Do you enjoy video games? How much? Are you a hard-core gamer or just someone who enjoys a little fun gaming time now and then?
Regardless of where you fall on that spectrum, there’s a good chance that you have come to appreciate top-of-the-line graphics. Even non-gamers can ogle at a truly beautiful game now and then, and over the years, things only grow more stunning.
In light of the common love for great graphics, many people end up wondering about an obvious comparison. What is better for graphics, a Playstation 5 or a PC?
Obviously, that’s going to depend on the PC build, so to give you a real answer, we can ask a more specific question. What produces better graphics performances, a PS5 or an RTX 3070?
What Hardware Is in the PS5?
Let’s start this comparison by looking at what the PS5 has under the hood. It was designed to be a top-of-the-line gaming machine. Sony really didn’t hold back with hardware and raw power.
Then again, it was released in 2020. In the world of computers, that might as well be forever ago. New hardware certainly eclipses the PS5, but you still have to spend a pretty penny to get there.
The PS5 has a lot of custom components, but we can make rough comparisons to put them in perspective.
For example, the PS5 has a Zen 2 8-core processor. It’s a custom design just for Sony, but it’s comparable to a Ryzen 7 3700X. It’s a powerful processor, to be sure.
The bigger question comes down to the GPU. The PS5 has a custom Navi GPU. It’s a little different from what you might find in a PC. It has two sets of 8GB GDDR6 video RAM, allowing for huge simultaneous video processing. It’s why the PS5 still keeps up with modern ray tracing and advanced graphics.
Those are the main components, but you’ll also find that the PS5 rocks an 825 GB SSD that can read and write at 5.5 GB/s.
What RTX Is Comparable in Performance to the PS5?
Considering that the PS5 uses a special, custom graphics card with huge video memory, is there a PC counterpart that is comparable?
There’s no direct comparison, but overall, the closest you’ll find in raw performance is the RTX 2070. They are comparable in clock speeds and total calculations per second. We’ll get into the raw specs in the next section, but if you get a 2070 with the video memory maxed out, it’s going to go toe to toe with the PS5.
How Do PS5 Specs Compare to RTX 3070 Specs?
The RTX 2070 is clearly a step down from the 3070. If the 2070 is comparable to the PS5, you might assume that the 3070 is clearly superior. It’s not a terrible assumption, but you don’t have to leave it to guesswork. We can go through the formal specifications for each device.
We already went over the hardware in the PS5. Pulling RTX 3070 specs directly from Nvidia, here’s how it all breaks down. We can look at the clock speeds, the raw number of calculations per second, video memory, and ray tracing capabilities. That provides a good range of numerical comparisons to help you see which performs better.
After all of that, we can also look at direct video tests to see which is the true champion.
Raw Calculations
This is where you’ll see the most direct comparisons outside of gaming tests. When it comes to raw calculations, the PS5 is no slouch. The custom Navi GPU runs at 2.23 GHz, and it can handle 8 TFLOPS. That’s not a small amount of data, and it’s why the PS5 can still play the newest, best games at a high frame rate.
Meanwhile, the RTX 3070 is no joke. It runs at a base clock speed of 1500 MHz with a boost that gets up to 1725 MHz. You might notice that these numbers are lower than the PS5. Despite that, a maxed-out RTX 3070 can hit 20 TFLOPs. In terms of raw calculations, it blows the PS5 out of the water.
Video Memory
Video memory is an interesting comparison between the two setups. The custom GPU on the PS5 essentially works as a double card setup. Each card has 8GB of GDDR6 video memory, but because they’re linked, the effective memory is actually 16 GB.
Meanwhile, the RTX 3070 is not sporting quite so much. It’s built for 8 GB of GDDR6 memory, so you would need to double up to match the PS5 on this specification.
That said, even at 8 GB, the RTX 3070 easily outperforms the PS5 in many comparisons, and as you’ll see later, it’s clearly superior in actual gaming tests.
Ray Tracing
For starters, both the PS5 and the RTX 3070 both support ray tracing. The real question here is, is all ray tracing the same?
The simple answer is no, but a direct comparison between the PS5 and the RTX 3070 will be a little awkward.
For the most part, software design is what dictates ray tracing quality, not necessarily hardware specifications. Since both devices support ray tracing, you will see examples of it in every game that is designed with ray tracing in mind.
The differences will come down to optimization. Games designed or ported for the PS5 will have ray tracing optimization in the code. This will especially prove true for PS5 exclusives, but even multi-platform games will include at least some optimization for the PS5.
Meanwhile, the RTX 3070 is only one of many PC GPUs that is capable of ray tracing. Will games really be optimized for this one graphics card?
In many cases, yes. That’s because Nvidia uses the same ray tracing mechanics for the entire RTX lineup. This makes it easier for developers to optimize, since optimizing for one RTX is optimizing for the whole line.
As a result, you can expect ray tracing optimization to be comparable between both devices. This is one area where they more or less tie.
Performance Tests
Below, you’ll find a handful of different live gaming performance tests. Each game is available on both PS5 and PC. For comparisons, a standard PS5 was tested. For the PC setup, both the RTX 3070 and the TI were tested. To save you a little bit of time, the 3070 Ti outperformed the other two in every single metric on every single test. It’s not really necessary to include the Ti specs for each test.
The PC build used to test the RTX 3070 used a Ryzen 5900X and was fitted with 32 GB of RAM. Every test was performed at 2160p 4K UHD. So, we’re really looking at framerates on each game when the resolution and ray tracing options are pushed to the max.
The short version is that the RTX 3070 outperformed the PS5 with every single game. If you want to see the raw numbers, each test is explained and itemized below.
Doom Eternal
Doom Eternal launched in March of 2020, making it a modern game with high graphical capabilities. The minimum required graphics cards are the AMD Radeon RX Vega56 (8GB) or an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 (also 8GB).
Needless to say, the PS5 and the RTX 3070 are up to the task.
In the performance test, both setups played at 4K UHD, and both setups got very promising results.
The PS5 was able to average a frame rate of 123 FPS. Low frame dips were still in the 100s.
Meanwhile, the RTX 3070 was averaging a rate of 183 FPS. It was looking great.
For additional information, the 3070 ran at 96% and maintained an average BPU temperature of 66 ℃.
Cyberpunk 2077
The next test took a look at Cyberpunk 2077. This game was originally released in 2020, but an enhanced version came out in 2022 (including for PS5). With optimized graphics, it’s basically a stress test for your gaming rig.
Bethesda recommends that you run an Nvidia GeForce GTX 730 or an AMD Radeon RX 470 to play this game at the minimum settings. For maximum settings, there might not be an optimized rig.
In this performance test, the PS5 was able to average 56 FPS with dips down into the 30s. Keep in mind that this performance is at all maximum graphical settings and maxed out ray tracing.
Under those same conditions, the RTX 3070 was able to average 84 FPS. GPU usage hovered around 89%, and the average GPU temperature stayed at 60 ℃.
Red Dead Redemption 2
Moving right along, let’s take a look at Red Dead Redemption 2. This game has been around a hair longer, originally launching in 2018. It’s an immensely popular title out of Rockstar Studios, and it can push a graphics card with some of the best of them.
The recommended hardware for this gem is an Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 or an AMD Radeon R9 280. You can see with those graphics cards that the game was made a few years ago, and clearly, both test vehicles are going to do great.
Starting with the PS5 performance, it was able to average 84 FPS with low dips still above 60, making for a great gaming experience.
The RTX 3070 was a little ahead with an average frame rate of 152 FPS.
Looking at those extra stats, the 3070 ran at 96% and a consistent 64 ℃.
Grand Theft Auto V
Next up we have GTA V. This game is quite a bit older. The original release was way back in 2013, but with a nice fresh rerelease, it maintains a good following.
The specs on the game haven’t been updated. The recommendation is still to have an Nvidia GTX 660 or an AMD HD 7870. Those are neither new nor competitive graphics cards by today’s standards.
As such, the performance of the PS5 will not surprise you. At maximum settings, it was able to average around 63 FPS, with lows staying above 50. One thing to note is that an older game like this has no software optimization for the PS5 port. Other games on the list do, and that’s why the frame rate might seem slow considering the game’s age.
This is a good chance to see a bit of the raw performance difference between the PS5 and the RTX 3070. In the same test, the 3070 averaged 152 FPS. This was with 96% GPU usage at an average temperature of 64 ℃.
Clearly, GTA V is not optimized for the 3070 either. It’s a case of raw performance winning the day, and by a substantial margin.
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
This is the last game on the list of tests. Another 2018 release, it’s a game that can still push graphics hardware quite far.
The recommended hardware to play this game includes an AMD Radeon R9 or an Nvidia GeForce GTX 660. Once again, both setups are well above these recommendations.
The PS5 looked good, maintaining an average frame rate of 63 FPS and dips only into the 50s.
Meanwhile, the RTX 3070 saw another clear win with an average rate of 91 FPS. On this test, the average GPU usage hovered around 96%, and the stable operating temperature was a cooler 54 ℃
That concludes the final gaming test, and the results are indisputable. In every single case, the RTX 3070 outperformed the PS5, and in every case the margin was noticeable. With some games, the performance difference was outrageous. On an older game like GTA V, the frame rate of the 3070 was more than double what we saw with the PS5.
Needless to say, the RTX 3070 consistently outperforms the PS5 and is a better choice if the goal is maximizing graphical performance.
What About Price?
These comparisons get a bit more interesting if we factor in cost-effectiveness.
First, let’s look at raw prices. The PS5 retails for $449 with no upgrades or markups. That’s a fair assessment of the hardware in the device.
Meanwhile, the RTX 3070 depends on a few things. A low-end price would start at around $335 just for this graphics card. Actually, that’s for a used graphics card.
If you want it new, the bottom price tag is closer to $549.99. This is an 8 GB graphics card, and it has all of the features and specs mentioned in previous sections.
So, the RTX 3070 outperforms the PS5, but this single graphics card is also more expensive than the PS5. What’s more is that you need a whole computer to put the RTX 3070 into. And, that computer has to be modern enough to get good performance out of the graphics card.
On average, you’re looking at $500 to $1,000 for the rest of the computer that will house the 3070. So price-wise, the PC build is considerably more expensive.
You’re looking at double the price of a PS5 on a good day, and triple the price in some cases. For all of that spending, you’ll get a frame rate increase on the order of 30% for most games. In the case of GTA 5, that frame rate boost is worth the higher price of the PC, but that’s only if you can make use of 152 FPS. Most people can’t.
So, overall, the PS5 is arguably the better bargain. That said, as time goes on and games demand even more from the hardware that runs them, the 3070 will be able to keep up even as the PS5 falls into obsolescence.
How Much Does the PC Setup Matter?
It’s important to think about the total setup. The test PC in the scenarios above had better specs than the PS5 all the way around (or equal specs in some cases). How much do the faster processor and better components carry the GPU?
The thing about PCs is that the parts do work together, and the overall setup does matter. You can throw an RTX 3070 in a PC with too little RAM or a painfully slow processor. Suddenly, it won’t even come close to keeping up with the PS5.
These other components clearly matter.
But, if you’re using a modern setup, even a mid-tier processor and 16GB of RAM will be enough to support the 3070. The graphics card does the heavy lifting in all of the games tested above. As long as the rest of the PC setup is not inhibiting the 3070, you don’t need a maxed-out build for the 3070 to carry the team, provide great graphics, and clearly outperform the PS5.
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