Sony released the PS5 Pro earlier this year, bringing a significant graphical upgrade to the four-year-old console. The mid-gen refresh will come in at a hefty $700, with the main selling point being the AI-based upscaler and larger GPU. This news was not well received by many gamers and most of them wondered if building a PC would make more sense.

PS5 Pro equivalent PC specs

Here’s where things get more complicated: The PS5 Pro uses AMD GPUs based on the RDNA 3 architecture, but some features are derived from the upcoming RDNA 4 GPUs that don’t exist in the PC space. While plenty of graphics cards can match or even exceed the PS5 Pro’s raw GPU performance, none currently support these next-gen features or are competitively priced.

Of course, adding more hardware will solve the problem to some extent, and we already have DLSS/XeSS as an alternative to Sony’s PSSR upscaling. Another advantage in the PC space is the availability of more advanced CPUs. The PS5 Pro uses the same 5-year-old Zen 2-based AMD processor with eight cores and sixteen threads. On PC, if you’re using AMD, we’re already at Zen 5, and the latest generation Intel processors also offer similar performance.

This is why we can’t just look at the raw number of GPU teraflops, as upscaling and driver support will vary from GPU manufacturer to GPU manufacturer. It’s going to be complicated, but we’ll use one main metric to compare hardware: image quality and target performance.

PS5 Pro is designed to run games in native 4K resolution at or near 60 frames per second with image reconstruction. Some settings will undoubtedly be pushed higher than on the original console, so let’s say it’s running games on the “Ultra” graphics preset found on the PC ports.

Another tricky thing to figure out will be whether to use the latest generation or older parts. New PC builders can save quite a bit by using older parts, especially on motherboards and memory. We booked the first one to save costs.

We have selected the following parts to match the PS5 Pro on our PC. Note: We used PCPartPicker to build this system and you can save more if you can find these parts offline. You can also replace certain components and build an even better computer for a similar price. The following compilation is based on market prices at the time of writing, i.e. the last week of December 2024.

If you’re comparing prices, we ended up here (based on US prices):

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X ($112)
• CPU Cooler: Wraith Stealth Cooler (comes with CPU)
• Motherboard: MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX ($84.99)
• GPU: Gigabyte GAMING OC RX 7700 XT ($399.99) OR MSI VENTUS 2X BLACK OC RTX 4060 Ti ($449.99)
• RAM: G.Skill Aegis 16GB DDR4 3200MHz ($29.99)
• Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 2TB ($119.99)
• PSU: Cooler Master MWE Gold 750 V3 ($84.99)
• Case: Thermaltake Versa H21 ATX Mid Tower ($54.99)

The total cost of the PC, excluding the operating system, exceeds $700 by a decent margin, which is $887 if you use the AMD RX 7700 XT GPU. With an Nvidia GPU, it shoots up to $937. If you’re buying Windows 11 on top, add another $100 and adding peripherals, a monitor, etc. for a brand new build, the price can easily exceed $1,000.

PC vs PS5 Pro – What are the advantages?

After you’ve gone through the trouble of finding all the parts, building your computer, installing all the drivers, and tying up loose ends with neat cable management, what do you get?

Well, for starters, flexibility. Like the PS5 Pro, modern GPUs can use upscaling technologies to render games at lower resolutions, increasing the frame rate. Both Nvidia and AMD GPUs also support frame generation, so you can play at 120 frames per second or more. This makes a dramatic difference in fluidity, and of course you can still play around with the settings to your liking.

For comparison, let’s look at a recent game like Star Wars Outlaws. Using console-equivalent settings, you can increase the frame rate by more than 60% and get better image quality than the base PS5. With framerate generation, we could run Black Myth: Wukong at almost 120fps with a weaker processor than the one we included in this build! Even Final Fantasy 16 can run at over 200fps using the right settings and it will look better than the base PS5 and probably the PS5 Pro.

We also tested Indiana Jones and the Great Circle with optimized settings, and our included GPUs can easily beat the Xbox Series X’s 60fps target with full ray tracing. The upcoming PS5 version of the game will also target the same frame rate, while the PS5 Pro can toggle advanced ray tracing features.

PlayStation also started porting their games to PC and they are much higher on that platform. As seen in the PC ports of Ghost of Tsushima and Horizon: Forbidden West, it’s not that hard to max out the settings and run the game at or above 60fps in better quality. The best PC games will always feature more graphics options compared to their console counterpart, so you can play Cyberpunk 2077 with beam reflections, shadows, and global lighting turned on, while the PlayStation version only features RT shadows at 30fps.

And then of course there are cheaper games. Steam has thousands of games with many cross-platform games that are cheaper on PC compared to the PlayStation Store. We have frequent offers, and if you want to build your library for free, look no further than the Epic Games Store.

We’ve yet to see how well PS5 Pro-enhanced games will take advantage of the console, and how many PC-exclusive features will make it into console ports.

All this costs something. You pay a bit more to build a PC and it’s not as easy to use as a console. This is why there will always be a place for consoles in the market, with most gamers who want convenience choosing a plastic box over a redundant computer on their desk.

If one thing is clear, it’s that building a $700 PC to match the PS5 Pro is tough. The value the console provides will always be better, which is why it’s a mass market device even if it’s aimed at enthusiasts.