Gaming PC you can build for the price of a R19,499 PS5 Pro

An analysis by MyBroadband shows that building a gaming PC with similar performance to the pricey PlayStation 5 Pro could cost just a few thousand rands more.

After much speculation and anticipation, Sony announced the PS5 Pro in September 2024.

Among the new console’s big selling points are improved performance in ray-tracing, automatic AI-assisted upscaling in 4K resolution, and 4K at 60 frames per second in the new Pro mode.

Once it goes on pre-order on 1 November 2024, those looking to get their hands on the console will have to fork out a hefty R19,499.

That is 39% more than the regular PS5’s R13,999 price and makes it the most expensive video game console in South Africa since at least the turn of the century.

The initial price shock was also felt in the US, with a $200 price hike over the current $499 price, nearly identical in percentage terms.

However, video game consoles generally offer much greater value for money than PCs with comparable performance.

The increase in price is actually a bit lower than Sony’s claimed 45% gameplay rendering performance boost.

In the past, MyBroadband’s comparisons found us hard-pressed to configure systems with anywhere near sufficient hardware to perform similarly to a newly launched gaming console at the same price.

We examined Sony’s claimed performance for the PS5 Pro to see whether it would again be a tall order or if the new console’s performance uplift did not justify its price.

It should be emphasised that this comparison could never be perfect.

Firstly, gaming consoles feature custom hardware and software that cannot be put into a PC.

Secondly, game developers have an easier task of optimising games for consoles than PCs, purely because they all feature the same or similar hardware.

We began our comparison with the most important part of any gaming system — the graphics processing unit (GPU).

As was the case with the PS5, Sony is using a customised AMD GPU based on RDNA 2 architecture in the PS5 Pro.

However, the PS5 Pro’s GPU boasts 67% more compute units than the regular PS5.

Given the older console has 36 units, the Pro should have 60 compute units, supporting an enormous jump in performance.

The closest comparable AMD card available for PC is the Radeon RX 7700 XT, with 54 compute units. This card was released in August 2023 and is considered a solid option for decent 1440p gaming.

Its boost clock can run at up to 2.4GHz compared with the estimated 2.23GHz of the PS5 Pro’s GPU.

Given Sony’s claim that the Pro can support 4K resolution at 60 frames per second, a PC card with equivalent performance may have to be something like the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070.

This GPU can play many titles at maxed-out settings with 4K resolution and 60 frames per second, provided users turn on DLSS, Nvidia’s AI upscaling software.

The next important component determining performance is the processor.

The CPU has remained the same as in the PS5, which is basically spec-for-spec identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X.

Both feature eight cores with 16 threads, while the PS5’s Zen 2 CPU has a variable frequency of 3.5GHz compared with the base clock of 3.6GHz in the Ryzen 7 3700X.

In terms of RAM, the PS5 Pro shares 16GB of unified GDDR6 memory with the GPU, the same as in the regular PS5.

The PS5 Pro more than doubles the SSD storage capacity from 825GB to 2TB.

As Sony did not announce any other improvements, its read and write speeds should be similar to the original SSD.

These were 5.5GB/s for reading and 250MB/s for writing data.

There are numerous PCIe 4.0 2TB drives for PCs capable of reading and writing at those speeds.

Gaming PC cheaper — with a catch

Using the specifications above as the bare minimum, we assembled a custom PC using components from various major online PC hardware stores.

Our total cost without software came to R18,287 for a system with the AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT. That is about R1,200 cheaper than the PS5 Pro.

However, given the PS5 Pro’s GPU will potentially perform similarly to the RTX 4070, it is interesting to consider that as an alternative for the build.

In addition, the price would assume the buyer already has a PC with a Windows 10 or Windows 11 licence, which they can use on the new system.

Adding a Windows 11 licence would cost around R2,599 for a single-use OEM licence. Grey licences can be bought for cheaper, but their legality is questionable.

That additional cost item will push the gaming PC’s price well beyond the PS5 Pro’s.

Therefore, despite its high asking price, the PS5 Pro appears to be good value for money, provided you are only looking at a machine for gaming.

A PC offers support for far more software for those who want a high-performance machine for work or studying.

The table below summarises a possible custom-built PC with hardware similar to a PS5 Pro.