One every time new console launches are quick reminding PC gamers – like me – to the gaming community that our favorite platform offers more power and versatility than even the latest, shiniest console. That’s still true this time, but things feel a little … different.
In fact, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are more powerful than the two midrange gaming PCs in my office – which would have been unheard of in the PS4 and Xbox One days. While the PC still has a big lead in terms of performance range– that is, you can spend more to get more – the latest consoles are more PC-like than ever, closing the performance gap more than their ancestors.
When Sony announced the PlayStation 4, hardware experts knew it would be on the weak side. AnandTech noted that console makers weren’t taking CPU performance seriously enough, and the GPU was equivalent to a Radeon HD 7850 or 7870 – then $ 140 and $ 170 graphics cards. That’s lower than an average price, meaning you could build a PC that would beat the pants off the PS4 and Xbox One quite affordably – indeed, many games had lower frame rates, downgraded graphics, or both compared to half-decent PCs on the time. (This wasn’t true everywhere – some infamous PC ports had their own issues – but it’s clear that even a midrange PC would give you more raw power to play with.)
Part of this was thanks to Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), the semiconductor company that has designed the processors and graphics chips in Sony and Microsoft consoles for the past two generations. “When the last-generation consoles launched, AMD was in bad shape,” explains Brad Chacos, editor-in-chief of gaming and graphics at PC World. “They were still using their old Bulldozer architecture, which was a big gamble that wasn’t worth it.”
That failure made them second fiddle to Intel in the PC space for years, and the Jaguar processors in the PS4 and Xbox One were watered-down, energy-efficient versions of that already weak product. So while developers were able to optimize games for that set hardware, it still couldn’t hold a candle to a well-built PC.
This year, as Chacos puts it, AMD is “shooting on all cylinders,” with their latest Ryzen 5000 processors beating Intel across the board for the first time in a decade and a half. And since those chips are also in the PS5 and Xbox Series X – unlike the old, almost tablet-like Jaguar processors in the previous-generation consoles – they can get much closer to the performance you’d find on a good gaming. -pc.
It’s not just the processors and graphics chips, though. Solid state drives, or SSDs, have finally made an appearance on consoles as well, offering the fast loading times we’ve enjoyed on PC for years. SSDs also allow for faster patch downloads and smoother travel, which are real quality of life improvements that made previous consoles feel old and sluggish. Put all that together, and the latest consoles are very much like gaming PCs in terms of graphics prowess.
To be fair, this year’s consoles are also a bit more expensive than their predecessors – $ 500 for the top-tier PS5 and Xbox Series X compared to the $ 400 PS4 and Xbox One (post-Kinect removal). That higher price tag gives the manufacturers some leeway to add more powerful hardware, but Chacos notes that these consoles are still ‘exceptional values’, especially given that PC hardware has been marked outrageously in 2020 (thanks, Covid-19) . $ 500 may be more expensive than the previous generation, but it’s an attractive price for the graphics fidelity you get, and the digital PS4 hits that old $ 400 price with the same performance as the $ 500 version. (Though I’d say that Sony will offer that lower price in the hope that you will pay more for digital games in the long run.)