PS5 vs. Xbox Series X: Which console wins?

 

In the PS5 vs. Xbox Series X arena, it's a battle of specs, games and price

More than a year after their release, the PS5 vs Xbox Series X battle remains a fierce one. In our reviews we were suitably impressed with both games consoles and remain so, with the two machines gaining more features and games as the latest generation gathers pace. But if you can only choose one, you'll want to find out which one is best for you. 

As such, Tom’s Guide has compared the two consoles head-to-head, and without spoiling the results, it’s a very close contest between two high-quality consoles. Read on to discover how each system fares in our PS5 vs. Xbox Series X faceoff.

PS5 vs. Xbox Series X: Specs

	PS5	Xbox Series X
Price	$500 (PS5); $400 (PS5 Digital Edition)	$500
Key Exclusives	Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Horizon II: Forbidden West, Gran Turismo 7	Halo Infinite, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2, Forza Motorsport 8, State of Decay 3
Backwards Compatibility	Almost all PS4 games, including optimized PS4 Pro titles	All Xbox One games / Select Xbox 360 and original Xbox games
CPU	8-core 3.5 GHz AMD Zen 2	8-core, 3.8 GHz AMD Zen 2
GPU	10.3 teraflop AMD RDNA 2	12.0 teraflop AMD RDNA 2
RAM	16 GB GDDR6	16 GB GDDR6
Storage	825 GB custom SSD	1 TB custom NVMe SSD
Resolution	Up to 8K	Up to 8K
Frame Rate	Up to 120 fps	Up to 120 fps
Optical Disc Drive	4K UHD Blu-ray (Standard PS5 only)	4K UHD Blu-ray

 While the specs are handy to know, they only tell part of the story when it comes to performance. As such, this section isn’t scored. However, we can say that the Xbox Series X has more powerful hardware, in terms of both GPU and SSD. Check out the performance section to see how this hardware performs in action.

PS5 vs. Xbox Series X: Games

The PS5 and Xbox Series X have fundamentally different approaches to game libraries. The Xbox Series X assumes you’ll pick up the same games you left off on the Xbox One, and will want optimized performance across the board for all favorites. The PS5, on the other hand, has a bevy of exclusive titles that launched alongside its new console — although most of them are also available on the PS4.

 

At present, it’s hard to deny that the PS5 has the more exciting game selection. Just in terms of first-party titles, the PS5 launched with Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Demon’s Souls, Sackboy: A Big Adventure and the surprisingly delightful Astro’s Playroom.

Compare and contrast with the Xbox Series X, which didn’t have any exclusive titles at launch. Instead, Microsoft released a list of 30 “optimized for Xbox Series X/S (opens in new tab)” titles, including fan favorites like Gears 5, Ori and the Will of the Wisps and Forza Horizon 4. While the Xbox Series X optimizations are indeed impressive, not all of these games are brand new, and they’re all available on Xbox One, PC or both.

Because of its superior game selection (and because you can play Xbox Series X games on PC), one staffer chose the PS5 over Xbox Series X. But Microsoft's stable of titles should improve as time goes on. You can also check our PS5 exclusives vs. Xbox exclusives story to see how the two libraries stack up.

Beyond that, both consoles are well-stocked with third-party titles, like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Borderlands 3, Fortnite, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and so forth. They both got Cyberpunk 2077, Madden 21 and Destiny 2 late last year, and third-party parity is likely to continue well into this year and beyond. Both systems also have excellent backwards compatibility features, although that gets its own section further down.

 

 It’s also worth mentioning Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, to which Sony doesn’t currently have a perfect answer. This $15-per-month subscription service lets you download more than 100 games across a variety of genres, and play them on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC and even Android. 

Credit-tomsguide