PS5, along with its rival sibling the Xbox Series X/S, shapes the current gaming gen with its stunning graphics, faster loads time, and an array of gaming titles.
But at the center of all the performance prowess is a nifty little term called Teraflops. This elusive term may sound complex on the surface, but it is simply a very critical aspect of determining and measuring the graphical performance of a system.
In short, PS5 offers 10.28 Teraflops along with its 8-core CPU operating at 3.5 GHz per core. But looking at this number in isolation would mean little.
In the following article, I will talk about Teraflops in detail and how it compares with Xbox as well as the modern gaming graphics cards found on PCs.
Understand Teraflops and Its Impact on Gaming
Before we dive into the nitty-gritty details of the PS5’s Teraflops, it is essential that we first understand what this peculiar term means.
The term Teraflops stands for “Trillion Floating-Point Operations Per Second.” This is abbreviated to just Teraflops.
In the simplest of terms, it measures a device’s computational power delivered by its Graphics Cards.
So while 3.5 GHz per 8 Core is a measure ONLY for the CPU, Teraflops is a rough measurement of its graphics card’s prowess.
Think of Teraflops as the Horsepower for gaming machines. The higher the number, the more graphical goodness it can deliver.
Higher Teraflops means the system can handle higher graphics settings, resolution, frame rates, or everything at the same time. While Teraflops may not guarantee you become an eSports Champion, it can certainly help you experience gaming in high detail.
This brings me to the next point:
How Many Teraflops is PS5 and How It Compares?
Now that we have established the significance of a Teraflop, it is time to focus on the topic at hand, PS5.
PS5 features the AMD RDNA 2 GPU with 10.28 Teraflops of computational power.
In comparison, the PS4 had only 1.84 Teraflops of computation power. So PS5 is essentially 5.6 times as powerful as the vanilla PS4.
However, if we consider the current gen, the most powerful console is the Xbox Series X with its 12 Teraflop GPU; whereas, the Xbox Series S is the weakest with 4 Teraflops of computational power.
Series S is in fact slower than PS4 Pro with its 4.2 Teraflops of power. Why they even decided to make Xbox Series S for this generation is beyond me.
But of course, while a significant jump in comparison to the previous gen, both PS5 and Xbox Series X pale in comparison to the top-of-the-line dedicated graphics card on gaming PC – Hail to the PC Master Race.
| Device | Teraflops |
| Xbox One S | 1.2 |
| PS4 | 1.84 |
| Xbox Series S | 4 |
| PS4 Pro | 4.2 |
| Xbox One X | 6 |
| PS5 | 10.28 |
| Xbox Series X | 12 |
| RTX 4060 | 24 |
| RTX 4090 (High End)Power Overwhelming | 100 |
We can see that both PS5 and Xbox Series X are mid-range gaming PCs at best. For the current gen, PS5 holds its own when it comes to teraflops, but it’s essential to remember that there’s more to gaming performance than just this single metric.
There are other factors that contribute to the overall gaming experience:
Beyond Teraflops: Other Factors in PS5 Performance
There are many other factors that make a PS5 a much better overall experience in comparison to the older generation:
Faster Load Times
One of the most significant jumps PS5 has made in comparison to the older generation is with the storage technology.
PS5 offers a Gen 4 SSD which can reach speeds of up to 7000 MB/s transfer rate. Compare this to an HDD on the older consoles which at best could reach 200 MB/s.
As a result of this, you practically get instantaneous load times between areas and when you are starting the game.
Ray Tracing and VRR
Other visual enhancements included the Ray Tracing ability that enhances how good the lighting looks in the game.
VRR (or variable refresh rate) is a technology that helps in fixing in screen tears or stutters that happen when there is a mismatch between the refresh rate of the monitor and the frame rate of the console. It essentially makes the visuals smoother.
HDMI 2.1
And of course thanks to HDMI 2.1, PS5 can support up to 4K and 120 FPS gaming.
In addition to that, there are other features such as 3D Audio Technology powered by the Tempest Engine, and Haptic feedback from the controllers that add to the immersion factor.
Final Words
So the simple answer to the question “How many teraflops is PS5?” is 10.28. In comparison, it equates to about the same performance as an NVIDIA RTX 3050 or RTX 3060 on a PC.
So if you are a PC gamer, this comparison should help you put things in perspective, especially with regard to how powerful is 10 teraflops.
