Differences PS5 vs PS4: characteristics, memory and power

Written by: Chris Watson

March 18, 2020

Updated on March 18, 2020

Lead Game DeveloperChris Watson

Chris Watson is a gaming expert and writer. He has loved video games since childhood and has been writing about them for over 15 years. Chris has worked for major gaming magazines where he reviewed new games and wrote strategy guides. He started his own gaming website to share insider tips and in-depth commentary about his favorite games. When he's not gaming or writing, Chris enjoys travel and hiking. His passion is helping other gamers master new games.

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Expertises: Game Development, Unity and Unreal Engine, C# and C++ Programming, Interactive Storytelling, Esports and Streaming

We bring the two generations of Sony consoles face to face. Power, speed and efficiency are part of the PlayStation 5 DNA.

We already know everything about the PlayStation 5 architecture. Although we have not yet seen the console in pictures, Mark Cerny presented this Wednesday the final technical characteristics of his new console, the most powerful machine in Sony's history. As we tell you in this article, we talk about highly powerful hardware, but here we are going to put everything in context comparing it to its predecessor, PS4.

Comparison between PS4 and PS5: the new generation begins

We start with the CPU. Although they are still 8 cores, this time it is a 3.5 GHz Zen 2 CPU with variable frequency; on PS4 there were 8 1.6 GHz Jaguar cores. If you look at the GPU and the increasingly mentioned Teraflops, the new Sony console will have 10.28 TFLOPs, 36 CUs at 2.23 GHz at variable frequency; For its part, PS4 had a GPU power of 1.84 TFLOPs, 18 CUs at 800MHz.

Mark Cerny, during the presentation of PlayStation 5

The PS5 brain will consist of 16GB of RAM / 256 bit memory. The console that we are saying goodbye has enjoyed seven years of life with 8 GB of GDDR5 RAM. Bandwidth is also growing, from 176 GB / s to 448 GB / s.

Memory is also a fundamental aspect. "As video game creators we went from having to distract the player during the journey – like Spider-Man subway rides – to being so fast that we may have to slow down the transition a bit," said Mark Cerny at the presentation. And so it is: we have an 825 GB SSD instead of the 500 GB HDD or 1 TB HDD of current PS4 models.

PS5 vs PS4 – Comparison

You can see in this report everything we know about PS5, a console that – if everything goes well – will hit stores in Christmas 2020. You can also take a look at all the games confirmed for the console.