Sony Announces Playstation 4 Unlocking 7th Processing Core Access To Devs


Sony’s Playstation 4 is considered by many to be the best performing console choice on the market. And it’s about to get better.

Sony is firing another salvo in its endless battle with Microsoft for the console gaming market. Over the last two years, Microsoft have been working hard to bridge the gap in performance between the PS4’s processing power and that of their Xbox One.

Now, all of that hard work may be undone, as Sony is allowing developers to access the seventh core of their 8-core processor, unlocking more performance and once again moving out to the front of the field.

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While both consoles use an 8-core AMD processor, two cores have always been reserved simply for background operations, mainly to allow the operating system to function effectively. Late last year, Microsoft offered developers considerably more GPU bandwidth by opening their seventh core, compromising Kinect functionality for a boost in performance.

While this did allow the Xbox One to run closer to the PS4’s capabilities, it still was unable to provide

the same resolution as its competitor. Now, Sony have followed suit and unlocked their seventh core as part of a Software Development Kit, nullifying any gains Microsoft have made.

What does this mean for gamers? Well, we won’t see results immediately, with many games now having been released for Christmas. However, those still in development should be able to take instant advantage, offering greater functionality and a higher level of graphical output.

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In short, the conclusion is inevitable – PS4 will once again be king of the console performance hill. It should be stressed that it is still early days, performance comparisons are common in this age of multi-platform gaming, and Microsoft will strive to bridge the increasing gap between the two consoles.

For now, its focus must shift to securing console specific releases, such as the HALO franchise, or risk losing more market share to Sony.