Will the Xbox 720 be more powerful than the PS4?

There are rumors ladies and gentlemen that Microsoft next generation console will be more powerful then Sony’s next generation console.

Could it be possible that Microsoft’s next console out muscle Sony’s console? Let’s take a look at all the rumor specs, to see if we can get a conclusion of who will be the big dog on the playground. For this article will refer to Sony’s next generation console as the “PS4″ and Microsoft’s next generation console as the “Xbox 720″

Next generation CPU: PS4

The CPU is the brain, so let’s discuss the rumor tech that each next generation console will use. The PS4 is rumored to be using An AMD “A8-3850 APU” Currently this processor is rated at 100W running at around 2.9GHz, it is a quad core processor.
The PS4 CPU if the rumors are correct is Actually an APU, basically it is a CPU with additional processing capabilities that are outside of a CPU’s normal computation duties; AMD APU integrates graphical capabilities with the CPU ones.

Next generation CPU: XBOX720

 It is rumored that the Xbox 720 is using power7 CPU, more than likely it is a derivative of that chip. This makes a lot sense since some of the rumors suggest the Xbox 720 dev kits are coming with 16 core processors.
Now the quad core power 7 CPU by IBM with 4 threads would equal that, 4 cores with 4 SMT threads. This would be a very powerful chip, if Microsoft goes with most of the standard specs, meaning they don’t strip down the chip for cost purposes or if Sony and AMD don’t come up with anything to improve there solution, I would think that Microsoft wins in this dept.

Next generation GPU: PS4-XBOX720

The reason I will put both console in this category is that the rumors states that both consoles are using the same graphics card. There is actually 2 rumors pertaining to the graphics card, one is that they will use Radeon HD 7000 Series.  This card is a direct x11, if Sony is using an APU and if Microsoft’s chip is just a CPU, Sony solution wins here, but if Microsoft is using SOC technology “system on a chip” which is when components of a computer or other electronic system are combine into a single chip, then the Xbox 720 might be able to incorporate APU like feature on their chip have two GPU working in tandem. The other rumors are that they are going for the big guns and may be using ATI’s rumored new graphics card the AMD HD 8000.

In any case let’s call this one a tie.

Next generation Ram: PS4-XBOX720

Once again the rumors stated that both systems will be using 8 gigs of Ram. Now this is what the developers are stating that the dev kits are shipping with, but dev kits usually come with double the amount of ram than the retail version, so they might really have more like 4 gigs of ram. It’s rumored to be DDR4 ram, Microsoft maybe sticking to their previous design there will also be some EDRAM as well, if the rumors are true and they are using the power7 CPU and more than
Likely it will have “EDRAM” and if this is true I would give the edge to Microsoft.

Next generation optical drives: PS4-XBOX720

Here’s a twist, it is rumored that both consoles will be using Blu-ray drives. I can’t really see Microsoft using DVD any more, the amount of space a next generation game will take would make it virtually impossible to cram on a DVD unless the Xbox 720 games are going to come on 4 discs, so this is a tie.

Possible twist in next generation console architecture

What if the rumors are false and Sony takes the cell processor technology and improves it?  There were rumbling that the PS3 graphics chip was added toward the end of PS3 development cycle. According some people Sony initially wanted to go with two cell processors, one as a CPU and one as a GPU, Sony found out that cell processors were not as good at doing graphics so at the last minute they contracted NVidia to design a card for them.

If this is true Sony could tweak the cell chip which is a PPE, the main processing unit, and 8 SPE. If Sony could make distributing task to the SPE easier with a graphics card that was built from the start to partner with the cell they could have one mean machine.

If this was the case Sony system would be more powerful.

Conclusion

If we add it all up both system will be powerful, who cares if one has a little more Tera flops than the other, it will come down to the developers aka the artists to create the masterpiece.

Let’s not forget we have no idea what Valve is up to, there system might put both these consoles to shame.
In any case if the rumors are true both these system will be expensive. I can’t wait to see what they try to hit us with at retail.