Digital Foundry: Let's Build a Next-gen Console Spec PC - EGX 2019

Md Ray · Oct 18, 2019

Digital Foundry teamed up with Asus ROG to create a Zen 2/Navi based PC with as close to next-gen console specs as possible to see just how powerful it is compared to PS4 Pro and Xbox One X including the base consoles. Richard Leadbetter joined by John Linneman (Dark1x), on stage at EGX 2019, had some interesting results to share.

Results include CPU performance tests using Jaguar-based desktop CPU (Athlon 5370) vs. Zen 2-based Ryzen 7 3700X underclocked to 3.2 GHz in Cinebench R15 to gaming performance demonstration in Hitman 2, Wolfenstein TNC using Radeon RX 5700 and RX 5700 XT clocked at 1800 MHz. Theoretical PS5 GPU against PS4 Pro's GPU shows some mind-blowing results in Wolf TNC at 1440p, equivalent settings. More at the link below:

Watch: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/496199730?t=5h15m55s

Dimple · Oct 18, 2019

Next gen gon be lit.

Md Ray · Oct 18, 2019

Even 4-core Zen 2 CPU (without SMT) would be over ~~3x faster~~ than PS4's 8-core 1.6 GHz Jaguar CPU. Goes to show just how underpowered current consoles' CPUs are.
EDIT: Made a mistake. It's actually 2.3x faster.

kirbyfan407 · Oct 18, 2019

Any chance there's a YouTube version that will be made available?

Md Ray said:
Even 4-core Zen 2 CPU (without SMT) would be over 3x faster than PS4's 8-core 1.6 GHz Jaguar CPU. Goes to show just how underpowered current consoles' CPUs are.

Does this mean that the 8-core, 16-thread CPU in PS5 would be 12x faster (assuming some kind of linear scaling, which I'm guessing is not actually how it works)?

BitsandBytes · Oct 18, 2019

kirbyfan407 said:
Any chance there's a YouTube version that will be made available?

Does this mean that the 8-core, 16-thread CPU in PS5 would be 12x faster (assuming some kind of linear scaling, which I'm guessing is not actually how it works)?

Using the rough PC-based benchmark Richard has it being ~6.7 times faster than Jaguar.

Md Ray · Oct 18, 2019

kirbyfan407 said:
Any chance there's a YouTube version that will be made available?

I think they mentioned at the end that it will go up on YouTube in a few days.

kirbyfan407 said:
Does this mean that the 8-core, 16-thread CPU in PS5 would be 12x faster (assuming some kind of linear scaling, which I'm guessing is not actually how it works)?

No, not 12x but from their rough tests, it was almost 7x using all 16 threads.

modiz · Oct 18, 2019

kirbyfan407 said:
Any chance there's a YouTube version that will be made available?

Does this mean that the 8-core, 16-thread CPU in PS5 would be 12x faster (assuming some kind of linear scaling, which I'm guessing is not actually how it works)?

16 threads will give a smaller boost, however because this gen didn't have double the threads, I expect that gap to grow bigger as more devs will fully utilize the ability of double the threads, it will probably end up something like 8-9x faster when next gen games will be well optimized for that.

Md Ray said:
Even 4-core Zen 2 CPU (without SMT) would be over 3x faster than PS4's 8-core 1.6 GHz Jaguar CPU. Goes to show just how underpowered current consoles' CPUs are.

It was predicted the IPC of zen 2 is only 2X better than jaguar, but this suggests 3x, amazing!

kirbyfan407 · Oct 18, 2019

Md Ray said:
I think they mentioned at the end that it will go up on YouTube in a few days.

Ah, okay. Perhaps I'll check this out on Twitch earlier. Thanks!

Md Ray said:
No, not 12x but from their rough tests, it was almost 7x using all 16 threads.

BitsandBytes said:
Using the rough PC-based benchmark Richard has it being ~6.7 times faster than Jaguar.

Ah, I hadn't realized this was in the video, too. Makes sense. Thanks for the information!

modiz said:
16 threads will give a smaller boost, however because this gen didn't have double the threads, I expect that gap to grow bigger as more devs will fully utilize the ability of double the threads, it will probably end up something like 8-9x faster when next gen games will be well optimized for that.

Thank you for the additional info!

BitsandBytes · Oct 18, 2019

The most interesting thing is Richard thinking the next consoles will have close to a 5700/5700XT. Negated somewhat by the massive improvement in CPUs should mean all those tasks shipped over to the GPUs this gen can come back to the CPU and free up the GPUs.

Naga · Oct 18, 2019

Yeah, it won't be hard to do better than the terrible CPUs we got this gen. That'll lead to some nice improvements.

Raide · Oct 18, 2019

Interesting video. Thanks for taking the time to make it. It really shows that even with a moderate bump in CPU and GPU, the performance gains are great. Nextgen is going to be fun!

xem · Oct 18, 2019

hmmmm, Richard near the end says not to worry if we see spec leaks these consoles will be powerful.... reads to me like we gonna get sub 10 tf navi.

Md Ray · Oct 18, 2019

kirbyfan407 said:
Does this mean that the 8-core, 16-thread CPU in PS5 would be 12x faster (assuming some kind of linear scaling, which I'm guessing is not actually how it works)?

I made an error in my post. It's actually 2.3x not over 3x.

modiz said:
It was predicted the IPC of zen 2 is only 2X better than jaguar, but this suggests 3x, amazing!

I'm sorry I made an error there. IPC is indeed 2x faster.

Since I also happen to have a Ryzen 7 3700X CPU - I went ahead and did some more tests using Cinebench R15 at 3.2 GHz and also an IPC test at 1.6 GHz 8C/8T (clock-for-clock) and compared it with Rich's Athlon 5370 results for even more clarity.

IPC:

Overall:

shadowhaxor · Oct 18, 2019

kirbyfan407 said:
Any chance there's a YouTube version that will be made available?

Download Twitch Leecher, install it. Open it up, go to Search, then enter in the URL of the (https://www.twitch.tv/videos/496199730). It will download a sourced version to your PC for your watching pleasure.

You're welcome!

Lagspike_exe · Oct 18, 2019

I think 5700XT is a safe bet if Sony/MS don't decide to either:
1) Launch the consoles on an enhanced node like N7 that will get you 10-20% more performance/watt.
2) Significantly exceed previous TDP guidelines with a most likely higher price.

Deleted member 5457 · Oct 18, 2019

I think this is one of the rare cases digital foundry gets it wrong.

Even if they could build exactly the same setup, they wouldn't be able to measure performance in any meaningful way. Nothing is made with those components and their advantages in mind and that's what the console/closed system development is all about.

Closed system means counting on every single little advantage hardware has.

I can understand that its a good business decision to make that video, but it makes no sense.

Inuhanyou · Oct 19, 2019

Wont ps5 be using 14 or less threads since 1 core will be disabled for yields? And also used for os possibly. Still a gen leap from base machines tho. Dont think these tests are much more meaningful than 'the consoles will be better than current gen' of course

Digital Foundry: Let's Build a Next-gen Console Spec PC - EGX 2019

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