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.

 

[lostinlodos]

So I can buy an R9 windows/bsd/linux box with an internal BDRW, a Mac Studio with an external BDRW, for 1000-3000

or one of these two systems. For 1000-2000.


The real question is was anyone would buy an entry level computer in a game box, when you can buy a Mac or PC powerhouse without limits.

 

[hover389]

Xbox One X had 6 TFLOPS not 4

 

[Eldrach]

Well - the last generation Sony said their much faster diskdrive would make up alot of the difference...

It didn't - the Xbox series X did outperform the PS5...But Playstation had some great studios making console exclusives and Xbox had ..just crap.

Now they both lack great studios making console exclusives...So Tflops won't matter if they don't come up with the games to come with it. They lost their way sadly

 

[acrossthestars]

It's not the size of your TFLOP, it's how you use it, that matters.

Aside from GTA VI, which is absolutely not going to be next-gen only (so it will be held back by the current gen system, which also means it won't take advantage of the next generation consoles...because it CAN'T), what games are going to be released that use all of that processing power? Is all it up-for-grabs to be used for graphics, tessellation and the like, or is the bulk of the GPU die being used for AI?

More importantly, though, will anyone be able to afford it? Even whales―the high-end rollers most companies are going after―aren't going to show up, if the minnows aren't available to be eaten and lorde their "purchased power" over. Even more hilarious than that, though is the precarious situation these companies (Microsoft foremost among them) have found themselves in, after spending billions of dollars propping up AI, only to now complain about the high BOM for the goods they are selling, as results of decisions they made. Nobody forced Satya Nadella to invest in OpenAI, leading to the runaway inflation of prices across the entire technology supply chain, but he did it anyway.

Just, peak "footgun".

 

[Jeff Schmidt]

Only a few games on the series x ran better than the ps5. Warhammer 4k Space Marine 2 was one I remember seeing. Xbox's problem was the baron wasteland of exclusives for the first few years. And the games that came out from them were on PC the same day. So why buy a console if you can get it on something else.

But the more power should help Xbox if they open the console up to other stores like steam. But price is going to be a problem since the Ram companies are using AI as there excuse to collude and jack up prices like they've done in the past. Which they have gotten sued and lost in the past about.

 

[Shaitan]

I'll buy one when Xbox releases a new console which has Blu Ray and costs less than 900 euros.
That's never.
Sony just threw all the good will off the customers away with their Hideo Kojima scandal on top of the physical disk cancelation.
Nintendo with a Blu Ray sounds good also.
But I will 100% not buy a next gen console without physical drive