A new console is the best way to get into gaming for most people. In 2021, there are more options than ever: The PlayStation 5 Xbox Series X are now firmly established as the new dogs in the world of console gaming, but Sony and Microsoft are not yet ready to release the latest generation.
You can still copy a PS4 or PS4 Profile, an Xbox One or Xbox One X and enjoy many of the same games and features, or you can completely dodge the PlayStation / Xbox ecosystems and invest in the miraculous Nintendo Switch or Switch Lite. If you’re willing to wait until October, you might as well pick up a new Change OLED.
However, this article will focus on the latest consoles from Sony and Microsoft. The PS5 and Xbox Series X / S are full of cutting-edge technology, but while the two manufacturers make similar promises in terms of performance, the machines themselves are very different beasts.
We’ll pit them against each other, comparing from specifications to game libraries to crowning an all-around champion and helping you choose the best game console for you.
PS5 vs. Xbox Series X: Which Should You Buy?
PS5 vs. Xbox Series X: Price Comparison
Let’s start with the basics. The standard PS5 costs £ 449 ($ 499), while the PS5 Digital Edition (DE) costs £ 359 ($ 399). The Digital Edition console does not have a disk drive, but it is identical in every way to the standard PS5. This time they are simple things from Sony.
At Microsoft Camp, things are less clear. The Xbox Series X also costs £ 449 ($ 499), but comes the Xbox Series S, Microsoft’s “digital edition” £ 249 ($ 299), making it the cheapest next-generation console you can buy.
This saving comes at a cost, however. As we will explain below, the Xbox Series S is significantly less powerful than the Xbox Series X and, like the PS5 DE, does not have a disk drive. Those looking for 4K games will have to buy the more expensive model.
It’s also worth noting that while the lack of a disk drive keeps costs low in the short term, in the long run, you’ll pay more for digital games; they are usually more expensive than their physical counterparts. This isn’t a problem as much for the S Series, as Game Pass has a massive accumulation of digital titles, and most first-hand Xbox exclusives come into service from launch, but it’s still worth it into account.
Winner – Tie
The PlayStation and Xbox flagship consoles cost the same, so bargain hunters will have to choose between the two “digital editing” consoles. Right now, it’s becoming a neck race: while Sony’s PS5 DE has the same specs as its sibling, it’s € 110 more expensive than the Xbox Series S. Your decision may be to decide whether you can live without the benefits that flagship machines offer – we certainly couldn’t.
The so-called console war is at its peak, with the two leading contenders (SONY’s PS5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X) as headliners, each displaying their weapons to attract users. And although we are aware that, in the end, it will be the exclusive games that will make players opt for one or another console, we can not pass up the opportunity and make a comparison of the Xbox Series X vs. PS5 in terms of hardware to determine which console is best in this regard.
Both consoles feature state-of-the-art AMD hardware, with SSD storage as standard, and have the same RAM. However, quite a few differences make both of them superior to their competition in different areas, so this is precisely what we are going to see.
Xbox Series X vs. PS5, who has the best processor and GPU?
The graphics card is integrated into both consoles, so we should not talk about processor and GPU, but APU since both components are integrated into the same die. In any case, both use AMD Zen 2 architecture in the CPU part and AMD RDNA2 in the GPU part, although as we will see below, they do not have the same internal structure and therefore will not give the same performance.
The Xbox Series X is equipped with a custom 7 nm AMD Zen 2 CPU, with eight cores at 3.8 GHz (3.66 GHz with SMT), i.e., it can provide up to 16 process threads at the expense of reducing a little his speed. This allows the processor to run dynamically, delivering more power and less power when performing simple tasks and doubling the number of process threads when needed. ACCORDING TO MICROSOFT, the GPU has AMD’s rDNA two architecture and features 52 CUs at 1.825 GHz, providing 12 gross power TFLOPs in FP32 calculations.
