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Ninth Generation consoles side-by-side
Another console generation is upon as. This time around, both Sony and Microsoft are looking to win on beefier specs rather than more cost effective hardware. How well with this play out for them? Well, take a look for yourself. Just like we did seven years ago, we’re going to take a look at each next gen system’s specs side-by-side.
| Xbox Series X | PlayStation 5 | Xbox Series S | |
| CPU | 8-Core AMD Zen 2 at 3.8 GHz | 8-core AMD Zen 2 at 3.5 GHz | 8-Core AMD Zen 2 at 3.6 GHz |
| Graphics | Custom RDNA2 “Big Navi” 52CU at 1.825 GHz, 12.15 TFLOPS, 4K at up to 60fps | Custom RDNA2 “Big Navi” 36CU at 2.23 GHz, 10.29 TFLOPS, 4K at up to 60fps | Custom RDNA2 20CU at 1.565GHz, 4.0TFLOPS, 1440p at up to 60fps |
| Memory | 16GB GDDR6 – 10 GB @ 560 GB/s, 6 GB @ 336 GB/s | 16GB GDDR6 @ 448 GB/s | 10GB GDDR6 – 8 GB @ 224 GB/s, 2 GB @ 56 GB/s |
| Physical Media | Ultra HD Blu-ray | Ultra HD Blu-Ray (Base), or none (digital) | None |
| Internal Storage | 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD 4.8 GB/s compressed, expandable via proprietary module. | 825GB custom SSD 5.5 GB/s compressed. Expandable via non-proprietary off -shelf M.2 NVMe drives. | 512GB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD 4.8 GB/s compressed, expandable via proprietary module |
| External Storage | External USB 3.1 drives, not usable for playing Series X games. | External USB drives supported. | External USB 3.1 drives, not usable for playing Series X games. |
| Connectivity | 802.11ac WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, 3x USB 3.1, HDMI 2.1 | 801.11ax WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, Bluetooth 5.1, 2x USB 3.1, 1x USB-C, 1x USB 2.0, HDMI 2.1 | 802.11ac WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, 3x USB 3.1, HDMI 2.1 |
| Backwards Compatible? | Yes, Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One | PS4 games only | Yes, Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One |
| Launch Price | $499 | $499 (Base) / $399 (Digital) | $299 USD |
Do bare in mind that specs don’t always equate to better performance or higher quality games, for a variety of reasons. TFLOPS are also a bad way to measure overall performance, as it’s not exactly the most important metric for graphics rendering.
For comparison purposes, here’s the specs for the current “pro” systems, which represent the peak of 8th generation performance. Another reminder that while some of these last gen systems boast higher TFLOPS numbers than the upcoming consoles, AMD’s RDNA2 architecture is much more efficient than GCN4. Again, it’s not the most important metric, and newer technologies feature improved graphics pipelines. So expect the low cost Series S to have similar or better performance than the One X.
| Xbox One X | PlayStation 4 Pro | Nintendo Switch | |
| CPU | 8-core AMD Jaguar at 2.3 GHz | 8-core AMD Jaguar at 2.13 GHz | 8-Core Nvidia Tegra X1 1.02 GHz |
| Graphics | Semi-custom RX580 GCN4 “Polaris” 40CU at 1.172 GHz, 6.0 TFLOPS up to 4K at 30fps | AMD RX 480 GCN4 “Polaris” 36CU at 0.911 GHz, 4.2 TFLOPS, simulated 4K using checkerboard technique | Nvidia “Maxwell” 256-core at 0.384 GHz, 0.393 TFLOPs, up to 1080p at 60fps, built in 6.2” 720p display |
| Memory | 12GB GDDR5 at 326 GB/s | 8GB GDDR5 at 218 GB/s | 4GB LPDDR4 at 25.6 GB/s |
| Physical Media | Ultra HD Blu-Ray | HD Blu-ray | Proprietary Switch Game Card |
| Internal Storage | 1TB 5,400rpm SATA Hard Drive, not user upgradable | 1TB 5,400rpm SATA Hard Drive, user upgradable with any non-proprietary 2.5” drive | 32GB eMMC SSD expandable via MicroSD slot |
| External Storage | External USB 3.0 drive | External USB 3.0 drive | None |
| Connectivity | 802.11ac WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, 3x USB 3.0, optical audio, HDMI 2.0b in and out. | 802.11ac WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, 2x USB 3.1, optical audio, HDMI 2.0a out | 802.11ac, 2x USB 3.0 (via dock), USB-C, Bluetooth, HDMI 1.4 |
| Backwards Compatible? | Yes, Xbox, select Xbox 360 games | None | None |
| Launch Price | $499 | $499 | $299 |
