Sony PS5 vs Xbox Series X: Which is Better & Worth Buying?
Sony PS5 and Microsoft Xbox Series X will be carrying quite similar hardware capability this time around. Though the performance will be much better than their previous versions respectively it will be hard to pick the winner between the latest iterations. There are two questions pertaining to this - whether the new consoles will support the old titles and which games will they have as exclusives titles.
This holiday season will be a treat for the gamer community as both Sony and Microsoft will come up with the next iterations of their respective gaming consoles. With up to 8K resolutions, high frame rates and powerful processors, the PlayStation 5 and the XBox Series X will compete with each other starting early November.
The prices and exact launch dates for both are already out. Sony says that the PS5 will cost $500 and will debut on November 12. The Xbox Series X, with the same price, will be launched two days prior to it, on November 10. Both the consoles will have one toned down variant each, a $400 PS5 Digital Edition and a $300 Xbox Series S respectively.
Sony PS5 vs Xbox Series X
So the question that arises yet again is, which one is better? With both claiming their best-ever performances on offer this time, it might not be until later that this question has a definite answer. Until then, those spoilt for choice can trace a few hints to possibly solve the dilemma for themselves. Here are some of those.
Graphics and performance
Sony PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition
Sony PS5 and Microsoft Xbox Series X will be carrying quite similar hardware capability this time around. Though the performance will be much better than their previous versions respectively, it will be hard to pick the winner between the latest iterations.
That is because the PS5 will be powered by an octa-core 3.5 GHz AMD Zen 2 processor for all its power. The Xbox Series X will be slightly faster, with an octa-core 3.8 GHz AMD Zen 2 processor. It is, however, to be seen if this extra speed actually translates into a faster gaming experience.
The Xbox has a similar advantage in terms of graphics, offering a 12 teraflops GPU processing power against the 10.3 teraflops on the PS5. A teraflop is a measure of the operations per second that a hardware can handle, with one teraflop denoting 10^12 operations per second.
Though one should note that not every game will be able to use this level of graphic performance to its max. This means that while on paper the Xbox Series X will be better, real life experience of both consoles might be the same for most of the games.
Other specs of both the consoles are the same. This includes up to 8k resolution, a frame rate of up to 120 fps, a 16 GB GDDR6 RAM and a 4K UHD Blu-ray optical disk drive. Xbox Series X will offer a 1 TB custom NVMe SSD storage, slightly higher than PS5¡¯s 825 GB.
What to play?
Microsoft Xbox Series X
Coming on to the important differentiating factor between the two, the game titles that these will support. There are two questions pertaining to this - whether the new consoles will support the old titles and which games will they have as exclusives titles.
For the first part, Microsoft has cleared that all Xbox One games will be compatible with the Xbox Series X. What¡¯s more, select Xbox 360 and original Xbox games (the ones that currently work on the Xbox One) will also work with the latest console. Microsoft has even said that it will enhance some of the previous titles up to the Xbox Series X experience.
Sony, on the other hand, has not pinpointed the details for the backward compatibility on the PS5. It has stated that most of the top 100 PS4 games run very well on the PS5 so far and it is expected that most of such titles will be compatible with the new console. It is clear, however, that no previous generations of PS will be supported for compatibility with the new one.
As for the exclusives, Sony is counting on major titles like Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Final Fantasy XVI, Horizon: Forbidden West and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart to woo PS5 buyers. Meanwhile, Microsoft has Halo Infinite, the most expensive game ever made, in addition to Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, Forza Motorsport 8 and State of Decay 3 in its lineup as exclusives. Note that these exclusive titles on Xbox Series X will also be available on PC, while those on PS5 will be completely exclusive to the console.
