When Sony released its PlayStation 5 in 2020, the video game console had big shoes to fill. The previous generation PlayStation 4 sold more than 117 million units, making it one of the best-selling consoles of all time, and it’s still worth buying in 2026. Like its predecessor, the PS5 was designed using a custom AMD GPU that isn’t a one-to-one copy of any retail GPU available on store shelves. Still, when comparing a PS5’s performance with Nvidia’s GPUs, it most closely matches an Nvidia RTX 3070.
Nvidia’s RTX 3070 is a mid-range bracket GPU, similar to AMD’s Radeon RX 6700 in frame rates and other performance specs at 1440p. Those cards are also roughly equivalent to the RTX 3060 Ti, which is the Nvidia card that most closely matches against the Xbox Series X.
One selling point of the PS5 is gaming at 4K. Its GPU is built with 36 compute units running at a variable clock that peaks at 2.23 GHz, which works out to roughly 10.29 teraflops of raw compute. The PS5 GPU shares 16GB of GDDR6 memory with its CPU and leans on a fast SSD to stream assets quickly. On paper those numbers trail the Xbox Series X, which is one reason the console’s biggest games have to rely on smart optimization rather than brute force. But as with any console, raw specifications don’t tell the whole story. The PS5 has a variable clock and tight hardware tuning, allowing it to punch above its weight and teraflop count when gaming. As a result, real-world experience is that the Xbox Series X and PS5 are equally powerful.
The RTX 3070 is the closest match
The Nvidia RTX 3070 and AMD Radeon RX 6700 may be the most similar GPUs to the PS5 across the board, but they do have differences. On the Nvidia side, the RTX 3070 has less memory, but can offer faster performance, pretty much the same matchup with AMD’s Radeon RX 6700. People also often compare against Nvidia’s RTX 3060 Ti, which is close in certain scenarios, but it’s not quite the right match.
Another way to match GPUs against one another is to check recommended specs for games that run on all platforms. Sony’s “God of War Ragnarök,” for example, lists an Nvidia RTX 2060 Super or an AMD RX 5700 as its recommended GPU, with an Intel Arc A770 as an alternative. Those cards are less powerful than the PS5’s specs.
The PS5 design is what has helped it stay competitive despite its mid-range specs. Sony built the PS5 with one set of parts that the company’s engineers picked and put together. That meant Sony’s developers could spend more time on improving software performance, rather than typical PC hardware challenges such as ensuring compatibility with different types of chips, memory, or storage. That extra polish shows, including with extra features to help get the most out of a PS5.
All that optimization is part of what makes the Sony’s console still compelling. Sure, there are disadvantages of buying a PS5 too, including its low first-party output and disappointing PlayStation VR2 headset. Sony’s also increased the PS5 price since its launch, rather than lowering it, which is one of the reasons you should buy a used one.
