Guys, chill out, as a pc user i can assure you that 5 gigs is plenty enough for years ahead- i mean even the r290x has 4 gigs of VRAM and the nvidia 780ti runs with 3gig and those cards are 4k rdy, let alone 1080p. I wonder though WHY 3 gigs of ram are locked though- i mean my windows 8.1 pro installation occupies 2.8 gigs ram WITH superfetch on (caches what it predicts you will run in ram) and thats not a half-ar@sed os like the consoles ones-i mean i doubt ps4 runs a print spooler service for you know... Printing :P

I think the performance problems you experience is due to the tablet processor both consoles use and the bloat in x86 code. There is no such thing as "optimize to the metal" in this gen - just standard pc like sdks be it dx12 or opengl 4~~ tuned to work for the exact hardware which is a bonus be it low-med-or high settings. Mind you things WILL improve with devs mastering HSA (the cpu helping in gpu eg physics an viceversa) as i belief sony and ms are Amd's guinea pigs -trojan horse in that regard but expect no miracles-in pc tech gaming performance is decided by IPC and number of cores combo and on that regard the ''jaguars'' in the consoles are kinda on the low end-even compared to the ''old-gen'' consoles.

Btw: in my book the x1 running 3 virtualized os'es its a feat needing so low ram-on the ps4 i don't know many linux light installtions needing 3 gigs of ram.

So no-sorry to burst your bubble its not the ram making games in consoles to stutter run low res or whatever, they don't sport ultra quality textures anyway - its the cpu in the apu, low performing, and the codepath, and pc like arch.

@@Poor (formerly fellow) consolites, you don't see that coming do you?

Since this my 1st post - let me inform you first that I had owned consoles as old as Atari 2600, the Panasonic 3do and Sega's Dreamcast and I still own an original fat Xbox 360 which still works but it's on way to RROD - it crashes sometimes).

Now on topic - I called you formerly fellow consolites, cause I was actually an avid console gamer and defended consoles against PC the time consoles were actually marvels of technology and offered unique ways of promoting gameplay. I still believe that consoles have their place in the living foolproof room entertainment BUT THIS GENERATION will be the last probably for consoles as we knew them - the line between this generations consoles and PCs is getting blurry and that's not good for consoles.

Let me now explain - Why/What did Sony and M$ achieve by going X86 architecture this round? This is some Q & A I did to myself and I want to share:

Q. Do you really think they did ask the developers their opinion?

A. They probably did and developers are sure happy to program for the same architecture (x86) while only having to adapt for the different APIs (direct x for XBONE, OpenGl for PS4).

Q. What did they gain by that - what did they lose?

A. They made the devs happy and got a cheap excuse and/or they wanted/were forced to use cheap a$$ hardware in their consoles so they A)they didn't want/couldn't afford to lose money again on hardware sales at launch B) the console would be too expensive ( you wouldn't buy a console with an i7 and gtx titan/r290x which costs 1000+ drew 400+watt at the outlet - would you?) C) IBM POWER (you know those beasts in older generations) couldn't bother/was too expensive, D) ARM doesn't cut it yet. (if I'm not mistaken, ages ago Acorn Archimedes had the most powerful 64-BIT risc cpu and that was an ARM).

The AMD kabini APU's they chose are not or will be any PC Gamer's/Power User's cpu of choice - they are netbook/cheap laptop cpus with a decent gpu (arguably the best as of now socs) and hermits who know the basics (including me) are correct calling them tablet processors - they not even 8 true cores as you think guys - they can be at best described as a low end QUAD core since there a 4 modules of 2 core each which share resources - its the AMD version of Hyper Threading with low IPC (read game performance) and slow speed in GHz too. That's why since now intel dual cores destroyed amd apus in cpu performance in GAMING. (The Gpu part is clearly better in amd offerings than intel's ofc.) Now if you subtract the cores/modules needed for OS stuff your left with 3 modules/6 fake cores/3 intel cpu cores with HT at low speed... just like the wii -u (And the wii -u core is risc with a pipeline as low as 4-depth unlike the 16 ones amd). Remember its not Athlon/FX class cpu there is there in the so called next-gen wonna be PC cpus.For example in CPU bound games in PC like Skyrim or MMOs - HECK even BF4 you can see massive difference just on the CPU side of things. That's why consoles can't hit easy 1080p 60fps- its the 16 ROPS on xbox and or the WEAK cpu on PS4/XB1. Just like on PC...

What you don't see clearly consolites - is that by going x86 they might have forfeit BACKWARDS compatibility but for sure they achieved FORWARDS compatibility (and cheap one by not including custom/former SOCS) - just like PCs do all these years - hell they don't even need an emulator anymore...

Q. But consoles can be programmed "to the metal" and they run custom OS which is lighter than Windows.

A1. IF with this x86 (PC like) architecture you still think that this is the case - you are the same reason this WON'T happen on PCs, is the same reason this WON'T happen in this gen of consoles. See AMD Mantle - which is the freaking manufacturer of the GPUs in your consoles - Neither M$ or Sony is running that API which I repeat is the API BUILT FROM AMD THEMSELVES to lower the overhead/improve efficiency on weak CPUs (you know those TABLET ones you use) - One is using DX the other is OpenGL or what - the devs wanted x86 to have a common programming platform and YOU really think they are going to research/develop (see spend money) to make a multiplat game better in xbone or ps4 -good luck with that. Only exclusives will take care that and even then don't expect anything more of what AMD MANTLE can achieve which is helping the cpu (high end gpus don't benefit so much).

A2. On the OS side of things ( I have to say I'm impressed with m$ running 3 virtual machines in that tablet cpu) I will answer with a question -WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN XBOXONE-PS4 AND A .... STEAMBOX????? None guys. - The xbone runs some form of Windows 8 embedded for Pocket PCs ....sorry I meant tablets (lol), the PS4 FREEBSD or whatever Unix-like OS and the Steambox runs a Linux variant (another unix like OS) which leads me to this logical thoughts:

-Even though I wasn't excited with Steam Machines/OS since, they offer nothing more than a Pc with Linux and a controller and a only a few games M$ AND SONY, BY GOING FOR OF THE SHELVES PC PARTSIN THEIR CONSOLES HAVE OPENED THE BACK DOOR FOR VALVE TO INVADE THEIR TERRITORY : - What's the difference between a Steam Box and the xbone/ps4? - NONE ONLY THE OS AND THE CONTROLLER.

Sorry consolites, but aside steam boxes having more power (at an expense ofc) and better quality as machines (Valve is no hardware company but e.g. ASUS or Gigabyte do have more quality [capacitors, features, usb ports etc..] than the mass produced gay-green painted foxconn probably motherboards on PS4/xb1]), better performance with higher performing -again of-the shelve- parts.] they run STEAM with MORE games and on top of that? I'm pretty sure STEAM could run on both the XBONE(WINDOWS 8 FOR TABLETS) and the PS4(LINUX OR WHAT).

Just I used to do with last console that had PC like hardware : The original XBOX (Pentium 3/NVidia gpu) where with a bios chip you could upload your OS via FTP (xbox media center anyone?? :p) and add Features that was the norm on PC (rip dvs, copy game disks to disk etc...). - and yes I forgot here to mention the piracy concerns on the new consoles.. (x86 easier to program against PPC)

At the moment the only one gaining is AMD having m$ and Sony be their guinea pigs testing HSA (the only way consoles will get a performance boost with gpppu) and selling 7860s en masse.

In the END, unless m$ and Sony change arch the next gen (unlikely - due to devs,-ease of dev kits etc, price, forwards compatibility), and lock their systems with proprietary hardware, I see them either selling their brands (xbox), be like elite hardware OEMs for PC boxes, be overcome by valve - they did open the door - their better oems in hardware, os ,controllers. Its just that Valve with Occulus could rip the kinnect out. That easy.

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Disclaimer : I love consoles especially when they offered hardware that strong that lasted ages. The Power Pc/Cell couldn't even compare to pcs of that time and that's why they lasted - Saturn/nes/3do could do stuff a pc could only dream of that time - not this time.

- I'm a Hermit now and I love AMD (run 2 5870's in crossfire which challenge and or destroy the so called next gen consoles.)

- PS4/xbone are poor htpcs atm and your deluded if you think they will get better gfx overtime- their only plus is that games will run fine on them for that hardware which doesn't change unlike pcs - don't expect any magic - its Pc hardware and the only thing sony and xbox can do over time to improve gfx is to release another ps5/xbtwo just like pcs do. DX12 will be on windows too right lemmings?

- The exclusives you so brag about are no different than Valves in -house games (HL2 etc), its just Microsoft and sony own more houses/devs/pay for will not be able to afford soon in a war against pc.

-The only real GAMING console left is the WII-U with custom hardware with custom games to boot (titanfall/kz IS NOT so different than BF4/MechWarrior Online (RUNS WITH 24 HUMANS)/COD right? RIGHT?) - its also core for core stronger in cpu than the tablet processors in so called next gen consoles for GAMING. (I can elaborate - don't challenge plz)

-Buy a mouse consolites - you gonna need it sooner than you think... meanwhile enjoy your glorified HTPCs.

- A dangerous forecast but I see M$ selling the xbox brand, sony becoming a steambox oem the likes of dell, ibuypower etc, and Nintendo running POWER8 or some ARMs in handheld and console and despite all the doom and gloom outliving them - at least they offer stuff you can't find on PC.... At least I , as a father now, bought a tablet for surfing, have my PC to melt in strategies, MMos and will get a wii-u whatever to play with kids.

And I won't miss your early rehash of Gow/KZ - those are better played on PCs.

I wouldn't accuse Nintendo of rehashes - they only rehash is console exclusives nowadays - sadly... miss days of neo-geo/ps1/dreamcast/cube etc

Thanks for reading - sorry for grammar etc - English isn't my native language.