Ps2 vs DC

[SnesR0X]

How powerfull is the Ps2 compared to the Dreamcast?

[VampDude]

PlayStation2 is more powerful than the Dreamcast, but in reality the Dreamcast is better!

[gunntims0103]

ps2 specs-

128-bit Emotion Engine CPU

* 300MHz
* 6.2 billion floating-point operations per second
* 2 x Vector Processing Units (Floating Point Multiply Accumulator x 9, Floating Point Divider x 1)
* 3.2 GBytes/second bus bandwidth
* 1.8 Watt power consumption maximum

The 128 bit emotion engine is the brains behind the Playstation 2. Much of the early games poor performance can be put down to the fact that no games yet are using the 2 Vector Processing units which speed up calculations considerably.

Graphics Synthesizer

* 150Mhz
* 48 GBytes/second DRAM BUS bandwidth
* 2560 bits bus bandwidth
* 75 million polygons per second peak rendering rate
* 16.7 million colours
* Perspective-Correct Texture Mapping
* Point, Bilinear, Trilinear and Anisotropic Mip-Mapping
* Gourard Shading
* Z-Buffering
* Hardware Based Fogging
* Bump Mapping
* Coloured Light Sourcing
* Lighting and Shadow Volumes
* Hardware Based Texture Compression

One of the biggest drawback of this powerful graphics chip is a total lack of anti-ailising which has caused early games to have a jagged look to them. There are other tricks that can be used to avoid this situation but it will take developers time to get it all right.

SPU2 + CPU

* 48 channel playback
* 44.1KHz or 48KHz playback

Surprisingly the Dreamcast has a more capable sound system with 64 channels. In reality though the Playstation 2 sound chip has more then enough grunt to make the machine sound great. One new feature never seen on a consle before, and brought about by the addition of a DVD player, is the optical output to allow 5.1 dolby digital surround sound. This feature can also be enabled for use in games although it is uncertain how many developers will use it due to the extra expense.

Click To Enlarge ImageI/O Processor

* Playstation 1 CPU
* 33.8MHz or 37.5MHz selectable
* 32-bit bus

This I/O chip is actually the CPU from the original Playstation. Because of it's inclusion it allows the Playsation 2 to play Playstaion 1 games. These Playstation 1 games are slightly enhanced with imporved graphics and better loading times.

System RAM

* Main RAM : 32MB RAMBUS
* Video RAM : 4MB
* DVD Cache : TBA

The Playstation 2 includes 32MB RAMBUS RAM. In effect this unified RAM allows developers to determine where the RAM is best utilised. If there is more sound requirements then more RAM can be dedicated to handling the RAM. One major drawback of the Playstation 2 is the limited amount of VRAM which limits the amount of textures the system can have. In fact the Dreamcast games have an edge in this area due to the 8MB VRAM on that system.

MPEG2 Video Decoding Processor

This is the component in the Playstation 2 which enables you to watch DVD movies in all thier digital glory. This decoder also allows game developers to have straming video in the backgound of a game while the polygon characters remain in the foreground.

DVD-ROM Drive

The Playstation 2 has a 4X DVD drive which operates at the same speed as a 24X CD-ROM. Even though the system is loading many times more data then the original Playstation into RAM there is little difference in load times due to the faster reading speed of the DVD drive.

IEEE1394

Also known as "Firewire" to Mac comuter users this is an extremely fast port, similar to USB but with one big difference. This connection can also supply power to the peripheral which could include printers, cameras, scanners, modems or even speakers.

USB Port

Any PC user should know what a USB port is. Basically it is a connection point for peripherals with moderatly fast connection speed. Already there is talk that you will be able to hook up a USB modem to the Playstation 2 to begin online gaming at or near lauch.

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dreamcast specs-

* CPU:
Hitachi 128 bit graphics engine with an on-board RISC processor SH4 (operating frequency of 200MHz 360 MIPS/1.4 GFLOPS). The SH4 is optimized for floating point calculations (key to 3D) and is four times faster than the Pentium II.

* Note: the Dreamcast will have both 64 bit and 128 bit components. Polygons:
More than 3 million polygons per second.
* Graphics Chip:
NEC PowerVR2 (rendering capacity: over 3 million polygons per second),

* which outperforms today's most advanced arcade systems. Hardware Graphic Effects:
Bump mapping, Triangular / Quad Engine, real-time lighting, fog, scaling, rotation, alpha-blending, trilinear filtering, super sampling anti-aliasing, texture filtering, perspective correction, ARGB gouraud shading, MIP-mapping: point, bilinear, trilinear, anisotropic environment mapping, specular effects.
* Colors:
16.7 million
* Sound Processor:
32-bit Yamaha Super Intelligent Sound Processor (simultaneously articulates 64 sounds), which is as powerful (alone) as some next generation consoles.
* Operating Systems:
Customized OS using Windows CE as its base (Supports Direct X) for

a flexible, versatile development environment supported by Microsoft Visual Studio
development System Version 5.0 and refined Visual C++. As a result, Dreamcast software
is compatible with PCs and can take full advantage of hardware features. The OS will be on every
* Dreamcast disc to allow for easy upgrades. Also, Sega will provide its own OS which will allow developers access to even more of the Dreamcast's vast powers. Arcade:
Will be compatible with the DC-based Naomi arcade board that Sega and Capcom will

* support. As of October 1998, there are over 20 arcade developers signed on to produce Naomi games. RAM:
16MByte (64Mbit SD-RAM x 2) main system, 8MB of VRAM and 2MB for Audio RAM. 26MB RAM total.
* CD-ROM Drive:
12-speed ( Maximum )
* CD Format:
Proprietary compact disc by Yamaha with 1GB storage (54% more storage than

* standard CDs) and they'll include the Operating System. Modem:
A built-in 33.6Kbps modem with full support for V34, V42 and MNP5. It can be upgraded

* with faster modems and cable modems. The US Dreamcast will likely use a 56k modem. Network:
Built in network play.
* Controllers:
Red, Yellow, Blue, and Gray. Analog and digital directional control with anolog triggers.

Ports:
* Four controller ports standard. The control ports have a peak transfer rate of 2MB/sec, allowing the creation of high-end peripherals, such as true force feedback. Visual Memory System (VMS) (sold separately): A liquid-crystal display PDA for game data

* backup and data exchange. It will be called the Visual Memory Unit (VMU) in America because of trademark rights. Console Dimensions:
7 7/16" X 7 11/16" X 3" , 190 mm (W) x 195 mm (H) x 78 mm (D)
* Weight:
4.4#, 2.0 kg
* Release Date:
November 20, 1998 (Japan), September 1999 (USA)
* Price:
$150-$225
* Data storage:
Save game files are stored on the PDA (aka VMS)

VMU specs:

* CPU 8-bit
* Memory 128 KB
* Display 48 dot (W) x 32 dot (H) Monochrome
* Display size 37 mm (W) x 26 mm (H)
* Case dimensions 47 mm (W) x 80 mm (H) x 16 mm (D)
* Power source 2 x button batteries, w. auto-off function
* Sound 1-channel PWM sound source

Weight 45g

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i would speculate that the ps2 is more powerful

[SnesR0X]

thanks, i was wondering because I know people say a ps2 emulator on the psp is impossible (duh) but some say a dreamcast one IS possible, but it would take forever if they did make it I bet

[SSaxdude]

Dreamcast on the PS2 would be impossible, the PS2 is only 100 mhz more powerful than the Dreamcast. And the graphics difference doesn't seem like a 100 mhz difference.

[quzar]

They're about even. Each has trade-offs with the other gaming-wise. The biggest advantages the PS2 had were the DVD drive and sony's deep pockets.

The processing power is about even, as well as the graphical capabilities. The PS2 has twice the main ram, but the DC has twice the video ram. Most of the PS2 games touted to have the best graphcis look great by having a prerendered background with all the rendering power going into a single really high quality model.

Also, it is good in general to note that overall, when discussing the capabilities of each system, Sega was always very modest with their specifications (there used to be a huge article comparing some of the best of each system, and the best found PS2 game displayed about 90% of the polys they said were the max as opposed to the Dreamcast where the 'best' game displayed about 120% or so of Sega's released max). A huge advantage the Dreamcast has is it's graphics processor, which is (and this sounds weird) smarter than it is strong. When rendering it throws away everything that isn't seen on screen so that it doesn't have to do work on it. It's weakness was it's main processor which was relatively slow.

Anyways, they're just about even. Best looking DC games vs best looking PS2 games are a tossup.


thanks, i was wondering because I know people say a ps2 emulator on the psp is impossible (duh) but some say a dreamcast one IS possible, but it would take forever if they did make it I bet

There is no way the PS2 could emulate a Dreamcast. Although the Dreamcast can emulate itself =P (homebrew development tool that never fully took off called something like blackice)