Every time that new console releases, PC gamers like me quickly remind the video game community that our chosen platform offers more power and versatility than even the newest and brightest console. This time it’s still true, but things feel a little … different.
In fact, the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X are more powerful than the two mid-range gaming computers in my office, something that would have been unheard of in the days of PS4 and Xbox One. Although the PC still has a big boost in terms of performance abastThat is, you can spend more to get more. The latest consoles are more similar to PCs than ever before and reduce the performance gap more than their ancestors.
When Sony announced the PlayStation 4, the hardware experts knew it was going to be uncompetitive. AnandTech noted that console manufacturers were not taking CPU performance seriously enough and that the GPU was equivalent to a Radeon HD 7850 or 7870, then $ 140- and $ 170 graphics cards. This is lower than an average price, which means you could build a PC that would surpass the pants of the PS4 and Xbox One affordably; in fact, many games had lower frame rates, reduced graphics, or both compared to decent computers halfway through. time. (This wasn’t true (some famous PC ports had problems of their own), but it’s clear that even a mid-range PC would provide you with more raw power to play with).
Part of this was due to Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), the semiconductor company that has designed the processors and graphics chips for Sony and Microsoft consoles over the past two generations. “When state-of-the-art consoles were released, AMD was in poor shape,” says Brad Chacos, senior editor of PC World games and graphics. “They still had their old Bulldozer architecture, which was a big bet that didn’t bear fruit.”
That failure made them play Intel’s second violin for years in the PC space, and the Jaguar processors on the PS4 and Xbox One were scaled-down and energy-efficient versions of this already weak product. So even though the developers were able to optimize the games for that definite hardware, I still couldn’t hold a candle to a well-built PC.
This year, as Chacos puts it, AMD “shoots all cylinders,” with its latest Ryzen 5000 processors surpassing Intel across the board for the first time in a decade and a half. And since these chips also reside on the PS5 and Xbox Series X (unlike the old Jaguar processors and almost countertops of the latest generation consoles), they can come very close to the performance you’ll find on a good gaming PC .
It’s not just processors and graphics chips. Solid state drives or SSDs have finally come to consoles as well, providing the fast charging times we’ve been enjoying on the PC for years. SSDs also allow for faster patch downloads and faster trips, which are real quality-of-life improvements that made previous consoles feel old and delayed outside the door. Put it all together and the latest consoles look a lot like gaming PCs in terms of graphics dexterity.
To be fair, this year’s consoles are also a bit more expensive than their predecessors: $ 500 for the top-of-the-range PS5 and Xbox Series X compared to the $ 400 PS4 and Xbox One (post-release. Kinect). This higher price gives manufacturers some room to include more powerful hardware, but Chacos notes that these consoles are still “exceptional values,” especially considering that the PC’s hardware has been outrageously marked in 2020 (thanks , Covid-19). It may be $ 500 more expensive than the last generation, but it’s a compelling price for the graphics fidelity you get, and the digital PS4 comes at that old $ 400 price tag with the same performance as the $ 500 version. (Although I would say Sony is offering a lower price in the hopes that you will pay more for digital games in the long run).