In keeping with traditions established in the last generation, the PlayStation 5 is due for a mid-cycle refresh, and details on the new console, the PlayStation 5 Pro have surfaced recently. While there is a certain debate to be had when talking about the actual utility of the console itself, there’s always an interesting prospect in the technical department – and we can’t help but wonder what it would cost to build a similarly specced-out PC using off-the-shelf parts and retail prices.

Before starting out with the feature, it’s important to mention that we have only used off-the-shelf prices for brand-new components – and building out a comparable PC with used components will undoubtedly come at a much cheaper cost. Also, we have tried to include components that were close to the PS5’s hardware as it’s not feasible to have a 1:1 component list. And finally, the prices for these parts may change in the future. With that out of the way, let’s begin!

The CPU

The PS5 features a Zen 2-based custom chip with 8 cores and 16 threads along with support for boost clocks for increased performance, and that bump in single-core performance has opened new avenues for developers ranging from more sophisticated physics engines to better-simulated environments and much more. For the Pro variant, Sony is keeping the same chip though some reports have indicated that some overclocking and tuning (dubbed as a “High Frequency mode”) might be at play which in turn would increase performance by 10% on the updated chip.

For our PC, we are going with the Ryzen 5 5600 which comes in at around $115 on Amazon. It’s the same chipset that we utilized for our PS5 comparison build, and it doesn’t make much sense to spring out extra cash if we are going to build out a similarly specced machine as the base variant. Sporting 6 high-speed cores with support for multithreading, the CPU should be able to handle a buffet of both single-core driven and multi-core driven workloads without leaving graphics performance on the cutting floor.

The GPU 

The GPU is the beating heart of any gaming machine, and it makes total sense for Sony to put the majority of hardware upgrades in this department. The PS5 Pro uses the same RDNA2 architecture as its younger brother, but an increase in number of cores and memory results in a significant performance boost over the base variant according to Sony’s claims. In terms of the raw TFLOPs, the GPU is reported to be around 33.5 TFLOPs strong and will feature around 60 compute units, 24 more than the base PS5 Pro. In addition to this, there are also improved RT features and AI-based upscaling courtesy of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution which should help games run faster and look better at high resolutions in a more efficient manner.

To match that level of performance, the RTX 4060 seems like a good bet. Between its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and the latest Nvidia Ada Lovelace architecture, we can ensure that our GPU offers the best of features like DLSS and efficient ray tracing cores along with ample memory to handle those effects at comparable resolutions to the PS5. It should also make a good pair with our CPU, allowing both components to reach maximum utilization without bottlenecking one another. The RTX 4060 has a retail price of $299. 

RAM

For the memory, we will be going with our trusty Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3200MHz kit, which costs around $41 on Amazon. The PS5 Pro shares the same 16 GB of system memory across both the CPU and GPU, which technically makes our 16 GB overkill – but some games are not optimized well enough on PC to produce similar performance in the same amount of memory which is why it makes total sense to go for a 16GB memory kit. Running memory in dual channels also yields better results, so that’s another point of consideration. One could also throw in 32 GB instead for future-proofing purposes, but 16 GB should be good for a one-to-one build for now. 

Motherboard

For our motherboard, we will be going with the Asus Prime B550 Plus ATX which should be able to house our other components without any BIOS updates, and it’s affordable enough to not break the bank. It’s a rather basic board that offers basic features and nothing much other than that, but at the asking price of just $99 – it’s a good deal.

Storage

The PS5 Pro bumps the storage from 825GB that was present on the base variant to 2 TB for the Pro variant, which is a pretty smart move considering current-gen games can easily eat up hundreds of gigabytes – and storing anything more than a handful of games is pretty difficult. Our PC will match the same upgrade with the Samsung 990 EVO PCI e 4.0 SSD with 2 TB of available space, which will cost us $129. Of course, load times might not be one-to-one across both machines since PS5’s architecture is a bit different than PC’s and not all games utilize Windows DirectStorage API – but it should be a good match nevertheless. 

PSU

The PSU is always the most important piece of the puzzle when it comes to PC building, and there’s no tangible reason to skimp out on a quality piece from a recognized manufacturer. Ticking those boxes without breaking the bank, we have the NZXT C1000 PSU which provides enough juice to power our system and the 80+ gold-certified rating is also a much appreciated badge of safety. It sells for $129 on Amazon and should serve as a good fit for our purposes.

Cabinet

For the cabinet, we are going with the GAMDIAS ATX Mid Tower Gaming Computer PC Case with Side Tempered Glass. As the name suggests, the case features a tempered glass side panel, minimal RGB lighting, and 4 fans to ensure good airflow. While it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing case on the market, it gets the job done at a good enough price – and you could always spring up more cash for a better-looking case in a more practical scenario. The GAMDIAS ATX Mid Tower comes in at $55 on Amazon.

Conclusion 

Totaling the cost of the above-mentioned components, our proposed PC build comes in at around $867. This obviously does not include the cost of peripherals like a keyboard-mouse combo and a license to a fresh copy of Windows which would bring up the total cost closer to $1000. Going the PlayStation route gives access to a great library of first-party exclusives that you cannot get on the PC while going the other way gives you access to better deals and productivity options that are not possible on a console.

In conclusion, the PC comes at a hefty premium, noticeably over the $700 retail price of the PS5 Pro, but it definitely paints a much more interesting picture when it comes to the comparison itself. The gap between the two builds is a lot slimmer than when the PS5 came out. The PS5 Pro claims significantly superior performance over its younger brother thanks to better AI upscaling features and bigger compute budget on the GPU, and it would be interesting to see how it all pans out in the coming months.

While the verdict is out on whether the patch fixes all the issues, Square Enix recommends downloading and installing the update. In the meantime, it will continue “investigating this issue” alongside Sony Interactive Entertainment. Stay tuned for further updates in the coming days.

Final Fantasy 16 first launched last year for PS5 and despite the hype, Square Enix revealed that profits from it and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth didn’t meet expectations. It recently released for PC, peaking at over 22,000 concurrent Steam players.

The Standard Edition is available for $49.99, but there’s also the Complete Edition for $69.99, which includes the base game and both expansions, Echoes of the Fallen and The Rising Tide. Head here for more details on its features.

[Notice] PlayStation®5 version of FF16

In response to the crashes and graphical bugs that were occurring on the PlayStation®5 version of FINAL FANTASY XVI, SIE have released a new system update. Please try downloading and installing this update.

— FINAL FANTASY XVI (@finalfantasyxvi) September 20, 2024

We will continue to work on investigating this issue in collaboration with SIE. #FF16

— FINAL FANTASY XVI (@finalfantasyxvi) September 20, 2024

Comparatively, God of War (2018) reached 73,529 concurrent Steam players on January 16th, 2022. Given that it launched on January 14th and saw impressive numbers over the weekend, Ragnarok could repeat this success. Of course, the previous title didn’t mandate linking Steam with PlayStation Network to play (despite being a single-player title), so you have to wonder how much impact that has on the sequel.

It also creates concern for Ballistic Moon’s upcoming remake of Until Dawn, which launches on October 4th for PS5 and PC, and also requires a PSN account on Steam. Stay tuned for updates on the same.

In the meantime, check out our review of God War Ragnarok for PS5. You can also check out our feature for more details on PC-exclusive features.

For starters, you can expect plenty of demo stations to allow players to go hands-on with a number of upcoming titles, including Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Sonic X Shadow Generations, Monster Hunter Wilds, and more. The company will also have two booths for the PS5 Pro, where attendees will be able to play Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Gran Turismo 7’s PS5 Pro Enhanced versions.

Beyond its playable demo stations and booths, Sony also has three days of stage presentations. September 26 will see the company kicking things off by focusing on Astro Bot and then moving to an indie games focused presentation with PlayStation’s head of indies Shuhei Yoshida, while on September 28, Sony will showcase three major upcoming third-party titles in the form of Silent Hill 2, Dragon Ball: Sparking! ZERO, and Metaphor: ReFantazio.

Finally, on September 29, as confirmed previously, a one-hour live stage presentation is planned for Death Stranding 2: On the Beach, with game director Hideo Kojima showcasing the game, with several other guests also confirmed to appear. Later that day, Sony will also showcase Monster Hunter Wilds and Dynasty Warriors: Origins.

That’s as per VGC journalist Jordan Middler, who has claimed on Twitter that Sony Bend’s post-apocalyptic open world action-adventure title has a remastered version in development. Discussing Grub’s aforementioned claims, Middler recently tweeted, “If he was angry that his character is in Astro Bot, he’s going to lose his mind at this,” referring to Days Gone creative director John Garvin recently expressing outrage at protagonist Deacon St. John being included in the recently released Astro Bot as a cameo appearance. 

Days Gone launched in 2019 for the PS4, before coming to PC a couple of years later. The game went on to sell over 7.3 million units, as per leaked internal Sony documents that emerged last year. A pitch for a Days Gone 2 was rejected by Sony, following which developer SIE Bend Studio started working on a new IP, which will be a live service game. A movie based on Days Gone is also currently in development.

The PS5 Pro 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Bundle includes the console, a DualSense and DualSense Edge, and the DualSense Charging Station. It even has a console cover for the disc drive (still sold separately, unfortunately). Fortunately, it has a Vertical Stand and some collector’s items, including cable ties based on the PlayStation Shapes.

The PS5 Digital Edition 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Bundle includes the same items and Vertical Stand, albeit with only one DualSense and a console cover. You can also pick up 30th Anniversary Limited Edition versions of the PlayStation Portal, DualSense and DualSense Edge.

Of course, quantities are limited – the PS5 Pro 30th Anniversary bundle will only have 12,300 units, each etched with numbers indicating the date of the PS One’s launch. Pre-orders for the bundle alongside the PlayStation Portal and DualSense Edge (standalone) begin on September 26th via PlayStation Direct and retailers.

The same applies to the PS5 Digital Edition bundle from PlayStation Direct, though pre-orders at retailers start on October 10th. Finally, the DualSense Wireless (standalone) is only available to pre-order from retailers on September 26th.

Meanwhile, the “regular” PS5 Pro launches on November 7th, retailing for $699.99. Head here for everything you should know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amdZnHooTkk

In a PlayStation Blog post, developer Santa Monica Studio has revealed two new gameplay customization settings. One will let you reduce the frequency with which companion characters offer hints for puzzles, which is something that many were annoyed back when the game first launched a couple of years ago. The second new setting, meanwhile, will allow you to enable audio descriptions.

Both settings will also be coming to the game’s PS5 and PS4 versions “soon”, but a specific date hasn’t been confirmed.

Ahead of the action-adventure title’s release on PC, Sony recently also unveiled a new launch trailer, highlight critical acclaim for its original PlayStation release. Check it out through here.

God of War Ragnarok launches for PC on September 19. It is currently available on PS5 and PS4, and as of December last year, has sold over 15 million units worldwide. Check out our review of the base game through here, and the Valhalla DLC through here.

Speaking on a recent episode of his Giant Bomb podcast Game Mess Mornings, Grubb claimed that the aforementioned State of Play presentation is “almost certainly happening” on September 24, which is next Tuesday. It’s likely that this is where the rumoured Horizon Zero Dawn remaster is likely to be announced.

Later on during the podcast, Grubb also claimed that it’s also possible that during the showcase, Sony also announces another remaster that, in his words, is going to be “even less exciting” than a Horizon Zero Dawn remaster, and is “definitely not Bloodborne.” He did not, however, elaborate further.

Earlier this month, Sony held a technical presentation during which it unveiled the PS5 Pro, which is due out in November for $699.99. If a State of Play presentation happens soon, it’s likely we’ll see more PS5 Pro gameplay footage at the showcase. 

God of War Ragnarok is the follow-up to the 2018 title, with Kratos and Atreus awaiting the battle of Ragnarok. Along with exploring all nine Norse realms, combat is improved significantly with new abilities, armaments, armor sets, and more for players to customize. The PC version includes all the updates, including the free rogue-lite expansion, Valhalla.

As for PC-exclusive features, there are unlocked frame rates, Super Ultrawide support, native 4K, and customizable key bindings. You can also leverage Nvidia DLSS 3.7, AMD FRS 3.1, and Intel XeSS 1.3. Check out more details on the title here or the full PC requirements (including what you’ll need to run the game in 4K/60 FPS on Ultra settings).

Before going over the additions and differences between the cult classic original and this PS5/PC remake, let’s briefly reminisce on what made Until Dawn so enticing. If you like horror flicks like Cabin in the Woods, you’ll feel right at home with Until Dawn’s premise and setting. The story follows eight teenagers who become ensnared in a web of horrific circumstances while staying in a cabin resort in the scenic Blackwood Mountains. Your goal is to keep as many characters alive by the end as possible, but It’s likely that you’ll end up killing all eight characters if your decision-making is poor. Quick-time events and narrative choices make up the gameplay, as well as good old atmospheric exploration. As we’ll see, the remake makes exploration even better by replacing the old static camera with an over-the-shoulder one you can fully control. And with that, let’s discuss the host of new additions this PC/PS5 remake is bringing us on October 4^th.

The team at Ballistic Moon ensured this wasn’t just a lazy 1-to-1 PC port, and that effort is made immediately clear upon seeing the game’s prologue. There’s entirely new sequences here that didn’t exist in the original’s prologue, most of them providing additional context for the Washington family while filling in small details that expand the original’s narrative. The team assures us that they didn’t alter the story in any significant way, but there’s also some surprising twists in the way some scenes are shot and framed throughout that make this a more fleshed out narrative than the original.

Speaking of framing, the entire camera has been re-worked. You can now finally move the camera around the character in an over-the-shoulder perspective. Lest we forget, the original Until Dawn featured a fixed camera reminiscent of old PS2 horror games. It’ll be fun to explore the spooky environments of Blackwood Mountain and its cabin with full camera control now.

Facilitating the new controllable camera are a host of new collectibles sequestered throughout the environments. Hunger Totems are brand new collectibles which give the player new visions, either of future character deaths or something entirely unexpected. All the old Totem collectibles also return but are scattered in completely new locations. Being able to finally move the camera in any direction opens up a world of perspective, so it’s understandable why the team re-arranged all the collectibles from the ground up to accommodate it. I for one am looking forward to this new scavenger hunt that the controllable camera brings with it and seeing nooks and crannies within the Blackwood Mountains that weren’t visible with the old game’s static camera.

Until Dawn didn’t look shabby back on the PS4. The 2015 cult horror title originally utilized Guerrilla Games’ versatile Decima engine. Until Dawn marked a sort of graphical revolution in the genre of branching narrative horror games back in the day, and the remake looks to evolve all of that from the ground up. Yes, that’s right, Until Dawn’s 2024 remake ditches the tried and true Decima engine for Unreal Engine 5, and the results are about what you’d expect. As seen from the trailers, shadows project more realistically from surfaces and illumination from the moon and characters’ flashlights create a far more atmospheric mood than its PS4 version.

But the game hasn’t just been re-lit, the cast of characters are newly rendered as well as the environments themselves. There’s simply more detail this time around, with pores and beads of sweet easily discernable on characters’ faces and rich foliage looking three times as full. I’m especially glad that they kept the characters faithful to the original. We all know how companies these days just can’t help themselves with altering a beloved character design in ground-up remakes, but everybody in Until Dawn looks exactly as they did in the original, just enhanced with improved textures and emotional nuances.

What really brings these characters to life is the animations, and they too have been retooled and improved here. The PlayStation Blog post says that pre-rendering simulation techniques are being used to make the death animations as brutally realistic as possible. This remake won’t disappoint in the gore department; thanks for grossing us out even more, Unreal Engine 5! Even before the naive cast of characters meet an untimely end, they’ll be covered in cuts and bruises that progress with the story thanks to the updated injury mask system employed in the remake.

Another aspect that brings the experience to life is the newly configured DualSense functionality. You’ll be able to feel the tension of Until Dawn’s spooky moments through the controller’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. Being able to feel the rapid heartbeat of the characters through the controller’s weighted vibrations will surely make the experience that much more immersive. Likewise, I can already imagine scenarios where you’re slowly propping open a door to get a lay of the land while the triggers resist your push with weighted feedback. Jump scares are sure to be that much more impactful due to the heightened rumble featured in the DuelSense controller, so get ready to jump out of your seat if you’re playing in the dark.

If you don’t want to deal with the extra stress involved with quick time events and sections requiring you to halt all controller movement, this remake adds plenty of accessibility settings to accommodate. Of particular interest is the new Don’t Panic! feature which serves as an alternative to those Don’t Move! moments in the game. It’s specially made for peripherals without a gyroscope, but also can be turned on just to experience something more relaxed.

The final big change with this remake is the newly scored soundtrack. The original composer, Jason Graves, is replaced by composer Mark Korven. Graves’ original soundtrack set the Cabin in the Woods tone perfectly, so it’ll be interesting to hear how Korven’s new score adds extra ambiance and tension to the enhanced experience. Obviously, this choice to replace the soundtrack wholesale might be disappointing to a lot of fans. I’m hoping there’s an option to play the original soundtrack somewhere in the game and it’s not a paid DLC later down the line. If the original soundtrack is just ditched completely, the new score better be darn good to replace Graves’ great work.

But there is one positive that the re-scored soundtrack assures us of; Ballistic Moon’s work here is a true ground-up remake and not a half-hearted effort. Scoring a whole new soundtrack is no light addition, and the controllable over-the-shoulder camera changes up the gameplay and perspective in entirely new ways. Players returning to the horrors of Blackwood Mountain have quite a lot of new content to discover. And new players who don’t have access to PlayStation consoles now get to experience the cult classic with a fresh coat of Unreal Engine 5 paint, filled to the brim with new accessibility features and modern upgrades. Until Dawn may be a nine year old game at this point, and Supermassive’s choice-driven narrative formula has been tried and tested for nigh-on a decade, but Until Dawn still stands as a magnum opus worthy of an entirely new audience.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.