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PlayStation 5 touted to be the "most exciting hardware in 20 years", but can it measure up to the Xbox Series X?

Sony will offer a deep dive into the PlayStation 5's specs. (Image Source: PlayStation UK)
Sony will offer a deep dive into the PlayStation 5's specs. (Image Source: PlayStation UK)
Following the heels of Microsoft fully unveiling the Xbox Series X, Sony is all set to reveal the PlayStation 5's internals via live streaming today. Leaked specs so far show a very tight competition in terms of specs between the two consoles, and it will be interesting to see how well the PlayStation 5 can match or exceed the standards set by the Xbox Series X.
Console Gaming Ryzen (Zen)

We have been speculating a lot about the PlayStation 5's specs for quite some time now and when Microsoft detailed the Xbox Series X architecture, everyone was left wondering what Sony's move would be. Looks like all those speculations will be put to rest soon as Sony is finally to take the wraps off what actually constitutes the PS5.

Sony has been pretty tight-lipped about the PS5 for the most part. Last year, Cerny offered a sneak peek into what fans can expect from the console including the presence of a 7nm AMD Ryzen Zen2 CPU and a Navi GPU and up to 8k output support. 

Although TFLOPs isn't really the ideal way to declare a winner, the Xbox Series X offers double the horsepower as the Xbox One X at 12.15 TFLOPs with a custom RDNA 2 Navi GPU with 52 Compute Units (CUS) running at 1.825 GHz. Sony, on the other hand, is expected to equip the PS5 with 13.3 TFLOPs. The RDNA2 Navi GPU in the PS5 is also expected to feature 52 CUs but will run at a higher clock speed of 2 GHz — something that has been in speculation since long. 

SoC prowess aside, the other important component that contributes directly to the Xbox Series X's overall smooth experience and easy transitions between games is the Xbox Velocity storage architecture. Sony is also expected to use an SSD in the PS5, and going by Cerny's words, it is expected to have a "raw bandwidth higher than an SSD available for PCs". This brings up certain possibilities such as the use of a Samsung 6th gen V-NAND or even a software-defined flash. 

Kotaku editor Jason Schreier quotes a source saying that the PS5 will be the "most exciting hardware in 20 years". We will know the validity of the claim today when PS5 lead system architect Mark Cerny will provide a deep dive into the console's architecture. PlayStation 5 fans can tune-in to the PlayStation Blog at 4 PM GMT today for the live stream. Rest assured, we will bring you all the juicy information first hand, so watch this space.

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> Notebook / Laptop Reviews and News > News > News Archive > Newsarchive 2020 03 > PlayStation 5 touted to be the "most exciting hardware in 20 years", but can it measure up to the Xbox Series X?
Vaidyanathan Subramaniam, 2020-03-18 (Update: 2020-03-18)