Nintendo Switch vs Sony Playstation 5

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CPU comparison with benchmarks


Nintendo Switch CPU1 vs CPU2 Sony Playstation 5
Nintendo Switch Sony Playstation 5

CPU comparison

In this CPU comparison, we compare the Nintendo Switch and the Sony Playstation 5 and use benchmarks to check which processor is faster.

We compare the Nintendo Switch 8 core processor released in Q1/2017 with the Sony Playstation 5 which has 8 CPU cores and was introduced in Q3/2020.
NVIDIA Tegra (2) Family AMD Ryzen 7 (68)
NVIDIA Tegra X1 (2) CPU group AMD Ryzen 4000G (22)
2 Generation 3
Cortex-A57/-A53 Architecture Renoir (Zen 2)
Mobile Segment Desktop / Server
-- Predecessor --
-- Successor --

CPU Cores and Base Frequency

The Nintendo Switch is a 8 core processor with a clock frequency of 1.00 GHz (1.75 GHz). The processor can compute 8 threads at the same time. The Sony Playstation 5 clocks with 3.00 GHz (3.50 GHz), has 8 CPU cores and can calculate 16 threads in parallel.

Nintendo Switch Characteristic Sony Playstation 5
8 Cores 8
8 Threads 16
hybrid (big.LITTLE) Core architecture normal
No Hyperthreading Yes
No Overclocking ? No
1.00 GHz (1.75 GHz)
4x Cortex-A57
A-Core 3.00 GHz (3.50 GHz)
8x Zen 2
1.00 GHz (1.75 GHz)
4x Cortex-A53
B-Core --

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

Processors with the support of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) can process many calculations, especially audio, image and video processing, much faster than classic processors. Algorithms for ML improve their performance the more data they have collected via software. ML tasks can be processed up to 10,000 times faster than with a classic processor.

Nintendo Switch Characteristic Sony Playstation 5
-- AI hardware --
-- AI specifications --

Internal Graphics

Graphics (iGPU) integrated into the processor not only enable image output without having to rely on a dedicated graphics solution, but can also efficiently accelerate video playback.

NVIDIA Tegra X1 (Maxwell) GPU AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Playstation 5)
0.30 GHz GPU frequency 2.23 GHz
0.77 GHz GPU (Turbo) --
1 GPU Generation 1
20 nm Technology 7 nm
1 Max. displays 1
2 Compute units 36
256 Shader 2304
No Hardware Raytracing No
No Frame Generation No
2 GB Max. GPU Memory 8 GB
12 DirectX Version 12

Hardware codec support

A photo or video codec that is accelerated in hardware can greatly accelerate the working speed of a processor and extend the battery life of notebooks or smartphones when playing videos.

NVIDIA Tegra X1 (Maxwell) GPU AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Playstation 5)
Decode Codec h265 / HEVC (8 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode Codec h265 / HEVC (10 bit) Decode / Encode
Decode / Encode Codec h264 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VP9 Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VP8 Decode / Encode
No Codec AV1 No
Decode Codec AVC Decode / Encode
Decode Codec VC-1 Decode
Decode / Encode Codec JPEG Decode / Encode

Memory & PCIe

Up to 4 GB of memory in a maximum of 2 memory channels is supported by the Nintendo Switch, while the Sony Playstation 5 supports a maximum of 16 GB of memory with a maximum memory bandwidth of 448.0 GB/s enabled.

Nintendo Switch Characteristic Sony Playstation 5
LPDDR4-3200 Memory GDDR6
4 GB Max. Memory 16 GB
2 (Dual Channel) Memory channels 2 (Dual Channel)
25.6 GB/s Max. Bandwidth 448.0 GB/s
No ECC No
2.50 MB L2 Cache --
-- L3 Cache 8.00 MB
-- PCIe version 4.0
-- PCIe lanes 12
-- PCIe Bandwidth 23.6 GB/s

Thermal Management

The Nintendo Switch has a TDP of 5 W. The TDP of the Sony Playstation 5 is 65 W. System integrators use the TDP of the processor as a guide when dimensioning the cooling solution.

Nintendo Switch Characteristic Sony Playstation 5
5 W TDP (PL1 / PBP) 65 W
-- TDP (PL2) --
-- TDP up --
5 W TDP down --
-- Tjunction max. 100 °C

Technical details

The Nintendo Switch has 2.50 MB cache and is manufactured in 20 nm. The cache of Sony Playstation 5 is at 8.00 MB. The processor is manufactured in 7 nm.

Nintendo Switch Characteristic Sony Playstation 5
20 nm Technology 7 nm
Chiplet Chip design Monolithic
Armv8-A (64 bit) Instruction set (ISA) x86-64 (64 bit)
-- ISA extensions SSE4a, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, AVX2, FMA3
-- Socket BGA
None Virtualization AMD-V, SVM
No AES-NI Yes
Operating systems Windows 10, Windows 11, Linux
Q1/2017 Release date Q3/2020
-- Release price --
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Rate these processors

Here you can rate the Nintendo Switch to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 2.4 stars (7 ratings). Rate now:
Here you can rate the Sony Playstation 5 to help other visitors make their purchasing decisions. The average rating is 3.8 stars (15 ratings). Rate now:


iGPU - FP32 Performance (Single-precision GFLOPS)

The theoretical computing performance of the internal graphics unit of the processor with simple accuracy (32 bit) in GFLOPS. GFLOPS indicates how many billion floating point operations the iGPU can perform per second.
Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch
NVIDIA Tegra X1 (Maxwell) @ 0.77 GHz
393 (4%)
Sony Playstation 5 Sony Playstation 5
AMD Custom Radeon Graphics (Playstation 5) @ 2.23 GHz
10300 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch
8C 8T @ 1.75 GHz
0 (0%)
Sony Playstation 5 Sony Playstation 5
8C 16T @ 3.50 GHz
1056 (100%)

Cinebench R23 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R23 is the successor of Cinebench R20 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch
8C 8T @ 1.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Sony Playstation 5 Sony Playstation 5
8C 16T @ 3.50 GHz
9625 (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Single-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch
8C 8T @ 1.75 GHz
0 (0%)
Sony Playstation 5 Sony Playstation 5
8C 16T @ 3.50 GHz
992 (100%)

Geekbench 5, 64bit (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 5 is a cross plattform benchmark that heavily uses the systems memory. A fast memory will push the result a lot. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch
8C 8T @ 1.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Sony Playstation 5 Sony Playstation 5
8C 16T @ 3.50 GHz
6635 (100%)

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The single-core benchmark only evaluates the performance of the fastest CPU core, the number of CPU cores in a processor is irrelevant here.
Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch
8C 8T @ 1.75 GHz
270 (100%)
Sony Playstation 5 Sony Playstation 5
8C 16T @ 3.50 GHz
0 (0%)

Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)

Geekbench 6 is a benchmark for modern computers, notebooks and smartphones. What is new is an optimized utilization of newer CPU architectures, e.g. based on the big.LITTLE concept and combining CPU cores of different sizes. The multi-core benchmark evaluates the performance of all of the processor's CPU cores. Virtual thread improvements such as AMD SMT or Intel's Hyper-Threading have a positive impact on the benchmark result.
Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch
8C 8T @ 1.00 GHz
702 (100%)
Sony Playstation 5 Sony Playstation 5
8C 16T @ 3.50 GHz
0 (0%)

Cinebench R20 (Single-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The single-core test only uses one CPU core, the amount of cores or hyperthreading ability doesn't count.
Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch
8C 8T @ 1.75 GHz
0 (0%)
Sony Playstation 5 Sony Playstation 5
8C 16T @ 3.50 GHz
402 (100%)

Cinebench R20 (Multi-Core)

Cinebench R20 is the successor of Cinebench R15 and is also based on the Cinema 4 Suite. Cinema 4 is a worldwide used software to create 3D forms. The multi-core test involves all CPU cores and taks a big advantage of hyperthreading.
Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch
8C 8T @ 1.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Sony Playstation 5 Sony Playstation 5
8C 16T @ 3.50 GHz
3735 (100%)

Estimated results for PassMark CPU Mark

Some of the CPUs listed below have been benchmarked by CPU-monkey. However the majority of CPUs have not been tested and the results have been estimated by a CPU-monkey’s secret proprietary formula. As such they do not accurately reflect the actual Passmark CPU mark values and are not endorsed by PassMark Software Pty Ltd.
Nintendo Switch Nintendo Switch
8C 8T @ 1.00 GHz
0 (0%)
Sony Playstation 5 Sony Playstation 5
8C 16T @ 3.50 GHz
16095 (100%)

Devices using this processor

Nintendo Switch Sony Playstation 5
Nintendo Switch Unknown

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