Xbox Series X vs Playstation 5: How do the specs stack up? (Featuring a rant about "that virus")
First of all, thank goodness both Microsoft and Sony announced their deep dives into the tech specs of their consoles this week because I do not what I would be discussing this month. Unless you have been living under a rock (or certain Big Brother house), you would be aware of the Covid-19 virus that has taken the world by storm. It is a pretty big deal so in order to keep the madness spiralling out of control, literally everything has been cancelled. From social gatherings to conferences, anything that involves multiple people in a social space is off-limits. I fully understand the precautions we must take, but where is an independent gaming and car news blogger supposed to find their news these days?
Situational context out of the way, let's get into the main topic at hand: Both Microsoft and Sony have fully detailed the hardware which is set to power the next-generation of consoles when they are expected to hit shelves by the end of this year. Here is how they stack up:
Let's get the similarities out of the way first; Both consoles come equipped with an AMD Zen 2 processor, although the chip in the Xbox is clocked at a marginally higher rate than the one in the Playstation 5. You will find 16GB of GDDR6 memory in both platforms, as well as support for a 4K UHD Blu-Ray drive. Both consoles will support HDR and up to 8K playback.
Now here is where things get interesting because both consoles are supporting different elements of the systems to give them the edge. Starting with Xbox, Microsoft is banking on raw power, as may have been hinted by the more potent CPU. When you look at the GPU however, the Xbox has a considerable advantage over the Playstation 5. The former has an AMD RDNA 2 chip with 12 Teraflops and 52 Compute units, whereas the PS5 has 10.3TF with 36CU. In terms of graphics processing, that gives the Xbox an estimated 20% advantage over the PS5, so you are likely to see higher resolutions and smoother framerates on Microsoft's platform.
With Sony, they are aware they're not winning in the majority of the numbers games so they are employing a tactic which makes use of the performance in the most efficient way; equipping the most rapid SSD ever seen in the consumer gaming market. The SSD in the PS5 is capable of transferring up to 5.5GB of data a second, which is more than twice as much as the Series X which manages 2.4GB/s. The advantage here would allow the Playstation 5 to have more action and assets on screen, along with longer draw distances than what you see on the Xbox.
Ultimately, it is all down to how developers make use of the technology each console provides. After all, games are the primary reason for buying a console. In the coming months, be on the lookout for gameplay debuts of next-generation titles, giving us a better look of the advancements in action.
Situational context out of the way, let's get into the main topic at hand: Both Microsoft and Sony have fully detailed the hardware which is set to power the next-generation of consoles when they are expected to hit shelves by the end of this year. Here is how they stack up:
Let's get the similarities out of the way first; Both consoles come equipped with an AMD Zen 2 processor, although the chip in the Xbox is clocked at a marginally higher rate than the one in the Playstation 5. You will find 16GB of GDDR6 memory in both platforms, as well as support for a 4K UHD Blu-Ray drive. Both consoles will support HDR and up to 8K playback.
Now here is where things get interesting because both consoles are supporting different elements of the systems to give them the edge. Starting with Xbox, Microsoft is banking on raw power, as may have been hinted by the more potent CPU. When you look at the GPU however, the Xbox has a considerable advantage over the Playstation 5. The former has an AMD RDNA 2 chip with 12 Teraflops and 52 Compute units, whereas the PS5 has 10.3TF with 36CU. In terms of graphics processing, that gives the Xbox an estimated 20% advantage over the PS5, so you are likely to see higher resolutions and smoother framerates on Microsoft's platform.
With Sony, they are aware they're not winning in the majority of the numbers games so they are employing a tactic which makes use of the performance in the most efficient way; equipping the most rapid SSD ever seen in the consumer gaming market. The SSD in the PS5 is capable of transferring up to 5.5GB of data a second, which is more than twice as much as the Series X which manages 2.4GB/s. The advantage here would allow the Playstation 5 to have more action and assets on screen, along with longer draw distances than what you see on the Xbox.
Ultimately, it is all down to how developers make use of the technology each console provides. After all, games are the primary reason for buying a console. In the coming months, be on the lookout for gameplay debuts of next-generation titles, giving us a better look of the advancements in action.
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