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Erik Kain Contributor


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You Can't Build A PS4: Why Sony's Next Console Is Truly Next-Gen And Your PC Isn't

The PS4 uses hardware that you simply can’t get for your custom gaming PC.

Update: I’ve written a new post on the subject, clarifying my intent and admitting where I’ve gone wrong. Check it out here.

Forbes contributor Carol Pinchefsky has priced out a do-it-yourself gaming PC that specs somewhere in the ballpark of the PS4 and will only run you a little bit more in terms of cash to build yourself.

There are just a few small problems.

Carol equips her gaming rig with an Intel CPU, the i5-3550P to be precise, a 4-core 3.1Ghz chip. She pairs that with a Radeon HD 7850 with 2GB of DDR5 RAM and another 8 gigs of DDR3 RAM for system memory.


Let’s take a look at the memory first. In the PC set-up, we have 8 gigs of common DDR3 RAM, but Sony has somehow crammed the same amount of GDDR5 RAM into its PS4.

GDDR5 is primarily used in graphics chips. It’s not something you see used as system RAM at all.

For instance, the nVidia “Titan” GPU, which costs $1000 by itself, has just 6GB of GDDR5 RAM, and that’s still all reserved for the GPU. You’ll be hard-pressed to find any PC with GDDR5 plugged directly into the motherboard rather than sitting on the graphics card. This just isn’t how PCs work at the moment, though that will likely change.

GDDR5, while suffering from slightly higher latency, offers a substantial bandwidth boost over DDR3, and given the make-up of the integrated CPU/GPU chip in the PS4 this will translate to a substantial performance boost.

One Chip to rule them all

Next up we have the CPU/GPU configuration.

Again, what Sony has done with the PS4 is something that PC builders simply cannot do yet. PC’s come with two separate chips connected over a PCI-E chipset.

The PS4, on the other hand, houses an integrated CPU/GPU custom AMD chip—the “Jaguar” CPU is not available for purchase yet and the GPU side of the equation is said to be similar to AMD cards running in the $200 price-range. The secret weapon here isn’t either the 8-core CPU or the GPU, but rather how the two are paired.

Both the processor and the graphics card are built into the same chip and both tap into that 8GB of DDR5 memory at once—it’s a “unified memory” setup as opposed to the system your PC uses, with the CPU utilizing your DDR3 system memory and your GPU harnessing the more robust GDDR5.

What does this mean? Basically it means that the two chips will be able to communicate with one another much faster and more efficiently than in a traditional PC set-up. Combine this with the high-bandwidth GDDR5 memory and the fact that much of the traditional CPU tasks will be offloaded to the GPU, and you have a machine that you simply cannot compare to a modern PC.

Windows? We don’t need no stinking Windows

One expensive component I didn’t notice on Carol’s list was the operating system.

While you could go with a free Linux build, to get the most out of a gaming PC you’ll want to spend on a Windows install disc. You can still buy Windows 7 and you could probably find an OEM disc for around $99. But the costs of running Windows aren’t all monetary. Unlike a PC, the PS4 won’t need to bother with all those pesky PC applications. There will be no anti-virus software running in the background. A console is a closed system with all the benefits (and limitations) that entails.

In other words, what you can do with the PS4 hardware on a console is not the same thing as what you can do with the same, or similar, hardware in a PC.

This rule applies to game development as well. Consoles may be under-powered compared to their PC cousins, but they have advantages in terms of uniformity that make them very developer friendly. Developing games for a uniform system is a huge advantage over the PC market with its wildly diverse array of price and power points. Again, this convenience does come with its own set of disadvantages. In a few years, the PC will be much more powerful than the PS4, for instance.

The PS3 was no walk in the park for game development, but with a move to x86, Sony is making it much easier for developers to work with their platform. Standardization will also make it easier to port PS4 games to PC.

Finally, we don’t know what type of hard drive the PS4 will come equipped with. Will it be a traditional spindle-based drive or an SSD? Perhaps a hybrid solution? This, and the optical drive, will be the real performance bottlenecks in the system and in the PC you could theoretically build to compare it with.

The fact is, no matter how you slice or dice it, you can’t build a PC with the same specs or performance as the PS4. You could almost certainly build something faster and more powerful, but it will cost you more than the PS4 is likely going to cost.

None of that matters, however. PC gaming is great, but I’m a big tent guy. I like the participation of multiple systems in the market, and the PS4 will be a great competitor for the next generation of video games. The most important thing the system will have to offer will be its games.

There will be many PS4 exclusives that will only play on that machine. If you want to play those games, it won’t matter how amazing your gaming rig is—just like the PS4, however high-powered, will not have access to the entire breadth of titles available on PC.

Show me the money!

Either way, the console will almost certainly cost you less than a comparable gaming PC. Analysts are saying that $299 is the “magic price point” for the system, but I’m betting we don’t see under $399 at launch. That would still empty your wallet less than a gaming rig. Will it make the PS4 a money-loser for Sony?

Actually, I doubt it. Unlike your gaming rig, Sony’s CPU/GPU combo chip is much cheaper to manufacture. The heating solution for one chip is also cheaper, as is the fact that no operating system overhead exists. Indeed, all the parts—save for the RAM—should come at a pretty reasonable price. I’m not sure if Sony is taking a loss, but from what I’ve read it doesn’t appear to be the case—or at the very least, the loss won’t be dramatic. Then again, we don’t know the price of the machine yet, so this is guess work.

Either way, building a PC really is a lot of fun, and it’s hard to top PC gaming with its adaptability, openness, and future-proofing.

I can’t argue in favor of a system that hasn’t yet released, but I do think it’s important to note just how structurally unique the PS4 will be compared to its PC counterparts, at least for the time being. Not better, necessarily, but certainly different enough that any comparison is basically apples to oranges.

The good news for PC gamers is that this technology is likely coming our way as well, and we’ll undoubtedly see much more powerful configurations than anything in the PS4. But even if that future is rapidly approaching, it isn’t here just yet.

Update: Just to clarify, I’m  not at all suggesting the PS4 will out-pace gaming PCs—though for the price (depending on the price) it may still make sense from a cost perspective. Nor am I suggesting that an APU is brand new to the PS4. Yes, integrated chips have been used in mobile computing, in laptops, etc.. No, this particular chip has not, and to my knowledge we have not seen an APU built to this spec before. I also realize that GDDR5 RAM is higher latency than DDR3. But it’s also higher bandwidth, so there’s a trade-off, and I suspect Sony has a very good reason for this. The fact is, as this post is attempting to point out, the architecture is different and we won’t really know what that means in terms of performance until we actually have systems to try it out on. PCs will still be better machines in the end, especially if you are willing to pay. And yes, as I say below, the PC will be more future proof as well.

But when people say they can build a PC with the same specs as the PS4, I simply must disagree. You can build one with better specs, but you’ll certainly pay for it. The PS4 is not a dream machine, and we’re not going to pay dream machine prices for it. Consoles will not be able to keep pace with the PC, and so it’s up to game makers to make compelling games for these systems. So long as the basic hardware is there—and I think it is—that’s the real crux of the matter. A console, by its very nature, is going to have to balance cost against performance. But they still have some distinct advantages (i.e. uniformity) of their own.

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  • Donald Donald 1 year ago

    I’m not even gonna address the Steam price issue because your just ignorant if you think Xbox Live or PS network is cheaper.. your on your own.. No argument there.

    “but as long as PC doesn’t get any interesting games there is no point in having a 600€+ one.”

    Now this comment I find hilarious…. 90% of titles that are on the console are made for PC also and actually can be played to the full extent on PC’s unlike the consoles. Also you can say the same exact thing about PC’s having titles of there own… You go no where with that comment.

    Second… This comment PROVES my argument that PC’s are cheaper… a high end computer is cheaper/about the same price as 2 brand new consoles(early release) YET THAT SAME PC WILL OUTPERFORM THE NEXT 3-4 CONSOLES. So by the time you buy those 3-4 consoles over the years and xbox live(if you have it) you will have less quality gaming for a higher price than if you bought the PC.

    I could careless if you have a console or not, also I could careless if you think its cheaper or not because it doesn’t change whats true lol. Most people who make comments like this have never built a gaming rig. When you actually do… come back and then make a comment when you know what your talking about.

  • james Smith james Smith 1 year ago

    Consults are basically the poor man’s gaming machine. PC graphics cards update every year. Not all PS4 games will run in HD. PC graphics cards are capable of running at 4K resolution. You consults fan boys keep dreaming ok.

  • Hat Mot Hat Mot 1 year ago


    Please read vulcanproject’s comment on your article. I knocked that up in a few minutes and it is only half a rebuttal to this article.

  • james Smith james Smith 1 year ago

    Consuls or for poor people. PC graphic cards update every year compared to 10 years for consuls. Not all PS4 games will run in HD. All you consuls fan boys keep dreaming.

  • jputts1 jputts1 1 year ago

    I keep seeing APU’s being mentioned. Here’s the thing, they’re a lost cost solution. They will always be a low cost solution, because that’s what their purpose is. AMD has the radeon cards for gaming performance, and firepro cards for professional work.

    They’re not really the future in anything except HTPC’s and low cost solutions, but that’s okay.

    I bet in a few months after ps4′s release, we will have better options than the ps4 at the same price point.

  • Arth Denton Arth Denton 1 year ago

    Sure, PCs are cool but i’m surprised how well the PS3s have aged. I wrote aged but the reality is today’s PS3s can do and do a lot more than the initial launch consoles. Since launch we got the Move, larger and faster HDDs, integration with the PSP and the Vita, services such as Netflix and Pandora, support for 3D (yeah, I know…) and lots of great games.

    The day my ‘classic’ (originally 60GB PS3) died a few months ago was the day we ordered our new ‘slim’. Didn’t hesitate for one second. Old specs as it is, it’s a PS3 that’s our current entertainment hub. Yes, we have a Roku in the bedroom, a home server and a WD Media Hub and our new Onkyo receiver does lots of cool things and we have lots of PCs including a gaming PC, laptops, tablets and smart phones but the PS3 is what’s in use most of the time and it’s used by everybody. I expect the PS4 to take over that role.

  • Erik Kain Erik Kain, Contributor 1 year ago

    Yep, the PS3 is a great machine no doubt about it. And it pumps out incredible graphics for how old it is. Even old games—I was playing MGS4 the other day—still look great. It’s no PC, but it’s a great console nonetheless.

  • Sam French Sam French 1 year ago

    While this article probably got a lot of views, I want the PS4 to be compared to a $800 home built computer at the time of release, I would bet money the computer has better frame rates at a higher resolution.

    On the computer you can do office work, schoolwork, and all types of computation. You have expandability, more options for input devices, cheaper games, wider selection of independent games, modifications to games, the list goes on and on.

    PC gaming is, and will for the foreseeable future remain the platform for enthusiests

  • Sam French Sam French 1 year ago

    Just so I don’t look like an idiot


  • Erik Kain Erik Kain, Contributor 1 year ago

    I still say it’s all about the games, not the platform. If a system has games that you enjoy, it’s the system for you (and who cares about “enthusiasts” isn’t it much more important that you, personally, enjoy it?)