Discussion Is it my unilateral dream, building a Playstation 5 competing PC?

andypouch

Prominent
Oct 16, 2019
64
9
535
Have red a number of news about PS5 due to be released in fall of 2020.

From TechRadar Oct 8 2019:
A bespoke 8-core AMD chipset based on third generation Ryzen architecture, with a GPU taking the best bits of the Radeon Navi GPU family; a built-for-purpose SSD storage system; 3D audio; backwards compatibility with PS4 games and PSVR hardware; 8K TV support. It's all been revealed by PlayStation top-dog Mark Cerny, the man behind the construction of the PS4, and now in charge of the next-gen console's development.
Full article here.

From WccfTech Oct 9 2019:
The PlayStation 5 console is going to feature a CPU based on the Ryzen line by AMD, but little else has been said by Sony regarding the matter. New details, however, managed to come in thanks to a Japanese source.

Japanese magazine Famitsu confirmed on its official website that the PlayStation 5 CPU will be an x86-64-AMD Ryzen “Zen2”, 8 cores / 16 threads CPU. Many speculated that the console's CPU would sport 8 cores and 16 threads, so it's nice to finally have confirmation.
Full article here.

From Tom's Hardware Oct 26 2019:
Sony has been keeping a tight lip on the PS5. Officially, Sony revealed that the next-generation console will employ a custom, third-generation AMD Ryzen processor with Navi graphics, meaning it's most likely an APU (accelerated processing unit). The rumored chip, which has been labeled Gonzalo, reportedly sports eight Zen 2 cores. The most recent leaked sample showed the chip running with a 1.6 GHz base clock and 3.2 GHz boost clock. It's expected to carry a Navi 10 Lite graphics solution that operates at 1,800 MHz.
Full article here.

Given SONY has selected the Ryzen Zen2 8C/16T architecture, would that be a crazy idea to build a PC rig based on the R5 3700X? Your opinions.
 

andypouch

Prominent
Oct 16, 2019
64
9
535
Adding the 2080ti to the equation will be far too expensive. I'm sure the PS5 will not be sold for anything above $1000.

What draws my attentions is the future of game developments. The selection of 8C/16T architecture indicates SONY intends to advocate multi-cores/multi-threads games in the future. 6C/6T CPUs like Intel's will decline.
 
Adding the 2080ti to the equation will be far too expensive. I'm sure the PS5 will not be sold for anything above $1000.

What draws my attentions is the future of game developments. The selection of 8C/16T architecture indicates SONY intends to advocate multi-cores/multi-threads games in the future. 6C/6T CPUs like Intel's will decline.
I didn't know you were talking competing in a price to performance match-up. It has been done time and time again with every new console release to try to match the dollar worth of a console. It always fails.
 

andypouch

Prominent
Oct 16, 2019
64
9
535
I didn't know you were talking competing in a price to performance match-up. It has been done time and time again with every new console release to try to match the dollar worth of a console. It always fails.

From a business point of view, the pricing of consoles won't exceed their costs by that much; added to the fact that the actual profits will be supplemented by the games that support the sales of the console.

I am still trying to figure out why game developers still stick to 6 cores single thread games even for the AAA titles like BF V, FC 5 and ACO. Is that because the console being the main driver of games one of these days?
 
Last edited:

InvalidError

Titan
Moderator
PCs have trouble keeping up with weaker consoles because console games are heavily optimized for the console hardware instead of worrying about supporting a broad range of hardware and performance options. Having a fixed hardware configuration also enables console OS to ditch most of the hardware abstraction overhead which makes things more efficient all-around.

Of course, there is also the matter that Sony/M$/Nintendo are making their profit on game licenses and service subs, not consoles. So consoles tend to be much cheaper than nearest equivalent off-the-shelf hardware.
 
For a long time now, lots of reviewers have ben telling on thier channels and websites to avoid low core count and no HT cpus (of course, if gaming is important to you and money is not the limiting factor). Its been months since we start hearing rumors about new consoles coming with Ryzen 3rd gen APUs, and it was almost for sure that it will be a an 8 core / 16 threads CPU.

Now, that for me translate to one impornat thing -> New games will be developed to (some already are and can) use as many threads as they have available.

Having said that, this will not happend from day to night, and not all games will benefit from using 8, 12, or 16 cores. But sure it will be a trend thats comin to stay (heck, only low budget smart phones have 4 cores).
Even Intel have (a not yet announced) Core i3 with 4 cores/8 threads leaked, and I wouldn't be surprised if some leak benchmark show up soon with a Core i5 6 cores/12 threads.

So your question about been ....crazy idea to build a PC rig based on the R5 3700X (in fact its a Ryzen 7 3700X)? I think the answer is no, is not crazy.

BUT,
- Do you need it now ? thats the best question you should ask!
-What type of games do you play ?
  • Whats your monitor resolution and refresh rate? (the higher this values, the less important becomes the CPU)
  • Whats your GPU, having a high end CPU with a crappy GPU wont give you any advantage)?

So depending on the answer you could, get a good motherboard with a strong VRM and get away with a cheaper but very capable Ryzen 5 3600 (6 cores/12 threads), and later on upgrade to a zen3 (Ryzen 4 gen) CPU.
 

andypouch

Prominent
Oct 16, 2019
64
9
535
New games which is happening to PS5 will be ported to PC according to history eventually. This will impact the PC consumer community specially for those who are still using anything less than 8c16t CPUs. One could build a 8c16t or even a 12c24t purely for playing the AAA titles which are available on the PS5, but certainly those who own anything less than that configuration will be left without a chair when the music stops.

Now, the question rather is, how much provision we will give to the CPU/Mobo and GPU for forthcoming multi-cores multi threads games?