PS5 >= Xbox X
Some people might be wondering what makes these new consoles so special so I intend to clear the air and give you a high technical overview of what makes this generation of consoles different. I will do this by going over the main differences in technology and some of the innovations that both Sony and Microsoft have made.
Cpu
The number one change to these consoles is the CPU. I don't think most people understand what a leap forward we have taken in CPU tech in general since the release of the last consoles back in 2013. Yes, I said 2013, that is 7 years from this console launch and the times have changed drastically. For starters, during this time Intel reigned supreme in the CPU industry and AMD was very far behind. The CPU clock speed is a very important part of overall system performance and both the PS4 & Xbox One did not fare well in this department having a clock speed of 1.6GHz. That is only .1GHz faster than a raspberry pi which is a computer that can fit in the palm of your hand. I won't dive super deep into CPU architecture but you can imagine it's gotten so much better in the past 7 years. Both consoles now run at double that speed with the PS5 running the highest at 3.5GHz which is a vast difference in clock speed. Also the chipmaker AMD for the first time in a long time has been outperforming Intel in CPU performance. Console gamers for the first time now have CPU's capable of outperforming a lot (not all) of PC gamers(I have a PC I built myself with a Ryzen 3800x so I am well aware of that with enough money PC builds will always have superiority). There is just far too much to talk about here so I will move on to memory.
Ram
This will be a little easier than talking about the CPUs. The last consoles had 8GB of memory that had a bandwidth of 176GB/Sec. For the time this was a good deal but now tablets are made with 8Gb and at much faster speeds not to mention that the system itself requires a certain amount of ram to operate so we didn't really get 8GB just for gaming it was most likely closer to 5GB or 6GB. Our new consoles have 16GB of ram capable of 448GB/Sec any questions? I don't think I really need to explain more that the difference is vast and pretty easy to see here double the amount of ram and almost x3 the difference in speed.
Gpu
Before the more technically inclined people start ripping their hair out let me say it right now both consoles use an APU which means the CPU and GPU are combined onto the same chip not separate pieces like most traditional computers. This does not mean they have the same jobs though although there are many similarities the GPU is made for the sole purpose of processing geometry better known as polygons which are better known as graphics. The total power of the last consoles measured in at less than 2 teraflops which were amazing at the time but now both consoles boast more than 10 teraflops. I know the Xbox has the advantage here in terms of total power but there is an old saying "it's not all about the size it's how you work it" - unknown source. Regardless of that, both consoles have tremendous graphics processing power and it will only increase the quality of gaming for everyone. It's not just about the hardware either with great hardware comes great responsibility so both Sony & Microsoft have streamlined the graphics processing pipeline making it faster, more efficient, and giving game developers more flexibility. Both have an AMD built RDNA 2 architecture GPU Xbox being bigger with 52 compute units and a locked clock speed of 1.825GHz and then we have the PS5 with 36 compute units and variable clock speed maxing out at 2.23GHz. 2.23GHz is very fast even for a dedicated desktop GPU and it seems so far that the PS5 is very slightly behind Xbox in terms of GPU power.
Ssd
Just like the ram the new SSDs absolutely towers over the old console's HDDs and for both disk space was not and is not the issue. Once you go from using a hard disk drive to a solid-state drive there is no comparison for system performance and perceived speed when doing almost anything. It's all about the speed and while the new Xbox X does embrace the SSD it is not nearly as fast as the PS5. Still, though it can output 2.4GB/s & 4.8GB/s when compressed. The PS5 blazes through data at 5.5GB/s & 8-9GB/s compressed. Not that you need any more convincing about the speed advantage but this video shows not all SSDs are created equal.
Many are saying that SSD speed does not matter but that's because they don't know any better but you know who does know better? Game developers know better and this was the number one requested feature that they asked for surveyed. The reason why it does not increase game performance is because SSDs have nothing to do with game performance they are all about game experience. Want to see 8k textures instantly? Want a game world that's not jarring and doesn't have to morph into grotesque things when you are too far? What about having to wait 5 minutes every time you die or get to a new world? These things seem to be more about experience than performance in my opinion or am I just crazy? Besides that the HDD has been hindering game developers for a long time so there is no technology built to take advantage of a faster drive. However this will all change very soon with tools like Unreal Engine 5. Don't believe me? Okay, let us do some monkey math. Take a look at these system requirements to run the UE5 demo that everyone is drooling over.
This is taken directly from unreal engines website. Do you see where it says 64GB of system ram? That is an insane amount of ram and I am willing to bet that is because not many people have a PC with an SSD capable of 5.5GB/s so they are using system ram as a substitute. If that is not the case why is the PS5 and Xbox X running this demo with only 16GB of system ram? Check out the unbelievable demo that is running smooth as butter on a PS5.
Custom IO
Although Sony's system utterly destroyed the competition even in the PC space they did not stop there. The PS made a custom chip that handles a majority of the workload when reading and writing from the disk. This is usually done by the CPU but since it is capable of such high speeds Sony decided to outsource this labor to the custom SSD controller freeing up almost 2 whole CPU cores out of the 8 total cores from the system. That should do it right? Nah let's also integrate a new groundbreaking decompression algorithm called kraken. This new form of decompression is capable of insane speeds and can use multiple cores so that means theoretically the PS could get even faster compressed read and write speeds. Also in the PS is another custom chip that handles all the audio output that runs a proprietary 3D audio tech called the Tempest engine. This frees up additional CPU resources yet again and gives game developers true freedom to integrate better audio experiences into their games without worrying about constraints. Think it's a gimmick? Watch this video and tell me your not convinced.
Also do not quote me on this but I am sure there are more features that come from this audio engine but we will get into that in the controller section.
HDMI 2.1
With great power comes great responsibility - Uncle Ben
If you have ever gamed on PC you know that framerate(FPS) can be just as important or more so than resolution. Last consoles had a target FPS of 30 and I say good riddance cause we now can game with a resolution of 4k at 120 FPS. Sadly this feature does not come cheap and in order to even use it you have to have a monitor or tv that is capable of that framerate and that has HDMI 2.1 ports. Xbox X kills it in this department giving gamers the option to turn down the resolution to 2k and get 120fps over HDMI 2.0 which means you can use that feature now on most monitors and TVs. PS5 owners are out of luck at the time of me writing this and can only play at 1080p 120fps on HDMI 2.0 although there are still some great latency benefits it would awesome if Sony could fix this. I and many other gamers with 2k monitors would benefit greatly from this. PC gamers still have the advantage here but the price is high for that advantage I am sure many gamers would rather spend $500 on a console than $800 for just a GPU.
WIFI 6
This feature is overlooked and most likely underutilized by most new console owners. That is because to get the full benefit of it you need a WIFI 6 router as well. However, once you do have one you will notice a tremendous increase in download speed(no more waiting a day 1/2 for a game to download 👍) as well as online gaming latency. On average I get 22ms ping when playing Cold War and my internet is 30MB/s which is not that fast. For those of you that have that GB🔥 internet 👏 but I am extremely happy with the online multiplayer experience that WIFI 6 heavily contributes to.
Controller
Microsoft has been killing it in the controller department for years now and I still love the tried and true design of it. Sony has absolutely killed it this time though in almost every way. Look below and honestly tell me they didn't.
It's not just how it looks though it's more about how it feels and how it connects you to the game. Remember what we talked about in the custom IO section? I think the Tempest engine greatly contributes to the amazing haptic feedback of the PS5 controller and I mean haptic to rumble trust me it's a huge difference. The haptic feedback has directionality and a feeling that can not really be described. Walking on different surfaces produces a different feeling depending on the surface taking damage could cause you to feel a bump in the direction of the hit. It's not just a gimmick now there are actual gameplay benefits its almost as if gamers have gained another sense. The adaptive triggers are also a great touch giving gamers push back or resistance from all types of gameplay events like pulling back the drawstring on a bow or hitting the gas in a car. It is truly a next-gen controller.
Conclusion
It's not that I am a big PlayStation fanboy it's just that my understanding of tech has given me the insight to be able to appreciate the risky engineering moves that Sony has flexed. They really are both great consoles but currently, the PS5 clearly has an edge in performance and the overall experience. Both have benefitted greatly from every aspect of computing being sped up tremendously. In today's market, it is impossible to build a PC that comes even close to this performance and gaming experience for $500 and you can trust that people have tried. I have not been this impressed with consoles since the n64 days and I can not wait to see how game devs use these systems to produce amazing experiences.
