Is the next-gen PlayStation a worthy companion for a gaming PC?
PS5 specs
8-Core AMD Zen 2 CPU @3.5GHz
GPU
CPU
RAM
Performance target
Storage
AMD RDNA 2 GPU 10.28 TFLOPS
16GB GDDR6 RAM
4K @60FPS, up to 120FPS
825GB NVMe SSD
The PS5 packs a hell of a punch for $400, more than a gaming PC at that price could match today. Its custom RDNA 2 GPU lies at the heart of AMD's RX 6000 graphics cards. As an entry point to 4K gaming, it's an exciting piece of hardware.
The Road Runner at the heart of the PS5, its fancy custom SSD, is the showpiece of this console. Games like Spider-Man: Miles Morales boot from main menu to gameplay in less than five seconds.
PS5's controller and its haptic motors offer feedback that's far more convincing than Nintendo Switch's HD Rumble. Adaptive triggers also offer a surprising amount of resistance to a trigger pull in games like Astro's Playroom. It makes the pad feel fresh and exiciting.
Demon's Souls and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart aren't available at time of writing. That leaves us with Spider-Man: Miles Morales, a game that isn't noticeably better-looking than something you could play on PS4. As launch lineups go, the PS5's is underwhelming.
The PS5 doesn't support 1440p. Plug it into a 1440p monitor, and the picture will default to 1080p/60fps. Seeing as the Xbox One X supported 1440p at 120Hz in 2018, there's no good reason for PS5 to omit this feature in 2020.
In a world of regular Steam sales, the prospect of buying PS5 games for $70 stings. Add in the fact a Game Pass sub lets you play more than 100 games across PC and console for $9.99, and investing in a PS5 suddenly looks costly.
If you don't have a ray tracing-capable PC and dream of real-time reflections at an affordable price point, PS5 is tempting. Well, until you consider how much cheaper it is to buy PC games. Sony can't compete with that value, although its first-party exclusives remain a draw.
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