If you haven’t heard, the PS5 Pro is a bit pricey. As a slew of shocking tweets and articles following the console’s launch on Tuesday suggested, it’ll cost at least $699.99 / £699.99. So, many people are asking, is it a wise move to just buy a PC?
Now, IGN has asked Richard Leadbetter, founder of renowned hardware expert Digital Foundry, the same puzzle, and the answer isn’t as simple as “Oh, sure.”
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When asked how much a PC similar to the Pro would cost, Leadbetter said: “Probably a little more. [than the PS5 Pro]. If you think about all the different components holistically, the GPU you need is enhanced ray tracing, which no AMD GPU has right now, the machine learning module, which no AMD GPU has – it’s almost like an Nvidia-style feature set, but made by AMD.
“The closest equivalent GPU [to the Pro] What you will see is [Nvidia GeForce] The RTX 4070 and 4060 are very close to the base version of the PlayStation 5, taking into account machine learning and ray tracing,” Leadbetter continued, mentioning that he found that the cheapest 4070 cost $540 at a glance, “In addition to that, you also need a CPU, motherboard, memory, power supply, case, [a] 2TB SSD, so the cost will also go up.”
Still, Leadbetter goes on to cite a number of “mitigating factors,” including no longer having to pay for a PayStation Plus subscription for online gaming and cloud saves, noting that you’ll therefore need to properly research the relative cost of a PS5 Pro versus a PC in a year to get a proper picture.
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He went on to add: “We’re probably missing the point a little bit because if you think about what the PS5 Pro is, it’s a machine designed for a new audience, it’s designed for people who already have a PlayStation 5 but have enough disposable income to buy a better PlayStation 5. I think those people will have an existing library of PS4 and PS5 games, and to make the jump from the PlayStation ecosystem to the PC ecosystem, you have to give up those games, give up the entire library that you might have accumulated.”
Ledbetter said he thinks this is “too much” for many veteran PlayStation gamers, noting that it might not be as important for those considering switching to PC from other platforms like Xbox.
He also said that because the PS5 Pro is more expensive in some regions, such as Europe and Japan, the case for switching to PC “becomes more compelling” for gamers in those regions, while the PC’s inability to adapt well to seamless gaming on the couch with a controller setup is also a factor.
What do you think? Have you been considering buying a PC instead of a PS5 Pro? Let us know below.
