Pennelo's statement: "18 CUs [compute units] vs. 12 CUs =/= 50% more performance. Multi-core processors have inherent inefficiency with more CUs, so it's simply incorrect to say 50% more GPU."
Quick analysis: "The entire point of GPU workloads is that they scale basically perfectly, so 50% more cores is in fact 50% faster."
Pennelo's statement: "Adding to that, each of our CUs is running 6% faster. It's not simply a 6% clock speed increase overall."
Quick analysis: "What the hell does that even mean?"
Pennelo's statement: "We have more memory bandwidth. 176gb/sec is peak on paper for GDDR5. Our peak on paper is 272gb/sec. (68gb/sec DDR3 + 204gb/sec on ESRAM). ESRAM can do read/write cycles simultaneously so I see this number mis-quoted."
Quick analysis: "Just adding up bandwidth numbers is idiotic and meaningless. While the Xbox One's ESRAM is a little faster, we don't know how it's used, and the PS4's GDDR5 is obviously a lot bigger."
Pennelo's statement: "We have at least 10% more CPU. Not only a faster processor, but a better audio chip also offloading CPU cycles."
Quick analysis: "Maybe true."
Pennelo's statement: "We understand GPGPU [general processing on GPU] and its importance very well. Microsoft invented Direct Compute, and have been using GPGPU in a shipping product since 2010—it's called Kinect."
Quick analysis "Who cares about the API? It really doesn't make much difference."
Pennelo's statement: "Speaking of GPGPU—we have 3X the coherent bandwidth for GPGPU at 30gb/sec which significantly improves our ability for the CPU to efficiently read data generated by the GPU."
Quick analysis "I don't know if that's even true."
Microsoft exec defends Xbox One from accusations it’s “underpowered” | Ars Technica