There are allot of discussions about the PlayStation 5, and with the launch date expected to be November 20, 2020, we were wondering if we could build a gaming PC that would offer similar performance, for the same amount as the launch price of the PS5 will be somewhere around $500.

How much can we spend and how much closer do we get to the specifications of a PlayStation 5?

When we talk about costs, we must also consider the fact that Sony has much lower costs for components purchased in industrial quantities from AMD, so it will be a very difficult mission to put together a PC with even close specifications, for this amount, but let's see how close we can get.

Also, it is worth mentioning that Microsoft will also launch the new Xbox at the same time and the price is also around $500. Both consoles are built largely on the same hardware base, so AMD dominates the console market, therefor we will build our gaming PC by using AMD components.

Thus, the question we are planning to answer in this article: How much performance can we get from a gaming PC at the same price as a next-gen console?

PC vs PlayStation 5: the $500 question

Before presenting our gaming PC configuration, let’s talk a little about the performance and specifications offered by the new PlayStation 5 from Sony. All these data are close to the final form, thus, probably until the time of launch, only minor revisions will appear.

What has a PlayStation 5 under the hood?

The processing power of the PS5 will be provided by an eight-core processor based on the new AMD Zen 2 architecture, similar to what we find on the new Ryzen 7 3700X. It will be combined with a graphics chip that uses Navi architecture, but we expect it will use the new RDNA 2.0 because it is assumed that the new consoles will also provide support for ray tracing hardware. That being said, we expect to see somewhere in the 8GB of GDDR6 memory, similar to the PS4 Pro, just like using the new XTREME BANDWIDTHZ memory architecture.

We do not yet know the exact specifications for the video card, but considering that the PS4 Pro generates 4.2TFLOPS of gross graphics power, it would not be impossible for the new PS5 to offer a dual performance. AMD's RX 5700 video card based on Navi architecture, with its 36 processing units, offers just under 8TFLOPS at maximum frequency, while the RX 5700 XT, which comes with 40 CUs, offers 8.2TFLOPS.

Also, the PS5 will give up the old HDD for storage and will use SSDs that the Japanese company claims will "provide greater bandwidth than any SSD you find on a PC". Which is right, this is a statement made before launching the Ryzen 3000 with PCIe 4.0, so we might even consider it a spoiler for the new console. It is unlikely that we will see a 1TB M.2 PCIe 4.0 SSD in the new PS5 for only $500, but a 500GB SSD is not excluded from the equation.

What PC can we build with similar specifications?

After seeing with approximation what specifications the new PS5 console has, we got to the point where we had to build a PC that was as close as possible to the target set by the PlayStation 5. We used PCPARTPICKER for this purpuse and here is what we did:

So we went a little over $500 and we got a $583.91 system, but have a look at the components, we chose a Ryzen 5 2600, a 6-core/12 threads CPU that can handle all the new games with no problems what so ever, 16GB DDR4 (8GB more than what we expect to see on the PS5), a slightly lower capacity SSD (just 480 GB), a motherboard without too much pretentions but it will deliver what we need and has integrated WIFI and of course a cool looking case from Cooler Master and 550W Thermlake ATX to power our components.

Of course, we don't think that this PC will be able to run too many games at 4K resolution with 60 FPS, but we doubt that the new consoles will be able to do that.

For 1080p and 1440p resolutions, though, we don't think there are many titles that won't run at 60FPS, either at Medium details. Overall, a pretty strong configuration, for this price, but which can be slightly improved over time. From our point of view, a PlayStation 5 will not be much stronger than what we did here, but it should also be taken into account that on consoles, developers have to deal with up to 4 different platforms as specifications, while PC parts can be so different, that even identical parts can have noticeable differences between them.

What is the right choice?

There is no good answer to this question. There is no right choice unless I refer only to my own person. I would choose without thinking twice to build a gaming PC instead of buying a console, but that's because I am passionate about this and because it does not bother me to stick my nose in them all day.

If what you are looking for is a simple system, you plug it in and go and you do not like to play with graphical settings, hit your head with updates and stuff like that, and 144FPS is a fantasy because the human eye does not see over 30 anyway (I'm kidding, ok?), the console is the perfect choice for you. I'm not saying that a console is bad and not worth it, especially since I own a PC on the PlayStation 4. What I mean is that a console is more suitable for the average user, who does not want to head around with all the nonsense involved in a gaming PC.