It totally depends on what you "want" from your PC... if you want a really "cool build" even a enthusiast might become happy with for many years... it would require my PC or comparable... this is of course way higher than any PS5 ever will cost you. However, if you "just" want to build something that will match a PS5 in specs... it surely will be a fraction of this price, yet... the only true advantage is that this PC is a "swiss army knive"... so it can do everything at once, with the disadvantage of being DRM bound without any disc option.... unless you may find something suitable on GoG.

Yet, if Sony is continuing their current path, they may just provide another "digital only PC" and in this term they may have to directly compete with PC which may look bad for them. The original console traits are slowly becoming "worsened"... as a PC is kinda able to provide almost the same convenience nowadays. This is the critical spot Sony will have to tackle: How to bring more value to the PS5 as a own platform? Currently there are almost no PS-exclusives anymore (Sony kinda is giving up a lot of their previous power... for the sake of PC sells) and the unique trait of having physical discs is as well slowly becoming "butchered down"... this can become a real issue...

My current builds cost, which is crazy enough:

Current price of comparable hardware and (in brackets the price aproximately 1-2 years ago).
Prices in CHF

GPU: 3090 TI........................................................800 (1290) (compared to a 4070 TI Super or 7900 XT)
MB: MSI X670E Ace.............................................800 (740)
CPU: 7800 X3D....................................................380 (430)
PSU: Seasonic Prime TX-1300.............................400 (390) (there is native 12VHPWR available now)
RAM: 64 GB DDR5...............................................180 (215)
GPU Holder: Intertech GH-01...............................15 (15)

SSD Game C: 4 TB T700 PCIE 5.0:.....................540 (490)
SSD Game B: 4 TB Fury Renegade PCIE 4.0......260 (470)
SSD OS: 2 TB Fury Renegade PCIE 4.0..............140 (220)
SSD Game A: 2 TB 990 Pro PCIE 4.0..................180 (300)

HDD Backup: 20 TB Toshiba MG10......................320 (320)
HDD Backup: 24+ TB (not upgraded yet)......(unknown... but very pricey)

Case: EATX Sharkoon CA300H.............................140 (160)
CPU Cooler: Alpenföhn 360 High Speed...............200 (200)

Current price (comparable build): 4355 CHF
Old initial price 1-2 years ago: (5240 CHF) Price difference +885 CHF = +17%

Of course it can always be cheaper, mainly on dumping down on the MB, on the PSU, and not by using a PCIE 5.0
SSD or in general lower quality SSDs (KC 3000 is a good choice). However, this is not the point with my build
because i had max quality in mind so i may not suffer destroyed hardware at above 5 years (i already had this
experience with my previous build, which surely was cheaper, especially on the MB).

With lower quality, without loss in performance, perhaps around 1000 CHF can be saved up... yet this is still
above 3000 CHF with my space demand. However, the only upgrade i may execute in the next 5+ years is a second
backup HDD and a GPU upgrade (pricey enough...).

The things which got the highest price drops are generally the "mainstream stuff", in my build this would affect the PCIE 4.0 SSDs, which got a huge price cut because they was not able to "hold up the robbery" anymore, and to some extend the GPU prices because they are slowly moving into newer generations which are competing with the old generation... and in general those prices was messed up by digital-currency-farmers and scalpers, which slowly was becoming less critical but it will become a "new mess" with the newest generation i predict (sadly).

One thing that will never drop is simply my pricey board because this is not mainstream and there is no need to drop a price of a "Porsche"... nor from the PSU which is a "Rolls Royce", for those who simply are not saving up on coins. Understanding those stuff may help making the right decisions.

No real reason, consoles only make sense when it is impossible for your average gamer to build a brand new system of equal price/performance. They get away with this for as long as they make it back through subscriptions.

This is the problem that will kill consoles though. People are getting tired of subscriptions but thats the only way consoles can be cheap. If consoles cut the subscriptions and sell themselves at their normal prices, then a PC becomes the better deal. There is no win-win situation.

Just partner up with AMD or NVIDIA at this point, focus on PC parts, and call it a day.

Okay, checking out if the PS5 prices actually makes sense. I think a comparable PC should be at least 2 times the price because a console can simply be produced way more efficient, everything from one hand with one single margin... entire situation less complicated: The efficiency is raised a lot. So, naturally consoles can have the advantage for being able to "offer more for less", but how much more or for how much less is the big question?

Whats clear: Sony is not anymore subsidizing their hardware. It was the case in the first 1-2 years of the PS5, Sony had a small loss there but they quickly was able to get ride of the minor loss by changing the console design. Some people may remember the cooler incident in which the PS5 revision had lesser weight. However... Sony kinda made a design that is almost same cooling with lesser material. No matter if this was good or bad.... they had lesser costs after and after this action... they made no losses anymore at hardware sells. Nintendo never had any losses at all, but this is not a surprise.

I made a comparable build, which is available (i never pick something not available, makes no sense) for the old PS5 and the new PS5 pro small... at the current time. I do not like to "create trash" just not my thing, so i try not to cut every possible corner on quality, just as much as it is required for a very affordable price.

CPU: Ryzen 7 5800X...........................140 (a bit above PS5 Pro CPU)
MB: mATX AsRock B550M Pro4..........100 (should support 1x PCIE 4.0 SSD, and 1x PCIE 4.0 card, including heatsink)
SSD: 2 TB KC 3000..............................130
GPU: Arc 750 LE..................................270 (4070 super.........540 @PS5 Pro)
Case: mATX AeroCool Atomic Lite.......45
PSU: Seasonic Focus GX 850 W.........110
RAM: Trident Z RGB 2x16 GB, 3600...100
CPU cooler: be quiet! Pure Rock 2.......45

Total: 940 = PS5 performance
Total: 1210 = PS5 Pro performance

For PS5 Pro peformance we need to switch out the Arc 750 with a 4070 super GPU at least... so this will be 540 for this card, so basically twice the GPU price for at least 45%+ more performance. If it can keep up in RT, not sure... but to be honest... without sufficient rasterization performance (at the level of a 3090 TI, 4070 TI super or 7900 XT) the higher RT power may not truly provide any great FPS and thus... we simply see a crispy RT graphic but with still slow overall performance... unless we turn down on details that will affect rasterization but not RT.

In my mind, way higher RT is not everything but this is the only "true advantage" of the PS5 Pro.

So, how big is the price difference PC vs PS5 Pro? Clearly not high enough to make a PS5 Pro slim any good deal anymore.... i am sad to say... but simply true.

In my mind Sony has gotten to cheap now and they should have waited about half a year, so they was able to release a true RDNA 4 GPU with +90% rasterization, on top of the current RT bonus. Putting a disc drive inside, in a fat PS5 and almost everyone would be happy with the PS5 Pro FAT price!!!

What they currently did is crap... sorry to say.

My ultimate judgement: Sorry no and never... Sony failed.

Note: I still did not use the most crappy PC parts available, i tried to use a build that can last.
This budget build will NOT support GPUs above 295 mm, but it was never intended to go above "midrange" or 30 cm or above.

Logically and on a technical level there isn't.

However, remember a huge chunk of the population aren't tech savvy and can't build/maintain their own systems, we're talking 3% who can (and 5% of them who are technically inclined to do programming). For most people i can see where you take one look at it and then shrug your shoulders and prefer to leave it to someone else to deal with.

From what i've seen DIY/build your own is typically half the cost from a pre-built or console, so that adds up.

Yes, I think convenience has always been a big part of the appeal for consoles. But then, we should also bear in mind that the large majority who aren't tech-savvy probably aren't going to likely want to spend $700 on a piece of kit. So, the target budget for consoles also has to be lower (i.e. price matters as well).

Well, there are some other considerations (albeit not important to all)...

... the size of the multiplayer community / ecosystem...

... physical media (and the ability to buy, sell, and trade it)...

... game optimization for hardware...

... and everyone's "favorite": exclusives

Overall I just don't think the PS5 has justified its existence let alone price tag (yet). To push a modest refresh at a higher price point was just Sony being Sony.
100%. When you can build a moderate gaming PC for $700 - $1000 (USD) and have the ability to use that machine for things other than just gaming...

... the PS5 Pro proposition looks less and less attractive.

A few years back there was talk that MS would bow out of the console / hardware market. It seemed crazy at the time, but now maybe it makes sense. If consoles keep skyrocketing in price, why would anyone keep buying them? Better to use that money toward a PC... and then... maybe buy games from MS (or Sony)?

i do not think this "Linus" can build a capable 1080P PC for 600 USD (always remember, they are without taxes, it is 20% or more in the EU) unless it is somewhat a "firecracker" not build to last and not comparable to a PS5 (non Pro). For example by using integrated GPUs, MBs that got zero functionalities except to barely hold a CPU in place (guess worse of what a PS5 can do) and a PSU that can barely match the one from a console. In the end, barely or not upgrade able... all this stuff makes a PC so worse that it is not even a match for a console at the same performance because the PC is still 3-5 times bigger size... if we compare it like this... the console is simply the better device. PCs need to be able to provide their unique traits (custom with high flexibility, upgrade able, runs pretty cool), the same way a console (most compact by far, everything works out of the box, specialized for the exact stuff it had been made for) should be able to.

Performance is important but it is not everything, there is way more than this playing a role... for example optimization and specializing a device for a certain task, which makes sense.

Fact is, for a long time hardware prices from PCs has been insane but the situation was cooling down since around a year (middle of 2023).

I can not generally say that a "prebuild" PC is generally more pricey, it totally depends on the manufacturer but what i can say for sure is: The quality of a prebuild PC is generally low, with the usual exceptions of course (but those exceptions surely will have insane prices, quality parts and quality work is a money leecher). The majority of prebuild PCs are OKAY performance (you get what you pay for) but bad quality. They only need to survive about 2-3 years, every additional year is a bonus.

Currently, with hardware prices on a soso level (not great but mostly affordable somehow) the situation is that the current consoles simply can not (and are not willing to) offer a "better value" anymore and it is possible... once again... building a PC with more performance at the same price or even less.

It all may work well, still... but it is in no way NO WAY valid removing some of its important traits... for example "a physical disc drive", "easy plug and play", "being affordable... and if not... trying to satisfy the customers being targeted"... and way more stuff.

The customers who look out for a cheap game solution will continue buying the small little PS5 that can offer good value at perhaps 400 coins (rather less if possible) but the ones looking for a cool device... looking to collect stuff... looking for better performance... those WHO MAY PAY A LOT... those can not be satisfied with the thing currently offered... this is a issue, i say. So it lacks a solid customer base... there is no proper target.

Besides i was checking out one of the rather new "Linus" hints on how to build a PC that apparently should be able to "kill" a PS5 for the same price (non Pro of course).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfpXMuMvcWQ (February 2024)

I was picking all parts on my countries biggest shop... same shop i was picking all the other parts for my builds and this was my price i got:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600X CPU (boxed cooler inside)...126

MB: ASRock B450 Pro4...........................................79.90 (it is using PCIE 3.0 because he said there is no difference)

SSD: 970 EVO Plus 1TB..........................................129 (it is surely not same speed as a KC 3000... my opinion)

Case: Cooler Master CM Storm Trooper: Absolutely no clue where to get this case, sold out everywhere. I will just set a standard price of my case... to be fair...................... 45

PSU: Seasonic X-650 Gold: No clue where to get this one°°, so i use a comparable PSU from the same manufacturer instead: Seasonic G-12 GC.....................................66.90
°°This is a over 10 year old PSU series and it is not anymore offered in way to many shops. Actually, Seasonic does not offer modular 650 W Gold PSUs anymore, and Platinum+ are way more expensive.

GPU: Acer Predator Bifrost Intel Arc A770 OC..... .405.95 (i use this version because this is the only A770 currently on stock...)

RAM: Trident Z RGB 3600 2x8 GB....................... 62.90 (Well good luck with this... 16 GB on a PC is not the same as 16 GB GDDR6 on PS5...).

But what is the final price now for me (on a shop i got access to): 915.65 CHF... which is about 25 CHF cheaper than my build (PS5, non pro) but i certainly would not use his build because mine is in overall clearly "more bang for the bucks".

Sure, it is correct... someone always will have to pick the currently cheapest offer on a certain market. So, those prices are volatile and they are changing a lot... which means, it is impossible to hand out a "general rule" on how to build cheap. However... his build got a lot of "weak points" i would not use... and finally it was.... for me... not cheaper at all.

I would say it does not kill a PS5 for the same price as it is simply more pricey and apart from a slightly stronger GPU in general rather weaker. Rather ugly build.,.. huge tower with no cool fans, rather average flow for its size... ATX size MB that is hosting parts to small for its possibilities. Simply a ugly build but thats my personal opinion.

I'm praying all Sony games come to GOG or at least PC in general.

Besides, it is not always true that PCIE 3.0 vs. 4.0 vs, 5.0 is always same speed in game. Just in case the game has not been optimized for... which is the case for any old game but not for every new game.

I play Horizon Forbidden West for example, it has been optimized: Even on PC, i get about 2 sec loading time ingame and about 5-6 sec loading time from title to ingame-load. PCIE 4.0 is about 2-3 sec slower, PCIE 3.0 another 2-3 sec and SATA SSD is another 2-3 sec slower. Compared to a PCIE 3.0 a PCIE 5.0 is up to 6 sec faster, which is noticeable.

I cant remember the PS5 loading time but it is probably a bit above PCIE 4.0 speed, it is really very fast. I could barely read the hints if it is not waiting for my input.

The games which has been optimized for will slowly increase in the future, and perhaps Direct Storage which is still not mature yet, may even boost some "old games". In theory, we could get ride of any loading time above 10 sec, even 5 sec is realistic using the "true power of good SSDs" but... so far 99.9% of the games are still being hampered by very old "HDD tech" and other bad optimization. Truth is, yes, almost any game may only benefit from a SSD vs. HDD, but some newer games are even affected by the different SSD speed.

However, the used HDD in this test is very weak, a good 20 TB+ Enterprise HDD is maybe twice the SATA SSD speed, approximately 26-28 sec. With a better CPU load times may become reduced even more. In this case:

20+ TB HDD: 26-28 sec
SATA SSD: 13-14 sec
PCIE 3.0 SSD: 11-12 sec
PCIE 4.0 SSD: 8-9 sec
PCIE 5.0 SSD: 5-6 sec

Here is even a good video about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89y8LiHNFho

I have to say... especially thanks to Sony, because it was mainly their vision and their work who got this sort of development moving, in my view. MS is still just a lot of words but barely any effect... while some Sony titles truly are able to bring something "to the PC".... or "to the table".

It's a bold strategy Cotton, let's see if it pays off for 'em.

Yeah sure... old hardware. I mean, if you are lucky i may give you a dated build i own for free or i only charge you maybe 400 coins... so basically you "got" it for cheaper than a PS5. But this is NOT the point. If you really try to use any possible means... perhaps someone may even hand you over a old PS5 almost for free... maybe 200 coins.

Guess you get the point... it is always possible to go "somehow" cheaper in some special or lucky way but if you want to build a NEW SYSTEM using new parts, everything with a full warranty... then it is in my mind very hard building a capable PC for just 600 USD. More likely it will cost us around 900 USD, perhaps 800 USD without taxes. My prices are always with taxes included, important.

My point simply is: I do not want to bring up a "special condition, dark friday, super lucky..." deal, instead a realistic deal that may be available to anyone at any given time; simply something that is new and in general always available to everyone including warranty.

If you want a new PS5 Pro or even the usual PS5 slim... there is very rarely any price drops (maybe black friday... who knows), unless by using the used-market but this is always with certain risks involved and in general no warranty anymore. It surely will be cheaper but there are trade offs, including the lack of warranty.
Probably at almost lowest settings. Yes it may run somehow using a 1050 Ti but it is surely challenging, This card only got 4 GB in usual, there are many games with difficulties when using a card below 6 GB or sometimes even below 8 GB. You may be able to play in 1080P but it clearly will reflect your systems value and, to make the real point here... it is NO match to the PS5. May have to handle this one first, the PS5 is around RX 6650 to RX 6700 performance thanks to a lot of optimizations. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4WQtHfKP1M

It is okay to love a PC... but i think many PC users are somewhat blind or are not willing to see the truth.

Besides: Regarding this 500 USD PC from Linus; what are you going to do with just 512 GB total space? Play 20 year old GoG games or install only 3 new games at once? Okay...
Needless to say: The taxed price is around 600 USD, perhaps even more, kinda 650+ USD.

Same flaw for the 5000 USD build... he added a crazy amount of RAM (totally unnecessary) but why not to upgrade the space instead? This is one of my biggest needs but he does not care one little bit about space. At least the used SSD is fast... this time. Another spot i do not enjoy on such a expensive build in this price range is the rather average MB... this build is going "all out", so there are even better MBs possible. Maybe i fail to detect it but i can not see a CPU cooler... as the 14900 does not come with a boxed cooler (not possible, this CPU need a strong custom cooler).

The 50 000 USD build... it is surely hilarious because no use for gamers anymore. For a server, sure.... but then we are leaving our "playing field".

Lets see how much this 500 USD, actually around 650 USD with taxes, (i made sure i use US settings on Newegg) will cost in my biggest local shop (usually with lowest prices).

Phanteks XT Pro Mid-Tower Gaming Chassis: 59.99 vs. 63.90
Intel Core i5-12400F CPU: 111.99 vs. 113
MSI PRO H610M-G Motherboard: 70.28 vs. 71.90
G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 2x8GB 3200MHz CL16 DDR4 RAM: 42.99 vs. 35.70
Thermaltake Smart Series 500W 80+ PSU: 39.99 vs. 52.90
ASRock Radeon RX6600 Graphics Card: 189.9 vs. 214.35 (n
TEAMGROUP MP33 NVMe M.2 2280 512GB SSD: 35.99 vs. 42.70 (Kingston NV2, comparable SSD)

Well, the price i was able to achieve is 595.45 CHF, with taxes as usual. For US it is about same, no need to calculate. So.... in theory he was able to build something comparable at the required price point, so i may say "congratulation on this one". The case is not bad but it is just way to huge for a "entry to midrange build"... which is not in need of so much size or cooling, so this one i may switch out but it does not change the cost.

However... there are some corners he was cutting a bit hard making it possible: The main SSD is a size that is for todays needs inacceptable... just to less. Even Sony was upgrading their SSD to 1 to 2 TB (dependable on the model).

The PSU, honestly... is at the very limit and it may be able to safely provide this RX6600 GPU but the security margin and general quality is, for my quality demand, at a critical point. It may work but in general a upgrade is not a secure or easy task using this PSU.

RAM amount: 2x8 GB is a bit low for the future, so future proofing is bad, and multitasking is nearly impossible, it is simply at the very minimum.

The motherboard is build very cheap, it even lacks any heatsink and it seems the capacitors, filtering, has been reduced to the very minimum. It may even slow down the GPU a bit, just do not expect it to make miracles happen or provide any realistic upgrade-options... it is the lowest entry level and most likely a upgrade is out of question.

But... if we just want to say "we can build something at PS5 performance for 600 CHF or USD... okay... he was able to win this challenge"!

If someone wants more quality (especially better MB), more RAMs, more SSD space... i would add around 200+ USD and it is good to go; 800+ USD for more quality and better RAM/SSD capacity.

Aren't optical discs nowadays just launchers? Have they solved the bottleneck and the cooling problems?

I'm afraid this is not just the failure of a side-console but the end of a gaming company. I wouldn't be surprised if there's no PS6 at all.

They are not. There's a great source of proof against that widespread lie, a website called doesitplay.org.

The vast majority of games are fully playable from disc offline, with no updates required to play.

PS5 discs can hold 100GB, and games can even ship across two discs, which means 200GB. Almost no games go above that threshold yet.
I'd love to understand why though. Consoles arent as great now as they used to be, but there's still a lot of benefits to them being around.