HiGame

4K gaming isn’t a realistic possibility

Let’s get one thing out of the way up front. Regardless of whether Sony calls this a PlayStation 4K, there’s no modern GPU that can pack into a console and offer a consistent 30 FPS at 4K within a $400 system price point. Teardowns of the original PlayStation calculated a $121 bill of materials (BOM) cost for its various processors. Even if we assume AMD’s next-generation Polaris architecture could deliver a 2.5x performance increase, the power envelopes and raw frame rates just don’t add up. Sony wasn’t willing to go deep into debt on the PS4’s hardware at launch (the console’s estimated bill of materials cost was $332 on a $400 launch price) and unless the company changes that philosophy, it’s going to be significantly constrained in what it can offer.

14nm should bring real improvements, but it’s not good enough in and of itself to drive the leap from 1080p to 4K. Our performance tests with Metro Last Light Redux illustrate why:



Even top-end cards stagger when hit with 4K workloads. Granted, you could improve these figures by dialing back detail levels, but remember — the cheapest GPU on this list retails for over $300. Consoles are historically better than PCs at squeezing maximum performance out of lower-end hardware, but the GPU inside the PS4K still has to fit within that $100 – $120 price point.

more...