When the PS5 hit the market, I rejoiced. After being a PC gamer for over 25 years, I had become discouraged by the constant upgrades and inflated prices.
Just 5 years ago, I could buy a top-of-the-line CPU for less than $150. Now you can’t even get a cheap low-end CPU for a hundred and fifty dollars.
When the PS5 finally arrived at my house, and I stripped away its sleek packaging, I decided enough was enough: the PC had to go. I would remain a console gamer forever.
What a mistake. I miss PC gaming.
So I decided to build myself a new gaming console, RIG and the first thing I wanted to know was: what is the PS5 CPU equivalent for PCs? Which PC CPU, Intel or AMD, matches or exceeds the performance and features of the PS5 CPU.
After doing a little research, here is what I found out:
Which PC CPU is the equivalent of the PS5 CPU? The PS5 CPU, which has 8 cores, 16 threads, and a clock speed of 3.2 GHz, is equivalent to the AMD Ryzen 7 5700G or the Intel Core i7 12700k. Both CPUs operate at a higher clock frequency than the PS5 CPU and offer similar core and thread counts. They are about 40% more powerful than the PS5 CPU.
Ok, now you know what PC CPU is the equivalent of the PS5’s CPU. But there is so much more to learn. So in the following sections, I’ll get into that:
- What CPU actually is in PS5
- What features and specifications a PC CPU needs to match or exceed the PS5 CPU
- The equivalent AMD CPU to the PS5
- The equivalent between CPU and the PS5
- Should you upgrade your existing CPU?
I have a lot to cover, so let us get started…
What CPU is in the PS5
The PS5’s CPU is based on the Zen2 Ryzen 7 3700, with 8 cores and 16 threads. Sony’s 5th generation console CPU is clocked at 3.2 GHz, higher than the previous generation PS4 Pro and Xbox One X CPU.
The PS5’s CPU can reach a maximum of 4 GHz, but only for a short time.
The 8 cores, 16 threads, and the speed of 3.2 GHz make the PS5’s CPU one of the most advanced CPUs ever installed in a console.
The PS5’s CPU uses the Zen2 architecture, one of AMD’s newest architectures as of 2019 when the PS5 was first announced. AMD claims that this architecture is much faster than Zen+’s architecture.
Although Sony announced the specifications for the PS5 months before its release, no detailed information was provided above the CPU. Aside from the number of cores, CPU’s clock speed, and CPU’s boost speeds, Sony has never talked about CPU’s performance in more measurable terms like giga-operations per second.
This would have given us a more precise comparison with other CPUs. For example, 6-core Intel CPUs are generally as powerful as 8-core AMD CPUs.
What features and specifications a PC CPU must have to be the equivalent of the PS5 CPU.
The PS5’s CPU has 8 cores and 16 threads and runs at a rated speed of 3.2 GHz.
So, if we are looking for a PC CPU equivalent to the PS5 CPU, we should aim for at least these specs.
So the PC CPU you are looking for should include the following:
- 8 cores
- 16 threads
- A nominal clock speed of 3.2 GHz for all cores
If the CPU you are looking to buy meets or exceeds the above CPU features, you should have a PC that meets or exceeds the PS5 in pure CPU performance.
If the CPU you are considering does not meet or exceed these characteristics, you should reconsider the purchase or look for another CPU. The same advice applies to the other CPU parts you are considering buying.
In the next two sections, I’ll look at which AMD and Intel CPU best fit the PS5 CPU. Let us take a look.
AMD CPU equivalent to PS5 CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700G
After sifting through tons of research data and consulting with experts at my local computer store, I have concluded that the Ryzen 7 5700G AMD CPU is the processor that best matches the PS5’s CPU. This CPU has the same 8 cores and 16 threads as the PS5’s CPU, but it runs at a much faster 4.6 GHz than the 3.2 GHz PS5 CPU. Consequently, considering the number of cores and the CPU clock speed, the Ryzen 7 5700G is a whopping 43% faster than the PS5 CPU.
In addition to the higher clock speed, this CPU also has an impressive stock cooler, saving you the hassle and expense of buying a third-party CPU cooler. Normally, a decent 3rd party CPU cooler costs $40-50. So the savings are very welcome. The Ryzen 7 5700G can be purchased for as little as $250. That makes AMD’s Ryzen 5700G a bargain for a CPU.
The Ryzen 7 5700G supports the following features:
- Play some of the most popular games at 1080p with the fastest processor graphics globally. No graphics card is required.
- AMD Wraith Stealth cooler is included in the package
- Can be overclocked
- DDR4-3200 RAM supported
- Supports the advanced Socket AM4 platform.
I could have recommended an older CPU like the Ryzen 3700X but decided against it. The 3700X CPU would also be significantly more powerful than the PS5’s CPU. However, this CPU is now 3 years old and harder to buy than the newer 5700G. So if you already have a 3700 CPU, do not bother upgrading.
Intel CPU equivalent to the PS5 CPU.
It’s harder to compare an Intel CPU to the PS5’s AMD CPU because Intel CPUs tend to perform better than AMD CPUs in games.
From what I learned and what the smart guys at the Swansea Market PC store told me, the 3rd generation Zen 2 CPUs had difficulty keeping up with the i5 10600K CPU. However, the 10600K only offers 6 cores compared to the PS5’s 8 cores. The i5 10600k delivers more power than the PS5 CPU despite the lower core count. But the 10600k has one drawback: it’s old. And since it is an old CPU, it is hard to get.
If I had to choose a more modern Intel CPU, I’d go for the 12700K. This monster of a CPU offers 8 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, giving you 12 CPU cores to play around with. The CPU’s performance cores have a clock speed of 3.6 GHz. However, individual cores can clock up to 5 GHz. This high core clock rate provides excellent performance in games that do not use multithreading, such as the original Crysis.
Also, each performance core has 2 threads, so you have 20 threads of computing power.
That may seem excessive compared to the PS5’s modest 8 cores and 16 threads CPU. But that would be a misconception. According to Intel’s marketing material, the 12700K only uses the 8 performance cores for gaming. So just like the PS5’s CPU, the Intel 12700K has 8 cores and 16 threads available for gaming. Due to the more advanced microarchitecture of the 12700K, it should be about 40-50% more powerful than the PS5’s CPU.
Some of the 12700K’s features are:
- Thanks to its Hyper-Threading architecture and large cache, the Intel Core i7 12700K processor delivers great performance in demanding applications, especially graphics.
- The motherboard supports socket LGA-1700with 25 MB L3 cache to increase instruction processing and system performance.
- Thanks to its new microarchitecture, Intel 7 improves performance with the same power consumption as its predecessor.
- Built-in Intel UHD GPU.
Should I upgrade my CPU to match the PS5’s CPU?
If the CPU you currently own was created in 2019 or later and has 6 cores or more, I would NOT consider upgrading your CPU. The FPS gains you would make by upgrading the CPU would be minimal. You would be better off buying a more powerful GPU or expanding your RAM pool to 16 GB.
For example, if you have an Intel Core i5 9600K or newer, that should be enough to last you through the PS5 generation of consoles.
If you have an AMD Ryzen 5 2600, that CPU should be powerful enough for this console generation.
Yes, both CPUs only have 6 cores. However, the speeds of FPS in games are usually massively determined by the GPU you are using, not the CPU, so if you are looking to upgrade and you have the above CPUs or better, pour your money into your GPU.
If you are looking to upgrade your PC, the CPU is not the best place to start. The best value in upgrading your PC for gaming will always be a new GPU, not a new CPU.
Summary
Now that the article is over, let me briefly remind you of the main points of the article:
- The PS5 CPU is built by AMD, runs mostly at 3.2 GHz, and has 8 cores and 16 threads.
- If you want to buy a CPU for your PC, it should meet or exceed the CPU features mentioned above.
- The best equivalent AMD CPU to the PS5 CPU is AMD Ryzen 7 5700G.
- The Intel Core-i7 12700k is the best equivalent CPU to the PS5 CPU.
- If you have a CPU with 6 cores or more and is not older than 2019, you should avoid upgrading your CPU and upgrade your GPU instead.