Has the PS5 already been bested by a mid-range gaming PC?

Not so next-gen

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WhenSonyand Epic showed off a demo of the impressive-lookingUnreal Engine 5 running on early PS5 hardware, it got many people excited for the next generation of games consoles – but it seems like anyone with a mid-rangegaming PCwill already be able to experience those kind of visuals.

We already knew that thePS5andXbox Series Xwould struggle to compete with gaming PCs, but according toEpic GamesCTO Kim Libreri, a modern PC with anNvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Supergraphics card would be able to run the demo, and the results would be “pretty good”.

AsWorld Today News points out, the PS5 will be capable of up to 10.28teraflopsof power, while the RTX 2070 Super can achieve up to 9 teraflops.

Now, it would be a folly to compare the teraflops of anNvidiaGPU with a games console running onAMDtech, but it gives a hint of how close in performance the PS5 will be to a PC with an RTX 2070 Super GPU.

What’s most interesting is that the RTX 2070 Super graphics card it considered a mid-range GPU, which means the PS5 and Xbox Series X (which can also run the demo) are already being challenged in the power stakes by existing gaming PCs that are pretty affordable.

Game over already?

So does that mean that anyone who’s waiting for next-gen to begin could simply buy a gaming PC right now?

In a way yes, but there are things that the PS5 will do differently that a gaming PC could struggle with.

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First of all, the PS5 uses a custom solid state drive (SDD) with a 5.5GB/s raw throughput, and 8-9GB/s compressed throughput.

While the best SSDs for PCs are getting faster, none can match those kinds of speeds just yet, and many developers are saying thePS5’s SSD is a game changer.

The other issue is price. While we don’t know the PS5 price just yet, it’s expected to be around $499/$400/AU$700 or less, which will be much lower than an RTX 2070 Super-equipped PC will cost. The GPU on its own costs $499 (about £395, AU$720).

However, it does show that the next-gen consoles will have their work cut out if they want to win over PC gamers. For now, though, it looks like gaming PCs and laptops will continue to be the best place to play visually stunning games.

Matt is TechRadar’s Managing Editor for Core Tech, looking after computing and mobile technology. Having written for a number of publications such as PC Plus, PC Format, T3 and Linux Format, there’s no aspect of technology that Matt isn’t passionate about, especially computing and PC gaming. He’s personally reviewed and used most of the laptops in our best laptops guide - and since joining TechRadar in 2014, he’s reviewed over 250 laptops and computing accessories personally.

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