Xbox One v PlayStation 4 ArchitecturesBY: YASSER ALSHALAAN

ZACHARY TEASDALE

Overview Background AMD Jaguar Architecture Xbox One

Features Architecture

PlayStation4 Features Architecture

Critical Reception Pre-release Post-release

Background

Console gaming is based on a long life cycle (~5-10 years) Large amount of upfront hardware development Software and OS updates throughout product life Affordable, upfront cost for consumer

Customizable AMD Jaguar SoCAPU

Both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One use customized Jaguar Accelerated Processing Unit

Xbox APU has an additional 32 MB of ESRAM on-die 28 nm lithography Xbox uses 12/14 AMD Radeon Graphics Cores, while PlayStation uses 18/20

Graphics Cores Both feature 2 Quad-Core Jaguar x86 processors

64 KB of L1 cache per core 2 MB or shared L2 cache

Xbox runs at 1.75 GHz, PlayStation runs at 1.6 GHz Out-of-order execution and Speculative execution Integrated memory controller Two-way integer and floating point execution

AMD Jaguar Pipeline Improved version of Bobcat (2010).

low clock frequency and with focus on low power consumption.

Out-of-Order Scheduling. Issues 2 instructions and dispatches 6 operations per cycle. Six stages for Instruction Fetch. Decode two x86 instructions per cycle.

AMD Jaguar Pipeline (cont'd)

Xbox One Features Controller

Wireless or wired, battery-less operation with a micro USB cable

Independent rumble on each trigger

Light emitters for tracking and pairing with Kinect

3.5 mm jack as well as special Xbox connection for headset

Kinect Wide-angle time-of-flight camera and 1080p camera

Infrared array for movement and presence detection

Speech recognition

Operating System Runs both an OS for games and a stripped down version of Windows 10

Online Features Paid subscription for multiplayer access

Other community features, streaming, broadcasting, Netflix, Hulu, etc. free to use

Xbox One Architecture

Semi-custom AMD Jaguar 8-core APU CPU: 1.75 GHz, Two levels of cache GPU: 1310 GFLOPS with 768 shaders at 853 MHz

Memory 8 GB of DDR3 RAM with a 68 GB/s bandwidth

Storage Comes with a 500 GB or 1 TB hard disk drive, and support up to 2 SSD through USB3

Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n wireless and Wi-Fi Direct

Media Blu-ray, DVD

Operating System Gaming OS and stripped-down Windows 10, controlled by a hypervisor

OS Details

Tasks handled by Host OS (RTOS) Has complete control over entire Xbox One hardware and resources

Exclusive OS for games Stripped down version of Windows 10

DirectX calls go straight from Exclusive OS to Host OS

Shared partition Full version of Windows 10

Handles basic Xbox One functions and applications

Also handles some networking and audio

PS4 Features Price: $399, now $299 Wireless Controllers (DualShock 4)

Connects to the console via Bluetooth. A stereo headphone jack, touchpad.

Camera (PlayStation Camera) Two 1280×800 pixel lenses.

Online Gaming (PSN). Paid subscription. PlayStation Store for games, music, and movies.

Live Broadcasting Twitch, Ustream, or YouTube.

PS4 Architecture Semi-custom 8-core AMD Jaguar

CPU: 1.6 GHz. Two levels of cache. GPU: 1.84 Teraflops, 1152 shaders at 800 MHz.

Memory: 8GB of GDDR5 RAMwith 176 GB/s bandwidth.

Storage: Comes with 500GB hard drive and support SSD.

Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n Wireless, Bluetooth 2.1, USB 3.0, Ethernet.

Media: Blu-ray, DVD.

Operating System: Orbis OS (customized Unix).

Critical Reception Pre-Release

PlayStation 4 Came out as a serious frontrunner due to price, graphics

Marketed directly to gamers, made wise business choices in regard to DRM

Xbox One Had impressive hardware to back it up, however fell short on marketing

Initial statements made with regard to the system such as the DRM controversy limiting the use and resale of used games also caused harm

Marketed the console largely as an entertainment hub Using a more familial target audience

Critical Reception (cont) Post Release

Xbox One Higher $499 price due to requirement of Kinect Well received for technology and value as central multimedia device ~3 million units sold worldwide in the first month and a half More than 11.6 million units sold as of August 2015

PlayStation 4 Lower $399 price was very appealing to consumers Very well received for hardware and excellent graphics compared to worse

graphics on Xbox one ~4.2 million units sold worldwide More than 22.3 million units sold as of April 2015

References

http://www.developer.com/net/xbox-one-architecture-overview-for-developers.html

http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/171735-xbox-one-apu-reverse-engineered-reveals-sram-as-the-reason-for-small-gpu

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_One https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_4 http://www.kitguru.net/desktop-pc/console-desktop-pc/anton-

shilov/microsoft-life-to-date-sales-of-xbox-one-exceed-11-6-million-of-units/

Questions?