However I do not think it will be enough to be a game changer.
More GPU clock will be worth more than more CUs I suspect, look at how GPU performance tends to scale with previous variants of Radeon hardware. Vega 56/64 at same clock are essentially identical in games. Sure this is custom Navi (which is a whole other variable - the GPUs may not be the same architecture as each other) - but I would wager the trend holds true at least to some extent.
AMD cards run out of memory bandwidth before anything else, and what’s to say Sony aren’t doing some secret sauce compression in their GPU like they are with the SSD?
And even if there is say, a 15% difference in performance - that isn’t enough to be a differentiating factor in my view - hence “close enough to be identical” for the purposes of what types of games and what level of graphical fidelity we will see.
And hyperthreading/SMT?
Not worth shit for a console IMHO. Consoles, you want deterministic behaviour in terms of CPU. Hyperthreading won’t give you that. The 8 extra threads simply aren’t = double the processing power.
All that said, as above, as @psycho_666 said, it will come down to the software. And I think Sony will be more innovative in that respect - the xbox stuff will just be identical to games they will no doubt try to leverage onto Windows via the Windows Dumpster Fire Store (I mean, they are actively trying to push this angle via the XBOX App), and thus will need to run on a base level of PC hardware.
The best thing about the new consoles is that we Big Navi alongside it.
Plus, for the first time it seems that consoles can actually keep up with most consumer computer hardware spec wise.
I’m happy for both sides but besides my computers I’ll stick with the Nintendo Switch only since I don’t find much excitement in most games Sony especially has to offer these years.
Yes but that was in a cluster and Sony blocked OtherOS for consumers after 27c3 in 2010.
I admit, the performance that cluster delivered was impressive, however, in case of actual video game consoles I refer mostly to how well these can keep up with current PCs (midrange to lower highend).
Well im old and it take time for shitty things to process, When its Friday and im drunk wisdoming.
Just saying I mean zero harm … Alas, eleventy-one years is far too short a time to live among such excellent and admirable L1ers." [cheers abound.] “I don’t know half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”
I remember at least the PS4 and I believe the PS3 as well being on par or better than equivalently priced PCs at release.
Back when the PS4 was released (late 2013) it was $400, which at the time would have given you the cheapest Intel Celeron, an HD 7850, and the utmost barebones motherboard/case/PSU.
That’s not including the OS or mouse/keyboard/controller, which could easily be another $100 or more.
My hope in that regard is that the PS5 and XBOX Series X indeed stay powerful enough for quite a while as 16GB RAM seems like something that more plenty for most use cases.