DigitalFoundry: The Evil Within 2: Xbox One X vs PS4 Pro Graphics Comparison + Frame-Rate test

Theorry · Jan 13, 2018

- 1080p on Pro and 1800p on X (Patch notes say 1260p for Pro but they never saw it. Contacted the dev)
- Better antroscopic filtering on X
- Performance wise the X has some dips in some (cut)scenes but overall its a solid 30 fps
- Both consoles have a unlocked framerate option. X tends to stick close to 30fps with topping out at 40fps.
Pro tops out at 60fps but mostly hovers between 50, 40 and down to 30fps wich can be abit jarring. Tested the 4k output and 1080p output. Didnt make a difference.

nihilence · Jan 13, 2018

No 60 fps mode for X? (unlocked)

I'm perfectly fine with the locked 30 on Xbox.

GinoFelino · Jan 13, 2018

Myeah ok I'm going with PC on this one

Theorry · Jan 13, 2018

nihilence said:
No 60 fps mode for X?

There is no 60fps mode.

Nephtes · Jan 13, 2018

Digital Foundry contradicting a dev's stated resolution output again? I hope this isn't another Redoubt situation...

The game outputting 1080p on Pro after the patch seems a bit off...hope we get some answers to this...

pswii60 · Jan 13, 2018

This game easily has the biggest IQ difference between Pro and X of any games I've compared to date (based on the downloadable trials on both platforms). The image looks really clean on X but jaggies ahoy on Pro.

For me, the locked 30fps framerate mode is most important as I hate games that constantly hover between 30-60fps (and Pro rarely hits 60fps based on the trial in this mode), so the X is the easy winner here as I wouldn't play in the unlocked mode on either platform.

Given the framerate difference in the unlocked mode though, I assume that the Pro has the horsepower to go higher than 1080p but it's actually the RAM holding it back.

SnatcherHunter · Jan 13, 2018

Just finished this beauty in nightmare mode last night. ( 26 hours.. holy crap lol) on my Xbox One X.

I am shock with the results of the Pro version. It looks great on the X.

BuBu Jenkins · Jan 13, 2018

Welp yet another 4K(inda) game on these supposed 4K consoles, It was already pathetic that the Pro patch was supposed to bring 1260p but it turns out it couldn't even manage that and is actually native 1080?Da fuck outta here... And then we have the world's most powerful console only outputting 1800p and still gets drops below 30fps and can't even match pro's framerate when both are unlocked?

Dark1x · Jan 13, 2018

Nephtes said:
Digital Foundry contradicting a dev's stated resolution output again? I hope this isn't another Redoubt situation...

The game outputting 1080p on Pro after the patch seems a bit off...hope we get some answers to this...

This time, I helped pass judgement on this.

We tried both the EU and US version of the game (had to buy a second copy), we used multiple PS4 Pros, we captured on multiple capture devices, we had four people (including myself) pixel count shots, we spoke with the developer and basically did everything possible to double and triple check it.

We also checked across 3-4 different chapters to make sure dynamic res isn't in use. It's not. It's 1080p.

My guess? They specifically talk about getting faster performance by setting your PS4 Pro to 1080p - I bet there's a bug that is causing it to render out at 1080p in all modes. I have a feeling this was introduced AFTER the Pro patch since there was another patch after initial Pro support.

I remember trying this right after the Pro patch and thinking it looked sharper but never pixel counting but, in its current state, it's clearly just 1080p.

Some 4K shots showing the 1080p count.

http://************/QBDc.jpg
http://************/RBDc.jpg
http://************/SBDc.jpg

ohitsluca · Jan 13, 2018

At work and can't watch... Is there any difference in FOV between the two versions?

Railgun · Jan 13, 2018

Nephtes said:
Digital Foundry contradicting a dev's stated resolution output again? I hope this isn't another Redoubt situation...

The game outputting 1080p on Pro after the patch seems a bit off...hope we get some answers to this...

Dark1x said:
This time, I helped pass judgement on this.

We tried both the EU and US version of the game (had to buy a second copy), we used multiple PS4 Pros, we captured on multiple capture devices, we had four people (including myself) pixel count shots, we spoke with the developer and basically did everything possible to double and triple check it.

We also checked across 3-4 different chapters to make sure dynamic res isn't in use. It's not. It's 1080p.

My guess? They specifically talk about getting faster performance by setting your PS4 Pro to 1080p - I bet there's a bug that is causing it to render out at 1080p in all modes. I have a feeling this was introduced AFTER the Pro patch since there was another patch after initial Pro support.

Some 4K shots showing the 1080p count.

http://************/QBDc.jpg
http://************/RBDc.jpg
http://************/SBDc.jpg

NXGamer has done their own analysis on The Evil Within previously and their pixel counts came to 1260p. Something doesn’t seem right, NXGamer do you have the screenshots you used to pixel count?

LebGuns · Jan 13, 2018

Dark1x said:
This time, I helped pass judgement on this.

We tried both the EU and US version of the game (had to buy a second copy), we used multiple PS4 Pros, we captured on multiple capture devices, we had four people (including myself) pixel count shots, we spoke with the developer and basically did everything possible to double and triple check it.

We also checked across 3-4 different chapters to make sure dynamic res isn't in use. It's not. It's 1080p.

My guess? They specifically talk about getting faster performance by setting your PS4 Pro to 1080p - I bet there's a bug that is causing it to render out at 1080p in all modes. I have a feeling this was introduced AFTER the Pro patch since there was another patch after initial Pro support.

I remember trying this right after the Pro patch and thinking it looked sharper but never pixel counting but, in its current state, it's clearly just 1080p.

Some 4K shots showing the 1080p count.

http://************/QBDc.jpg
http://************/RBDc.jpg
http://************/SBDc.jpg

Somebody learned their lesson lol. Great work on this analysis, I appreciated it! Strange it sticks to 1080 on the Pro.

Deleted member 25042 · Jan 13, 2018

Has anyone confirmed the 1260p resolution on Pro before the latest patch?

BeI · Jan 13, 2018

Would be nice if they could slip in a PC comparison too sometime. Feels like lately it's just Pro vs X these days, whereas they used to have budget build or two they would toss into the analysis too.

Dark1x · Jan 13, 2018

Railgun said:
NXGamer has done their own analysis on The Evil Within previously and their pixel counts came to 1260p. Something doesn’t seem right, NXGamer do you have the screenshots you used to pixel count?

That jives with my theory that something broke from when the Pro patch was first released and it was updated again. Perhaps the initial Pro patch WAS 1260p but it was broken later on? That's the only thing that I can see happening here. I also thought it was 1260p at a glance when I first checked the initial Pro patch but now it's clearly just 1080p.

LebGuns said:
Somebody learned their lesson lol. Great work on this analysis, I appreciated it! Strange it sticks to 1080 on the Pro.

Well, I had nothing to do with Redout but we all are making sure it doesn't happen again.

Oh, and I only assisted a little on this new video, the credit for this one goes to Dave.

BeImonkey said:
Would be nice if they could slip in a PC comparison too sometime. Feels like lately it's just Pro vs X these days, whereas they used to have budget build or two they would toss into the analysis too.

Did you miss the PC coverage I did for this game last year?

El_Chino · Jan 13, 2018

BuBu Jenkins said:
Welp yet another 4K(inda) game on these supposed 4K consoles, It was already pathetic that the Pro patch was supposed to bring 1260p but it turns out it couldn't even manage that and is actually native 1080?Da fuck outta here... And then we have the world's most powerful console only outputting 1800p and still gets drops below 30fps and can't even match pro's framerate when both are unlocked?

PC stay winnin

Atolm · Jan 13, 2018

GinoFelino said:
Myeah ok I'm going with PC on this one

The PC version it's almost impossible to run at 60fps as well.

Dark1x · Jan 13, 2018

GinoFelino said:
Myeah ok I'm going with PC on this one

Don't be so quick - hitting 60fps is VERY difficult to impossible on PC (or, at least, it was last I tried).

LebGuns · Jan 13, 2018

Dark1x said:
That jives with my theory that something broke from when the Pro patch was first released and it was updated again. Perhaps the initial Pro patch WAS 1260p but it was broken later on? That's the only thing that I can see happening here. I also thought it was 1260p at a glance when I first checked the initial Pro patch but now it's clearly just 1080p.

Well, I had nothing to do with Redout but we all are making sure it doesn't happen again.

My comment was more towards DF in general and certainly not you in particular. I appreciate your forthrightness in your analysis and your constant openness on this forum for sure. I am glad DF is checking their analyses multiple times when the results contradict developer claims.

Deleted member 25042 · Jan 13, 2018

Yeah the PC version has its own issues as well.
Can't hit 60fps locked (6700k+GTX 1080 @1440p, even on lowest), the framerate goes down for no apparent reason, stutters, gpu usage tops out at around 85%...
It's not great...at all

SnatcherHunter · Jan 13, 2018

Dark1x said:
This time, I helped pass judgement on this.

We tried both the EU and US version of the game (had to buy a second copy), we used multiple PS4 Pros, we captured on multiple capture devices, we had four people (including myself) pixel count shots, we spoke with the developer and basically did everything possible to double and triple check it.

We also checked across 3-4 different chapters to make sure dynamic res isn't in use. It's not. It's 1080p.

My guess? They specifically talk about getting faster performance by setting your PS4 Pro to 1080p - I bet there's a bug that is causing it to render out at 1080p in all modes. I have a feeling this was introduced AFTER the Pro patch since there was another patch after initial Pro support.

I remember trying this right after the Pro patch and thinking it looked sharper but never pixel counting but, in its current state, it's clearly just 1080p.

Some 4K shots showing the 1080p count.

http://************/QBDc.jpg
http://************/RBDc.jpg
http://************/SBDc.jpg

Yeah, that doesn't look sharp at all. Even less.... 4K quality.

BeI · Jan 13, 2018

Dark1x said:
Did you miss the PC coverage I did for this game last year?

I may have forgot about it tbh. I was specifically talking about things like the old 750 ti + i3 build that was compared to consoles at similar graphics settings. I was just wondering if there is any plans to do something similar for the upgraded consoles, since it seems that there is similar performing GPus to compare to them (Pro - Rx 470/570, X - Rx 580/1060).

Railgun · Jan 13, 2018

Dark1x said:
That jives with my theory that something broke from when the Pro patch was first released and it was updated again. Perhaps the initial Pro patch WAS 1260p but it was broken later on? That's the only thing that I can see happening here. I also thought it was 1260p at a glance when I first checked the initial Pro patch but now it's clearly just 1080p.

NXGamer’s video was on patch 1.02, so looks like patch 1.03 broke Pro support.

JohnnyMoses · Jan 13, 2018

I have no experience counting pixels, but I played through on the Pro and it definitely looked a touch above 1080p.

I really liked the higher framerate. It had drops into the 30's often, but was overall a smoother experience to me.

Dark1x · Jan 13, 2018

Railgun said:
NXGamer’s video was on patch 1.02, so looks like patch 1.03 broke Pro support.

Ah ha, yes, 1.02 also looked like 1260p to me.

So I'm starting to think it was 1.03 that broke Pro support. Wish we could roll it back to 1.02.

Terror-Billy · Jan 13, 2018

Wait a minute. The last time I played the game hovered at 22-25 fps during the opening areas on X. Did they fix that with the latest patch?

BuBu Jenkins said:
Welp yet another 4K(inda) game on these supposed 4K consoles, It was already pathetic that the Pro patch was supposed to bring 1260p but it turns out it couldn't even manage that and is actually native 1080?Da fuck outta here... And then we have the world's most powerful console only outputting 1800p and still gets drops below 30fps and can't even match pro's framerate when both are unlocked?

PC stay winnin

How is this shit not bannable?

Yautja_Warrior · Jan 13, 2018

Dark1x said:
Ah ha, yes, 1.02 also looked like 1260p to me.

So I'm starting to think it was 1.03 that broke Pro support. Wish we could roll it back to 1.02.

Any chance you can ask the developer to look into it ?

El_Chino · Jan 13, 2018

Terror-Billy said:
How is this shit not bannable?

Asking myself the same question.

Dorfdad · Jan 13, 2018

GinoFelino said:
Myeah ok I'm going with PC on this one

Right choice for 90% of all games if you got a good rig. I only play my ps4 for competitive shooters and competitive multiplayer / exclusive games since hacking on pc ruins every game I’m into. I do play all single player games on pc if I can for true 4K 60

Theorry · Jan 13, 2018

Terror-Billy said:
Wait a minute. The last time I played the game hovered at 22-25 fps during the opening areas on X. Did they fix that with the latest patch?

How is this shit not bannable?

Just report him. Not all mods can be everywhere. :)

Dark1x · Jan 13, 2018

Yautja_Warrior said:
Any chance you can ask the developer to look into it ?

Yes, we've already done just that and we've sent our findings over. They're checking on it.

That said, I'm not sure it's a HUGE deal as 1260p doesn't really look much better than 1080p on a 4K screen - it's a very very subtle jump. As it is, the game still runs with a very stable frame-rate and looks great on Pro. I'd still like to see it corrected, though.

Ardiloso · Jan 13, 2018

Looks good but they should offer a lock to 30 fps on both.

Also they put the Pro resolution too low only to offer a unlocked and unstable framerate, not worth.

Dorfdad · Jan 13, 2018

Terror-Billy said:
Wait a minute. The last time I played the game hovered at 22-25 fps during the opening areas on X. Did they fix that with the latest patch?

How is this shit not bannable?

What’s bannable? He called out both consoles for being marketed as true 4K but in reality very few titles are able to hit that with current hardware.

Isn’t this a forum for discussions on gaming? He also asked a question.

GinoFelino · Jan 13, 2018

Atolm said:
The PC version it's almost impossible to run at 60fps as well.

Dark1x said:
Don't be so quick - hitting 60fps is VERY difficult to impossible on PC (or, at least, it was last I tried).

Yeesh. In that case, maybe I'll go with the solid 30fps on Pro...

Dark1x · Jan 13, 2018

Ardiloso said:
Looks good but they should offer a lock to 30 fps on both.

Also they put the Pro resolution too low only to offer a unlocked and unstable framerate, not worth.

They do offer a 30fps lock on both and it's very stable (especially on Pro due to the low resolution).

Dorfdad · Jan 13, 2018

Dark1x said:
Yes, we've already done just that and we've sent our findings over. They're checking on it.

That said, I'm not sure it's a HUGE deal as 1260p doesn't really look much better than 1080p on a 4K screen - it's a very very subtle jump. As it is, the game still runs with a very stable frame-rate and looks great on Pro. I'd still like to see it corrected, though.

What seems to be the bottleneck on the One X preventing true 4K for most of these games? Is it a hardware limitation or possibly the engine they created the game with unable to scale properly?

While the X is the best console out there currently it seems to have issues with a bunch of games hitting true 4K?

I’m guessing it’s a combination of things starting with the CPU but I’m not an engineer.

pswii60 · Jan 13, 2018

BuBu Jenkins said:
Welp yet another 4K(inda) game on these supposed 4K consoles, It was already pathetic that the Pro patch was supposed to bring 1260p but it turns out it couldn't even manage that and is actually native 1080?Da fuck outta here... And then we have the world's most powerful console only outputting 1800p and still gets drops below 30fps and can't even match pro's framerate when both are unlocked?

PC stay winnin

"PC stay winnin"? Is that where we've come to?

Also, my PC sure as hell can't even do this game at 1800p and 30fps, so mine certainly isn't "winnin". PC is such a generic term.

Yautja_Warrior · Jan 13, 2018

Dark1x said:
Yes, we've already done just that and we've sent our findings over. They're checking on it.

That said, I'm not sure it's a HUGE deal as 1260p doesn't really look much better than 1080p on a 4K screen - it's a very very subtle jump. As it is, the game still runs with a very stable frame-rate and looks great on Pro. I'd still like to see it corrected, though.

Yeah true, it's not a big jump but every pixel helps I guess and like you say, at least the framerate is decent on Pro.

Kinda hope they fix the PC version though, that was a mess when it came to performance.

Ardiloso · Jan 13, 2018

Dark1x said:
They do offer a 30fps lock on both and it's very stable (especially on Pro due to the low resolution).

Oh. Good. I'm fine with this patch on X. Higher resolution and stable framerate then.

Dorfdad · Jan 13, 2018

GinoFelino said:
Yeesh. In that case, maybe I'll go with the solid 30fps on Pro...

If you have a PC go with that I have it and it looks fantastic compared to PS4. While you may not get uber ultra settings you can easily dial it down some to get a much better looking game on PC.

TitanicFall · Jan 13, 2018

Atolm said:
The PC version it's almost impossible to run at 60fps as well.

At 1080p? I don't think I've had issues so far. I've only done the first few hours though.

space_nut · Jan 13, 2018

My goodness that's 2-3 times higher res over pro O.o significant boost

Loving what the X is doing :)

Dark1x · Jan 13, 2018

Dorfdad said:
What seems to be the bottleneck on the One X preventing true 4K for most of these games? Is it a hardware limitation or possibly the engine they created the game with unable to scale properly?

While the X is the best console out there currently it seems to have issues with a bunch of games hitting true 4K?

I’m guessing it’s a combination of things starting with the CPU but I’m not an engineer.

Depends on the engine and bottlenecks. Clearly, resolution is an issue here since there is still slowdown on X even at 1800p. They likely went with that resolution as it comes close to locking to 30fps most of the time while still offering improved image quality. I don't think it's a CPU limitation here since Pro has no issues in those same areas (while running at a way lower res).

Native 4K is still a very difficult resolution to hit while maintaining a stable frame-rate, you have to keep in mind.

GinoFelino · Jan 13, 2018

Dorfdad said:
If you have a PC go with that I have it and it looks fantastic compared to PS4. While you may not get uber ultra settings you can easily dial it down some to get a much better looking game on PC.

Alright, duly noted. Thanks for the advice.

BuBu Jenkins · Jan 13, 2018

Terror-Billy said:
Wait a minute. The last time I played the game hovered at 22-25 fps during the opening areas on X. Did they fix that with the latest patch?

How is this shit not bannable?

i admit i should've left the PC master race stuff out but my initial post is still legitimate 1260p is laughable as far as a res boost goes and 1800p would've been acceptable on the Pro since its older and weaker not on the brand spanking new 500 dollar X which while having higher res still has inferior performance to the pro version.

Gingerbread Man · Jan 13, 2018

Dorfdad said:
What seems to be the bottleneck on the One X preventing true 4K for most of these games? Is it a hardware limitation or possibly the engine they created the game with unable to scale properly?

While the X is the best console out there currently it seems to have issues with a bunch of games hitting true 4K?

I’m guessing it’s a combination of things starting with the CPU but I’m not an engineer.

Probably it's the GPU. I heard the GPU closer to GTX1060 and not the Nivida Gtx1070. There only so many pixels you can push with AMD version of the GTX1060. On the other hand, I could be wrong it's the developers not maxing the Xbox one x out.

pswii60 · Jan 13, 2018

Terror-Billy said:
Wait a minute. The last time I played the game hovered at 22-25 fps during the opening areas on X. Did they fix that with the latest patch?

How is this shit not bannable?

Based on my experience two weeks ago it's a locked 30 on the X during the whole trial, which is the first 30 minutes of the game (maybe a little longer).

Dorfdad said:
What seems to be the bottleneck on the One X preventing true 4K for most of these games? Is it a hardware limitation or possibly the engine they created the game with unable to scale properly?

While the X is the best console out there currently it seems to have issues with a bunch of games hitting true 4K?

I’m guessing it’s a combination of things starting with the CPU but I’m not an engineer.

The in house first party games have no issue hitting native 4k and a locked framerate, so I'd imagine with time we'll see similar results from third parties. It's the same with Pro and in general seeing better results from Sony first parties than third parties.

Pariah · Jan 13, 2018

BuBu Jenkins said:
i admit i should've left the PC master race stuff out but my initial post is still legitimate 1260p is laughable as far as a res boost goes and 1800p would've been acceptable on the Pro since its older and weaker not on the brand spanking new 500 dollar X which while having higher res still has inferior performance to the pro version.

It was a peculiar Pro patch to start with: released weeks after the game and more focused on performance (irregular as it may be) than presentation, who knows how much time they put into it? Bethesda games have a disappointing record on the system, perhaps with the exception of Wolfenstein 2 only.

The system is limited by CPU and memory, among other things, but there are many examples of better results.

nihilence · Jan 13, 2018

Theorry said:
There is no 60fps mode.

I misread a little bit. The locked toggle is fine with me. Still waiting to play it.

Bedameister · Jan 13, 2018

Sweet. Will get the X1 version once I'll finally get around to finish the first game

DigitalFoundry: The Evil Within 2: Xbox One X vs PS4 Pro Graphics Comparison + Frame-Rate test

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