Rumored specs put Xbox Helix's GPU 40% ahead of PS6 on paper, but TFLOPs don't tell the whole story

[Daniel Sims]

Rumor mill: While Sony's CEO recently admitted that the PlayStation 6's launch date remains undetermined, rumors place both it and the next Xbox console at least a year away, if not two. Speculation about their hardware capabilities has circulated for over a year, and the latest reports suggest that their GPU specifications are locked in.

According to prominent leaker Kepler_L2, Sony and Microsoft have already taped out the graphics chips for the PlayStation 6 and next-generation Xbox, which can theoretically achieve 40 and 56 TFLOPs, respectively. The tipster made the claims amid a discussion about the dangers of relying on simple TFLOP comparisons.

TFLOPs (trillion floating-point operations per second) became a marketing buzzword for console and GPU manufacturers around a decade ago. For example, Microsoft advertised the Xbox One X by highlighting its 4 TFLOP GPU. However, the number, sometimes used as a shortcut to suggest how many polygons a graphics chip can display, usually doesn't enable apples-to-apples comparisons.

In addition to differences between single- and double-precision, the workloads possible with each FLOP also differ between GPU architectures and generations. As a result, the PS6's RDNA 5-based 40-TFLOP graphics chip is not directly comparable to the PS5's RDNA 2-based 10.3 TFLOPs or the RDNA 4-based AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT's 48.7 TFLOPs.

Since the PS6 and the next Xbox, codenamed Helix, are expected to use RDNA 5 GPUs, the numbers suggest that Helix's raw-performance advantage might reach 40%. However, even this comparison doesn't account for differences in CPU cores, clock speeds, memory, ray tracing performance, AI-related tasks such as upscaling, thermal design power, and other details. Ultimately, it will be third-party developers who decide how to utilize each console's advantages.

Reports from last year indicated that the PS6 might feature between 40 and 48 RDNA 5 Compute Units, eight AMD Zen 6 CPU cores, and a 160W TDP. Meanwhile, Helix is expected to include 10 Zen 6 cores with 20 threads, but its Compute Unit count remains unclear. RAM pools for both consoles also likely remain in in flux, given the memory shortages that have pushed consumer hardware prices upward. Four-digit MSRPs for both next-generation consoles when they arrive before the end of 2028 are a real possibility.

Kepler also maintains that Sony plans to launch a new handheld device using a cut-down version of the PS6's architecture.

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Rumored specs put Xbox Helix's GPU 40% ahead of PS6 on paper, but TFLOPs don't tell the whole story

 

[m4a4]

I think next gen is ultimately gonna come down to price, if people even bother to buy something newer.

 

[dangh]

In theory xsx had more tflops than ps5, in practice this did not translated at all to the games perceived quality difference.
I'm more surprised to see ms still pushing next xbox. No idea how do they want to convince people buying it over a pc, switch or ps5, but good luck.

 

[OortCloud]

I think they will both do really badly as they will be way too expensive. Also both Xbox and Sony have been ruining their brands over the last couple of years with every possible bit of corporate shilling they could imagine to rinse more money from people.

From all rumours so far it looks like the PS-6 is massively underwhelming.
This is especially problematic for Sony as they released the PS5-Pro midway through the generation so the upgrade is going to be even more anaemic. Add to this the lack of optical drive... I commented on another thread about this and how 82% of PS5's sold had a optical drive. This shows the people absolutely want one and are willing to pay quite a lot more money for a console that has one. Sony saying they don't is just horsesh1t and their figures about digital sales are massively misleading and reality-distorted.

If Xbox shipped with an optical drive they could absolutely win the next console generation which would be extraordinary when you look at how awfully Slop have handled the brand. Personally I would only consider buying either if they had physical copies of the games so we'll see...

 

[scavengerspc]

Allow disks and I'm in for another console generation minus the PS6.

 

[FaTaL]

No one is releasing any console in the next 5-10 years. Not so long as AI continues to whoar up every single microchip on the planet....

 

[Mr Majestyk]

It will certainly FLOP harder than the PS6 for sure.

 

[Vulcanproject]

In theory xsx had more tflops than ps5, in practice this did not translated at all to the games perceived quality difference.
I'm more surprised to see ms still pushing next xbox. No idea how do they want to convince people buying it over a pc, switch or ps5, but good luck.

Sony nailed the hardware balance better. They went for a smaller APU die at higher GPU clocks. They hit the sweetspot.

PS5's APU was 308mm² whereas Series X had a 17 percent larger die at 360mm². Series X rarely proves to be 17 percent faster. It's not something you easily notice on screen in many games.

What it did mean however was Sony's APU was likely considerably cheaper to manufacture. More smaller dies fit on a standard wafer, more smaller dies typically mean better yields which meet required spec. Less out of spec chips. The economics also favoured Sony's machine.