Sony has finally broken the silence on PlayStation 5, unveiling a tease of its next-generation console, and providing our first hardware specifications. It outlines a highly capable system over double the graphical capability of the PlayStation 4 Pro, and tailing Microsoft's rival Xbox Series X. The first talk of system specifications also comes just two days after similar details broke on Xbox Series X, providing our first opportunity for a head-to-head comparison between the next-generation titans.
The Xbox Series X is scheduled to top the next-generation console lineup in terms of raw processing power, outpacing Sony's CPU and GPU combo, and extending to other components of the system. And while the base storage also provided additional storage to Xbox Series X users, the option for standard PC NVMe SSDs for expansion provides flexibility over Microsoft's proprietary memory card. However, with pricing still unconfirmed for both systems, it's unclear how hardware differences will translate to assumedly high costs.
We've wrapped up the full PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X specifications below, as unveiled via Sony's March preview stream.
| Category | Xbox Series X | PlayStation 5 |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | 8x Cores @ 3.8 GHz Custom Zen 2 CPU | 8x Cores @ 3.5GHz Custom Zen 2 CPU |
| Graphics | 12.155 TFLOPS, 52 CUs @ 1.825 GHz Custom RDNA 2 | 10.28 TFLOPS, 36 CUs @ 2.23 GHz Custom RDNA 2 |
| Memory | 16 GB GDDR6, 320mb bus | 16 GB GDDR6, 256-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 10 GB @ 560 GB/s, 6GB @ 336 GB/s | 448GB/s |
| Internal Storage | 1 TB Custom NVME SSD | 825GB Custom NVME SSD |
| I/O Throughput | 2.4 GB/s (Raw), 4.8 GB/s (Compressed) | 5.5GB/s (Raw), 8-9GB/s (Compressed) |
| Expandable Storage | 1 TB Custom SSD expansion card | NVMe SSD slot |
| External Storage | USB external HDD support | USB external HDD support |
| Optical Drive | 4K UHD Blu-Ray drive | 4K UHD Blu-Ray drive |
| Size | 301mm x 151mm x 151mm (estimate) | Unknown |
| Release date | Holiday 2020 | Holiday 2020 |
We still have a ton of details to learn about both Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, with information on pricing and availability yet to be confirmed. Similarly, the full lineup of games at launch remains a mystery for both consoles, with more expected on both throughout 2020.
