Is the GPU holding the PS3 back?

120

GTA IV, quite famously, was delayed from being a 2007 release to being a 2008 release because of problems Rockstar were having with the Playstation 3 version of the game. And now Codemasters admit that whilst the Microsoft Xbox 360 version of Grid runs at a solid 30 fps the Playstation 3 version doesn’t. These are just two of the latest of a long stream of disappointments with the comparative performance of the PS3. What is happening here?

The enormous power of a modern game console comes from two processors working together. The CPU (Central Processing Unit) and the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). Console manufacturers have traditionally bought in CPUs from manufacturers such as Intel and IBM whilst GPUs have come from the likes of nVidia and ATI.

For the PS3 Sony wanted to have a technology advantage so they developed, in conjunction with Toshiba and IBM, the Cell processor. A clean sheet design with many innovations this took $400 million and four years to develop. The intention was to use two of these in the PS3, one as CPU and one as GPU. However at the last minute Sony realised that the Cell GPU wasn’t up to the job so they went to nVidia and bought their 7800GTX GPU. This gave them a number of disadvantages:

  • It wasn’t designed or optimised as a console GPU. It was designed and optimised as a PC GPU.
  • The whole architecture of the console was compromised by the last minute change.
  • The 7800GTX has less raw processing power than the Microsoft Xbox 360 GPU.

Microsoft had their fingers burnt by not owning the chips in the original Xbox, so for the 360 they decided that they wanted to own the rights to both processors. They sat down and co designed their GPU with ATI. By doing this they were able to optimise it’s capabilities for video game playing and also they were able to design it into the elegant system architecture of the Xbox 360. They also gave it a lot of raw power.

So although the Platstation 3 has a more powerful CPU than the Xbox 360 it seems to be less powerful as a gaming machine. And real world results with real games have so far proved this. As Richard Huddy of ATI said in an Edge magazine interview: “I think Xbox 360 technology is likely to outperform PlayStation 3 technology by a pretty healthy margin in the long run.” It looks like the GPU is holding the PS3 back.

Related stories

  1. Is it worth developing for PS3?
  2. Sony Playstation PS3 slim
  3. Are Sony successfully digging PS3 out of a hole?

120 Comments


  1. I love how the PS3 Fanboys immediately come to the rescue for their machine. Hey guess what, if your machine was doing so well then why don’t you just shutup and let the games do the talking. What a bunch of *****. For every 1 360 fanboy there is 20 ps3 fanboys ready to explain why their machine is so cool. I knew a lot of Atari Jaquar fanboys also who did a lot of explaining…..it’s 64-bit! Shuck it Trebek!


  2. It would make sense right, but then why are kojima productions rockstar naughty dog capcom and infinity ward able to release games that equal the xbox 360. Just because ubisoft can’t seem to dev. for the ps3 doesn’t mean its not possible? Maybe its the laziness of the 3rd party dev.s who would rather work with simpler tech, or possibly these production companies have poor management?


  3. Talk about not knowing what your talking about. Nvidia worked closely with Sony to develop the custom GPU to specifically run with the Cell Processor.

    The Cell Processor was not an after thought either. They always intended to use Grid Computing for the PS3.

    The problem with some early games is that the PS3 is more difficult to learn for Developers. Many Developers already have this learning curve behind them and are now realizing how much power they have yet to tap into.

    Ratchet and Clank can’t even be developed for the 360 because it lacks the capabilities. Crysis is another.

    Get your facts straight. Most current games are just as good on both systems. This comes with Developers maturing with the PS3 coding process. REMEMBER that the 360 was out 1 year before the PS3 and Developers had it figured out when they started making the first PS3 games.

    The AAA titles that are on the Horizon for the PS3 will set a new benchmark for Graphics. This statement comes from many top developers who understand the power inside the PS3.

    Last thing is this. Current PS3 games are using less than 30% of the PS3 capabilities. Not power. Capabilities. This includes the GPU.


  4. I currently own an Xbox360 and a Sony PS3……as of Christmas of 2007 I have not really played my xbox360.

    Since Christmas of 2007 I have played R&CTOD, HS, RFOM, GT5, Folklore, Uncharted and in two days the game that will make me cry with joy MGS4.

    After playing RFOM,GT5,Folklore,R&C TOD, HS,and Uncharted there is no game currently on 360 that can live up to these titles graphically(the only game that stands out graphically for 360 is GOW). ME very overrated…H3 just as overrated.

    I have to say this article kinda sucks…….PS3 EXCLUSIVES are the best looking games out there even HAZE beats the best 360 has.

    My 360 turns back on in November 2008(GOW2)…until then I will be playing MGS4, GT5, LPB, SCOOM, RFOM2, Afrika(ps3 REGION free), Motorstorm2,Tekken 6, Bioshock enhanced(again), all only on PS3……with its ****** GPU……


  5. “This article tells it like it is. PS3 has been out 2 years and still gets out performed by 360. Sony lied to its fans and now the sony fanboys are crying bitter tears.”

    out performed ?? you are blind, or you don’t want to see uncharted, ratchet and clank, mgs4, killzone2, etc and it’s only the beginning.


  6. Sony never intended to use a cell processor as the GPU. You’ve completely made this up or took it from someone who did. It’s actually kind of a dumb thing to say since the cell has no specific instruction sets for graphic processing. Of course it’s completely viable to dedicate cell SPU for pixel shading, etc… which helps it to compete and exceed the performance of the 360.


  7. wow. fanboys don’t be insulted. the ps3 is a good system beside all of the countless hours spent installing and downloading the games to play horrible games.


  8. lol, to say that the PS3 underperforms the Xbox 360 is grossly inaccurate. The PS3 executives out shine almost everything on the 360, this is just the truth.

    I have both consoles, and I am always blown away when I see articles like these saying the PS3 is in some way inferior to the 360.


  9. Will see when gears of war 2 shows some gameplay footage, they better be atleast on pair with Haze graphics and no more 585p@20fps flops ok.


  10. @# 34 Are you serious? Warhawk is way better than gow/majority of the 360 library(if not all). The ability to do many things online ie flying, gun turret,missle turret,tank,stab,land mines, oh yea air mines, rocket launcher,binoculars/Air Strike,jeep,Apc,Flamethower,Drop Ship(up to 6 ppl in a missile turret plus can pick up a jeep or tank). Damn the list can go on SERIOUSLY.Compared to just running,chain sawing your enemy over an over gets tired FAST.Yea i agree ps3 is harder to develop for but By Far the best, and most innovative more Versatile game is Warhawk Point blank.Pick it up 1 day an you’ll understand. when i get tired of flying, I jump in the tank, tired of the tank place sum land mines an protect the base Tired of doing those things go an capture the flag or take over sum base’s, gow aint got nothing besides single player (same fps)an a little better graphics because warhawk is online only (which is its advange), an yea ive played gow online,single player for hours. @#37 WELL PUT AND STRONGLY AGREE


  11. …. also to further disprove your misinformation about the PS3’s pre-development; There is no way Sony would have had 2 Cell processors. The costs of having 2 CELL processors would make that “theory” of yours impossible. The CELL processer, apparently something you had not researched, has a very complex architechure. When chip makers like AMD and Intel were FIRST discussing multi-core processors almost all developers were up in arms complaining about the difficulty working with the new tech. CELL is basicly an 8 core processor, something that scares most programmers. Even 360’s 3 core processor has posed problems for developers who want to take full advantage of the hardware. Once developers stop being a bunch of sissies, the Cell will compensate for the GPU which, by the way, is a very powerful chip in its own right.


  12. Ok for the record this guy must a fanboy or something, not seeing or telling all the facts on both systems. I’m no tech whiz guy or anything but the xbox 360 has 3 cores at 3.2 ghz and the ps3 has 7 let me say that again 7 there’s gotta be more power somehow SEVEN it’s just dev’s have not yet learn how to use them yet, except maybe the guys who made GTP the game looks photorealistica at 60 fps. The gta4 thing it’s because it’s rockstar’s first ps3 game so they are gonna have trouble getting to know the system, also let me tell u that imsoniac is learining how to use the ps3 well specially with rachect and clank looking like a pixar movie at 60fps. Eat ur heart out whoever wrote this article u need to do some reasearch before u can even start talking all that noise, yes the xbox360 has more games right now and that’s only because they came out first so they got that advantage but MGS4 will be another breakthru in ps3 tech you’ll see it already looks good it’s just beeing hated for it being complex then again it’s the japanesse behind it so they are real smart people and pobably only they know what they built but until then in the long run will see which games look any better on whatever console.


  13. This isn’t right at all. The problem lies not in the architecture, the problem is that most devs are more willing to work on 360 because of its larger install base. Also, devs who work on the PS3 must adapt to the Cell architecture, by allocating processes to different SPEs. The best looking PS3 game is far better than the best looking 360 game (Uncharted vs Gears, arguably). PS3 is a much more powerful console, it just depends on the developers’ willingness to spend the time and resources to make the most of it.


  14. Oh please. For all those fans who say they have both a 360 and a PS3 and prefer the graphics on the 360 are complete liars. Me (PS3 owner) and my mate (360 owner) have swapped consoles for a month to try out the exclusives and both admit the PS3 is slightly better. Uncharted, GTA, COD4, Dirt, Oblivion all look and run better on the PS3. So stop believing the lies by 360 fanboys (who just say anything to wind up PS3 owners) . If everyone thought the 360 was better no one would buy a PS3. If you love games you would had played Heavenly Sword, Uncharted, Stardust HD, Ratchet & Clank, Assassins Creed, Resistance, etc. The only decent 360 exclusives in my opinion are Gears of War and Mass Effect. Halo 3 is dull to say the least and Mass Effect is long-winded. You can feel it… the 360 is running out of steam… clinging onto old graphical wins like Madden 07. If you actually compare Grid side-by-side the PS3 runs better. See it yourself before believing the hype.


  15. “#35 Jon Smith on 06.10.08 at 9:44 pm

    The article is correct. But teh cell…!!!

    lol Cell is good for playing games like CHESS.

    If Sony had stuck with their original vision maybe PS3 would be good…………
    play metal Gear solid 4 and uncharted, then come back to me with the “But teh cell…!!!” argument, dumbA**


  16. Comments like #5 make me laugh at how uneducated you guys are, to commentor #5, do you own a PS3?I highly doubt that…no, I promise that you don’t…

    The people making all the negative comments about the PS3 here or anywhere are always favorers of another console or hardware…..these people ARE NOT, un biased in any way, so you guys loose credibility..

    As to what the blogger said, while the RSX isn’t as advanced as the 360’s GPU, it isn’t miles behind lagging….

    As Nvida said, the RSX is like two 6800’s, 360’s GPU I don’t think is more powerful, just more capable, basically, it seems to me Sony’s focus was its CPU and Microsofts was its GPU.

    With that said, Xenon excels and Cell Excels, but that does not make 360 GPU any stronger….

    On the topic of games, 360 came out a year ahead, has a wider fanbase, similar pc architect, as for comparing third party games, it’s no wonder 360 would excel….exclusives, that’s a different story…

    Killzone 2’s graphics are above and beyond anything on the 360, Uncharted is above and beyond Gears of anything 360, Gran Turismo 5, looks better than any other game on the 360, forza included…..

    Cell+RSX easily beats out 360 in terms of performance and graphics, it just has to be tapped and dedicated to..

    That’s my input on it, 360 fanboys and other console favorists alike, you don’t have to take what I say to heart, but before this gen is over PS3 will be in high second or top, and we’ll see who gets the last laugh….patience, is key…


  17. This is a excuse for developers who don’t optimize their games.


  18. Look man the Playstation 3 is far from being held back and weak seriously its come a long way since its been released. Playstation 3 has the next generation inside of it. Look at the xbox 360 its old and becoming weak it cant hold alot of space for games ill tell you the facts, ps3 can hold sooo much space look at mgs4 its 50gb in size! thats two discs in one wow and in the future ps3 will be even bigger in size thats why killzone 2 hasnt been released yet because theyre trying to put as much into it as possible and make it the best graphics game you’ll see. Haha the xbox 360 cant compare to that the most it can hold on one disc is 8gbs thats terrible and the most it will ever be able to hold is 30gbs and thats with and upgrade in which you pay alot of money for. By the way when the graphics are being compared on xbox 360 and ps3 they always compare the games developed for xbox 360 and ported to ps3. Think people ofcourse the graphics wont be the same it wasnt developed for ps3! Think a little bit before you act


  19. I’d be willing to accept this opinion……

    Had there been any technical analysis to back up…..anything.

    Lots of heresay and overthinking of off hand developer comments.

    Probably shoulda considered that the cell processor can handle graphics work as well.


  20. The xbox 360 has so many better games!!!! Period!!!! I own both consoles- and truly…… I can’t ell the difference in graphics. However….. games run better on the 360. That is the truth. Everyone else is splitting hairs. Personally…..I play my 360 alot more. I wish they had a Blue Ray drive, and I really wouldn’t need my playstation. I just figured if I was going to buy a blue ray player…..why not be able to play some games as well. It really is the only reason to buy a Playstation3….if you can afford a Blue Ray player. Thats it!!!! If movies are good for you on DVD, than 360 is way better. Take it from someone with no preference at all!!!


  21. This is a topic that kind of fell under the radar since the initial comparisons and the ensuing firestorm of fan flaming back in the fall of 06′.

    Basically what the admin of this site is saying is completely correct in that the GPU of the PS3 is quite a bit slower than the one in the 360. The PS3 has a GPU that is almost pipe for pipe identical to the 7800GTX 256MB from the PC market. While the GPU in the 360 is in most accounts the exact same silicon of the PC market X1800XTX 256MB (the memory amount really has nothing to do with the architecture of the GPU itself and is separate to the GPU die.)

    In real world performance in PC titles the X1800XTX usually has between a 15 and 25% advantage in performance as it was really designed to be a competitor for the Nvidia 7900GTX 512MB which was the refresh part or replacement for the 7800GTX 256MB.

    As we have seen with the large number of dead consoles though, to maintain this performance level the X1800XTX ran much hotter than the competing Nvidia GPU’s and used significantly more wattage as well. A situation that AMD/ATI is still trying to remedy till today in its GPU’s. At my University myself and my cousin (he is a Quantum Mech. student ) tested the heat dissipation properties of these competeing GPU’s for a research thesis.

    The whole idea of having the cell processor act as a back-up to the GPU is up surd as it would take more than 16 cell processors working in parallel to even approach the performance envelope of a modern GPU.
    While most people are aware that the cell is very fast due to its single core and 8 synergistic SPU structure (7 active, 1 reserve) very few people are aware that a GPU such as the upcoming Nvidia GT280 (next few weeks) have a single core and 128 shader processors which are quite a bit more efficient per shader proc. than the SPU’s in the cell due to their inately parallel design which is very geometry friendly (aka they really like drawing 3D images, lots of polygons and textures).

    In conclusion however as was mentioned above, “Call of Duty 4” ran quite well on both consoles, it also scaled extremely well on all PC GPU’s from both AMD/ATI and Nvidia. This goes to show just how much efficient code makes a difference when running graphically intensive applications. (insert comment regarding the lack of efficiency in the CryEngine2 here, love the game/hate the amount I spent to run it at acceptable FPS.)

    PS: Don’t be hatin, all consoles have their good and bad points, take the good with the bad or buy both and be happy!


  22. I am a software developer with a master’s degree in CS, so I can confirm PS3 is vastly inferior to Xbox 360 as a game console.

    During its inception, CELL’s architecture was mainly guided by Toshiba, who previously engineered and supplied infamous(formerly the most difficult console to program for prior to PS3) Emotion Engine to PS2, for its own audio/video processing requirement and CELL is excellent for streaming audio/video processing, but is almost useless for general purpose applications(aka games). For gaming, CELL is roughly equal to a 800 Mhz Pentium III(Yes, a Pentium III) in extractable performance, or slightly faster than the original Xbox. RSX in the meanwhile is indeed a downgraded GeForce 7800GTX that Kutaragi Ken(father of PlayStation) purchased from nVIDIA for just $30 million(Sony spent 100 times that amount on CELL), because Kutaragi Ken ran out of time and money to do a proper GPU for PS3, and decided to go for the nVIDIA option. Due to bandwidth limitations, RSX performs similar to GeForce 7600GT, not 7800GTX. Compare RSX to XGPU2, which was designed just for Xbox 360 from scratch at no expense spared, and ran so well it overheated(This is the cause of infamous red ring of death. XGPU2 ran faster and hotter than Microsoft expected)

    Based on publictly released development material and benchmark figures(namely Sony’s own EDGE library), PS3 has roughly 1/4th the power of Xbox 360, with RSX capped at 45 million polys/s ingame while Xbox 360 easily pushes through 180 million polys/s.

    1/4th the rendering power of Xbox 360 is pretty unbelievable to non-programmers, but that the numbers we see.


  23. A rough performance equivalency is as follows.

    PS3 :
    PPE : A 800 Mhz Pentium III
    RSX : GeForce 7600GT

    Xbox 360
    XCPU2 : 2 x 3.2 Ghz Dual-Core Pentium IV Extreme Edition 840(Source : Capcom Lost Planet Team)
    XGPU2 : GeForce 8800GTS(Source : Capcom Lost Planet Team)


  24. Deadmeat,

    To say that teh 360 GPU= 8800GTS is just stupid and highly inaccurate. Remember that an 8800 GTS is more powerful than ATI’s 3870, the best single card GPU ATI has recently created. Do you really expect that ATI’s newest technology is not as powerful as their GPU’s from 3 years ago in the 360?
    You can argue that the 360 is >the PS3, but please don’t give us **** about 360 GPU = Nvidia 8800 GPU

    BTW, those cards can run games at 1900*1200 Resolution while the 360 struggles to run games at a resolution > 700


  26. @Mun2004 & Deadmeat

    You’re about the only people here or on share sites such as N4G that have the ability to withdraw bias and realise that this article is a technical discussion and not at all about specific games on either platform. I do question Bruce’s motives in publishing this though as the article really doesn’t tell industry insiders anything new. Developers will always find ways around such problems with efficient code but the 360 in terms of games programming is very much a V12 to the PS3’s 4-litre.

    Thank you for sharing your knowledge. 🙂


  27. xbox360 is better for gaming, GPU & Direct X give it a boost. my ps3 is my blu ray player if microsoft bring out a more quiet, reliable, nice looking, blu ray 360 i will buy one and lose the ps3. seriously. i dont even play the ps3. sorry sony but the ps3 doesnt do it for me like the ps2 did.
    its lost that special feeling about it.


  28. Sony didn’t use the Cell processor as a GPU because it was too expensive to be able to release it at an acceptable price. By MS rushing the 360 Sony was forced to rush the PS3 as well. Both consoles therefore are compromised. In the PS3 architecture the Cell must take on part of the work that’s being traditionally assigned to the GPU. Developers are only now learning how to best make use of this but it will probably prove to be very valuable knowledge now that GPUs, after years of specialization, now are being turned into PUs that can take on non-graphics tasks as well.

    In the end, let the games do the talking and currently there’s little on 360 (nothing I guess) that hasn’t been matched on the PS3 graphics wise. Though I for one would wish developers stopped with the graphics obsession and focussed on better gameplay more.


  29. @Deadmeat

    In practice, your PC GPU comparison seems reasonable.

    I disagree with the CPU comparison, though.

    I wouldn’t compare the 360’s CPU to a double dual core pentium 4 though. In-order execution cripples the average instruction per clock tick and by experience, for general purpose code, the 360 CPU underperforms a single pentium 4 core. Microsoft has made a very good job of optimising their compiler, but it’s not enough.

    That said, for *specific* computations like physics and maths (transformations, ray casting etc…) the 360 CPU can approach a double dual core P4. It’s important to point out that during a typical game computation cycle, not 100% of the time is spent doing math intensive work. Certain games may lend themselves more to it, like for instance Burnout, but other games will need more generic code (for AI, for instance), in which case the P4 will easily outperform an optimised 360 code.

    Also, notice that in theory the CELL should beat the pants of both the 360 and the p4 *for math intensive computations only*, if properly delegated on the 6 available SPUs. So a burnout-style(or wipeout…) game where general purpose code is limited should be more at ease on the CELL, but an AI heavy game like, say, a game like fable, wouldn’t fare so well on the CELL. I did say in *theory* though, as given Sony’s tools and compilers are not excellent, to say the least, it requires a lot more effort to squeeze these extra percents out of the CPU, and means development times are greatly increased (that means games being delayed or requiring a few more months/years to get out).

    Finally, there’s a last element that one shouldn’t ignore. The xbox 360 has a unified memory for both the GPU and the CPU. This means the developper has the flexibility the spend more of his “memory credit” into graphical appearance (ie. textures and vertex/animation data), something the PS3 doesn’t enjoy.

    So in short:

    PS3 GPU > 360 CPU for math/DSP happy code.
    PS3 CPU << 360 CPU for general purpose code.

    Once again, and I repeat it :

    RAW CONSOLE HARDWARE POWER DOESN’T MAKE GAMES AND ART.
    I’VE SEEN BEAUTIFUL GAMES RUNNING ON LOW SPEC MACHINES (Okami anyone??) AND UGLY AS SIN ONES ON HIGH SPEC MACHINES.


  30. Okay, let me rephrase my “in short” (which somehow got scrambled):

    PS3 GPU > 360 GPU

    PS3 GPU >> 360 GPU for math/DSP happy code.
    PS3 CPU << 360 CPU for general purpose code.


  31. Damn, I need some rest!

    PS3 GPU > 360 CPU for math/DSP happy code.
    PS3 CPU << 360 CPU for general purpose code.

    This time it’s the right one!


  32. I used to be a PS fanboy and the last thing you want to hear is someone dissing your console, the only reason i didnt get a PS3 was the dam price of the thing.i only brought a 360 cos it was half the price of a PS3 and upon reading the article it just shows that even though the PS3 came out much later than the 360 they are equal machines, this is bad because you would have thought that a consol brought out 2 years after the 360 would be able to out perform the cheaper 360


  33. Blaming developers and programmers is ridiculous, so a developer is supposed to dump more money into making the ps3 game play better. That is by far the most asinine statement. It’s all about money and sony should have made it more attractive for the developers who are doing multi-platform games. Instead they look like chumps because it is more EXPENSIVE (man hours) to get it to run the same as the the 360. It’s KISS keep it simple stupid, and sony missed it…


  34. Hey Guys!

    Listen I own a PS3 and love it, if you want the same game thats on the XBOX-360..and save money and get better performance , just purchase the PC version. The PC will always be better than the XBOX-360 port!

    Trust me on Vista and DX10 you can’t go wrong with games like Bioshock, Mass Effect , and the Halo series!

    See now you can have both, save $10 to $20 on the PC version from the Xbox and play the best the PS3 offers

    Enjoy!


  35. His comments are not lies here. Hes simply stating that the GPU is holding back the ps3 games from outperforming the 360 ones. And hes right. If you look at every ps3 game out there, you’ll notice that none of them outperform the best 360 games. None. Take your fanboy glasses off already. The 360’s GPU was designed for the consoles while the ps3 one is an off the shelf pc card build for PC’s. I dont see what the whole fuss is about? He never said the ps3 sucked or doesn’t have good games. Its just not what Sony promised.


  36. Please get your facts right.
    The PS3 was never planned to be a dual CBE box.
    The 7800GTX was designed for the PS3 from the start.
    The CBE development took about 6 years and 8 billion $.
    Even if you use the RSX just as a framebuffer and do ALL calculations on the CPU you have more power than a 360.


  37. I have been told this by a developer:

    The xenos has a claimed 240GFlops possible in the shaders. Given that it takes 4 ops to perform a transformation to screen space we can say its theoretical maximum poly throughput is 60,000,000,000 polys/sec.

    The RSX has 8 vertex shaders each capable of 10 Flops per cycle. So .. well … thats 40GFLOPS @ 500MHz. Max poly through put is 10,000,000,000 polys/sec.


  38. The information provided here is completely wrong.
    When GTA was delayed, Rockstar admitted that it wasn’t just the PS3 versions fault that caused the delay.

    The RSX is more powerfull than 7800GTX and is a different chip. It has better specifications and is much closer to 7900GTX specs.

    While a few games has suffered graphically, it is because they are first made on the Xbox, then having it’s code transferred to the PS3, which will dumb it down. But if you look at games like Uncharted, you will see that it has better graphics than any Xbox game out there. So does Metal Gear Solid 4 and Final Fantasy XIII. You just have to master what you make your game for. A multiplatform title will always underachieve individually on a console.


  39. It’s pointless to compare crappy ports. Those don’t max out either machine. If you want to see what a machine can do you have to look at dedicated programming efforts., ie., console exclusives.

    Games that have been completely optimized for the Xbox360 like PGR4 and Gears are simply not at the same level as games that have been made exclusively for the PS3. Not a single Xbox360 game would have a developer think they couldnt replicate it on PS3 while there are quite a few PS3 games (such as GT5, Ratchet, Uncharted) which are simply in a higher class than anything on Xbox360.


  40. To Olivier

    > I wouldn’t compare the 360’s CPU to a double dual core pentium 4 though.

    Actually two dualcores(Four core in total). And I didn’t make the comparison, Capcom’s Lost Planet programmer did, because Lost Planet was initially developed for a two dualcore Pentium 4 EE 840, then ported to Xbox 360 when the game was 80% done for a final optimization. Capcom develoeprs couldn’t stop praising Xbox 360 enough, this being the best-engineered and most powerful console they worked with.

    There is a lot of false assumption that XCPU2’s core is identical to PPE’s. They aren’t. While Sony and Toshiba didn’t consider PPE to be important and took whatever IBM fed them, XCPU2 core was heavily modified to boost single thread performance. The modifications were

    1. Different SMT algorithm : On XCPU2 core, the main thread gets all of CPU cycle and switches to secondary thread only at page miss and interrupt, so the CPU cycle time split is 75:25. PPE does 50:50 all the time. This technique, combined with other enhancements, permits individual demanding thread to run much quicker on XCPU2 than it does on PPE, as much as twice as fast.

    2. Larger and More efficient L2 cache : XCPU2’s cache is double the size of PPE’s.

    3. Secondary Address ALU : XCPU2 has secondary ALU in its Load/Store unit so that integer calculation and address calculation can be done in parallel. PPE uses integer APU to do both.

    > Also, notice that in theory the CELL should beat the pants of both the 360 and the p4 *for math intensive computations only

    Who cares about “in theory”. What matters is “in practice”.

    To anti

    > The 7800GTX was designed for the PS3 from the start.

    Nope. It was a 6-month $30 million hack job.

    > The CBE development took about 6 years and 8 billion $.

    And RSX took 6 months and $30 million

    > Even if you use the RSX just as a framebuffer and do ALL calculations on the CPU you have more power than a 360.

    I went to school for 6 years(BS and MS) and write code for a living 9 hours a day. And you?

    To Bruce

    > The xenos has a claimed 240GFlops possible in the shaders. Given that it takes 4 ops to perform a transformation to screen space we can say its theoretical > maximum poly throughput is 60,000,000,000 polys/sec.
    > The RSX has 8 vertex shaders each capable of 10 Flops per cycle. So .. well … thats 40GFLOPS @ 500MHz. Max poly through put is 10,000,000,000 polys/sec.

    Who cares about theoretical stuff. What people actually managed to get out ingame is 45 million/s for PS3, and 180 million/s for Xbox 360.

    To Marius

    > The information provided here is completely wrong.
    > When GTA was delayed, Rockstar admitted that it wasn’t just the PS3 versions fault that caused the delay.

    Actually Rockstar did blame PS3.

    > The RSX is more powerfull than 7800GTX

    Actually about half as powerful thanks to bandwidth starvation.

    > and is a different chip. It has better specifications and is much closer to 7900GTX specs.

    RSX was engineered by 50 engineers in 6 months for $30 million.

    In conclusion, Xbox 360 and PS3 doesn’t even belong in same generation in the eyes of game programmers; PS3 is more like Xbox Turbo.


  41. Let me say just one thing:
    The PS3 is the new PSP, they promised “PS2 Quality graphics” and delivered “Quasi-Dreamcast Quality graphics”, now looking forward: Does it really matter if the PS3 CPU, GPU and BluRay capabilities are that powerful if we are still playing the same games over and over? I cannot think on any game needing “so much power”. It´s all about the “experience”, and the “magic” of the experience is something achivieable on a PS2. What we really need is minds of the like of Miyamoto, Kojima, Itagaki…, give em whichever console you like and they will bring “magic”


  42. Why are PS3 fans so sensitive and violently defensive?

    Yes uncharted looks good, but for a game to look that good on the PS3 it takes enormous time and resources, this should not be if the system is “more powerful.”

    As with the xbox vs the PS2 last gen, if the PS3 is as powerful as Sony claims, then it should out perform the 360 with ease, and without extra effort and money, and this is even in a situation with a ported game.

    Sony greatly exagerated the performance of the PS3, and it is bizarre that so many of you have trouble getting that fact since Sony has a history of over promising and under delivering.

    Grow up people, Sony is not a child that you need to defend, they lied to us like they have done before, the least you can do is have the brains and intestinal fortitude to call them on it.


  43. I couldn’t care less which is more powerful but find the stupid PS3 fanboy comments on this page most amusing. Anything indicating the 360 could be better? No! It can’t be! U a noob and know nothing wot u r talking about!

    Get a life, the lot of you.


  44. GT5 runs in a full 60fps. So whats the problem. maybe these companys that makes games need to spend more time learning how the ps3 works. my 360 is ****.It was a gift and it ***** out all the time . If it gets warm just alittle goodnight.Lets talk internet.One low bandwidth person in a room and I kicked off. I have yet to have any kind of problem with my playstation. Halo,GTA 4 Grid rainbow six, these games to me do not look any better on the 360.If a company isn’t spending time on game development that isn’t sony or microsofts problem.


  45. Wow. Time after time after time…The poo is beginning to stack up on the PS3. When will the fan boys finally wake up and demand more from Sony. The PS3 has abosolutely 0 going for it right except for blue ray, and you still have to install your games to play them. If I had been an early adoper of the ps3 and shelled out $600 for this…I’d probably shoot myself.


  46. As the owner of a Wii, 360, and a PS3, and have roughly 6 games on each, I can easily say that, IMHO, the 360 is the best games machine no question, but the PS3 is much better as a media center.
    An to all the fanboys that quote this or that regarding what developer says what, everyones got an opinion, and they aren’t going to agree. Valve says the PS3 should be scrapped and Sony perform a Do-over, others say PS3 has the most power. It really hasnt mattered.
    It’s about the games stupid. And so far, sorry to say, the PS3 lacks in that department just as the Xbox lacked against the Ps2. I know 6 other people that have PS3’s, and they own like two games, and mostly use it for media center. The others I know that are interested want it for the blu ray player, and the games come in very second.
    In games the Wii and the 360 has won this generation it seems. it cracks me up that Sony has so many fanboys that seem to forget all their tresspasses, their stupid statements, and their arrogance, yet call out MS for the same stuff.
    And the MS fanboys shoud remember that MS has been humbled in the console race, but should they ever become the major winner, will replace sony with the same arrogance.
    Dont buy a console due to brand name, but it for the games!!!!!


  47. and about the ps3
    bluray check
    wireless check
    harddrive check
    blutooth check
    hdmi 1.3 check
    free online multiplayer check
    1gb ethernet port check
    MGS4 check
    about the 360
    none of the above(unless you pay $$$ and even if you pay you dont get hdmi1.3,1gb ethernet, blutooth and MGS4)
    3 red ring of dead CHECK(last night third time this has happened what tha ****)


  48. You Sony fan-boys are pathethic! why cant you just accept the facts and stop crying!!!
    Bruce is not the only guru in gaming industry who says the same about Sonys flawed PS3, just about every programmer agrees with him.


  49. Gogo!
    A nice article indeed.
    But hardware aint all 🙂

    Smart Fanboys buy the console for the games, dumb fanboys buy the console based on reputation..

    Why does fanboys fight so god damn mutch?.. Why are you spamming and screaming.
    If you are 2 Highttech computer enginers that accualy made the consoles.. have a fight.

    But low dudes spamming their own different opinions..?

    I like the Xbox 360 because.. “I LIKE IT!”.. end of story and no one can change my mind x)

    A BIG “+” for Deadmeat…

    But its entertaining to read all the FANBOY reactions.. so keep going please…


  50. mgs4 is OK, but there are some low res textures used…(i tried to compare it with the old Xbox360’s Splinter Cell Double Agent and SCDA looked better)

    Uncharted is OK, but well…there are some low res as well and not so detailed texture on the character…

    GT5P is superb, but i dunno whether GT5P’s cars are still “physically unbreakable” like Forza 2… if so then no wonder PS3 can render such graphic because of there is no damage system…

Comments are closed.