PlayStation 5: everything you need to know about Sony’s newest consoles

With the PS5, the next generation of PlayStation has finally arrived. The PS5 is the next generation of PlayStation. Sony seems to be sticking with its successful PS4 strategy: selling consoles with first-party Sony games and adding third-party titles. The PS5 should offer better graphics and support for high refresh rates. This should improve the smoothness of your games (if you own a display with these refresh rates). The PS5’s SSD custom promises to be so much faster than previous SSDs that it may change the way video games are designed.

Microsoft’s Xbox Series X console, with its better graphics and faster loading speeds, is also available. It also sells the Xbox Series S, a less powerful console. Xbox Game Pass, the company’s Netflix-like subscription service for games, continues to be one of the most affordable gaming deals. Microsoft doesn’t care if you play the games on a PC or Xbox. While the PS5 can play the majority of PS4 games, the Xbox One consoles are backwards compatible with many Xbox 360 games and even some OG Xbox titles.

It will be interesting to see which console is the best long-term buy. If you’re interested in learning more about the PS5 right now, we have compiled everything that we know. For more information on the PS5, check out Sony’s comprehensive PS5 FAQ.

There are two PS5 consoles but they are largely the exact same.

Sony, like Microsoft, is selling two versions for its next-generation console. You can get a PS5 equipped with a Blu-ray 4K drive for $499.99. For $100 less at $399.99 you can get the Digital Edition PS5 which is also noticeably thinner. The only difference between the two consoles, unlike Microsoft, is whether or not they have a disc drive.

The PS5 will be powered by an eight-core AMD Zen 2 processor and a custom AMD Radeon RDNA 2 GPU, which together will deliver 10.28 Teraflops in raw graphic power. The PS5 console uses variable frequencies for both its CPU and GPU. This could theoretically allow the graphics to run faster when the CPU isn’t at its peak. The technical presentation makes it seem like there is little difference.

What about that game-changing SSD you mentioned earlier? It offers 825GB storage and 5.5GB/s throughput, which is fast enough for game developers to build levels without elevators or winding corridors. These things can actually hide levels loading in the backround. Look at how much quicker PS5 games loaded in our testing than their PS4 counterparts:

It is important to note that some of the 825GB storage space is taken up by system files, so you only have 667.2GB available for use. The size of games is increasing, so you may quickly fill that space. For example, Call of Duty Black Ops Cold war takes up 133GB of storage space, or nearly 20 percent of your console’s total.

You won’t be allowed to add a Sony-certified SSD to the PS5 at launch. However, at a later date, you will be able. It’s not clear when these SSDs will be available. Mark Cerny, the PS5’s lead system architect, said in March that SSD certifications would likely take place “a little bit after” the launch of the console.

Xbox Series X also has a custom SSD with 1TB NVMe storage (802GB of which is usable), but a lower throughput of 2.4GB/s. This could mean that the Xbox Series X will have slower loading times in practice than the PS5. However, it all depends on a number of factors.