PlayStation 5 vs Xbox Series X: what's the difference

At the beginning of the week, the full specs of their new console published Microsoft, and after a couple of days following her example followed and Sony. True, the latter has not yet shown the appearance of the device, and in general there is less data on the PlayStation 5 than on the Xbox Series X. Nevertheless, the main parameters are known, and they can already be compared.

Both consoles are powered by AMD Zen 2 processor with 16 threads and 8 cores. The core frequency is different, but in practice the difference may be minimal, since both consoles can decrease the frequency depending on the load.

Where the difference can really be felt is in graphics and SSDs. The Sony console uses a custom RDNA 2 architecture with 36 compute units running at 2.23 GHz and delivering 10.28 teraflops of performance. The Xbox Series X has 52 compute units at 1.825 GHz and 12 teraflops.

how writes TheVerge, Sony hopes to extract more performance from the console by offering developers fewer variable clock speed computing devices. It is too early to judge whether this will give an advantage in practice. The reality now is that due to the difference in approaches between Sony and Microsoft, developers will need much more effort and time to optimize their games for both consoles.

As for memory, here Sony's solution looks more interesting. An impressive custom SSD of 825 GB with a bandwidth of 5.5 GB / s has been created for the PS5, while Microsoft preferred a 1 TB drive, which bandwidth starts at 2.4 GB / s, which is significantly less. These values ​​should greatly affect the loading speed of games, but again, the difference in this speed will depend on the optimization of the games themselves. I.e? here Sony's advantage is only on paper.

In addition to the technical specifications, Microsoft revealed a number of interesting features of its console, including backward compatibility with all previous generations, the ability to quickly switch between games and enjoy gameplay with 100-120 frames per give me a sec. Sony has so far been more stingy with details. The company's developers only noted the possibility of launching "almost all" games for PS4 and focused on surround sound, which will especially improve in VR games. It was not said about the connectors at the presentation, nor about the gamepad.

Thus, while it is clearly impossible to say that one console loses much to another, especially based on teraflops and memory alone. It is better to wait for more detailed data, which may appear in summer or autumn. Both new items should go on sale at the end of 2020, if, of course, pandemic coronavirus will not make its own adjustments to these plans.

Are you planning to buy any of these consoles? Tell us which one and why you want to choose it.