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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, video game consoles generally offer much greater value for money than PCs with comparable performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The increase in price is actually a bit lower than Sony’s claimed 45% gameplay rendering performance boost. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It should be emphasised that this comparison could never be perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Firstly, gaming consoles feature custom hardware and software that cannot be put into a PC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secondly, game developers have an easier task of optimising games for consoles than PCs, purely because they all feature the same or similar hardware. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We began our comparison with the most important part of any gaming system \u2014 the graphics processing unit (GPU).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As was the case with the PS5, Sony is using a customised AMD GPU based on RDNA 2 architecture in the PS5 Pro. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the PS5 Pro’s GPU boasts 67% more compute units than the regular PS5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Given the older console has 36 units, the Pro should have 60 compute units, supporting an enormous jump in performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Its boost clock can run at up to 2.4GHz compared with the estimated 2.23GHz of the PS5 Pro’s GPU.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next important component determining performance is the processor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The CPU has remained the same as in the PS5, which is basically spec-for-spec identical to the AMD Ryzen 7 3700X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In terms of RAM, the PS5 Pro shares 16GB of unified GDDR6 memory with the GPU, the same as in the regular PS5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The PS5 Pro more than doubles the SSD storage capacity from 825GB to 2TB. <\/p>\n\n\n\n As Sony did not announce any other improvements, its read and write speeds should be similar to the original SSD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These were 5.5GB\/s for reading and 250MB\/s for writing data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are numerous PCIe 4.0 2TB drives for PCs capable of reading and writing at those speeds. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Using the specifications above as the bare minimum, we assembled a custom PC using components from various major online PC hardware stores. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That additional cost item will push the gaming PC’s price well beyond the PS5 Pro’s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A PC offers support for far more software for those who want a high-performance machine for work or studying. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The table below summarises a possible custom-built PC with hardware similar to a PS5 Pro. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 39% price increase of the PS5 Pro over the PS5 appears to be justified considering its 45% performance upliftment and how it stacks up against gaming PCs with similar hardware.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":559957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[4854,93661,61059,193],"class_list":["post-565113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaming","tag-gaming-pc","tag-playstation-5-ps5","tag-playstation-5-pro","tag-sony"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565113"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=565113"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565113\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":565286,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565113\/revisions\/565286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Palit-RTX-4070-graphics-card-800x533.jpg\")
Gaming PC cheaper \u2014 with a catch<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/th> Component<\/th> Price<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> CPU<\/strong><\/td> AMD Ryzen 7 3700X<\/td> R2,499 (Wootware)<\/td><\/tr> GPU<\/strong><\/td> AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT 12GB or Nvidia RTX 4070 12GB<\/td> R8,999 (Wootware) or
R10,999 (Evetech)<\/td><\/tr>RAM<\/strong><\/td> Corsair Vengeance 2x8GB DDR4-2,400MHz<\/td> R1,047 (Wootware)<\/td><\/tr> Storage<\/strong><\/td> Mushkin MKNSSDTS2TB\u2014D8 Tempest 2TB<\/td> R1,799 (Wootware) <\/td><\/tr> Motherboard<\/strong><\/td> Gigabyte A520 Aorus Elite ATX motherboard <\/td> R1,976 (ITWorkup)<\/td><\/tr> Power supply<\/strong><\/td> Gamdias Kratos E1-600 RGB Power Supply<\/td> R899 (Evetech)<\/td><\/tr> Case <\/strong><\/td> Gamdias Aura GC7<\/td> R499 (Evetech) <\/td><\/tr> Keyboard and mouse<\/strong><\/td> MSI Forge GK100 wired combo<\/td> R569 (Takeaot)<\/td><\/tr> <\/td><\/tr> Price without software<\/em><\/strong><\/td> R18,287 (RX 7700 XT)
R20,287 (RTX 4070)<\/em><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Windows 11 Home licence<\/strong> (OEM version)<\/td> R2,599 (Evetech)<\/td><\/tr> Total price for new system<\/strong><\/td> <\/td> R20,866<\/strong> (RX 7700 XT)
R22,886<\/strong> (RTX 4070)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n