How to Build a PS5 Pro Equivalent PC

Sony released the PS5 Pro earlier this year, bringing a significant graphical boost to the four-year-old console. The mid-gen refresh comes at a hefty $700, with the main selling point being an AI-based upscaler and a bigger GPU. The news was not received well by many gamers, with most wondering whether building a PC would make more sense.

PS5 Pro Equivalent PC Specs

Here's where things get tricky: the PS5 Pro uses an AMD GPU based on the RDNA 3 architecture, but some features are derived from the upcoming RDNA 4 GPUs, which don't exist in the PC space. While plenty of graphics cards can match, or even exceed, the raw GPU power of the PS5 Pro, none currently support those next-gen features or come under a competitive price.

Of course, throwing more hardware at it can solve the issue to an 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 CPU with eight cores and sixteen threads. On PC, if you're using AMD, we're already on Zen 5, and Intel's latest generation CPUs also offer similar performance.

That's why we can't just look at the raw teraflop count of the GPUs, as upscaling and driver support will vary between GPU vendors. It will be tricky, but we'll use one main metric to compare the hardware: image quality and performance target.

The PS5 Pro is built to run games at or close to a native 4K resolution at 60fps with image reconstruction. Some settings will undoubtedly be pushed higher than that on the original console, so let's say it's running games on the "Ultra" graphics preset as found on PC ports.

Another tricky thing to figure out will be whether to use the latest generation parts or older ones. New PC builders can save quite a lot when using older parts, especially on motherboards and memory. We've accounted for the former to save costs.

The PlayStation Pro 5 as revealed in the PS5 Technical Presentation in September 2024. The PS5 Pro is powerful, but expensive, with a US MSRP of $699.99 Sony

We've chosen 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 find these parts offline. You can also swap out certain components and build an even better PC for a similar price. The following build is based on market prices at the time of writing, i.e. the last week of December 2024.

If you're comparing prices, here's what we ended up with (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 16 GB DDR4 3200 MHz ($29.99)
• Storage: Western Digital Black SN770 2 TB ($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 OS, crosses $700 by a decent margin, coming in at $887 if you're using the AMD RX 7700 XT GPU. With the Nvidia GPU, that shoots up to $937. If you're buying Windows 11 on top, add another $100, and adding peripherals, monitor, etc for a completely new build can easily take the price over $1000.

PC vs PS5 Pro – What Are the Advantages?

After going through the trouble of finding all the parts, building the PC, installing all drivers, and tying up loose ends with some neat cable management, what are you getting out of it?

Well, for starters, flexibility. Like the PS5 Pro, modern GPUs can use upscaling technologies for games rendering at lower resolutions, boosting frame rates. Both Nvidia and AMD GPUs also support frame generation, so you can play at 120fps or more. This makes for a dramatic difference in smoothness, and of course, you can still tinker with the settings to your liking.

As a comparison, let's look at a recent game like Star Wars Outlaws. By using console-equivalent settings, you can boost frame rates by over 60% and get better image quality than the base PS5. With frame generation, we could run Black Myth: Wukong close to 120fps, and that's with a weaker CPU than the one we've included in this build! Even Final Fantasy 16 can run at over 200fps when using the right settings, and it'll look better than it does on the base PS5 and, presumably, the PS5 Pro.

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

PlayStation has also started to port its games to PC, and they scale much higher on that platform. As seen in the PC ports of Ghost of Tsushima and Horizon: Forbidden West, it's not that tough to max out the settings and run the game at or over 60fps with better quality. The best PC games will always include more graphical options compared to the console counterpart, so you can play Cyberpunk 2077 with ray-traced reflections, shadows, and global illumination all turned on, while the PlayStation version only includes RT shadows at 30fps.

And then, of course, there are the cheaper games. Steam includes thousands of games with many multi-platform games that are cheaper on PC compared to the PlayStation store. We've got frequent deals, and if you're looking to build a library for free, look no further than the Epic Games Store.

We've yet to see how well PS5 Pro-enhanced games will utilize the console, and how much of the PC-exclusive features will make their way into the console ports.

All of that comes at a cost. You're paying slightly more to build the PC, and it's not as easy to use as a console. That's why there will always be a place for consoles in the market, with most gamers who want convenience choosing the plastic box over the overkill computer on their work desk.

If there's one thing that's clear, it's that building a PC for $700 that can match the PS5 Pro is tough. The value proposition that a console provides will always be better, which is why it's a mass-market device, even when targeted towards enthusiasts.