PS4 Vs. PS5: 3 Major Differences
Last year Sony announced the arrival of the latest edition to their existing range of PlayStations with PlayStation 5. PlayStation fans often grapple with the decision of whether they should upgrade their PlayStation 4 or continue with the cult favorite PlayStation 5 ever since it came out.
Hence, we are here to help you understand the difference between PS4 and PS5 and decide for yourself which will benefit you the most.
PS4 vs PS5: A Brief Overview
Compared to the previous PlayStation, PlayStation 5 can load games significantly faster as you will not even notice the game loading as you can go through the game while it loads simultaneously. The newest edition is also backward compatible, meaning that it can load and any games that were built for PS4.
However, you have to pay a hefty price of a couple of hundred dollars more to upgrade to the PlayStation 5. So, if you are willing to wait for the prices to drop, you might be able to buy it at a lower price.
The PlayStation 5 is certainly an investment as the high-resolution games will make the gaming experience more exhilarating.
An exclusive component of the newest PlayStation would be the controller being compatible with Oodle Kraken. This latest compression algorithm from RAD Game Tools allows gaming files to be compressed, decompressed, and read faster.
And as for the GPU, both PlayStations are based on AMD Radeon chips. Though PlayStation 5 has a high count of teraflops and compute units compared to PlayStation 4. The eight times higher teraflop count basically indicates that the newest edition is eight times more powerful than the previous version.
What Are the Key Features of a PS4?
Below are some key features of the newest features to understand if it is worth buying a brand-new PlayStation 4 or not upgrading to PlayStation 5.
- Graphics
The PS4’s AMD Radeon based graphics engine has 1.84 teraflops that supports 7870 HD. This resolution offers a pretty amazing gaming experience. Know the difference between HD and SD.
- Storage
There is not a significant difference between the storage capacity of both PS4 and PS5. The base model has a capacity of 500GB.
- Games
The PS4 is renowned for having many exclusive games. Surprisingly, there are less than ten games of PS4 that are not compatible with PS5 despite the backward compatibility.
What Are the Key Features of a PS5?
Below are some key features of the newest features to understand exactly what you will be getting with the latest version of PlayStation 5.
- Graphics
The PS5 can support 4K at 120Hz and 8K, making the gaming experience more immersive and engaging than we have ever seen before. You can connect the PlayStation 5 with an HDMI 2.1 port, so you can expect to see higher resolution and frame rates.
HDMI 2.1 also contributes to having a higher variable refresh rate, so screen tearing will not be an issue.
- Storage
The newest model has a built-in 825GB storage capacity.
- Games
This might be the thing you will miss out on the most without an upgrade to the PlayStation 5. Sony plans to release over 500 new games that are only compatible with this version. And the backward compatibility will allow you also to enjoy every single game you played on a PlayStation 4.
Comparison Table Between PS4 and PS5
| Parameters of Comparison | PlayStation 5 | PlayStation 4 |
| Memory | 16 GB GDDR 6 | 8 GB GDDR 5 |
| CPU | 8 core, 16 thread, up to 3.5Ghz | 8 jaguar core |
| GPU | 36 CU, 2.23 GHz, 10.3 Teraflops, AMD RDNA 2 | 18 CU, 800MHz, 1.84 Teraflops |
| External Storage | USB HDD, NVMe SSD slot | 2.5-inch HDD, USB HDD |
| Internal Storage | Custom 825 GB SDD | 500 GB, 1 TB HDD |
| Video Output | 4K at 120Hz, 8K | 1080p or 1080i |
| Optical Drive | Ultra HD Blu-ray | Blu-ray |
Main Differences Between PS4 and PS5
- PlayStation 4’s GPU has fewer teraflops than PlayStation 5, 1/8th of the latest version to exact; this makes the PlayStation 5’s GPU 8 times more powerful.
- PlayStation 4 can not be used to play games that have only recently come out. In contrast, PlayStation 5’s backward compatibility allows you to play all games that were compatible with PlayStation 4.
- PlayStation 4 supports significantly lower resolutions compared to PlayStation 5’s 8K resolution support.
Final Words
Now that you know the difference between PS4 and PS5, you know that both consoles are absolutely brilliant.
However, as technology keeps advancing, the gaming experience keeps getting more immersive. So, if you are purchasing a PlayStation for the first time, it is better to save up for a PlayStation 5. This way, you can also get to experience all the games made for PS2, PS3, PS4 on a single PlayStation.
If you are thinking of upgrading, but you are on a budget, it is better to wait until the price of the PlayStation 5 gets dropped down.
