Sony PlayStation vs Sony PlayStation 4

Every spec side by side, from each maker's published figures.

Only show differences

Better figure, where one is clearly better

Share comparison

PlayStation compared with PlayStation 4

	SonyPlayStation	SonyPlayStation 4
Overview
Released
Released	September 1995	November 2013
Performance
Type
Type	Home console	Home console
CPU
CPU	MIPS R3000A-compatible, 33.87 MHz	AMD Jaguar, 8 cores
GPU
GPU	PlayStation GPU	AMD Radeon
GPU compute
GPU compute	–	1.84 TFLOPS
Memory
Memory	3 MB	8 GB (better)
Storage
Storage	–	500 GB
Disc drive
Disc drive	Yes	Yes
CPU
CPU	Custom 32-bit R3000A-based CPU at 33.8688 MHz; a Geometry Transformation Engine coprocessor handles 3D calculations (Sony developer manual)	Single-chip custom processor; x86-64 AMD "Jaguar", 8 cores at 1.6 GHz (Sony and system architect Mark Cerny)
GPU
GPU	PlayStation GPU with textured and Gouraud-shaded polygons; up to 360,000 polygons per second (Sony)	1.84 TFLOPS AMD Radeon-based engine; 18 compute units at 800 MHz (Sony and Mark Cerny)
Memory detail
Memory detail	2 MB main RAM, 1 MB video RAM, 512 KB sound RAM and a 512 KB operating system ROM (Sony developer manual)	8 GB GDDR5; a separate 256 MB DDR3 chip and a low-power processor for network tasks (iFixit teardown)
Storage detail
Storage detail	Double-speed (2×) CD-ROM drive; saves on removable 128 KB memory cards (two slots)	500 GB hard drive, user-replaceable; Blu-ray (6× CAV) and DVD (8× CAV) drive, read only
Storage expansion
Storage expansion	–	External USB 3.0 hard drives for games and apps from system software 4.50 (PlayStation)
Display and video
Maximum output
Maximum output	–	1080p
Built-in screen
Built-in screen	No built-in screen	No built-in screen
Video output
Video output	AV Multi Out for composite and RGB; separate composite video and stereo audio RCA outputs on the original SCPH-1002	HDMI out, up to 1080p
HDR
HDR	–	HDR from system software 4.00, including the original PS4 (PlayStation)
Audio
Audio	16-bit Sony sound processor, 24 ADPCM channels at up to 44.1 kHz; analogue stereo out; plays audio CDs	DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL) port; audio over HDMI
Connections
Ports
Ports	2 × controller ports and 2 × memory card slots on the front; serial I/O, parallel I/O and AV Multi Out on the back (serial and parallel ports dropped on later models)	2 × SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0), AUX port (PlayStation Camera), HDMI out, DIGITAL OUT (OPTICAL), Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T)
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
Wi-Fi and Bluetooth	–	Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 (EDR)
Controller
Controller	PlayStation controller at launch; later bundles came with the DUALSHOCK analogue controller	DUALSHOCK 4 wireless controller with touch pad, light bar and built-in speaker
Backward compatibility
Backward compatibility	–	No PS3, PS2 or PS1 discs; some older games are sold as digital re-releases
Design and power
Weight
Weight	–	2,800 g
Power use
Power use	–	250 W maximum rating (CUH-1000 series; Sony)