Xbox Series X vs PlayStation 5 – Ultimate console showdown

Written by Belinda

Sony unveiled the specifications of its PlayStation 5 in a live presentation on 18 March 2020.

The console boasts impressive specifications that will offer a significant improvement over the current-generation PlayStation 4.

The PlayStation 5 is set to release between October and December 2020, while its competitor the Xbox Series X is also expected to launch around this time.

Microsoft has already released extensive details about its Xbox Series X console, showcasing major improvements over the Xbox One.

To see how they stack up, we compared the specifications of the two consoles.

Performance

Both consoles use octa-core AMD Zen 2 processors which are a significant improvement over the chips used in the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One X.

They also both sport 16GB of GDDR6 memory and RDNA 2 GPUs.

However, the Xbox Series X touts superior performance to the PlayStation 5, offering 12 TFLOPS compared to the PlayStation 5’s 10.28 TFLOPS – with both offering ray tracing support.

Its powerful graphics performance will reportedly allow the Xbox Series X to run 4K games at 60FPS, and at up to 120FPS for lower-resolution titles.

Sony previously claimed that the PlayStation 5 will offer support for 8K visuals, despite its graphics power being “weaker” than the Xbox Series X.

The Xbox Series X also offers more storage space than the PlayStation 5 – a 1TB SSD compared to an 825GB SSD.

Both consoles will offer expandable and external storage options for those who need more space, as well as 4K Blu-ray optical drives.

Features

Sony’s PlayStation architect Mark Cerny said the PlayStation 5 will have fantastic audio abilities, made possible by the Tempest Engine.

According to Cerny, this will allow the console to process 3D audio and will “engulf” the user in sound.

The console will offer backwards compatibility with PlayStation 4 games, it will support VR gaming, and it is optimised for cloud game streaming.

Sony’s new controllers will also support haptic feedback, which provides an improved level of responsiveness while playing games.

The Xbox Series X console will support the USB 3.2 standard, and will also be backwards-compatible with older Xbox games – including those made for the Xbox 360.

It will offer a Quick Resume feature that allows gamers to resume any of several games they have played recently – as opposed to the Xbox One, which only allowed you to resume your current game.

The Xbox Series X will also introduce a Smart Delivery feature, which allows users to purchase a game once and use it across several consoles – including older consoles like the Xbox One.

This means that if you purchase a game for the Xbox Series X, you will also be able to play it on your Xbox One.

The specifications of the Xbox Series X and the PlayStation 5 are shown below.

Xbox Series X vs PlayStation 5 SpecificationsXbox Series XPlayStation 5CPUAMD Zen 2 (8-Core 3.8GHz)AMD Zen 2 (8-Core 3.5GHz)GPUAMD RDNA 2 (12 TFLOPS)AMD RDNA 2 (10.28 TFLOPS)RAM16GB GDDR616GB GDDR6Internal storage1TB SSD825GB SSDExpandable storage1TB Expansion CardNVMe SSDExternal StorageUSB 3.2 External HDD SupportUSB External HDD SupportI/O Throughput4.8GB/s5.5GB/sOptical Drive4K Blu-ray4K Blu-Ray

Xbox Series X

While Microsoft has released an official image of what its Xbox Series X will look like, Sony has not yet revealed the design of its new console.