In this article we will present you a complete comparison between PS4 and PS5. Sony has been accelerating production of its next PlayStation 5 console for a while now, and the machine is expected to be much more powerful than its predecessor, the PS4 Pro. It may seem obvious, as we are about to enter a new generation. of video games, but how exactly will the new system of the Japanese company be bought with respect to the previous one? The PS4 Pro got the job done for a while, but it seems like your community is ready to move on to a newer and better console. With Microsoft’s new Xbox Series X on the horizon, Sony has to do its best to meet the high expectations of its fans.
We know a lot about the PS5, so let’s dive into it and compare it to the current PS4 Pro.
Comparison: PS4 Pro vs. PS5
In almost all respects, the PS5 is a better machine than the PS4 Pro. The only thing that, at first glance, may seem unpleasant is the PS5’s smaller hard drive size, which comes with 825GB of memory. We will cover internal system memory in more detail below, but for now, it is important to distinguish the solid state drive (SSD) of the PS5 from the hard disk drive (HDD) of the PS4 Pro. The SSD of the PS5 is one of its bright factors, which will strengthen the machine and improve the user experience, thanks to its faster load times and an improvement in overall performance. So 825GB isn’t as much of a hindrance as it sounds, even if we’re losing 175GB of storage space.
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Other than that, you can clearly see improvement the PS5 has over the PS4 Pro, from its 10.3 TFLOPs to its 16GB GDDR6 memory, and the ability to accept Ultra HD Blu-ray discs. The only drawback we know of when it comes to its specs is its weight. A listing on Amazon Germany recently leaked the PS5’s weight and it will appear to be 10.54 pounds (4.7 kilos), a kilo more compared to the PS4 Pro. But when you factor in what the system can do, a heavier machine it’s not such a bad thing.
Below there is a table with the specifications of each system.
Playstation 5 | PlayStation 4 Pro | |
CPU | 8 cores, 16 threads, up to 3.5Ghz (variable frequency) | 8 Jaguar cores, 2.1GHz |
GPU | 36 CU at 2.23 GHz, 10.3 TFLOP (variable frequency) | 36 CU at 911Mhz, 4.2 TFLOPS |
Memory | 16GB GDDR6 | 8GB GDDR5 |
Internal storage | 825GB custom SSD | 1TB HDD |
External storage | NVMe SSD slot, USB HDD | 2.5 inch HDD, USB HDD |
Optical drive | Blu-ray Ultra HD | Blu-ray |
Video output | 4K at 120Hz, 8K | 4K |
Weight | 4.7 kilograms | 3.3 kilograms |
During systems architect Mark Cerny’s “The Road to PS5” speech, we got a first look at the PS5 specs. Like the PS4 Pro, the PS5 will also use a custom AMD Randeon chip, but unsurprisingly, the newer system will be more powerful. The PS5 has more than twice the CU of the PS4 Pro, but the main thing that will make a big difference is its teraflops. TFLOPs is a term that you may have heard a lot recently when talking about new systems. It’s kind of a very important buzzword.
In essence, a TFLOP is a direct measure of the performance of the computer (in this case, the console). The term refers to the system’s ability to calculate one trillion floating point operations per second. The PS4 Pro includes 4.2 TFLOP, which means it can handle 4.2 trillion floating point calculations per second. The PS5, on the other hand, will double that and some more, offering 10.3 TFLOP.
Thanks to the 36 CU and clock speed of the PS5, the PS5 will be able to achieve much more graphically than any other PlayStation system before it. The 2.23 GHz of the PS5 is, again, more than double that of the PS4 Pro, which comes at 911 Mhz. This measurement refers to the speed at which the system can perform internal operations, it is measured by cycles per second. With the PS5, your clock speed will vary depending on the game and how much the GPU requires.
By comparing the PS5 to a machine that is four years older, even more can be said about the power of the new version. As pointed out during Cerny’s discussion, the PS5 can do what the PS4 Pro can do, but with much less effort, due to its modern architecture. So when simply comparing numbers, it is important to note that the new system will feature newer parts.
Resolution: PS4 Pro vs. PS5
But what about the resolution? PS4 Pro vs. PS5, who wins the fight? We want our games to look better than ever, and Sony will deliver. The PS5 will support 4K 120HZ output, as well as 8K resolution, although don’t expect the latter to be used for at least a few years as 4K displays are still making their way into consumer homes. Although the PS4 Pro can also output 4K, it does not support that resolution with all titles and does not have variable refresh rates.
The PS5 will support 120Hz displays, which is great for eliminating screen tearing and handling higher frame rates. We’re expecting a 60fps standard across the board, but some games like Dirt 5 will apparently support up to 120fps on the PS5. You’ll need a high-end monitor to enjoy these frame rates, which is where system support for 120Hz displays comes in.
The system’s HDMI 2.1 port is also worth mentioning, which is not standard yet, but is a big step on the road for future testing. Again, this port is in line with what was mentioned above: screen tearing prevention and variable refresh rates. We’re likely to see HDMI 2.1 become more ubiquitous, alongside 8K displays, as the PS5’s life cycle progresses.
Price: PS4 Pro vs. PS5
Price is an important factor when deciding whether or not to upgrade to a new system. You should compare the prices on the battle of PS4 Pro vs. PS5. Just look at how a high price tag impacted sales of the PS3 in 2006, which infamously cost consumers about $600. In 2006, that was a huge detour and would probably still alienate potential buyers today. Without going any further in time, in 2013 the Xbox One suffered a similar fate due to its price of $499, $100 more than the PS4. There are many factors that can affect the overall success of a console, but starting on the right foot at a consumer friendly price will undoubtedly make a big difference.
As it stands, we don’t know how much the PS5 will cost, but analysts estimate it will be around $499. Earlier this year, a report from BloombergHe explained that it costs about $450 to make the PS5 system, which seems to give credit to the estimated price of $499. However, as we recently discovered, there will actually be two SKUs of the console: a standard version with a disk drive, as well as the all-digital edition, with no integrated disk drive. It’s unclear how the Bloomberg report relates to the two versions, and if the console’s production cost is really what they point to. In addition, there is a question if this value refers to the standard or digital edition. It is logical that the digital edition is less expensive, but by how much, it still remains a mystery.
If one of the models costs $499, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Taking inflation into account, if the $399 PS4 were to launch in 2020, it would cost around $440, which is not too far from the estimated price on the PS5. Given the improvements that the new console offers over the previous one, the estimated value seems fair. Even the $399 price tag of the PS4 Pro when it launched in 2016 would cost about $430 in today’s money, adjusted for inflation and currency rates in each country.
On the other hand, it is not surprising that a console manufacturer loses money with each system – at least – in the beginning. Sony took a huge loss on every PS3 sold in 2006, with the $599 model costing the company around $840 each to produce. The idea is to make money with the software and accessories, recovering the money lost over time, as the system becomes less expensive to produce. Given the history, it may be well within the realm of possibility to expect a $399 system, even if it costs $450 to produce. However, it could be difficult to sell a console for hundreds of dollars later this year, due to the financial crisis caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Right now, you can get a PS4 Pro for around $399, although constant sales have caused it to hit $299. We imagine that by the time the PS5 comes out, a PS4 Pro will be relatively cheap to buy.
Speaking of which, we don’t know when we’ll get our hands on the PS5 as Sony has yet to announce a release date. The system is still scheduled, for a 2020 holiday launch, with many expecting it to launch around Black Friday. Assasin’s Creed Valhalla will be released on November 17, 2020, while the highly anticipated Cyberpunk 2077 will be released on November 19, two days later. Some speculate that the PS5 will launch near or on one of those dates. Looking at previous PlayStation systems, the PS3, PS4, and PS4 Pro were released in November of each year, so it’s a gamble that Sony will continue that time frame with the PS5 later this year.
Nikkei and Bloomberg report that Sony has doubled the number of PS5 systems to be produced in March 2021 to around 9 million units, due to high demand. Hopefully this will mitigate supply issues at launch.
Storage: PS4 Pro vs. PS5
The PS5’s 825GB SSD may seem like a “downgrade” compared to the PS4 Pro’s 1TB, but it’s actually an upgrade, at least in terms of performance. Sure, you’re wasting 175GB of storage space, but the benefits of the SSD cannot be overstated. This custom system from the new console features a raw read bandwidth of 5.5GB per second and is built specifically for the system, which means it will perform more efficiently than if it included a standard SSD. Even so, the standard system would outperform the current HDD found in the PS4 Pro. According to Cerny, the PS5’s raw read bandwidth is “higher than any other similar system for PC”, at least during 2019.
In addition to the wide variety of SSD processing, it will also allow file size decompensation thanks to the Oodle Kraken algorithm from RAD Game Tools. This data compressor will allow developers to be more efficient when placing assets in a game, freeing up space and reducing pop-up texture. Files are read from the SSD in milliseconds, and developers are now free to get close to fully realized vision when creating games.
The SSD will not only affect PS5 games in the future, it can also greatly improve the performance of PS4 games, which will be playable (at least to some capacity) on the new system created by Sony. Bloomberg’s Takashi Mochizuki uploaded a video last year showing the PS4 version of Marvel’s Spider-Man running on the PS5, compared to the same game running on the PS4 Pro. The video shows a segment of the game loading in less than a second on the company’s new console, compared to the more than eight seconds it takes on the PS4 Pro.
Since SSDs will be standard with the PS5, developers will have the freedom to compress file sizes across the board, theoretically allowing you to store much more on the system drive. Suddenly, that 825GB storage space doesn’t seem too bad if it means that the file sizes will be smaller. It is not known how much smaller they will be, but we hope that the days of more than 150 GB in size are long gone.
We also know that the memory of the PS5 can be expanded by inserting certain M2 SSDs; however, as Cerny confirmed, these drives have to be as fast as the one included with the system and are not yet fully available for purchase. Cerny estimates that it could be a while before those units hit the market and advised that “it is better to wait until you get this M2 unit, waiting for the official announcement from Sony.” Hopefully the 825GB of the system will limit you until those M2 cards are available to the general public, probably in 2021.
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At the end of the day, the PS5’s SSD is one of its key factors that will make it a powerhouse of a system, not just in its performance, but in the freedom it will give developers.
PS4 Pro games vs. PS5
What good is a new system if you don’t have a variety of games to play? Fortunately, the PS55 will have us covered on that front. We received a host of new game announcements during Sony’s recent PS5 Future of Gaming event, showcasing a portion of the game library that will be available for the new console. The list was varied, from family-friendly titles like Sackboy: to Big Adventure, to more central experiences like Horizon: Forbidden West.
Here’s a list of all confirmed games for PS5:
- Astro’s Playroom
- Bugsnax
- Cyberpunk 2077
- Death Loop
- Demon’s Souls Remake
- Destruction: All Stars
- Dying Light 2
- Final Fantasy VII Remake
- Ghostwire: Tokyo
- Godfall
- Gods & Monsters
- Goodbye volcano high
- Gran Turismo 7
- Grand theft auto v
- Hitman III
- Horizon: Forbidden West
- Jett: The Far Shore
- Kena: Bridge of Spirits
- Littel devil inside
- NBA 2K21
- NBA Live 21
- Oddworld: Soulstorm
- Outriders
- The Pathless
- Pragmata
- Project Athia
- Rainbow Six: Quarantine
- Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart
- Resident Evil VII: Village
- Returnal
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure
- Solar Ash
- Spider-Man: Miles Morales
- Stray
- Tribes of Midgard
- Watch Dogs Legion
- WRC 9
And these are the rumored games that may be available soon for the PlayStation 5:
- Devil 4
- Dreams
- The Elder Scrolls VI
- Ghost of tsushima
- God of war 2
- The Last of Us: Part II
- The Lord of the Rings: Gollum
- Overwatch 2
- Project awakening
- Silent hills
- Sniper Elite 5
- Stardield
- New Uncharted game
- New Bioshock game
- Unnamed Guerrilla Shooter
- Unnamed Harry Potter RPG
There’s a lot to discuss when it comes to gaming, especially when the PS5 is compared to the PS4 Pro. Of course, the PS4’s library is rich with thousands of offerings over seven years of the console’s life cycle. Games like God of War, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Horizon Zero Dawn, Bloodborne, Persona 5 Royal, and a number of great third-party offerings like Resident Evil 2 and Red Dead Redemption 2 are worth checking out. You can take a look at our list of the best PS4 games here. In short, if you have a PS4, be it the base, slim or Pro model, you will have a ton of great games to enjoy.
It looks like the PS5 will continue the legacy of top-tier gaming, simply judging from the list of confirmed titles. We are eagerly awaiting the release of Demon’s Souls Remake, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, Resident Evil Village, and much more. And of course there are a lot that we don’t know about either.
The big kicker comes with the supposed introduction of more expensive games. Earlier this month, publisher 2K announced that NBA 2K21 would cost $69.99 on PS5 and Xbox Series X, a $10 increase over current-generation AAA games. It’s not known if this will translate to other releases across the board, but many suspect that the $70 price tag for games will be the new norm for next-gen consoles. That might sound bad, but considering that game prices have stayed the same since 2005, it’s about time we saw an increase in cost.
Again, when inflation is taken into account, a $59.99 game in 2005 would cost almost $80 in today’s money, so the $69.99 price isn’t even as high as it should be. Considering the meteoric cost to develop AAA games, along with microtransactions and DLC running rampant, the supposed $70 price tag could mitigate some of these issues, making games feel much more complete and less “predatory” when it comes to business practices.
Another important factor to consider is the idea of backward compatibility. At first, many believed that the PS5 would be fully backward compatible with the entire library of PlayStation games, from PS1 to PS4. However, this idea has been squashed mainly due to Sony’s marketing writing for their new system. We know the PS5 will run PS4 games, but how that process will work remains to be seen.
Also, with the idea of upgrades from PS4 games to PS5 games, the notion of backward compatibility starts to blur, leaving many questions that need answers. For example, what games will be upgradeable? What PS4 games can I play on the PS5? According to the PlayStation blog, “the overwhelming majority of the more than 4,000 PS4 titles will be playable on PS5,” as explained by Sony’s senior vice president of platform planning, Hideaki Nishino. But why the limitation? We will probably find out in a short time.
Other questions refer to the possibility of an intergenerational game. Will PS5 players be able to pair with PS4 players of the same game? If not, that could severely divide the player base. But if so, will the PS5 have an advantage due to the improvements and power of the system?
With the idea of power and size, we know that the PS5 will support larger games than the PS4 Pro. The PS5 will feature an Ultra HD Blu-ray drive, which has the ability to accept standard Blu-ray discs up to 100GB in size. data. The PS4 Pro includes a standard Blue-ray drive that was out of date even when it launched in 2016. You may recall that the Xbox One X launched with a 4K Blu-ray drive just a year later.
PS4 Pro Controllers vs. PS5
We should consider controllers between PS4 Pro vs. PS5 too. The PS4 and PS4 Pro use DualShock 4, an evolution of the console controller created by Sony. This controller was relatively similar to the previous ones that the company released for the other consoles, with some additional buttons and speakers. But now, the PS5 has removed the DualShock entirely, in favor of the new DualSense controller. While it still features the same basic button layout as before, DualSense includes innovative features that aim to change the way we play games, or at least that’s how it’s marketed.
One of its highlights is its adaptive triggers, which will offer different degrees of resistance depending on how far you pull them. This will up the ante in the immersion department and it will feel unlike anything we’ve experienced before. Additionally, you can expect haptic feedback from the DualSense, replacing the old noise feature of the DualShock 4. The other new addition comes with the Create button on the controller, which is intended to replace the Share button that is built into the current PS4 version. Other details regarding this button are still unknown, but judging by its name, it should give gamers more freedom with what they can do when it comes to capturing, editing and sharing game clips.
And, the most obvious change comes with the physical appearance of DualSense. Gone is the only solid black color found in the last three iterations of the PlayStation controllers. Instead, the DualSense has a bit more weight and comes in a combination of black and white, mirroring the console itself. It will probably come in more colors down the line, just like previous DualShock controllers.
Again, we don’t know how much these controllers will cost independently, but if their new features are any indication, we might be paying $70 – $80 for them. A standard DualShock 4 controller retails for around $59.99 today.
PS4 Editions vs. PS5
Finally, let’s see the different versions that will be available with the PS5. We covered it briefly above, but yes, there will be two PS5 SKUs: a standard edition and a digital edition. The two models were revealed during the recent PS5 Future of Gaming event, but there is still a lot we don’t know about them. What we do know is that they look almost identical. If you look closely at the image above, you can see the small bump on the standard model on the right, where it will insert your Blu-ray discs. The model on the left, the all-digital edition, is a bit more elegant due to its lack of the disk drive.
It is unclear if these two models will be released side by side or if they will feature the same internal specs. We can assume so, but Sony has yet to confirm these details. As we covered above, we also don’t know how much it will cost.
There is only one version of the PS4 Pro in terms of specs, although the system itself serves as an iteration on the original PS4. However, there are several editions of the PS4 Pro that feature different designs. We love the Marvel’s Spider-Man edition which features a red PS4 Pro system with the spider logo in the center. Often times these special edition consoles also come with exclusive controller variants. There are PS4 Pro models for Death Stranding, God of War, Destiny 2 and more recently, The Last of Us Part II.
Sony hasn’t confirmed if we’ll get any special edition PS5 systems, but we think we’re likely to start seeing some new colors and variants. If Sony makes special edition PlayStation 5 systems, will they be available in both the standard and digital editions? We will have to wait a while to find out. This is all information available for PS4 Pro vs. PS5 comparison.