Something that PlayStation 5 owners have been curious about is how the GPU in their next-gen console measures up to the various NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards that are available on today’s market. The answer to that has gotten a little clearer thanks to a new Assassin’s Creed Valhalla video from Digital Foundry’s Alex Battaglia, who attempted to match the visual settings between the PC and PS5 versions to determine what GPU PC gamers might need to match the latter’s fidelity and performance.
While the conclusions here are largely “theoretical” (there are various complications in play, such as discrepancies in the dynamic scaling system and inconsistent graphics options), Battaglia ultimately concluded that NVIDIA fans would need a GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER or GeForce RTX 3060 Ti to enjoy an Assassin’s Creed Valhalla experience that’s equivalent to what the PS5 can provide.
“[…] RTX 2060 Super is 20 per cent slower than PlayStation 5, dropping to 10 per cent with an RTX 2070 Super,” Battaglia wrote. “Based on tests with a 2080 Ti, it looks like a 2080 Super or RTX 3060 Ti would be required to match or exceed PlayStation 5’s output.”
On the AMD side, Battaglia suggests that a Radeon RX 5700 XT would be required to match the level of graphical performance in the PS5 version of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.
“[…] based on my tests with a Navi-based RX 5700, I’d expect a 5700 XT to get within striking distance of the console’s throughput,” he noted. “This assumes a very high clouds preset – performance does improve if you drop down to high.”
What we can gather from this is that the PS5 can probably trade blows with AMD’s flagship Navi 10 GPU. The NVIDIA comparisons aren’t really helpful aside from confirming that Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a sloppy console port that fails to genuinely leverage green team’s offerings, however, as benchmarks have proven that the GeForce RTX 2080 SUPER and GeForce RTX 3060 Ti are substantially faster than the Radeon RX 5700 XT.
In any case, it seems safe to say that the PS5 ($499) seems like a good bargain for gamers who don’t want to join the PC Master Race. AMD’s Radeon RX 5700 XT launched at a price of $399.