How impressive are the PS5 specs? Here's what you need to know.

The PlayStation 5 launched in late 2020 and is potentially Sony’s fastest-selling console to date. We’re finally starting to see a serious restock, and its catalog of next-gen games is multiplying, even if it can be challenging to lock down your console before they sell out.

Check out our PS5 review for our full thoughts on the console, but we wanted to take a moment to highlight just what the console is capable of. Below we’ve outlined the complete PlayStation 5 specs and what they mean for everyday performance.

What are the PS5 specs?

In the almost seven years between the PS4 release and the PS5 release, there have been some considerable technological improvements in gaming. The PS5 supports 8K graphics at 60Hz or 4K output at a 120Hz refresh rate. You can expect visuals to be crisper and more realistic, sounds to immerse you in your game better, and so much more.

I’ll touch more on the difference in specs between the PS4 and the PS5 later. But for now, I want to stress how impressive the PlayStation 5 setup is. The PS5 nearly matches gaming PC performance, especially with its support for ultrawide monitors.

Check out the table below for a full PS5 spec rundown. Remember that the standard PS5 and the PS5 Digital Edition have the same specs, except for the Blu-ray drive.

PS5 SSD Size

The PS5 has an SSD, or Solid State Drive, with a maximum capacity of 825GB. This quick new drive can read data at 5.5GB per second. This might not be too impressive for longtime PC gamers, but this is the first time Sony put an SSD in a console instead of a spinning HDD. The difference is immediately noticeable.

SSDs have more bandwidth than HDDs, so data is loaded directly from the SSD when needed instead of potentially needless data overwhelming the RAM. The result is that your gaming experience is more seamless and immersive.

Sony made this change with loading speeds in mind. Whether that’s loading time to get into the game itself or loading screens between areas when you’re fast-traveling, having an SSD instead of an HDD makes those loading screens almost obsolete. This will significantly improve your gaming experience because you can spend more time playing and less time waiting.

That said, you only really have 667GB of storage for games. The PS5 OS takes up the rest. Many PS5 games, such as Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Demon’s Souls, and Horizon Zero Dawn, hover around 50GB each, so you might need to expand your storage sooner rather than later. Luckily, the internal storage is expandable using a compatible M.2 SSD Drive to have up to 4TB or more storage space.

PS5 CPU

The PS5 has an eight-core AMD Zen 2 CPU (Central Processing Unit) with a variable frequency (up to 3.5GHz). Variable frequencies are significant so that your PS5 doesn’t always have to use the complete 3.5GHz if it doesn’t need it to run the game smoothly.

PS5 RAM

The PS5 has 16GB of GDDR6 RAM or Random Access Memory. RAM is an active and essential component of any gaming console, and it’s nice that PlayStation has included the newest version, GDDR6, which has increased capacity and bandwidth.

As mentioned earlier, the PS5 also uses RAM much more efficiently now that it can load data directly from the SSD at much faster speeds.

PS5 Graphics

This is one category in particular in the PlayStation 5 shines. Their graphics card is also custom-made by AMD. The PS5 has an RDNA 2-based GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) that promises up to 10.28 teraflops of power using variable frequencies of up to 2.23GHz.

In addition to the PS5’s GPU allowing for a much higher resolution in games, it also features ray tracing. If you’ve never heard of ray tracing before, here’s a quick synopsis. Ray tracing helps light look more realistic in video games; it mimics how light reflects on water surfaces, how light breaks through overhead trees, etc. Developers that take advantage of this excellent feature will help make their games feel more lifelike and immersive.

PS5 3D Audio

The PS5 features built-in “Tempest” 3D AudioTech. In PlayStation’s blog post, Sony mentioned that it wants all players to experience immersive audio, not just those who could afford high-end speaker systems.

The 3D audio on the PS5 creates greater suspense while playing intense games or greater tranquility while playing peaceful games. Sound is an essential aspect of the video game experience, and this audio upgrade takes it to new heights. Sony’s Pulse 3D headset is a great companion to take advantage of the 360-degree sound.

How do PS5 specs vs. PS4 specs compare?

Internal storage is one of the most considerable differences between the PS5 and the PS4. The PS5 has an 825GB SSD, whereas the PS4 has a 500GB HDD. Aside from the difference in storage space, having a console powered by an SSD instead of an HDD makes it load much faster.

PlayStation’s hardware lead, Mark Cerny, explained that it takes the PS4 about 20 seconds to load about 1GB of data. He stated that the goal with the PS5 was to load about 5GB of data in a single second. In practical terms, load times were pretty much non-existent in our testing. There really is no comparison with older consoles here.

Besides upgrading from an HDD to an SSD, the PlayStation 5 also upgrades the CPU, GPU, RAM, I/O throughput, and optical drive for discs. The PS4 had an eight-core AMD Jaguar CPU with a 1.6GHz, compared to the PS5’s eight-core AMD Zen 2 CPU; an AMD Radeon-based GPU with only 1.84 teraflops in the PS4 compared to 10.28 teraflops in the PS5, and 8GB of GDDR5 in the PS4 compared to 16GB to GDDR6 in the PS5.

Overall, everything has received a massive upgrade, and you can expect games to look crisper, sound fuller, and load faster on the new PlayStation console.

What does the PS5 look like?

The PlayStation 5 features a sleek black-and-white design. Sony has since released a series of colored plates you can replace the white ones with. While the console is usually shown (and looks best) vertically, you can also place it horizontally. You can switch the plastic base between the two layouts, making fitting into your entertainment center easier.

There are two different versions of the new PlayStation console. One version has a disc drive that can support Ultra HD Blu-ray discs, while the other is 100% digital with no disc drive included. The digital-only version has a slightly slimmer design due to the lack of a bulky disc drive. I applaud PlayStation for trying something new and innovative with their design, even if it doesn’t please everyone – something we can’t say the same for the new Xbox Series X.

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