Sony Announces PS5 Pricing: $499 For Regular Console, $399 For Digital Edition
by Ryan Smith on September 16, 2020 5:10 PM ESTAt Sony’s PlayStation 5 Showcase this afternoon, the final (and much awaited) pieces of the puzzle with regards to the console’s launch have dropped: pricing and a release date.
Sony’s next-generation console will launch on Thursday, November 12th. The full version of the console, which includes a Blu-ray disc drive, will launch at $499. Meanwhile the “Digital Edition” of the console, which foregoes optical storage entirely, will release for a surprising $399, a full $100 cheaper despite only giving up a disc drive.
This will put Sony’s launch 2 days after Microsoft’s own Xbox Series X/S launch, which is taking place on Tuesday, November 10th. The $499 price tag for the two companies’ respective flagship consoles will put them in direct competition, while the PS5 Digital Edition/Xbox Series S divide should prove far more interesting – if not a bit frustrating for consumers trying to make the best choice. The discless PS5 is every bit as powerful as its disc-capable sibling – making it a spoiler of sorts at $399 – whereas the Xbox Series S gets a significantly weaker GPU than the Xbox Series X. However at $299 the slimmed down console is cheaper still, and still gets to run next-gen games.
Next-Gen Console Specs | ||||||
PlayStation 5 | PlayStation 5 Digital Edition |
Xbox Series S | Xbox Series X | |||
CPU | 8 Core AMD Zen 2 @ 3.5 GHz w/SMT |
8 Core AMD Zen 2 @ 3.6 GHz @ 3.4 GHz w/SMT |
8 Core AMD Zen 2 @ 3.8 GHz @ 3.6 GHz /wSMT |
|||
GPU | 36 CU AMD RDNA2 @ 2.23GHz |
20 CU AMD RDNA2 @ 1.565 GHz |
52 CU AMD RDNA2 @ 1.825 GHz |
|||
GPU Throughput (FP32) | 10.28 TFLOPS | 4 TFLOPS | 12.15 TFLOPS | |||
Memory | 16GB GDDR6 @ 14Gbps |
10GB GDDR6 @ 14Gbps |
16GB GDDR6 @ 14Gbps |
|||
Memory Throughput | 16GB@448GB/sec (256-bit) |
8GB@224GB/sec (128-bit) 2GB@56GB/sec (32-bit) |
10GB@560GB/sec (320-bit) 6GB@336GB/sec (192-bit) |
|||
Storage | 825GB PCIe 4 x4 SSD | 512GB PCIe 4 x2 SSD | 1TB PCIe 4 x2 SSD | |||
Storage Throughput | 5.5GB/sec | 2.4GB/sec | ||||
Storage Expansion | M.2 (NVMe) Slot PCIe 4 x4 |
Xbox Storage Expansion Card (1TB) | ||||
Disc Drive | 4K UHD Blu-Ray | No | No | 4K UHD Blu-Ray | ||
Manufacturing Process | TSMC 7nm | TSMC 7nm | TSMC 7nm | TSMC 7nm | ||
Launch Date | 2020/11/12 | 2020/11/10 | ||||
Launch Price | $499 | $399 | $299 | $499 |
Or if you’re in the mood for a PC (a platform we’re particularly partial towards), over the next couple of months we will be seeing new hardware launches there as well, including NVIDIA’s $500 GeForce RTX 3070, and AMD’s new RDNA2-based Radeon RX 6000 video cards. So there is no shortage of gaming hardware to be had this fall – at least if you have the cash.
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Oxford Guy - Sunday, September 20, 2020 - link
A friendly reminder that all consoles are massively overpriced.Every console sale = higher prices for PC gaming.
Why? You're paying to promote artificial walled software gardens. You're paying MS and Sony to place a tax on PC gaming.
bji - Sunday, September 27, 2020 - link
"massively overpriced" is a value judgement that you are trying, and failing, to present as fact. You have multiple posts that read like someone butt-hurt because they can't afford a console or something.These companies have been doing this a long time, they know what the "value" of their consoles are to players, and they set their prices accordingly.
vol.2 - Sunday, September 20, 2020 - link
I still can't get over how ugly the PS5 is. If I get one of these, I'm printing my own case and throwing away that piece of garbage they wrapped it in.Vitor - Monday, September 21, 2020 - link
Im pretty sure there will be a 3nm ps5 pro. 7nm will be outdated by next year.zodiacsoulmate - Thursday, September 24, 2020 - link
Well the PS5 is peak performance right? How about sustained performance?