Comparison Xbox Series X vs PS5 Consoles at the Hardware Level

The so-called console war is in full swing, with the two main contenders (SONY’s PS5 and Microsoft‘s Xbox Series X) headlining, each displaying their weapons to attract users. And although we are aware that, in the end, it will be the exclusive games that will make players opt for one or another console, we cannot miss the occasion and make a comparison of the Xbox Series X vs PS5 at the hardware level with the objective to determine which console is best in this regard.

Both consoles feature state-of-the-art AMD hardware, with SSD storage as standard and in fact have the same amount of RAM. However, there are quite a few differences that make one and the other superior to their competition in different areas, so this is precisely what we are going to see.

Comparison Xbox Series X vs PS5 Consoles

Xbox Series X vs PS5, who has the better processor and GPU?

In both consoles the graphics card is integrated, so we should not really talk about processor and GPU but about APU, since both components are integrated in the same die. In any case, both use AMD Zen 2 architecture on the CPU side and AMD RDNA2 on the GPU side.

The Xbox Series X equips a custom AMD Zen 2 CPU at 7 nm , with 8 cores at 3.8 GHz (3.66 GHz with SMT), that is, it is capable of providing up to 16 processing threads although at the cost of reducing its speed a bit. This allows the processor to run dynamically, delivering higher power and less consumption when executing simple tasks, and doubling the number of threads when necessary. The GPU has AMD RDNA 2 architecture and has 52 CUs at 1.825 GHz, providing according to Microsoft 12 TFLOPs of raw power in FP32 calculations.

Xbox series s

As for SONY’s PS5, it also equips an AMD Zen 2 CPU at 7 nm with 8 cores at 3.5 GHz , but in this case SONY indicates that it has a variable frequency (it does not say how much specifically) and it also has SMT, so there are 16 threads that it is capable of handling. SONY has been pretty vague about its console’s processor capabilities, but it’s essentially slower than the Xbox Series X. The GPU is also RDNA 2 architecture and has only 36 CUs but at a higher speed, 2.23 GHz which we understand to be the maximum since SONY also says it has a variable frequency. In theory this GPU is capable of providing up to 10.28 TFLOPs in FP32 calculations.

Placa base PS5

Which console has the best processor and GPU ? The numbers say that the Xbox Series X is superior to the PS5 in terms of the processor, and although SONY ensures that the console does not fall short in terms of the performance of its GPU thanks to the optimizations, the raw numbers put the console back Microsoft ahead. Although the PS5 is capable of running its GPU much faster than the Xbox, there are 14 fewer CUs that it has and that is going to be noticeable, especially in highly graphically loaded games.

By the way, here we must denote the fact that both consoles have a theoretical capacity to reproduce content at 8K resolution , and equally both consoles are capable of reaching 120 FPS depending on the resolution and the game. We will see.

RAM and storage

Both consoles have 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, which is shared between the system and the graphics card. In this regard, SONY has said that its memory has 448 GB / s of bandwidth, thanks to its 256-bit interface, but Microsoft has divided the memory of its console into two subsections: it has 10 GB that works at 560 GB / s, more than the PS5, but the remaining 6GB runs at just 336GB / s.

This means that when a game needs more than 10 GB of memory (which there will be, especially when playing 4K) the Xbox will start to suffer, but in exchange for games that do not need so much memory it will deliver superior performance than the PS5. If there is a winner to be given, we sincerely prefer the stability offered by the PS5 and declare it the winner: its memory will be a little slower, but the performance will be more stable and it will not have bottleneck problems in this regard.

GDDR6 PS5

Storage wise, the Xbox Series X offers a custom 1TB NVMe SSD (with 802GB available to the user), while the PS5 has a custom 825GB SSD ( 664GB available ), so in terms of space Microsoft’s console wins. The Xbox offers a PCIe NVMe SSD expansion slot (currently only from Seagate) to expand storage, while the PS5 can install PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSDs directly into the console, and we think they are on par in this regard.

Regarding performance, in theory the internal SSD of the PS5 wins by far thanks to the inclusion of a specific controller for it, which also uses Kraken decompression algorithms, more efficient than the Xbox BCPack. We must therefore give the PS5 the winner in terms of storage hardware .

Refrigeration system

The Xbox Series X bases its cooling system on a monolithic design in which air enters from below and leaves from above, with a single silent fan in a pull configuration that forces all air to pass through all hardware. Its APU is in turn cooled by a copper and aluminum heatsink with a vapor chamber design that ensures good thermal performance in all components. However, users who already own the console have complained that it is all a radiator, and that even with the console in rest, the fan sometimes turns on to cool the components while the console performs tasks in the background, proving not to be everything how effective it should be.

Refrigeración Xbox Series X

The PS5 for its part has an immense copper and aluminum heatsink divided into sections, with a blower-type fan that forces the air to enter through the vents and exit through others. One of the strengths is that they use liquid metal thermal paste instead of conventional TIMs, gaining some integers in terms of temperature. Although there is still no empirical temperature data, it seems that this cooling system is quite efficient and effective.

Disipador PS5 refrigeración

In the absence of knowing the noise data, we consider that both systems are good enough to keep the components at good temperatures, and despite the fact that the PS5 looks better, we consider that there is a technical draw here.

PS5 vs Xbox Series X, which console has better hardware?

Considering what has been seen so far, both consoles have their strengths and weaknesses; At the processor and GPU level, the Xbox Series X is clearly superior to the PS5, while in terms of RAM and storage it is the PS5 that stands out above the Microsoft console. Which of them is better then? In terms of performance, we believe that the Xbox Series X is superior to the PS5 globally, although it is true that this is our opinion because we cannot yet rely on empirical data.