We also don’t know how well cooled the SSD is on the PS5. MS explained their cooling and how their SSD solution can basically run a constant storage bandwidth.
The key on the XSX is that MS touts the numbers, from storage to teraflops to memory bandwidth to clocks, are all constant and predictable. There is no overlock or underlock. You know what speed your storage will go at, what speed your CPU and CPU cores will go out, how fast your memory will be, etc. This makes optimizing much easier because they have made performance sustained and predictable.
So we are basically getting a PCIe 4.0 SSD on the PS5. With that comes more heat – that is the cost of the speed. Is there a heat sync? Does it latch into the cooling system overall? Do your add on SSDs need a heat sync or performance will suffer? Do they need a specific heat sink?
It seems that Microsoft engineering came to the conclusion that a PC m.2 drive may not be optimal for predictable sustained performance. They also may have concluded the PCIe 4.0 will run too hot. m.2 SSDs in high performance laptops and desktops cannot sustain transfer due to heat without some massive mod. If MS has figured out how to deliver a high speed storage system with excellent heat transfer, we may find in real life that the PS5 speed is not impressive.
It’s quite possible that without the proper cooling, the PS5 system may have to throttle down to slower speeds to keep cooler in regards to SSD.
The question that needs to be answered is did Sony do this to get super high speed storage that is way ahead – or did they do it so they could just get storage to match what the we will see in the XSX because they did not or could not engineer a solution for cooling?
The RAM that matters in the Xbox is far superior and will allow for faster throughput and less wasted cycles. It will be easy to allocate to specific memory addresses associated with the higher speed memory. The PS5 I/O advantage may not be much if the cooling is not adequate and MS is correct and they have adequately cooled it so the I/O can be sustained and not diminish.
Sony is not that great at cooling. I’ve heard from devs that Sony is not showing off the PS5 because it has thermal problems. Microsoft has no problem letting DF do a vid and showing them around while Sony has to rush a presentation to counter. I know from devs that have the kits that they feel the Xbox is easier to optimize and they feel games will look and feel much better on the Xbox upon release because it will take time to optimize for PS5 and figure it out.
I’ve been told it is not as bad as what happened with the PS3, but somewhat similar. The Xbox 360 was much more straightforward while the architecture for the PS3 was not. This is not the Cell, but it will require a lot of work in regards to clocks, etc to figure out how to optimize. They will eventually, but the first year may have some rougher titles that look noticeably worse than the XSX.
The one advantage the PS5 has, the I/O, may not be one if they can’t cool the drive. And the question of expansion is a real one. Do you need a heat sink on your approved SSD? The Xbox solution may be more expensive, but it also may be more consistent and easier to deal with since you don’t have to crack open the case. MS could also bulk order them up front to reduce initial cost.
I will say, MS’ way is pretty cool and reminiscent of bringing a Switch card or an old Gamecube save card and plugging it into a friend’s system. Microsoft’s setup let’s you easily bring your digital game with you, pre-downloaded, to play on other people’s XSX consoles once you login to your account. PS5 can’t do that – not with the newest games. Their external storage is not fast enough while Xbox’s is.
Also should be noted that the average speed is meaningless. I work with devs and manage them. Optimizing is simple because you just code to ensure the visual data is delivered to certain memory addresses that map to the higher speed memory and things that never need as much map to the lower bandwidth ones. Audio doesn’t need high speed.
This is actually a brilliant engineering bit by Microsoft that will be easy to code for by just how memory is addressed. It’s basically a few lines of code.
The stable speeds also make optimization easy because the software does not need to request the system ramp up clocks on the CPU versus GPU, etc. The Sony does and it takes more time to optimize and test to get the right balance. They will get there and find easier methods, but I have heard the Xbox is easier to optimize and code out of the box. This likely means the first slew of titles that are multi-platform may look and play significantly better on it in some ways. I’ve been told it’s basically the difference between the X1X and the PS4 Pro right now based on the dev kits and what was known about specs (I was never told the specs outright, but have been told the Xbox was the more powerful and overall impressive of the two).
Also expect that the Xbox will be able to do more under the surface than the Sony, like the AI HDR enhancement of past titles and, possibly, the ability to add HDR to streaming video that doesn’t have it (hinted at from what I’ve heard, not confirmed). Not sure if the PS5 has the memory caching ability of the XSX either, but time will tell. It may not have the same kind of resume function because that requires some special work in the OS and with the storage for it to work right from what I’ve heard.
Right now it looks like the only definite thing the PS5 has over the XSX is that it can load a part of a game in 1-3 seconds faster than the XSX. There are some game devs at big studios that have told me for a few months that many think Sony screwed up the architecture and has been trying to fix it, especially once all the leaks came out from Microsoft.
I have a feeling that the Xbox launch will be very smooth this time and the Sony one may be rough with a lot of problems. Their internal testing apparently is having some heating issues, so there is concern about Sony’s own version of the red circle of death. That’s one reason why the hardware may not have been show – they don’t have the cooling figured out and they may need to throttle below their reported power to prevent the machine from overheating and shutting down.
Microsoft showed its confidence. They brought in outsiders to look at it and use it. Sony has not and had to cobble together a tech presentation after the DF videos dropped. Don’t be surprised if the PS5 comes out after the XSX, even accounting for current likely delays.
blog.eu.playstation.com
