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It has been a long time since the PS5 / XBOX Series X launched. Needless to say, the demand for these consoles surpassed everyone’s expectations as people, to this day, continue to struggle to get their hands on a next-gen console.
Acquiring the PS5/XBOX Series X is far from an easy task when you take into account the availability issues triggered by the global chip shortage.
Both consoles are a rare find, and even if you do manage to stumble upon one, the console will likely be priced exorbitantly. It is not recommended that you buy a PS5 or an XBOX Series X at scalper prices. Instead, you can build yourself a state-of-the-art gaming PC that matches the gaming experience offered by a PS5 or an XBOX Series X.
One could argue that the price of graphics cards is also inflated, and sure, they'd be right. But acquiring a mid-end GPU at MSRP is far easier than trying to get a PS5 or XBOX Series X.
Components required to match PS5/Xbox Series X
At times, figuring out components for a high-end PC can be a frustrating affair. There are hundreds of options to choose from, and you have to take into account both aesthetics as well as performance when making your decision. Fortunately, we can make your decision easier.
Here are the components you'll need to derive a PS5/Xbox Series X-like experience from your PC.
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3060Ti - $399
According to a report by Digital Foundry, the PS5 is not miles behind RTX 2080Ti. But instead of going for the older card, the best bet here would be to get an RTX 3060Ti for $399.
It has 8GB of GDDR6 memory accompanied by 4864 CUDA cores. This is enough horsepower to outperform both PS5 and XBOX Series X. Teraflops aren't everything, but 16 TF is a good get for $399.
Processor: Core i5 12600KF - $300
Both the new consoles feature custom AMD eight-core Zen 2 CPUs, albeit at different clock speeds. To match or perhaps beat them, a Core i5 12600KF is the bare minimum a gamer should want.
Being overclockable and coming with plenty of power, the i5 12600KF can quite easily outclass AMD Zen 2 chips, at least when it comes to third-party titles like Call of Duty Vanguard and Fortnite.
It is vital to pick a processor that doesn't become a bottleneck for the GPU. More so because a lot of games out there require powerful multi-threaded performance, and that is something Intel's Alder Lake is great at.
Memory: Kingston Fury Beast KF552C40BB 16GB DDR5 - $144
The PS5 comes with 16 gigabytes of GDDR6 unified memory. Fortunately, the price of DDR5 memory sticks has come down significantly, and Kingston has been making superb PC components and accessories lately. So, recommending its Fury Beast series of RAMs is a no-brainer.
SSD: Kingston Fury Renegade 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 - $164.99
Mark Cerny, the PS5 lead system architect, was excited beyond measure when he told the world what the console's SSD was capable of. For the first time, console hardware was almost a generation ahead of PC hardware. Nothing on the market could topple what Sony had made for almost a full year.
Fortunately, you can find faster drives on the market these days.
Kingston Fury Renegade's latest iteration is an NVMe M.2 drive capable of pushing speeds of up to 7,300/7,000MB/s read/write and up to 1,000,000 IOPS.
Using this product will result in non-existent loading times. It might not match the PS5's loading speeds or XBOX Series X's Quick Resume feature, thanks to a lack of optimization, but it will certainly be able to emulate the experience to an acceptable level.
Case: NZXT H210i - $109.99
Aesthetics are subjective. Some people like the PS5's in-your-face design, while some prefer the XBOX's minimalist, almost micro-atx-like design. The commonality is the form factor. Consoles are known for their compact designs, unlike PCs. This choice is influenced by the same.
NZXT makes some of the most efficient and good-looking cases in the industry. H210i allows the RTX 3060Ti to fit comfortably while maintaining a compact form factor.
Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX B660-I DDR5 - $179.99
The 660 series of boards brings support for DDR5 memory and PCIe 5.0 GPUs. The pricing is slightly on the higher side due to novelty. If that's a problem, you could go for older B660 DDR4 boards and opt for DDR4 memory. This will save you about $150.
The total cost of the build
Now let's take a look at what the sum of all the above-mentioned products would be.
- CPU: $300
- GPU: $399
- Memory: $144
- SSD: $164.99
- Case: $109.99
- Motherboard: $179.99
Total: $1297.97
PlayStation Studios' games are slowly starting to release on PC. Microsoft's Game Pass PC service brings all first-party Xbox titles to the device as well. And then, of course, you have the existing lineup of games on Steam. This build will let you max out any game at 1440P and arguably provide better ray-tracing performance while not being tied to an ecosystem.
