with more developer-accessible memory than PS4, unless you factor in Sony's 1GB of "flexible" memory at times. Then it's 0.5GB less.
Title : Playstation 4 VS XBox One, Which is Better ??
Description : Gamers eager for the next-generation of video games stayed true to their "shut up and take my money" meme, buying millions of Xbo...