The official price tag of the Sony PlayStation 5 Pro (PS5 Pro) has been revealed in Malaysia, and that number is a sizzling RM3,849. Yes, you’re reading that right, Sony’s inter-generational update to its lineup will cost you a near RM4,000 alone. That, and a single DualSense controller that comes with it.
That asking price has naturally and if we’re being honest, unavoidably led to several gamers, critics, and to some small degree of surprise, analysts, to ask that age-old question that we all tend to ask in relation to the whole performance-per-watt hypothesis: can you build a gaming PC at a similar price to the PS5 Pro?
The answer to that question, after spending not-so-much time searching for parts that are modestly comparable to the PS5 Pro, is a strong and resounding: heck yeah.
Now, I need to make some things clear, as well as set some ground rules here. Firstly, the lists of components seen here aren’t absolute: my goal here was to build a gaming rig with components that aren’t necessarily on par with the PS5 Pro and at that price point, let’s be real here: 4K gaming isn’t going to be the dream.
Second, I’ve anchored my search for components to a PC retail store which, in this case, is C-Zone. Circling back to the point about the lists not being absolute; if you have a preferred IT store that you patronise, then by all means. Compare what is here to your own findings to the components cherry-picked from that shop.
On a somewhat related note, I know that many of you are going to see what is written here and perhaps start doing your own research on similar or better components that you’ve no doubt sourced from online stores like Lazada and Shopee. Again, and I can’t stress this enough, that is fine too. That being said, I do urge you to check the deals being offered, on account that some of them can sound too good to be true.
Third, and getting back to the main point, I’m providing potential builds based on AMD and Intel components but more importantly, the builds do not include accessories like keyboards, mice, or speakers. Remember: these are hypothetical builds, made to see if you can assemble a gaming PC at a price point that’s similar or cheaper than a PS5 Pro.
Oh, and one more important point that I am reiterating here. Because these hypothetical gaming rigs are based on the price points of the PS5 Pro, it’s unlikely that these components, the GPUs especially, will be able to run at 4K resolution optimally or efficiently. So, manage your expectations.
Right, with that out of the way, here are the lists:
AMD Build #1
- Ryzen 5 5600 RM529
- ASRock B550M Wifi SE RM479
- Kingston Fury Beast 8GB DDR4-3200 x2 RM178 (RM89 x2)
- Lexar NM790 2TB RM599
- Corsair CX 650W RM259
- Lian Li LANCOOL 205M Black RM189
- Gigabyte Radeon RX 6600 8GB RM999
Total: RM3,232
AMD Build #2
- Ryzen 5 5600 RM529
- ASRock B550M Wifi SE RM479
- Kingston Fury Beast 8GB DDR4-3200 x2 RM178 (RM89 x2)
- Lexar NM790 2TB RM599
- Corsair CX 650W RM259
- Lian Li LANCOOL 205M Black RM189
- Zotac RTX 3050 6GB Solo RM874
Total: RM3,107
Intel Build #1
- Intel Core i5-12400F RM439
- ASUS Prim H610M-A WiFi RM514
- Kingston Fury Beast 8GB DDR4-3200 x2 RM178 (RM89 x2)
- Lexar NM790 2TB RM599
- Corsair CX 650W RM259
- Lian Li LANCOOL 205M Black RM189
- Gigabyte Radeon RX 6600 8GB RM999
Total RM3,177
Intel Build #2
- Intel Core i5-12400F RM439
- ASUS Prim H610M-A WiFi RM514
- Kingston Fury Beast 8GB DDR4-3200 x2 RM178 (RM89 x2)
- Lexar NM790 2TB RM599
- Corsair CX 650W RM259
- Lian Li LANCOOL 205M Black RM189
- Zotac RTX 3050 6GB Solo RM874
Total RM3,052
So, with a bit of time and a willingness to search for some components, we’ve managed to seek out systems that costs several hundreds of Ringgit less than the PS5 Pro. If you’re wondering how much each build saves you, we’ve listed the difference in the following section.
Price Difference Between PS5 Pro And Gaming Rigs
AMD #1 = RM617
AMD #2 = RM742
Intel #1 = RM672
Intel #2 = RM797
With an average savings between RM600 and RM800 between the four systems, you could take that extra money you’ve technically not spent on a PS5 Pro and divert it towards upgrading components. Components such as, say…the GPU.
With that extra cash, you can actually increase the budget for the graphics card and get an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060. On average, the GPU goes for around RM1,500 or less. A decent option that I found was the Zotac RTX 4060 Dual Edge, which currently goes for RM1,499 on average. Again, this is what C-Zone sells it for but if you think you can get it for cheaper, by all means.
Bonus Section (Sort Of)
Of course, if you couldn’t be bothered with building a gaming rig, buying a PS5 Pro, and just want to be able to game on the move, then there’s just one bleedingly obvious option here: get yourself a gaming handheld.
Why is this an option, you ask? At this point, Sony is slowly bringing many of its AAA titles on to the PC platform – the Horizon Series, God of War, and even Ghost of Tsushima are just a handful of “exclusive” PlayStation titles that have already made their way on to the PC, and it’s a certainty that more are on the way.
On that note, I recommend you go for the ASUS ROG Ally X that’s been out for a bit now, for reasons you can read about in my review.
Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or Telegram for more updates and breaking news.
