Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 Specs Compared

This week Microsoft and Sony have unveiled the specs for their next generation consoles, the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, respectively. In this article we will be doing a quick rundown comparing the specs of the two consoles.

Both consoles will be an AMD Zen 2 CPU with eight cores. However, the Xbox Series X CPU has a peak frequency of up to 3.8GHz per core when SMT - hyper-threading - is disabled, while the PS5 has a peak frequency of up to 3.5GHz.

[Jin_Sakai]

PS5 SSD is over twice as fast as Series X
Xbox Series X GPU is almost 2TF more than PS5

PS5 CPU/GPU use variable frequency
Series X CPU/GPU use locked frequency

PS5 will have backwards compatibility with PS4
Series X will have full backwards compatibility

PS5 allows off-the-shelf NVMe drive upgrades
Xbox Series X will use proprietary SSD upgrades

PS5 likely $399
Series X likely $499

In the end it all comes down to games.

[purple101]

Who has down voted this comment.. It merely states facts..

What a load of plonkers.

[LucasRuinedChildhood]

The PS5 costs $450 to make so the $400 price tag is very unlikely unless Sony eats at least $50 on every console sold. It also doesn't just come down to games. If the Series X offers much better performance for the same price, that's a big deal because you're getting better value in terms of hardware.

[1nsomniac]

Likely down to price statement as that’s just been plucked from mid air.

Which ruins an otherwise very good comment.

[SyntheticForm]

Plonker? I like that.

Can't wait to call my wife a plonker tonight.

[Sitdown]

Since it's merely facts, post the articles where the prices were revealed.

[FlyingFoxy]

Is your name Derek Trotter by any chance?

[CaptainCook]

It doesn't make sense. They'll be the same price since Sony has gambled on an expensive internal hard drive.

[neutralgamer1992]

Lucas

Last generation was the first time in a long time very Sony sold a console for a profit. Usually when you launch new consoles most companies take a small loss to gain market share and in return make more money from subscriptions and software

Sony is not comfortable at $499 they are not comfortable at 449 they are more than comfortable at $399. to vast majority of gamers and I'm not talking about hardcore gamers I'm talking about casuals price makes a humongous difference especially at launch of a new console

[ABizzel1]

Neither of those prices are facts, and the PS4 is likely ranging in the $399 - $499 range, while the Series X is likely in the $599 range. Traditional pricing is out the window for these consoles.

They have all the benefits of gaming PCs, laptop / desktop equivalent CPUs ($100), 16GB of GDDR6 ($50), desktop equivalent GPUs ($150), and NVeM SSD's that are at the top of the market ($50). The core of the PS5 alone (CPU+GPU+RAM+SSD) is likely $350, that excludes MB, 4K Blu Ray, audio, networking, case, etc...

For comparison comsumer equivalent PC part cost the following as of today cost:
CPU: 3700x $270 (consoles likely laptop equivalent)
GPU: 5700 XT $350
RAM: 16GB DDR4 $60 (and they're using more expensive GDDR6)
1TB SSD: $100 most NVmE (and the one Sony's using is basically the top end of the market)

Sony could very well be aggressive and go for $399, but they're taking a sizeable loss on each console sold at least for the first year, because the rumored manufacturing cost alone was $450 that excludes shipping, packaging, artwork, etc... bringing it closer to $499 per unit as of today, but things could change by the holiday season bringing that cost down to a lesser loss at $399, but we have to get pass Coronavirus first.

Things are a bit more on the Xbox side with their GPU being at least $100 more than the PS5's bringing them closer to $599 IMO, which is the main reason they have Scarlett so they can guarantee a $399 possibly less (and possibly without raytracing) next-gen Xbox for mass adoption as Series X will cost too much for anyone outside of the core gamers.

[Edito]

@LucasRuinedChildhood

To do what with that better hardware?

I know that Spider Man 2, God Of War 2, HZD 2, The Last Of Us Part II will play and look amazing on the PS5 and even the multiplats will look and play amazingly well on the PS5.

So let's chill because the same way the One X couldn't deliver games with better graphics than PS4 Pro the Series X will be the same respectively to PS5 ...

[UnSelf]

the Console Wars are back.

#BringbacktheOZ

[moriarty1889]

love the console wars! so much fun to read the comments back and forth claiming superiority over the others preferred console of choice.

[outsider1624]

Hell yeahh!! It's gonna be brutal and gory boys!!

[darthv72]

Please understand it is not "off the shelf" NVME drives. It is 'officially tested / supported' NVME drives. Or think of it as 'officially licensed' (with the PS seal of approval) NVME drives. Sony will have their own branded ones (pretty obvious) and there will be 3rd party ones as well. Maybe even by brands like Sandisk and Madcatz... like the PS1/2 memory card days. the SX will also likely have licensed 3rd party memory cards its just right now we know Seagate is one of the companies making them.

And I'd believe the PS5 to be $499 and the SX $599 with the rumored SS being $399 (or less).

[crazyCoconuts]

They said off the shelf will work as long as they fit and they're fast. If they don't support the 6 priority capability, the custom io chip will approximate

[fathertime4464]

Ps5 is only compatible with name of specific style and none on the market today are compatible. Sooo it'll come down to price on storage also

[CaptainHenry916]

What happens if you fill up your series X 1TB SSD?

[fathertime4464]

@captainhenry
You buy a memory unit the same way that u buy an ssd for the ps5. The main difference is that the xsx has proprietary that you can buy right at launch, and the ps5 can use specific spec name drives from any party the meets sonys parameters and those don't exist yet.
Did everyone miss that portion?! They'll be a list of compatible units once they're made

[darthv72]

@916, if you fill up the SSD then you can move those SX games to an external USB (which is what I will use for that time being). Just got to remember to move them SX games back to the SSD when you want to play.

[CaptainHenry916]

Since I got a high end PC already ain't no way I'm spending $500 or up for a fix game console.

[S2Killinit]

Does xbox have full backward compatibility? I remember when they started with 100 backward compat games as well. Has that changed to full bc? Or are they adding as they go still?

[timotim]

For Xbox One titles its suppose to be. Any Xbox One game should just work. All BC titles from 360 and original Xbox will work with whats there today, however, Microsoft is suppose to be expanding on that list significantly for next gen.

[SyntheticForm]

Agreed, and I think both consoles will be superb, but I wish Sony's reveal was better. They still have time though.

The problem with this presentation was that it was developer friendly yet not consumer friendly. Cerny went way over our heads with complicated and complex jargon and architect/dev speak.

Microsoft on the other hand appealed to consumers completely and directly. They showed loading, multiple titles in suspend resume hopping from title to title all remaining open and loading quickly. Not to mention we've known what it looks like for a long time now.

Sony's approach was boring. While tech speak is interesting, most of us are clueless and want the specs, features showcased, and the actual console showcased.

They kinda fumbled.

[VariantAEC]

"Sony's approach" was supposed to be a GDC presentation not one for general population. If it went over your head that's probably because you don't make games.

[Xb1ps4]

I think it’s the “it comes down to game” implying that everyone only plays exclusives or as if we don’t get enough games as it is. I must be the only gamer with a large backlog of games

[outsider1624]

Where did they reveal the price? Smh

[343_Guilty_Spark]

The SSD is twice as fast but the system memory bandwidth is significantly slower. I think the SSD stuff is a wash.

[darthv72]

you know, that 'off the shelf' part reminds me of when MS said they would allow you to trade in your xbox one games to 'authorized retailers'. But MS then did a 180 on that whole thing so do you think Sony will do a 180 on their 'off the shelf' claim???

[Evan_Beezy]

Probably more like 500 and 550/600

[xboxlj]

Wow your comparison is so biased and misleading.
1) You didn't mention that the PS5 drive is smaller than Xbox. Also the specs on the I/O throughput are not clear. I have a hard time believing that it is really 9GBS on the PS5.
2)The Xbox CPU is faster and I can guarantee you that it runs at variable frequency.
3) The PS5 will have LIMITED backward compatibility with the PS4.
4) The PS5 does NOT have off-the-shelf NVMe, it clearly states that it is custom just like the xbox.
5) You pulled the price from you bottom side. There is no reason for you to believe that will be the price. Looking at past releases, the PS3 was very expensive.

[RangerWalk267]

From what I've viewed on the demo Microsoft gave of their SSD, that is plenty fast enough. Especially considering they keep multiple games ready to play at a push of a button. That is called instant play with no loading

[RangerWalk267]

This generation Sony failed on the hardware side when compared to the series X. But Sony isn't really about the hardware as much as they are the exclusives. Now if Microsoft comes out swinging with the exclusive games from the studios they purchased. Then Sony is going to be at a very big disadvantage. Microsoft will then have the services, cloud gaming, better hardware, and exclusives

[Ulf]

PS5 will not be less than $450. That's break-even.

Think about it -- if they sold 10 million consoles, at a $50 loss each... that's a half BILLION dollars down the drain. You think they can afford that? Think again.

Also, the PS5 GPU is grossly overclocked -- they're cheaping out with too few CUs, hoping the hot clocks will be tolerable. I suspect that the failure rate will be much higher with the PS5 than the XSX.

[medman]

@jin_sakai
LOL at your price predictions.

[Imortus_san]

PS5 backwards compatibility only exists if PS4 games are patched, that's a bad joke.

PS5 CPU/GPU use variable frequency - is overclocked

PS5 allows off-the-shelf NVMe drive upgrades - no it does not, there will be only a select few compatible and they will drop the performance of the console.

[NeoGamer232]

You failed to mention the XSX GPU and CPU are both running 10% faster then the PS5.

Also, that the XSX has 10GB memory that is 20% faster then PS5. And 6 GB that is 25% slower then PS5.

Also using USB 3.2 yield 20 Gbps. We don't know what version of USB PS5 has yet.

Finally, your price is not a fact. it is pure speculation. It is hard to believe that with the I/O speeds of the PS5 that it will be cheaper then XSX.

[hollabox]

This is probably the most exited I've been for next gen gaming since XB360/PS3 era. The PS4/XB1 was a bit of let down, but this generation Sony and MS are going all out. Tech not found in the PC space, or works different. To be honest I did not think the clock speeds their achieving was possible on consoles. I was expected 2.4 to 3.2 on the CPU, and 1.5-.18 GHZ on the GPU.

[I_am_Batman]

Yeah I thought 1.8GHz would be the highest we would see on the GPU side as well. I really hope Mark Cerny and his team of engineers came up with an amazing cooling solution because I honestly don't see how you can cool a 2GHz+ GPU without waking the neighbours, unless RDNA2 has incredible efficiency gains.

[Trueflames]

Ps5 is not rdna 2 only series x go google it or find info

[I_am_Batman]

@Trueflames: Eh: https://youtu.be/ph8LyNIT9s...

[hollabox]

I've read NAVI 2 is twice as efficient as Navi which was 25% more efficient as GCN. With that said at those clocks and wide CUs you would think a 450 PSU would be required. Now my next question, what will Nintendo do? Technically the Switch started the 9th GEN as the WII U was the start of 8th GEN.

[ABizzel1]

@I_am_Batman

The exact same thing I was saying fans and cooling jel won't cut it this time, they need an actual cooling system and amazing airflow to push the heat out of there.

[maybelovehate]

Tech not found in the PC space? Lol wat

[hollabox]

Well Navi 2 is not in the PC space yet, also what NVME driver has six layers or channels? Also it's damn hard to get a 4K BR drive on the PC so I don't know what your LOL wat comment is about. Lastly the customized NVME will be better utlized on a console than a PC. I have both Samsung 970 Pro and Evo and while yes they benchmark high, I don't see real world performance at 3000 MBs when compared to my Samsung 850 Pro, or even my Crucial MX 500. I mean games might load just second faster, maybe two at best when compared to those drives.

[maybelovehate]

@hollobox: Navi 2 is coming out on PC before consoles but there are already PC GPU's that destroy the speeds Sony is claiming with theirs. PS5's target for their NVME drives is 5.5gb/s PC's are already hitting 7.88 GB/s. You can get a 4k BR drive anywhere.

[hollabox]

Navi2 on consoles won't be the same GPU in the PC space. It will be similar but MS and Sony will have their own customization. What NVME drive can actually hit 7.8 GB? Does it have the same compression through put at 8-9GB? And again will have enough channels right now to work in the PS5? 4K BR drives can be purchased but you can't use 4K drives on AMD processors because it requires Intel GPU video sync tech or some crap. You also need a Kaby Lake processor or higher so my old 6600K, AMD 3800X, and 5930K processor can't use this drive for 4K content. 4K drives are literally useless in the majority of PCs.

[maybelovehate]

@hollabox: yeah, Navi2 will be way better on PC. There are already cards that beat the goals of the PS5 by a lot. As for NVME, none of them hit 7.88gbps as of now, I was wrong on that, but there are drives hitting 6.9gbps Kioxia, eventually they will all be hitting 7.88 since that is the goal. Or at least the high end ones will. As for compression, that is up to the programmer and the type of compression they use for their content but Sony doesn't have a patent on some magic compression that I am aware of.

The BluRay thing isn't what you think it is. The thing Intel has a patent on is the DRM processing for bluray. AMD based computers can use BluRay drives, you would just need a way to bypass the DRM, you could use a program like AnyDVD to strip the DRM out. Although nobody on PC cares about BluRay anyhow.

[Trueflames]

12>>>>>10 ez math

[Ricegum]

You do realise Teraflops doesn't automatically make one console better than the other right?

[madpuppy]

"sony pony"?? what a weirdo thing to call someone....

[isarai]

There's more parts than the GPU

[Bronxs15]

Sony: “ we’ll have 100 PS4 games playable and took us years of work with amd”

Microsoft: “here’s gears 5 running at 100fps after two weeks of work”

[WinDos]

2 weeks per game would equal about 4 years for 100 so yeah...

[Bronxs15]

Except it’s already done for series x. Any game that plays one Xbox one (inc 360 & OG Xbox) automatically works on series x with improvements. Devs dont have to do anything. The system is designed to automatically noose performance of older games. That’s what Sony is working on. The two weeks of work was in regards to how easy it is to actually specifically update the game to use specific improvements

[Trueflames]

Wow your an idiot dont you know xbox already has all games from every xbox available you dont need to wait lol

[Kabaneri]

So I guess Xbox is going to remain as my primary 3rd party console which has been the case since I bought the One X in 2017. Definitely still gonna pick up a PS5 for the exclusives especially if we get Horizon 2 as a launch title.

[NeoGamer232]

Have you not seen the 15 (maybe 16) first party studios MS now has? And these studios aren't just a bunch of crap developers.... They've made games like Hellblade, Fallout New Vegas, Outer Worlds, Pillars of Eternity, Wasteland, Psychonauts, Forza Horizon, etc. There are a a lot of good pedigree in these studios that were largely independent and did not ever have first party dollars for development.

I can't wait to see what they can do with first party dollars.

[madpuppy]

"15(maybe 16) first party studios" is all fine and good...If Microsoft didn't have the propensity to shutter almost all it's first party studios after a few years of owning them. A studio being bought by Microsoft usually becomes a dead man walking. I would suggest employees from these studios freshen up their resume's/CV's for the inevitable culling.

[VariantAEC]

With the exception of Playground and Ninja Theory I can't think of anything good coming from the studios MS acquired in the past few years.

[Deathdeliverer]

Look. Microsoft went tried and true old school. High numbers yield high results. It’s straight forward and how things have always been. Tflops and clock rates. Done.
Mark my words, Sony will blow people away. So much is completely custom about every aspect of the machine and it’s all geared towards innovation. Even on paper the series X has bottlenecks. They made the PS5 to have virtually NONE. Every console generation has had them. There was a trade somewhere. We have 5 lane traffic full of Ferrari’s but ahead it changes to a 2 lane. Sony is literally telling you that you that you have access to 5 lanes going full speed at all times. This is about more than loading. Then the ones that say only first party will take full advantage? That may be, but that 5 lanes always open traffic will make EVERYTHING better with no extra effort. Sony is aiming to destroy the simple notion of numbers. This will be the most advanced console and it will show in every aspect. The series X will be fantastic, no doubt about it. People simply don’t understand the PlayStation yet because nothing has aimed to be that efficient. They will though.

[Wulfer]

All these parts running at highend speeds at all times doesn't sound like a console that's built to last. Even when PC's do this (super charging them) they have to replace parts sooner than later. Guess we'll find out!

[Cmv38]

You're just trying to negatively speculate. Just wishful thinking on your part that Sony can't pull it off.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

The memory bandwidth of the Ram is a bottleneck.

[ABizzel1]

I wouldn't say that. Tried and true is that the most expensive console (which would likely be the Series X this go round) has never won the console generation, which is also why Scarlett is likely 100% true at this point especially since the whole Anaconda thing was confirmed.

For first party games everything you said is right, but the issue comes with 3rd party games which is where simply having more power saves time for porting with better results and in the majority of 3rd party games the Series X will generally be the better box.

But what matters most to the mass market is price and the Series X is likely pricing itself out of the race (again hence the Scarlett), and is simply power bragging rights for MS, it's most core fans, and gamers who primarily care about performance.

[alb1899]

There isn't much to understand. The SX is more powerful. That's it.

[Firebird360]

What bottlenecks?

[Lionsguard]

It don't matter much to me. Whoever has the games is the winner in my book. I mean, the Xbox One X is more powerful than the PS4 Pro and yet who is the one raining huge hits this year?

[sagapo]

True but MS shot themselfs in the foot with the original xbox one release. PS4 took a head start because of that and the exclusives did the rest. The xbox one x, although a nice machine, basicly came to late to compete. For this next gen, I think launch titles will be pretty important.

[Elda]

Both next gen consoles are nice & powerful but when it really comes down to it it's the console that provides interesting original fun exclusives & so far PS has done this every generation no matter the power of it's console.

[chiefJohn117]

PS5 gotta be $100 less than XsX to justify the specs

[Deathdeliverer]

You got it wrong man. Microsoft is using almost all readily available parts. In order for ps to achieve its “dream” it went for the almost full custom parts to achieve it. Microsoft went all flops where Sony is going for a new experience with new techniques and amazing tech. The audio chip alone is incredible. Prices will be the same. I wouldn’t be shocked if the PS5 was more expensive.

[Ricegum]

What rubbish 😂

[chiefJohn117]

Just stop that's not even worth a response. Smh

[Kavorklestein]

Custom audio chip.... sounds like it will be annoying and cumbersome and may not even be worth the investment compared to perfected and dedicsted ray traced sound. We'll see I guess, but I was not impressed with Sony's "Innovations" in the slightest.

[ABizzel1]

And that's likely what it's going to be at least. The GPU in the Xbox has way too many CUs for it to not be a minimum of a $100 difference.

I honestly see Series X being at minimum $599 console, with Scarlett aka Series S being $349 - $399, which leaves PS5 at $399 - $499. The problem is if Sony goes $399 they're taking a pretty big loss on each unit sold.

[Sophisticated_Chap]

I think Playstation just needs to 'plead the 5th' on this, and just focus on the games. I have a feeling that Sony was dreading this moment.

[dboyman]

Sony got too complacent and underestimated what extent Microsoft would go to beat them to the power. Honestly I am disappointed in the PS5 specs. It should have had more CU units and less difference in power and faster memory. And before saying Sony has more first party, Microsoft is investing a lot in first party. Never underestimate a company like Microsoft. Sony needs to make a PS5 Pro now...

[dboyman]

@joejoejoe I am referring to the original Xbox one not the S or X...

[AK91]

XSX is more powerful as expected but then again it’ll be more expensive too.

[DarXyde]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

Developers have said that the PS5 is outperforming the Series X. This is just not a generation of numbers.

I don't know what the end results will be, but Sony, as a hardware company who does damn fine work when they try to make something proprietary, should not be underestimated. I think people are going to be very surprised by what they get out of 10.28TF.

[Matpan]

If they somehow make the Series X steam (and windows) compatible and grant access to some of that library, then this may give Sony a serious run for their money. Microsoft is presenting a very decent PC gaming alternative package here... The line is pretty blurred.
Sony will still draw multitudes towards their exclusives, but while MS builds their way there, they could easily take a whole new market.