How impressive are the PS5 specs? Here's what you need to know. (2024)

Oliver Cragg / Android Authority

The PlayStation 5 launched in late 2020. It’s now a proven entity with great performance and an excellent catalog of titles. It recently received a mid-life refresh, too. But what if you’re still undecided and are perhaps considering an Xbox Series X instead? Check out our PS5 review for our thoughts on the console. Find the complete list of PS5 specs below.

Sony Playstation 5

Sony Playstation 5

Super fast loading times • The DualSense controller is incredible • Tons of games available with PS Plus and PS Now

MSRP: $499.99

Enjoy the hottest games with this powerful console

Sony brought a lot to the table with its next-gen console. Unless you're dying to play one of the PS5 exclusives or you can't wait to experience the enhanced graphics and smoother gameplay, existing PS4 owners may want to wait for discounts. However, if you've never owned a PlayStation console, now is a fantastic time to press start.

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What are the PS5 specs?

Sarah Chaney / Android Authority

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There have been considerable technological improvements in gaming in the almost seven years between the PS4 and PS5 releases. The PS5 supports 8K graphics at 60Hz or 4K output at a 120Hz refresh rate. You can expect visuals to be crisper and more realistic, sounds to better immerse you in your game, and so much more. The PS5 nearly matches gaming PC performance, especially with its support for ultrawide monitors.

At the end of 2023, Sony launched the PS5 Slim. It uses the same CPU and GPU combination as the original model but makes a few fundamental changes. It’s much smaller in height, width, and depth. It also packs a 1TB SSD as standard — slightly larger than the 825GB drive in the original model. Once the launch models are sold out, this will become the defacto PS5 model.

Check out the table below for a full PS5 spec rundown. Remember that the standard PS5 and the PS5 Digital Edition have the same specs, except for the Blu-ray drive.

SSDs have more bandwidth than HDDs, so data is loaded directly from the SSD when needed instead of potentially needless data overwhelming the RAM. The result is that your gaming experience is more seamless and immersive.

Sony made this change with loading speeds in mind. Whether that’s loading time to get into the game itself or loading screens between areas when you’re fast-traveling, having an SSD instead of an HDD makes those loading screens almost obsolete. This will significantly improve your gaming experience because you can spend more time playing and waiting less.

You only have 667GB of storage for games; the PS5 OS takes up the rest. Many PS5 games, like Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Cyberpunk 2077, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, and Far Cry 6, require a lot more than 100GB each, so you might need to expand your storage sooner rather than later. The internal storage is expandable using a compatible M.2 SSD Drive with up to 4TB or more storage space. You can also plug in an external drive to bulk up your capacity, but you won’t get the advantage of quicker load times from the internal SSD.

As mentioned above, the PS5 Slim model packs a 1TB drive as standard, giving buyers of the newer model a little more leeway.

As mentioned earlier, the PS5 also uses RAM much more efficiently now that it can load data directly from the SSD faster.

In addition to the PS5’s GPU allowing for a much higher resolution in games, it also features ray tracing. Ray tracing helps light look more realistic in video games; it mimics how light reflects on water surfaces, how light breaks through overhead trees, etc. Developers that take advantage of this excellent feature will help make their games feel more lifelike and immersive.

The 3D audio on the PS5 creates greater suspense while playing intense games or greater tranquility while playing peaceful games. Sound is an essential aspect of the video game experience, and this audio upgrade takes it to new heights. As we discovered during our review, Sony’s Pulse 3D headset is a great companion for 360-degree sound.

PS5 specs vs PS4 specs

Internal storage is one of the most considerable differences between the PS5 and the PS4. The original PS5 has an 825GB SSD and the Slim model boasts a 1TB drive, whereas the PS4 has a 500GB HDD. Aside from the difference in storage space, having a console powered by an SSD instead of an HDD makes it load much faster.

PlayStation’s hardware lead, Mark Cerny, explained that it takes the PS4 about 20 seconds to load about 1GB of data. He stated that the goal with the PS5 was to load about 5GB of data in a single second. In practical terms, load times were pretty much non-existent in our testing. There really is no comparison with older consoles here.

Besides upgrading from an HDD to an SSD, the PlayStation 5 also upgrades the CPU, GPU, RAM, I/O throughput, and optical drive for discs. The PS4 had an eight-core AMD Jaguar CPU with a 1.6GHz, compared to the PS5’s eight-core AMD Zen 2 CPU; an AMD Radeon-based GPU with only 1.84 teraflops in the PS4 compared to 10.28 teraflops in the PS5, and 8GB of GDDR5 in the PS4 compared to 16GB to GDDR6 in the PS5.

Find the complete breakdown of PS5 specs vs PS4 specs below.

Overall, everything has received a massive upgrade, and you can expect games to look crisper, sound fuller, and load faster on the new PlayStation console.

What does the PS5 look like?

Oliver Cragg / Android Authority

The PlayStation 5 features a sleek black-and-white design. Sony has since released a series of colored plates you can replacethe white ones with. While the console is usually shown (and looks best) vertically, you can also place it horizontally. You can switch the plastic base between the two layouts, making fitting into your entertainment center easier.

At launch, there were two different versions of the new PlayStation console. One version had a disc drive that can support Ultra HD Blu-ray discs, while the other was 100% digital with no disc drive included. The digital-only version had a slightly slimmer design due to the lack of a bulky disc drive.

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