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How powerful is the PlayStation vita?

I asked him because he said that GPU doesn't relate to how many pixels it's pushing (eg it doesn't matter that a GPU 2x more powerful than Vita is pushing 6x more pixels).

Woah, hold on there. I said it's not as simple as saying 2 times the pixels mean half the performance and that many factors has to be taken into consideration. I already gave a perfectly fine PC related example. Don't do this bullshit please.



Why would that be? The iPhone 5 has a higher pixel density.

So? I fail to see how pixel density is an argument when talking about graphical prowess. One is displaying 4.3 times the pixels compared to the other. Even if the pixel density is lower, you will get to see much more details on screen.

I'm wondering if you think that game will have better graphics on iPad 4 than iPhone 5. According to points you've made in the thread, it should look VASTLY better.

Displaying the same game with the same (or better) framerate at 4.3 times the resolution is what I call looking vastly better, yes. I do not know if we will get to see better assets for the iPad 4 version since I am not one of the god damn developers.

Why do you guys refuse to believe that more recent technologies pushed from a company that is known to put "first-in-class" technologies in each iterations of their top of the line products are less powerful than what is inside the Vita? Sony chose the best available options when they built the Vita. Apple did the same when they built the iPad 4 and they will do the same when next iPad comes out next year.
 
So? I fail to see how pixel density is an argument when talking about graphical prowess. One is displaying 4.3 times the pixels compared to the other. Even if the pixel density is lower, you will get to see much more details on screen.

Oh geesh. You said it would look better because of the higher resolution alone. Does this mean it would look better on an iPad 2 than an iPhone 5? iPad 2 is, after all, pushing more pixels. No, it wouldn't. It would be incredibly sharp on either iPad 4 or iPhone 5.

Displaying the same game with the same (or better) framerate at 4.3 times the resolution is what I call looking vastly better, yes. I do not know if we will get to see better assets for the iPad 4 version since I am not one of the god d*** developers.

But from what you've said, we should EXPECT the game to look way better on the iPad 4 than the iPhone 5, because the iPad 4's GPU is superior. You were going on iPad 4's superior GPU over the Vita to say that it demolishes the Vita, regardless of it having to push way more pixels. So the number of pixels it's pushing, even according to you, shouldn't necessarily be considered in how good the graphics are in relation to the platform.

Why do you guys refuse to believe that more recent technologies pushed from a company that is known to put "first-in-class" technologies in each iterations of their top of the line products are less powerful than what is inside the Vita? Sony chose the best available options when they built the Vita. Apple did the same when they built the iPad 4 and they will do the same when next iPad comes out next year.

I'm not saying that's it's definitely not more powerful than the Vita. Only that the iPad, in any of its incarnations, has not had world-class leading hardware at the respective time of launch, while the Vita was. That's why I hesitate to say iPad 4's more powerful overall. Especially when you've been claiming it so outright when there's still much about the Vita's hardware specs that we don't know.
 
Oh geesh. You said it would look better because of the higher resolution alone. Does this mean it would look better on an iPad 2 than an iPhone 5? iPad 2 is, after all, pushing more pixels. No, it wouldn't. It would be incredibly sharp on either iPad 4 or iPhone 5.

Come on man. You're better than that. iPad 2 does not compare to iPhone 5 or Vita when it comes to power. It has a better resolution yes, but surely it does not have the power to handle that game at the same framerate or (most likely) assets as the iPhone 5. I get what you're saying, but resolution at the expense of framerate or graphical effects is a big no no for me. If you can get the resolution bump without sacrificing anything, then I am certainly ok with that.



But from what you've said, we should EXPECT the game to look way better on the iPad 4 than the iPhone 5, because the iPad 4's GPU is superior. You were going on iPad 4's superior GPU over the Vita to say that it demolishes the Vita, regardless of it having to push way more pixels. So the number of pixels it's pushing, even according to you, shouldn't necessarily be considered in how good the graphics are in relation to the platform.

I said it has the potential to crush Vita at 1024x768 and that it would outdo Vita even at 2048x1536 in most situations. Of course pixel numbers matter. But I believe the engineers at Apple put a lot of thought behind their architecture in order to support the retina resolution and maximizing the GPU potential without being bottlenecked all that much by it.

Note that I am not a freaking expert. I am saying this based of my knowledge and experience. The truth is that I doubt anyone in this topic has enough developing experience with both devices to form a factual opinion over both. As long as we understand each other about that, then it's all good i guess.


I'm not saying that's it's definitely not more powerful than the Vita. Only that the iPad, in any of its incarnations, has not had world-class leading hardware at the respective time of launch, while the Vita was. That's why I hesitate to say iPad 4's more powerful overall. Especially when you've been claiming it so outright when there's still much about the Vita's hardware specs that we don't know.

A6X is hand down the overall most powerful SoC available right now as demonstrated by tons of synthetic benchmarks. Strange how you make the claim that the Vita was the best while A6X isn't when I can find many articles proving my point but hardly any proving your. And by the way, there are many things we still do not know about A6X. What is the bandwidth is one example. That, we do not know. Just like we do not know what is the speed and the link speed of the VRAM for the Vita.

But look, truthfully, I'm not trying to convince you otherwise. I am merely explaining my beliefs and position. You are absolutely entitled to your opinion.
 
Upping the rendering precisions of the full image and frame buffers tends to be more costly on processing resources than increasing shader complexity due to the global expense within the scene of the IQs, yet they make a bigger impact on the looks of the game.

Conventional IMR architectures are not well equipped to facilitate higher precision IQs, so console/PC devs are in the habit of balancing higher shader complexities before improving the image. However, PowerVR's TBDR architecture removes some of those limitations from being the limiting factor within a render; devs just need to adjust their approach.

The clock speeds in that PowerVR wiki list are a little off:
Vita - 200 MHz
iPhone 5 - 325 MHz
fourth gen iPad - 280 MHz
 
I have nothing to contribute as far as technical specs are concerned. However, I think it does the PS Vita a great disservice to compare it to any console in the PS2 era. It's far closer to current gen systems in terms of geometry and special effects. The fact that we can have games that even rival PS3 graphics on a handheld device is mind blowing. Sure it can't match the PS3 on a 1:1 ratio, but it doesn't need to because of the resolution it pushes. The SGX543MP4+ is a technical marvel. Most people hold the iPad 3 in such high regard because of the type of graphics it's capable of rendering at such high resolutions with a very similar GPU.

I'm not a developer, but I'd argue that no single developer has pushed the PS Vita to the limit, and I would assume that the reason we have games with minor technical shortcomings are due to several issues, including but not limited to: being first generation titles, not being too familiar with the hardware, limited resources, and the fact that the CPU is reportedly being underclocked. I've read the the PS Vita runs around 800MHz-1GHz. Based on experiences I've had with PCs, higher clock speeds can affect the frame rate. Is it safe to say that if the PS Vita survives and Sony unlocks the CPU that we will see far more visually impressive PS3 ports with less visual compromises?
 
It'd take like 2 years or more for phones to catch up.

The issue is that phones multitask and the phone part of the device sucks up a quarter of the processing power.
 
DigitalFoundry did an in dept Ps3/Vita comparison.

Face-Off: PlayStation 3 vs. PlayStation Vita

Killzone, Uncharted and 11 other games under the microscope. Does Vita truly deliver the PlayStation experience?
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-ps3-vs-ps-vita-face-off

Despite the hardware limitations compared to PlayStation 3, PS Vita manages to accomplish some highly impressive conversions while drawing just a fraction of power compared to PS3 or Xbox 360. During gameplay the Vita on average sucks up between just 3.5 to 4W of power, while in comparison the latest Slim models of the 360 and PS3 take between 70 to 80W in similar situations. This speaks volumes for the efficiency of the Vita's ARM CPU and Power VR SGX543 GPU cores, which are able to deliver a fairly close approximation of a premium PS3 gaming experience using less than six per cent of the juice, which includes powering the superb OLED display. In terms of gaming performance per watt, we're not sure that any other platform gets close.

While the Vita trails far behind the PS3 in terms of raw processing power, it does feature some small advantages that help redress the balance. The inclusion of unified shaders - as opposed to the separate fixed pixel and vertex shaders on the PS3 - gives developers greater flexibility in the development process, while the tile-based deferred rendering architecture is more efficient, allowing the GPU to do more while economising on bandwidth and fill rate.

DigitalFoundry made some comparison videos.

PlayStation All-Stars: PS3 vs. PS Vita Comparison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtDNjBmjVp0

PlayStation All-Stars: PS Vita vs. PS3 Frame-Rate Tests
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTNEIM4pcoA

Street Fighter X Tekken: PS Vita vs. PlayStation 3 Comparison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EEvVXzCxC4

Street Fighter X Tekken PS Vita Frame-Rate Tests
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubK2U4UYknU

Virtua Tennis 4: PS Vita vs. PlayStation 3 Comparison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5415BtlD25M

Virtua Tennis 4 PlayStation Vita Frame-Rate Tests
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iFy6otvr08

Stranger's Wrath HD: PS3 vs. PS Vita Comparison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkvPhnV-fRM

Stranger's Wrath HD: PS Vita Gameplay Frame-Rate Tests
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waK71aPQirk

Need for Speed: Most Wanted - PS3 vs. PlayStation Vita Comparison Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNGxy57vX_Q

Need for Speed: Most Wanted PS Vita Frame-Rate Tests
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2ldxK9FDOA

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time - PS Vita vs. PS3 Comparison
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bvHgIrdMyQ

Sly Cooper: PS3 vs. PS Vita Frame-Rate Tests
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7EQMCYkze8

Killzone Mercenary PS Vita Preview Frame-Rate Tests
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Zf3QNs32LA
 
I bought the Vita mainly to play Mortal Kombat, cause I wanted to train on the go. Man, was I disappointed by the graphics. It looks so ugly compared to the other fighters on the same handheld.
 
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