Best answer: Yes and no. On paper, Google Stadia technically has more GPU power in terms of teraflops. In practice, though, Sony's PS5 bests it in nearly every other category, delivering stunning pictures and performance directly from the console.
- Next-gen: PlayStation 5 (opens in new tab) (See at Amazon)
- Game streaming: Google Stadia Premiere Edition (opens in new tab) ($100 at Google)
What is Google Stadia?
Stadia is Google's game streaming service, available through free and premium memberships. Games are bought à la carte and are not included in the price of a subscription, though Pro members will receive a couple of free games to redeem every month.
PS5 vs Google Stadia server specs
| PS5 | Google Stadia server | |
|---|---|---|
| GPU | 10.28 TFLOPS, 36 CUs @ 2.23 GHz Custom RDNA 2 | 10.7 TFLOPS, 56 CUs Custom AMD |
| CPU | 8x Cores @ 3.5GHz Custom Zen 2 | 2.7GHz Custom x86 processor |
| Memory | 16GB GDDR6 | 16GB |
| Memory bandwidth | 448GB/s | 484GB/s |
| Resolution | Target 4K, up to 8K | Varies by internet connection (up to 8K) |
| Frame rate | Target 60FPS, up to 120FPS | Varies by internet connection (up to 120FPS) |
| HDR | Yes | Yes (Stadia Pro) |
| Storage | SSD | SSD |
Because Google Stadia's performance depends on your internet connection, your input lag, frame rate, and resolution of streamed games will vary. Google recommends a connection of 10Mbps minimum to reach 720p resolution. At 20Mbps you should be getting 1080p, and at 35Mpbs you should get 4K video — though 4K streaming is only available to Stadia Pro members for $10/month.
Frame rate for Stadia right now targets 60FPS so matter your connection, but it won't always hit that mark, and can fall short.
What is a teraflop?
The age-old question that most people either don't know or don't care: What's a teraflop? FLOP is an acronym for floating point operations per second. In terms of gaming systems, it measures how fast and efficiently polygons can be rendered on-screen.
A teraflop is the equivalent of one trillion floating point operations per second, meaning the PS5 can perform 10.28 trillion floating point operations per second. Stadia's server can perform 10.7 trillion floating point operations per second. The difference of .5 teraflops generally won't make a big impact on your gaming experience when it comes to visuals and graphics.
Is the PS5 or Stadia more powerful?
There's no cut and dried answer here because one is a cloud service and another is a piece of physical hardware. Stadia has the ability to render more graphically-intense images, but that's about it. Even then, the resolution you view these images at is dictated by your internet connection. The PS5's more powerful CPU means it processes information and performs calculations at a higher rate per minute than Stadia, making it more efficient.
The PS5 will undoubtedly deliver a better user experience overall with more consistent performance.
PlayStation 5
Get your hands on it before it sells out
The PS5 isn't available for preorder just yet, but a few retailers are letting fans sign up for notifications so they don't miss out. While it may not beat Stadia in terms of teraflops, there's a lot more to console power than that. As a whole package, PS5 is the way to go for next-gen gaming.
Google Stadia Premiere Edition
It has impressive specs if you have beastly internet
Google makes sure that each Stadia server has enough power to deliver some of the best looking and best performing games in ideal scenarios with the best possible internet connection. Without good internet your experience will be subpar compared to what the PS5 offers.
Jennifer Locke is Android Central's Games Editor and has been playing video games nearly her entire life. You can find her posting pictures of her dog and obsessing over PlayStation and Xbox, Star Wars, and other geeky things on Twitter @JenLocke95.
