Both consoles are parity locked, and it looks as if the PS4 is parity locked to Xbox One spec. Not to suggest conspiracy theory, but check it out my screen caps.
System RAM: 16GB, 2400MHZ DDR3(only 4-5GB of this ever gets used, between OS and game).
PS4 Hardware
GPU: R9 270, 1152(!) Stream Processors --1280 total, if including the currently disabled CU's
CPU: AMD Jaguar, 8-core, 1.6GHZ(don't let the speed fool you, it has more IPC's than my CPU, making it equivalent to a 3GHZ+ CPU.
RAM: 8GB(7GB for games?)
Game settings
Resolution: 1920x1080, VSync enabled.
Graphics: Very High world detail, High texture detail, High shadow detail HBAO(I recently bumped this up from SSAO, and haven't noticed a performance hit), FXAA(in-game) and SMAA(via SweetFX).
Extras: I only use SweetFX to ever so slightly boost colors, by a value of +10, SMAA to further smooth jaggies, and a custom defined black level setting to slightly make darker the blacks...all else in SweetFX, disabled.
In-game performance
In the game, I get between 32-35 frames with a slight, occasional dip to 27 or 28, but it's not noticeable and so I leave HBAO active, as that would the next logical thing to bump down should there be frame issues.
Click on the upper right of the images to expand to full image size
The consoles appear to be using low-to-medium textures and definitely low shadow quality...and fogging is definitely turned on, which makes the game ugly. I also don't see bloom turned on in this video, for either console. That being said, let me show you what the PS4 should look like...mind you, using SweetFX SMAA further taxes my system in the GPU arena. This means that the PS4 should have some performance left over after running this game in full detail, at 1080p...heck, the Xbox One should be doing better than this, and both consoles should at least be able to handle the game with fogging turned off.
[Note: Assassin's Creed Syndicate has a handy little meter at the top right of the options menu telling you how much VRAM the game is using, of what you have available. Very High settings use no more than 2800MB. That's under 3GB, and the consoles come equipped with at least 6-7GB of useable in-game memory. Interesting, no?]
@SterlingFox: Resolution isn't everything...and it isn't even graphics, it's a display output setting that ties into picture quality. Graphics are things like lighting, shadowing, tessellation, textures etc. Just because a game output 900p(1600x900), for instance, doesn't mean the texture texture maps match that. The textures themselves may be 512x512, or 1024x1024 pixel dimensions(low res). The same goes with shadow maps. A low shadow map setting will be around 512 pixels, which both consoles are clearly running(low res shadows). Observe the fuzzy, blocky and pixelated look of casted shadows from direct light sources, in the scenes where it is actually shown. For instance, that tunnel scene where the character is swinging to and from a bar.
There are also things such as bloom, and HDR settings. We didn't get much of a useful video in terms of showcasing lighting at all...such as, the Sun coming through windows, or how the light interacts with the surface of the street and puddles. Who's to say which console fairs better there? Finally, there are things like post processing, which, like resolution, ties into picture quality. So there are always going to be differences, despite running the same resolution. Frame rates, as you have pointed out is another.
@MrFreehuggs: On PC. I think PC is the guinea pig right now, for DX12. Gears of War Ultimate just released in DX12, for PC and it's a nightmare for AMD users, which is funny because the original GoW games were designed for an AMD console at that time.
Ashes of Singularity is another PC title using DX12, it's in preview status, but running very smooth.
...and I think there is another Chinese PC based MMO using it right now, too.
@AmbulanceBlues: You must be standing the PS4 up without a stand. It gets loud like that because it blocks off the bottom vents. Lay it horizontal. Or buy the vertical stand.
@goodgamesguy: That's a good point. Every time I watch my wife update her Xbox, I wonder why the Xbox takes 20-25 minutes for just a 300-500MB system update, when my PS4 can install a 1.3GB update in a quarter of the time. Literally.
@wookiegr: I would like to have a 4K TV, but anything less than native resolution is horrendous on any modern day display. This was not so much the case back in the analog days of CRT. Resolution scaled beautifully and naturally on CRT. Therefore, I have been at some trouble in buying a 4K, just to display common 720p and 1080p resolution media on. That's simply upscaling and stretching out colors by over 50%. Pictures look faded and washed out at that point. Play these games on a 1080p TV, preferably 37-46 inch and it will look gorgeous on this generation of consoles. I reckon you are watching a lot of 4K blurays, and playing a lot of 4K PC titles on that display, otherwise there would be no point to owning a huge TV of that resolution, in this day and age, outside of those two things. TV sure as heck isn't 4K, yet. Console would look far worse with a crap-ton more aliasing. No revolution in up-scaling is going to help that. Up-scaling is pixel sampling and replicating. Line doubling.
@kyelo: Same could be said for PC, in most cases. Imagine if you were the one who bought the $3000.00 rig, sporting a high end i7, or Xeon and had 2-3 graphics cards and a 1200 watt power supply and all you got was better filtering and texture resolution. That's what started happening at the start of this generation. Starting with Wolfenstein.
Kopesettik's comments