The PS5 Pro Killer Gaming PC

[David S_rpr1z3 Gauthier]

It took us 3 years to build the PS5 Killer and now we’re conspiring to murder the Pro in less than a week. It can’t be that hard, right? That $200 price bump EVERYONE is angry about gives us A LOT of extra budget when it comes to assembling our brand new PS5 PRO KILLER… Better GPU? What about a new Platform for our Ram and CPU?

 

 

Check out the NZXT H510 Mid-Tower PC Case: https://geni.us/IzsspkT

Check out the Samsung 990 Pro 2TB NVMe SSD: https://geni.us/AqNMBuF

Check out the ASUS GeForce RTX 4070 Graphics Card: https://geni.us/Ag3EmRW

Check out the G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series (2x16GB) CL16 RAM: https://geni.us/kQ1Q0

Check out the Western Digital WD_Black SN850X 1TB NVMe SSD: https://geni.us/7g9XU

Check out the Intel Core i5-124000F 6 Core CPU: https://geni.us/MtaikFa

Check out the XFX Speedster Quicksilver 319 Radeon RX 7800 XT Graphics Card: https://geni.us/qAJK

Check out the CORSAIR CX750 750W 80+ Bronze PSU: https://geni.us/DrwxE

Check out the ASROCK B660M-HDV Micro ATX Motherboard: https://geni.us/rBCgBPr

Check out the Sony PS5 Pro Game Console: https://geni.us/M7Ec7R (Canada: https://geni.us/BwGE )

Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group.

[runvarbinusr]

I cant find a single listing on the internet FOR ANY PART both in the used and new category with these prices, is this video a straight up lie?

[SaperPL]

@LinusTech Can you at some point actually do a console killer that delivers on size of the case, being not that loud, and having a console system and not windows?

Right now there are builds of steam (Deck) OS that should be acceptable. There's a reason why consoles are in their form factor and why steam machine prototype was also trying to achieve that.

 

Acceptable "cheating" should be accepting that SFF cases are expensive because they are low volume boutique products, but if they were to be streamlined and mass produced, they would get cheaper. Also figuring out some calculation for how Valve or other platform owner selling games could initially sell close to or even below production cost until they reach the volume required for significant price cuts.

 

By doing the console killer builds over and over again the way you do them so far, you're just showing to target audience of potential PC-based console system that it doesn't make sense, which is not true. Steam Machine concept makes sense as long as you actually want to achieve console features and not be hell bent on performance significantly beating the console, and Steam Deck shows that a console system with PC library of games has its value even at lower performance.

[David S_rpr1z3 Gauthier]

38 minutes ago, runvarbinusr said:

I cant find a single listing on the internet FOR ANY PART both in the used and new category with these prices, is this video a straight up lie?

we show screencap of most of the listings/pricing we used as reference within the video. We also used "SOLD" listings instead of active unsold listings. We also wrote this script more than 1-2 weeks ago so the listings may have changed in that time. But here are some more that didn't make into the final edit

[runvarbinusr]

22 minutes ago, David S_rpr1z3 Gauthier said:

we show screencap of most of the listings/pricing we used as reference within the video. We also used "SOLD" listings instead of active unsold listings. We also wrote this script more than 1-2 weeks ago so the listings may have changed in that time. But here are some more that didn't make into the final edit

Oh ok, thanks for clearing it up, I guess its just a waiting game to find one of these goldmine listings

[SteveGrabowski0]

I liked the video except for one thing: you really don't want to go DDR4-3600 with an i5-12400F if you want to use your RAM's XMP profile instead of having to hand tune (and test) your memory. I have an i5-12400F and the memory controller could not handle running my DDR4-3600 kit at full speed without crashing while stress testing with 7zip until I switched it into Gear 2, which adds so much latency that I was better off forgetting the XMP profile and hand tuning my RAM kit to run DDR4-3200 speeds in Gear 1. Definitely go with a DDR4-3200 kit if you go locked Intel chip plus DDR4 and don't want to spend time hand tuning your RAM like it was 2001. The k-sku cpus let you add more voltage to the memory controller to stably handle DDR4-3600 in Gear 1 but non-k you can't and thus can't count on running it full speed in Gear 1 (only DDR4-3200 is guaranteed IIRC).

[maplepants]

I like these videos but I'm with @SaperPL in wishing that they also considered size and noise. I know that buying new, and matching the size and noise profile of the PS5 Pro would make the PC much more expensive. But I wonder, how much more? What's the premium you need to pay to get a real PS5 Pro killer?

 

The current video is a bit like building a desktop pc and calling it a Steam Deck killer.

[SaperPL]

11 minutes ago, maplepants said:

I like these videos but I'm with @SaperPL in wishing that they also considered size and noise. I know that buying new, and matching the size and noise profile of the PS5 Pro would make the PC much more expensive. But I wonder, how much more? What's the premium you need to pay to get a real PS5 Pro killer?

My point is that the console is supposed to be something you buy as a whole package with the living room support meaning it's small to sit under tv and not stick out too much and be relatively quiet. And as casual the client wants the same thing as everyone else because he doesn't want to spend time figuring out how to put together something on which the games will work, he wants to have what everyone else is having and game developers also want that conformity from the platform.

 

These console killer videos make sense to let people figure out whether to buy a console or get a PC, but if we don't start discussing a problem of some standardised PC-based console like the steam machine prototype from valve (excluding all other steam machines) that should be possible, we're never going to get there because all these console killer videos just show such casual that it's a part hunting chore to put such system together, and this way we won't ever gauge interest in such system.

 

LTT should do a video partnership with one of the prebuilt system vendors where they would discuss what it would take to do a console form factor system that has single configuration for the whole generation of the graphics card and is close to console price range and is shipped with steam OS variant.

 

23 minutes ago, maplepants said:

The current video is a bit like building a desktop pc and calling it a Steam Deck killer.

I would say it's like trying to sell a sports car or a truck to an everyday Joe wanting a family commute car solely based on its speed or loading capacity, but maybe your example is even better.

[R3ndevous]

What this video highlights for me is;

 

1. PC Component pricing is still relatively expensive 

2. Exceeding console performance and visual quality at the same price isn’t as much of a strong point to own a GAMING pc.

3. Visual differences aren’t a strong argument to own a platform if the user doesn’t notice, likewise with higher visual settings on PC (e.g. ultra), if the 60 FPS performance is met, then everyone is happy and we should push and cherish the fact that consoles should drive this development

 

I say gaming pc, because depending on one’s need for home computing, I own a laptop and gaming….that’s done on the TV without spending minutes on adjusting settings, rebooting if needed, fiddling with drivers, HDR, audio etc. 

I think there’s enough space for the simplicity of consoles, as it is a for function device v.s. all purpose. Nonetheless, excluding all of that, the PRO is quite the compelling device even for its price as it is STILL cheaper than building a PC that has 12GB of VRAM and 8 Cores at minimum. 
Moreover, if you look at some system requirements on PC (*cough monster hunter*), then calculate the system pricing to run the game as well as you’d like (1080p, 60FPS), where would you end up?

 

For a follow up video;

* It would've been interesting to see the longevity of owning the PC vs console and see how it fares up. Own a stronger than PS5 console in 2020 and how does it fare now? How much would you need to spend to also exceed the PRO, or maybe it does already. 

[nhand42]

Even if the PC cost twice as much I'd still get the PC. 

[maplepants]

1 hour ago, SaperPL said:

These console killer videos make sense to let people figure out whether to buy a console or get a PC, but if we don't start discussing a problem of some standardised PC-based console like the steam machine prototype from valve (excluding all other steam machines) that should be possible, we're never going to get there because all these console killer videos just show such casual that it's a part hunting chore to put such system together, and this way we won't ever gauge interest in such system.

That's a good point I hadn't even thought of. How many people cross shopping a console and a PC have the know-how to judge the Intel and AMD CPU options Linus talked about for their CPU choice? Probably not very many.

 

Obviously this video is geared towards a PC gaming audience and so the question is less "can a normal PS5 Pro buyer get a PC instead?" and more "can you, PC gaming enthusiast, buy a PC that beats the PS5 Pro in graphics and frame rates for roughly the same cost as a PS5".

[SaperPL]

1 hour ago, maplepants said:

Obviously this video is geared towards a PC gaming audience and so the question is less "can a normal PS5 Pro buyer get a PC instead?" and more "can you, PC gaming enthusiast, buy a PC that beats the PS5 Pro in graphics and frame rates for roughly the same cost as a PS5".

Exactly. I'm not saying that we shouldn't do it for the PC gaming enthusiasts, but I'd like to see both.

 

Both Valve and Microsoft are kind of in a position where it could make sense for them to roll out a unified ATX PC system as their stationary console that can be repaired, but the huge bulk orders on components and tight cooperation with few vendors of those makes it competitively priced against other ATX PC systems.

Imagine situation where XBOX is just a PC and you just go and buy windows in it like other games at some points and it just install windows on it and you now have a desktop PC. Or even better - XBOX has a desktop like steam OS where you can switch between one or another. And I think @LinusTech talked about this in context of Microsoft few times on WAN that XBOX should just be a PC.

[Jaw709]

Receiptastic

 

19 hours ago, David S_rpr1z3 Gauthier said:

we show screencap of most of the listings/pricing we used as reference within the video. We also used "SOLD" listings instead of active unsold listings. We also wrote this script more than 1-2 weeks ago so the listings may have changed in that time. But here are some more that didn't make into the final edit

 

[R3ndevous]

You see a video like this again and you think, there's a lot more then just these platform comparisons, as the quality of the results can also primarily differ from title to title or game to game (and upscaler to upscaler).

There's more nuance than possible to discuss in a single video and generally the question always falls on: Does the end-user notice the difference, whether the difference is positive to the overall image results or negative?

A layman's perspective is hard to gauge, when it's discussed for an enthusiast perspective, which this console clearly targets. PC owners don't need to be conviced to play on consoles and vice versa also isn't as valid?

 

I recently rewatched your PS4 Pro coverage/review, and it's ironic how the end-conclusion is almost similar to the one in this video, says a lot about how little has changed over the years eh .

What about the one from Xbox one X?
 

Inevitably the final conclusion feels more like; It depends on the person, what they like and if they just want convenience and honestly, I hope this is the last platform comparison ever, because it's just not interesting for the overall conversation or discourse, especially since Sony games are also coming on PC and with Nintendo being the last platform left, that adheres to exclusives.

It's an interesting exercise though, to make a console killer, but one that's becoming less interesting if you look at how much disparity there can be qualitatively between platforms and even GPU vendors at their respective pricing.