Eftir að maður sá E3 sýninguna hjá Microsoft vissi maður að ekki var allt með feldu. Leikirnir voru í lélegri grafík og þar voru fáir Must-Buy leikir. Grafíklega séð fannst mér GameCube leikirnir flottastir og svo PS2 með leiki eins og FFX, Jak and Daxter og Metal Gear Solid 2 . Reyndar fann ég tæknilega útskýringu fyrir þessu. Ég bookmarkaði því miður ekki linkinn
en ég copyaði textann. Ég ætla að pastea honum hér. Ef þið nennið að lesa þetta allt og skiljið þetta nokkurn vegin svariði endilega, en lesið fyrst áður en þið svarið.


We all know about Microsoft's announcement of the incredible XBox specifications.
It looks as if the XBox will be alot more powerful than any other next-gen console.
But is this really true? Let's take a closer look at the hardware of the XBox and PS2.


The CPU

Ofcourse, the Central Processing Unit, the heart of every computer or console. Most of
the calculations take place here. The XBox has a Intel Pentium(3?) processor which runs
at a clockspeed of 733MHz. That's alot higher than the 300MHz at which the PS2 CPU is
running. But does that make the CPU better? Nope.

Here's why the PS2 CPU (Emotion Engine) is alot more powerful:

-Data bus, cache memory as well as all registers are 128 bits on the PS2 CPU while the
XBox CPU is 32 bits.
-The 32MB of Direct Rambus DRAM are implemented on the CPU itself.
-It has a max. performance of 6.2GFLOPS while the XBox CPU can only do a bit over
3 GFLOPS.
-It incorporates two 64-bit integer units (IU) with a 128-bit SIMD multi-media command
unit, two independent floating point vector calculation units (VU0, VU1), an MPEG 2
decoder circuit (Image Processing Unit/IPU) and high performance DMA controllers.

Okay now what does this mean? It means that the PS2 can handle heavier physics and 3D
engines (and can do more accurate realistic visual effects like splashing water and
explosions). It also means that the PS2 can handle alot more sophisticated Artificial
Intelligence programming so that you have intelligent human-like opponents. The CPU also
has direct access to the main memory which speeds everything up quite a bit. And with a
floating point calculation performance of 6.2GFLOPS/second, the overall calculation
performance of this new CPU matches that of a super computer. This is a completely new
CPU architecture especially designed for sophisticated graphics and physics while the
architecture of the XBox CPU is pretty old and simple.


The Graphics Chip and VRAM

This is where the images are rendered. The XBox uses an Nvidia Graphics Processing
Unit running at 250MHz and the PS2 uses the Graphics Synthesizer running at 150MHz.
Again, judging by these specs the XBox looks better.
The XBox GPU has a few advantages over the PS2 GS, for example:

-The XBox GPU can do 125 million polygons while the PS2 GS can only do 75million polygons
-The XBox GPU has a max. resolution of 1920x1080 and the PS2 GS can do 1280x1024
The rest of the graphics chip will be comparable to NV-20 chip.

But the catch is that these advantages don't make alot of difference on a TV screen, even
on an HDTV screen the difference would be barely noticeable (when the console's hardware
is used properly).
So, is the XBox Graphics Processing Unit better than the PS2 GS? It doesn't look like it,
the architecture of the PS2 GS looks far more advanced. For example, PS2 has a parallel
rendering engine that contains a 2,560 bit wide data bus that is 20 times the size of
leading PC-based graphics accelerators. The Graphics Synthesizer architecture can
execute recursive multi-pass rendering processing and filter operations at a very fast
speed without the assistance of the main CPU or main bus access. In the
past, this level of real-time performance was only achieved when using very expensive,
high performance, dedicated graphics workstations. There is a 48-Gigabyte memory access
bandwidth achieved via the integration of the pixel logic and the video memory on a
single high performance chip.The quality of the resulting screen image is comparable to
high quality pre-rendered 3D graphics. (that is once the game developers have learned
how to use it properly) There has also been a misunderstanding about the VideoRAM on the
PS2. The VRAM is included in the 32MB of main RAM on the CPU (the developer chooses how
much of it he wants to dedicate to VRAM). Everyone thought the 4MB of memory on the GS
was the VRAM while that is just a buffer in which all the rendering is done so no
external bandwidth is needed (only for texture streaming). Another rumour that's been
spread by several gaming sites is that the XBox is capable of texture compression and
full scene anti-aliasing while the PS2 isn't. This is simply not true. The PS2 can
compress/decompress textures and do full scene anti-aliasing without causing as much
slow-down as on the XBox. And although the XBox GPU can do alot of effects that are
not ‘built-in’ in the PS2 GS, the PS2 can do all these effects and more in software mode
(but atleast at the same quality) through the Emotion Engine.

I can understand that this is all a bit confusing if you're not a real tech-freak.
It comes down to this: when developers have learned how to use the power of the PS2
GS properly they'll get alot more out of it than XBox developers will get out of the
XBox GPU. The PS2 GS can't do as much polygons as the XBox but this difference won't
be noticeable on a TV screen. The PS2 GS can do alot more advanced visual effects
than the XBox GPU.


The RAM

This is the main memory of a console or computer system. There isn't much to say about
the RAM. XBox has twice as much RAM as the PS2. Will this give the XBox a huge
advantage? Not at all, let's take a look at how the PS2 accesses the RAM:

-32MB Direct RDRAM 2 channels at 800MHz implemented on the CPU itself.

This means that the PS2's powerful Emotion Engine can manipulate the data stored in the
RAM atleast twice as fast as the XBox can access its memory. This is very important
cause all data is stored there (even the graphics because the VRAM is included in those
32MB of RAM). Judging by the information that Microsoft has released it looks like the
PS2 can also compress and decompress images faster than the XBox because of the
implementation of the MPEG2 decoder on the CPU. Even if they increase the RAM on the
XBox to 128MB, PS2 still has the advantage here.


The Sound Chip

This is where the XBox does beat the PS2. The XBox has 64 sound channels while the PS2
has 48. This won't make the noticeable difference though. What will is that the XBox
sound chip is designed for interactive and variable CD quality music which means that
the music in games can (if the developers use the feature) change and adapt itself to
the gameplay. The PS2 sound chip is simply designed for ‘precalculated’ CD music.
It's possible to do interactive music on the PS2, it's just a bit harder to program
(but certainly not impossible, just listen carefully to SSX) than on the XBox which
is why you'll probably see more XBox games with interactive music.


Backwards Compatibility and PC ports

As you probably already know, the PS2 can play all old Playstation games and even enhance
the graphics and speed up loading times. This gives the PS2 a huge advantage ofcourse.
But the XBox has another advantage over the PS2: PC ports. It's very easy for a PC game
developer to create an XBox version of his game because the XBox hardware design looks
alot like that of a PC. And while the PS2's hardware architecture is superior to that
of the XBox, it's alot more difficult to make a PS2 version of a PC game because of the
huge difference in hardware designs. If a PC developer wants to port a PC game to the
XBox he just has to make some modifications in the programming code. But if a PC
developer wants to port a PC game to the PS2 he has to rewrite most of the programming
code. Ofcourse, in time the developers will get used to the PS2 hardware and they'll be
able to make great PC to PS2 ports.


Conclusion

Microsoft did a great job at making the XBox look alot better than the PS2 while in
reality the PS2 is alot more powerful. Specifications are just there for marketing
purposes. Like they probably made you believe that a 128bits console is always 4 times
better than a 32 bits console, which is total bullshit. Ofcourse 128bits is better but
it doesn't make alot of difference. And now Microsoft is trying to make you believe
that the XBox is better cause the CPU clockspeed (733MHz) is alot higher than that of
all the other consoles. In the end it's the architecture of the hardware that makes
the difference. And the PS2's architecture is simply revolutionary. The graphics of
the launch titles were great but they'll get alot better next year because the
developers are still getting used to the PS2 hardware. Developers like Square (just
look at The Bouncer) and Konami (MGS2? Zone Of Enders?) already learned how to do some
cool tricks on the PS2, and this is just the beginning. The PS2's hardware has alot
more depth to it and so you'll see a huge evolution in graphics while the XBox hardware
is alot simpler and the developers will have pushed it to the max pretty soon.
Yes, XBox is easier to program for but by the time it comes out developers will already
know how to use the power of the PS2. The overall PS2 hardware architecture is alot more
innovative and powerful than that of the XBox.