Technical specifications for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 have presented dozens of similarities from day one. Most notably: both employ x86 architecture and feature an AMD-centric APU design. Other extraneous bells and whistles differ more radically, but don’t place a divisive wedge between the raw hardware prowess of the two competing systems. What does place such a wedge, however, is the gap in RAM power between them, with the PS4 sporting 8GB of unified GDDR5 RAM while the Xbox One supports GDDR3.
Ultimately, this difference would lead to a gap in bandwidth access between the two platforms and could negatively impact the system performance of the Xbox One. Seemingly in response to the burgeoning inferiority, Microsoft has apparently revisited its own tech.
New statements indicate that the addition of 32MB of “embedded static RAM” will help the Xbox One’s core processor catch up to the PS4’s. Additional figures such as an increased throughput rate and scaled read/write computations indicate a similar game of catch-up, but offer no definitive evidence of hardware superiority between Sony and Microsoft. Until live software statistics start rolling in, this sort of technological standstill will likely remain the norm.
Regardless, improved hardware is improved hardware; anything Microsoft can do to bulk up the floundering Xbox One is a step forward.
Source: Eurogamer