Yes, its the GPU performance im talking about. It's what Alex wrote before in this thread too. Those GPUs are mid rangers from mid 2012, where 2GB was seen as enough. A 7950 comes with 3gb standard, 7970 has either 3gb or 6gb vram.
And yes, the 7950, a GPU from january 2012, is a much better buy for anyone in 2013. That thing wasnt expensive by late 2013.
It's like comparing a 2018 RTX 2060 non super with 3gb to the PS5 and XSX. That GPU would be hugely ram limited to begin with.
yea the silicon sure, is the same. But if we're going to call PS4 a PS4, you can't swap components so you're really paying for the whole thing.
It's sorta the challenge we have with current GPUs, even with the RDNA 2.0 cards that are coming. Yea you'll find similar performing silicon, but you're just comparing a single component vs a single component. The console is a whole system put together, and it when you look at it holistically as a sum of parts working together, it's a core reason why it's shelf life is so much longer.
Its a good topic to reflect on honestly as we head into next generation. It's actually probably a pretty important topic to discuss further, the more I think about it.
Looking at the generation in review of how the consoles managed to keep going as a system of things working together vs a pre-built of somewhat equivalent hardware that the consoles are based off - what changed, what was ultimately the difference between the two.
It stands to me now, looking in review, that over a long enough period of time, the SSDs may enable or allow the consoles to stick around longer despite there being say a 30TF monster 3080 being out there before they even get out the door. Will that 10GB be enough to stick around vs 16GB? How far do developers push SSD/IO streaming to reduce VRAM footprint to free up memory to do other things? It's clear that neither console has the compute or ML power to compete with anything nvidia has, but they have VRAM and they have SSD tech... they may not have the muscle to push heavy loads, but they may have the endurance to last.
It's worth reviewing, though I don't know the future for either console, it's a piece I'd be interested in reading more about: consoles... built to last.