Reports and rumors regarding Microsoft and Sony’s next gen consoles are coming our way from all directions. In this post we’ll list the most credible info we’ve come across so far.
CPU
Both PlayStation 4 (codenamed Orbis) and Xbox 720 (codenamed Durango) are said to feature eight-core CPUs clocked at 1.6GHz. Both CPUs are based on AMD’s "Jaguar" architecture with some console-specific modifications.
Jaguar is designed by AMD for its next generation of entry level laptops and tablets. Laptops equipped with Jaguar-based quad-core CPUs are set to ship later this year.
Orbis CPU is supposed to achieve 1.84 teraflops while Durango’s CPU is expected to achieve no more than 1.23 teraflops. If those numbers are correct, they mean that the next PlayStation will be 50% more powerful than the next Xbox in terms of raw CPU power. (FLOPS is a unit used to measure the speed of floating point calculations performed by a CPU.)
GPU
Reports indicate that Orbis sports a slightly underclocked AMD Radeon HD 7970M. Orbis GPU features 18 Graphics Core Next compute units running at 800 MHz compared to the original Radeon HD 7970M which sports 20 units running at 850 MHz. But don’t be fooled by this slight cut down. The HD 7970M is AMD’s current flagship and when coupled with hardware and OS optimized for gaming, it is likely to produce astonishing visuals.
As for Durango, some sources claim that its GPU is based on AMD’s next gen mid-range GPU, the Radeon HD 8870 which is scheduled for release later this year. While this suggests that Durango’s GPU is less powerful than Orbis’, sources related to Microsoft hint that the company has a secret weapon in the form of task-specific hardware modules that supplement the GPU.
RAM
While it seems that Orbis has an advantage over Durango in terms of CPU power, the opposite is true in terms of available memory. It seems that Durango will come equipped with 8GB of GDDR3 RAM split into 3GB dedicated to the Operating System, Apps and Security and 5GB available for games. On the other hand, reports indicate that Orbis will come with 4GB of GDDR5 RAM only and that 1GB of those will be reserved for the Operating System, leaving 3GB to the games.
Storage
Unfortunately, there is no info available yet regarding both console’s internal storage, but reports suggest that they will support 100GB Blu-ray discs.
Power Consumption
It is interesting to note that both next gen consoles employ laptop CPUs and GPUs instead of their more power-consuming counterparts. Of note also is their reliance on Jaguar-based CPUs that are characterized by their excellent performance per watt. All things considered, it is likely that next gen consoles will draw no more than 150W compared to current gen Microsoft and Sony consoles that consume 200W.
