Can’t decide between the PS5 and Xbox Series X? Our PS5 vs Xbox Series X guide is here to lend a guiding hand.
The debate of PS5 vs Xbox Series X is bound to occur if you’re looking for a next-gen upgrade to your current setup. There are plenty of positives from both parties, which doesn’t make the buying process any easier, so we’ve compiled everything you out to know about the pair to make sure you’re purchasing the console that will benefit your gaming experience most.
Some of that decision making will come down to personal preference. Since PlayStation and Xbox are both household names, there’s a high chance you’ve owned some of their previous-gen efforts. If you’re shopping for the first time, however, our PS5 review and Xbox series X review will provide valuable insight into what makes both consoles a worthy competitor.
As for the comparison, while there may be no objective winner, each offers something the other does not. The pair are expertly crafted with support for 4K resolution, and 120fps at lower resolutions, so both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X are fantastic consoles. In addition, the best PS5 games, alongside the best Xbox Series X games, showcase the capabilities of both consoles.
This means the decision really is down to personal preferences and what you want to get out of your gaming experience. Exclusive games like God of War: Ragnarok, Horizon Forbidden West, and Gran Turismo 7 on PS5 will promise a high-quality and worthwhile gaming experience, but the Xbox Series X offers a lot of quality-of-life improvements such as Quick Resume and FPS Boost.
Microsoft and Sony have pulled out all the stops when creating the next generation of home consoles, and there’s no denying that they keep improving. Paired with some of the best accessories for Xbox Series X or the best accessories for PS5, your experience will only get better. Microsoft and Sony compete with each other each week with a new feature, game, or deal, but this just means players benefit from the competition.
But the good news is each console is a worthy addition to your setup, and you can’t really go wrong with what you select. We’ve dissected both consoles in comparison to one another to make sure you feel like you’re making the best decision to benefit your gaming. If you’re more interested in a disc-less addition, check out our guide on the PS5 Digital Edition vs Xbox Series S.
Despite being similar, both companies have tried to differentiate their consoles from the other, particularly in design. The PS5 is a towering machine, and the biggest console Sony has ever made. The Xbox Series X, on the other hand, looks more akin to a gaming PC thanks to its cuboid shape. But no matter how you feel about the size and shape of each console, both stay cool and quiet in operation.
Sony has focused on increased immersion in games with its new DualSense controller, as well as continuing to deliver exclusive experiences. Meanwhile, Microsoft is banking on the sheer value proposition of Xbox Game Pass (and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate) to lure people into its ecosystem. We’ve even seen Discord for all Xbox Series X players, though PS5 Discord integration is on its way.
Both systems are backward compatible, which means you can play older games on them – though the PS5 only supports PS4 titles. The Xbox Series X, meanwhile, can play games from every Xbox generation, including the full Xbox One library, plus select Xbox 360 and original Xbox games. If you’ve hung on to your older 360 games, then, it’s nice to know you can play them on Microsoft’s new system.
Sony’s standard PS5 (with the disc drive) costs $499.99 / £449.99 / AU$749.95, while the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition (without the disc drive) comes in at $399.99 / £359.99 / AU$599.95. Both versions of the PS5 launched on November 12 in the USA, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea, with the PS5 released in the rest of the world on November 19.
However, much like the Oculus Quest 2, we’ve recently seen the PS5 get a price hike with Sony blaming this on soaring inflation globally. While the USA won’t be seeing any price increases, that’s affected pricing across the UK, Europe, Australia, and more, currently costing £479.99 / €549.99 / AU$799.95. It’s also worth considering, is the PS5 Digital edition cheaper in the long-term? That’ll depend on what you’re after.
The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S, launched on November 10, 2020, for $499 / £449 / AU$749 and $299 / £249 / AU$499 respectively. Thankfully, Xbox won’t follow PlayStation with price hikes like we’ve seen Nintendo confirm for the Nintendo Switch. Some argue this is the worst time to buy a PS5, but it’s worth remembering that Xbox doesn’t rule out future price hikes,
Still, it’s not a like-for-like comparison between these four consoles. Microsoft’s digital console is weaker than the others – it focuses on 1440p resolution instead of 4K, and targets 60/120 fps. With the PS5 Digital Edition, however, it’s exactly the same specs as the standard edition – minus that physical disc tray.
For sheer value, the Xbox Series S wins out here – but it comes with some caveats. Both it and the digital PS5 lose out on the ability to play 4K Blu-ray discs too. In reality, it seems that the choice this time will come down to your loyalty to one console brand or the other – and their services, plus each company’s commitment to respecting the library of games you’ve already built up with them.
When it comes to specs, Sony and Microsoft have taken a similar approach, though there’s a few key differences to point out.
The PlayStation 5 is powered by a custom-built version of the third generation AMD Ryzen chipset, packing in eight cores with the company’s new Zen 2 architecture and Navi graphics. The CPU runs at 3.5GHz. The GPU offers 36 compute units running at 2.23GHz and offering 10.28TFLOPs. Those parts are paired with 16GB of GDDR6 with a bandwidth of 448GB/s. It means the PS5 can support features like ray tracing – a performance-intensive lighting technique that has previously been reserved to expensive high-end PC GPUs, which we now know has been «built into the GPU hardware» for the PS5.
The PS5 also supports screen resolutions of up to 8K – far higher than the standard 1080p HD of most people’s televisions, let alone that of the increasingly popular 4K.
