By the point Sony formally introduced the PlayStation 5 Professional on September tenth, 2024, the gaming world already knew quite a bit about it. By means of leaks, rumors, and hypothesis, details about the PS5 Professional had many individuals questioning nicely prematurely whether or not an improve over the unique PS5 could be price it. Nonetheless, the eventual official announcement dispelled any doubts concerning the new console’s enhancements over its predecessor. The PS5 Professional’s new GPU had enhanced specs that might ship as much as 45% sooner rendering speeds.
The PS5 Professional’s GPU, generally known as “Viola,” is unique to the console and, due to this fact, not accessible for customized PCs. As an alternative, it is a youngster of collaboration between Sony and AMD. Consequently, it is thought-about a part of AMD’s RDNA 2 technology. Nonetheless, it additionally borrows options from RDNA 3.0 and 4.0 structure. That locations it in the identical household because the RX 6000 and 7000 sequence playing cards. Unsurprisingly, many graphics playing cards from these sequence are akin to the PS5 Professional’s GPU.
The AMD Radeon RX 7700 XT is the closest equal GPU to the PS5 Professional’s GPU. Now, that is a daring declare to make, contemplating the depth of the controversy. Console followers and PC followers alike have been debating this subject ever since IGN asserted that the RTX 4070 was the closest equal following an interview with Richard Leadbetter from Digital Foundry. Since then, nonetheless, efficiency scores, official specs, and even analyses from Leadbetter himself have revealed that the RTX 4070 is extra highly effective than the PS5 Professional and, due to this fact, not an correct equal. Different robust contenders embody the RTX 4060 Ti and the RX 6800, however the RX 7700 XT is finally the very best match.
How the RX 7700 XT compares to the PS5 Professional
Earlier than entering into the weeds of technical specs, first think about the similarity of the structure used for the PS5 Professional’s GPU and the RX 7700 XT. The “structure” of a GPU refers back to the organizational structure of its computing parts, like processing cores. When corporations like AMD design a brand new sequence of graphics playing cards, they re-engineer the earlier technology’s structure to fulfill trendy graphics calls for. For instance, the very best AMD gaming graphics playing cards characteristic optimized structure that allows easy operation with AMD FidelityFX Tremendous Decision 4 (FSR 4), which makes use of AI to upscale resolutions.
The PS5 Professional makes use of AMD structure, nevertheless it’s not a particular technology. As an alternative, it builds upon the RDNA 2.0 structure of the unique PS5 by including newer options from RDNA 3.0 and 4.0, giving it the nickname “RDNA 2.x.” Comparatively, the RX 7700 XT makes use of RDNA 3.0 structure. Due to this distinction, you may suppose that the PS5 Professional is not as optimized because the RX 7700 XT. Nonetheless, the PS5 Professional makes up for its barely outdated structure by incorporating devoted {hardware} to run its personal AI-powered upscaler, referred to as PlayStation Spectral Tremendous Decision (PSSR). Because of this, the 2 GPUs carry out equally when working their respective upscaling know-how.
The RX 7700 XT and PS5 Professional additionally share related specs. For instance, their increase clock speeds are shut, with the 7700 XT maxing out at 2544 MHz and the PS5 Professional maxing out at 2350 MHz. And whereas the 7700 XT has 12GB of VRAM, the PS5 Professional has 16GB; their {hardware} variations steadiness out their performances. That is as a result of the 7700 XT has second-generation ray-tracing cores, whereas the PS5 Professional requires that additional 4GB of VRAM to deal with its less-efficient first-generation ray-tracing cores.
Why the AMD RX 7700 XT triumphs over alternate options
Maybe essentially the most extensively cited equal to the PS5 Professional is the GeForce RTX 4070. Its proponents level to the similarities of the console’s ray tracing know-how and machine-learning block with the characteristic set of NVIDIA GPUs. Nonetheless, now that the PS5 Professional has been launched, many testers have positioned its GPU in decrease benchmarks than have been initially predicted.
In an evaluation by tech reviewer Jacob Terkelsen, the PS5 Professional would want a 65% velocity enchancment over the unique PS5 to match the efficiency of the RTX 4070, nevertheless it achieves speeds solely 45% sooner at most. Certainly, many person checks affirm that the PS5 Professional is slower than the RTX 4070. As an illustration, in 4K checks of Elden Ring, the PS5 Professional achieves body charges within the mid-50s, whereas the RTX 4070 constantly maintains the sport’s 60fps cap. In the meantime, the RX 7700 XT performs simply in addition to the PS5 Professional, hitting a median body charge of 54 fps.
One other generally cited PS5 Professional equal is the RTX 4060 Ti. It has a number of comparable specs to these of the PS5 Professional, together with the identical 16GB of VRAM and related clock speeds. Nonetheless, when evaluating efficiency, the RTX 4060 Ti falls wanting the PS5 Professional. Once more, when working Elden Ring at 4K, the PS5 Professional achieves body charges within the mid–50s, as does the RX 7700 XT. On the identical settings, the RTX 4060 Ti achieves body charges within the excessive 40s. After all, Elden Ring is only one recreation, and such comparisons rely upon quite a few components, together with variations in ray-tracing applied sciences, graphics settings, and upscaling modes. However in order for you the closest match by way of efficiency, the RX 7700 XT is your finest wager.
