A leak from an unlikely source may have spilled the beans on the hardware specs of the PS5 and (to a lesser extent) the Xbox Series X. Arising from AMD test data that has further been verified by Digital Foundry, the leak paints a clearer picture of what to expect from the specs of Sony and Microsoft’s next-gen consoles.
Sony, it seems, is looking to strike a balance between price and power, and though it’s still looking like a significant step up from the PS4 (and PS4 Pro), it’s not up to par with the Xbox Series X. The PS5 reportedly has a a GPU with 36 available compute units running at 2.0GHz, which would amount roughly to 9.2 teraflops. The leak also mentions that the system will make use of GDDR6 memory (which the Xbox Series X is also confirmed to have), at a bandwidth of 448 GB/S (but can also go up to 512GB/s). Its equivalent in the PC space would be the RX 5700 series Navi cards.
Notably, the PS5’s GPU also reportedly has two separate modes it can be switched to that are dedicated to PS4 and PS4 Pro backward compaibility. Backward compatibility, as Sony has made abundantly clear time and again, is supposed to be a major focus for the PS5, so this doesn’t come as too much of a surprise.
While the leak has quite a few solid details on the PS5’s specs, its information on the Xbox Series X’s hardware is, in comparison, much more scant and incomplete- but it does still have some interesting hints that point to Microsoft’s system being something of a powerhouse- and much stronger than the PS5, especially in the GPU department. The Xbox Series X has a a GPU with a whopping 56 active compute units, which would amount roughly to 12 teraflops.
Of course, if this data does prove to be accurate, it’ll be interesting to see how Sony and Microsoft choose to price their consoles. With their hardware, Sony might have an easier time selling their console for a lower price- but it’s also worth mentioning that this leak makes no mention of Lockhart, which is supposed to be Microsoft’s cheaper and weaker next-gen console variant. At the same time, perhaps Sony might also consider introducing a PS5 Pro equivalent at some point to pit against the Series X’s more powerful variant.