How Much Does It Cost To Make a PS5?

Since its release in November 2020, the PS5 has gained some notoriety. The supply is low, and the price is steep. Owning a PS5 has become a status symbol almost as great as owning a pineapple in medieval Venice. What is so special about it? Why does it cost so much? And how much does it cost to make a PS5?

Let’s unravel it all.

How Much Does the PS5 Sell For?

At the time of writing, the PS5 sells for $499. It comes with a custom 8-core AMD Zen 2 Processor, 16 GB of GDDR6 SDRAM, 512MB of DDR4 RAM, and a custom 825 GB NVMe SSD storage. Its graphics are the product of an AMD RDNA 2 chip with a 10.3 TFLOPS peak productivity. The sound card supports Dolby 7.1 surround sound.

It also includes a wireless controller, receiver, and network adapter. Research, logistics, and storage should also be factored in as expenses. 

How Much Does It Cost To Make a PS5?

Sony has never officially disclosed the cost to make a PS5. It’s highly possible that it’s selling it with either minimal profit or at a loss. Generally speaking, consoles themselves don’t make a lot of money. Most of the profit comes from selling games and accessories.

In order to keep things simple, we’ll examine the processor, RAM, storage, and graphics card. 

A current-day Zen2 processor costs around $100-$150. Considering that it’s custom-built on a bulk order (in the tens of millions), we can assume that the price may have been reduced to somewhere around $40-$100.

RAM is another key element of the PS5 production cost. 16 GB of GDDR6 clocked at 3500 MHz on the retailer market (orders above 2000 units) costs around $400. Considering that the manufacturer would’ve required millions of RAM sticks, the price could’ve very well been halved. So we’re going to put it in the span of $150-$200.

Currently, an end-user may buy a 1TB NVMe SSD in the price range of $70-$150. Again putting in mind the bulk order, we may lower it to $40-$90.

You cannot assume the PS5 system cost without bringing up the graphics card. An end-user can buy an AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D for about $450. Since the competition in the hardware retailer market is high, we could say Sony received it for about $350. 

Putting all these parts together, the full cost of the PS5 should be somewhere between $310-$470. Of course, this doesn’t factor in all the other components, the R&D and marketing costs, and the price of materials. 

How Much Does It Cost To Build a PlayStation?

If you’re frustrated with the new PlayStation 5 prices and lack of availability, maybe you can build one yourself. However, you’ll need the right pieces, and the final cost might surprise you. 

In the previous section, we covered the price of all PS5 components. Now we’ll discuss some of their equivalents on the user market.   

The SSD will remain the same, as there’s no difference in console and computer SSDs. Since GDDR6 RAM cards aren’t commercially available, you may settle for the second-best thing and get a 16GB DDR5 Kingston Fury Beast for $130. When it comes to the CPU, you may pick the Ryzen 5 4500, which is also based on the Zen 2 architecture. It comes at the cost of $130. The GPU remains AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D at $450. These parts would amount to around $800.

Is It Possible To Make a PS5?

Now, as you might have guessed, following the above guidelines will get you a PC that matches the performance of a PS5, but it won’t be the same thing. Yes, you can get a compact case and even use the DualSense controller for a more console-like experience. However, you won’t be able to run PS5 exclusive games, nor will you have access to PlayStation Plus features. 

The reasons behind this relate to hardware, software, and game deployment limitations. Moreover, building a system that resembles the PS5 will cost you quite a lot and probably won’t be worth it in the end.

PS5 vs PS4

Undoubtedly, the PS5 is an improvement on the old PS4, but what exactly is the difference between the two?

• Storage – PlayStation 4 has an HDD for storing your data. However, the PS5 uses an SDD, which offers considerably faster loading speeds. When it comes to storage space, they sway around 500GB-1TB.
• Graphics – The initial line of PS4 didn’t support 60FPS HD Gaming. It was only after the introduction of the Pro version that it was made possible on certain titles. The PS5 comes with Full HD 60FPS gaming capabilities right out of the box. As a plus, you can play PS4 games on a PS5 with improved graphics.
• Available Titles -  There are over 3,300 games available for the PS4. At the time of writing, the PS5 sports about 480.

PlayStation 5 vs PlayStation 5 Digital Edition

If you find the PlayStation 5 selling price a bit too steep, you can always opt for the Digital Edition. It’s the cheaper model – currently at $399. The biggest difference between the two is that the PS5 Digital doesn’t have a disk reader. This means you have to digitally download all the media you consume.

Sadly, your collection of favorite Blu-Rays and DVDs will become useless. 

And there’s another important distinction: even though the DE is cheaper, it still might not be the most cost-effective solution. Having to pay for all your games online means you won’t be able to exchange titles with your friends or purchase them at a discount from a physical store.

The bottom line is if you prefer your PS5s with a thin waist and incapable of reading, get the Digital Edition. If you prefer them on the curvy side and you value your collection of physical media, stick to the original PS5. $100 isn’t such a big difference.

Wrap Up

Creating a console is a timely and very expensive process. The exact PS5 production cost cannot be easily estimated even when you have all the expenditure data available. Still, this doesn’t stop us from having a little fun musing over the impossible.