Playstation 4 sports internal power supply
I've always hated the Xbox for having that bulky power brick. Seems so inelegant. Fear…
With the Xbox One being announced this week, we’ve finally rounded out the list of eighth generation consoles. Here’s a side by side comparison of specs for the Wii U, PS4, and Xbox One.
Xbox One | Playstation 4 | Wii U | |
CPU | AMD “Jaguar” 8-core APU, x86-64 | AMD “Jaguar” 8-core APU, x86-64 | IBM Espresso, tri-core at 1.24ghz, PowerPC based |
Graphics | Custom AMD GPU, 1.23 TFLOPS peak performance, 768 GPU cores | AMD Radeon APU capable of 1.84 TFLOPS peak performance, 1152 GPU cores | AMD Latte, 550mhz, based on AMD Radeon HD 4000 series* |
Memory | 8GB DDR3-2133 with 5GB available to games 63GB/s bandwidth on 256-bit bus / 32mb eSRAM 102GB/s | 8GB GDDR5 at 5500mhz, 176GB/s bandwidth on 256-bit bus | 2GB DDR3-1600, 12.8GB/s Bandwidth, 1gb reserved for OS |
Disc Drive | Blu-ray | Blu-ray | Proprietary Wii U Optical Disc, 25GB capacity |
Internal Storage | 500GB, non upgradable | 500 GB, upgradable | 8GB / 32GB Flash |
External storage | External USB drives | Unknown | SD card or external USB hard drive |
Connectivity | USB 3.0, built in WiFi | Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n WiFi, USB 3.0, Bluetooth 2.1 | 802.11n WiFi, USB 2.0, sensor bar port |
AV Outputs | HDMI; supports up to 1080p and 4K | HDMI, Optical; supports up to 1080p for games and 4K for video | HDMI, analogue AV Multi Out; supports up to 1080p |
Operating System | Xbox OS, modified Windows 8 Kernel | Playstation 4 OS | HOME |
Controller | Xbox One Controller, 1080p Kinect | DualShock 4, Playstation 4 Eye, Playstation Move, PS Vita | Wii U GamePad with touch screen, Pro Controller, Wii Remote, Balance Board, Classic Controller, 3DS |
Backwards Compatibility | No | Partially. PS3 games will be streamed via Gaikai. | Yes, can play Wii games |
Online and Entertainment Services | Xbox Live, Live TV, Cloud. Xbox Live Gold required for online play | Playstation Network, Gaikai cloud service, Netflix, Hulu, RedBox Instant. Playstation Plus required for online play. | Nintendo Network, eShop, Miiverse, Tvii, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon |
Requires Internet Connection | One time, for initial setup of console | No | No |
Supports pre-owned games | Yes, no restrictions | Yes, no restrictions | Yes, no restrictions |
Supports save states, instant on, background downloads and updates | Yes | Yes | No |
Launch Price | $499 | $399 | $299 and $349 |
Xbox 360 | Playstation 3 | Wii | |
CPU | 3.2GHz IBM Xenon tri-core, based on Power PC 970 | 3.2Ghz IBM Cell Broadband Engine Processor, 1 PPE, 6 SPE cores | IBM Broadway 32-bit, 729mhz single core. 2.9GFLOPS peak performance |
Graphics | AMD Xenos 500mhz, based on AMD Radeon X1800 series | nVidia RSX 550mhz based on GeForce 7800 series | AMD Hollywood, 243mhz |
Memory | 512mb GDDR3 clocked at 700mhz, shared between CPU and GPU | 512MB XDRAM clocked at 3.2ghz, split into two separate 256mb blocks for system and graphics | 88MB GDDR3 shared between system and graphics |
Disc Drive | DVD | Blu-ray | Proprietary Wii Optical Disc 8.54GB capacity, GameCube Disc |
Internal Storage | None to 320GB, hard drive or flash, user upgradable with proprietary hard drive modules | 20GB – 500GB 2.5 inch hard drive, user upgradable | 512MB internal Flash |
External storage | Supports external USB flash and hard drives | Flash cards (early models), external USB drives, limits on ability to store games | SD Card, GameCube Memory Card |
Connectivity | 10/100 Ethernet, USB 2.0, IR receiver. 802.11n WiFi can be added via a USB dongle, WiFi built in to later S models | 802.11G WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, USB 2.0, Bluetooth 2.0 | 802.11G WiFi, USB 2.0, Bluetooth |
AV Outputs | Analogue output, optical audio, HDMI added to later models; supports up to 1080p, most games 720p | HDMI, Optical, analogue AV output; supports up to 1080p, most games 720p | Analogue AV Multi Out; supports up to 480p |
Operating System | Xbox 360 Dashboard | XrossMedia Bar | Wii Menu |
Controller | Wired Xbox 360 Controller, Wireless controller, racing wheel, Kinect | SixAxis, DualShock 3, Playstation Move, Playstation Eye | Wii Remote and nunchuck, Balance Board, GameCube Controller, Classic Controller, Nintendo DS |
Backwards Compatibility | Partial, supports some but not all original Xbox games | Yes, Playstation, PS2 supported only on early models | Yes, GameCube |
Online Services | Xbox Live | Playstation Network | Nintendo Wi-Fii Connection, WiiConnect24, Wii Shop Channel |
Requires Internet Connection | No | No | No |
Supports pre-owned games | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Launch Price | $300 Core / $400 20Gb Premium | $499 20GB / $599 60GB | $250 US |