Wednesday, April 22nd 2026
Leaker Calls Xbox Helix Console Equivalent to $2-3,000 Gaming PC
Recent rumors revealed that Microsoft may be ditching APU customization for Xbox Project Helix, its upcoming PC-console hybrid that is expected to launch around the $1,000 mark, opting instead for an off-the-shelf AMD APU that will seemingly be available to other manufacturers as well. Now, per a new rumor by ubiquitous leaker Moore's Law Is Dead on the Broken Silicon podcast, it seems as though that high price may come with a significant performance boost.
The Xbox Helix console is said to be more powerful than the PS6, thanks to a much larger die on the Xbox, which will reportedly feature a chiplet design with 68 RDNA 5 CUs and 48 GB of GDDR7. The PS6, on the other hand, is slated to have somewhere between 52 and 54 RDNA 5 CUs on a monolithic chip design. While there will definitely be a noticeable performance difference between the two if those rumors are true, the PS6 APU layout would mean it would also be relatively powerful compared to most gaming PCs.
MLID also touches on the portable PS6 console that is expected to launch alongside the PlayStation 6, stating that game developers have already started optimizing their games for the handheld and its weaker APU—even before the dev kits have even been shipped to developers. He also says that the PS6 will be backwards compatible and capable of playing at least PS4 games, and that technologies like PSSR will help improve quality in those games. He also purports that the PS6 will still launch at the end of 2027 or at the beginning of 2028.
Source:
Broken Silicon podcast
Moore's Law Is DeadWhat's even more of a cause for optimism, though, is how much better PS6 and Helix will be. Helix is basically a high-end PC, even using the same silicon as AMD's 70-class or maybe 80-class RDNA 5 GPUs. It isn't an ultra-level of PC hardware, but still far more powerful than consoles usually have. It will have the biggest APU in console history... Yes it will be expensive, but guys, if it's even $1,200, it's like a $2-3,000 gaming PC. That's disruptive.
MLID also touches on the portable PS6 console that is expected to launch alongside the PlayStation 6, stating that game developers have already started optimizing their games for the handheld and its weaker APU—even before the dev kits have even been shipped to developers. He also says that the PS6 will be backwards compatible and capable of playing at least PS4 games, and that technologies like PSSR will help improve quality in those games. He also purports that the PS6 will still launch at the end of 2027 or at the beginning of 2028.
29 Comments on Leaker Calls Xbox Helix Console Equivalent to $2-3,000 Gaming PC
$2-3K 2028 era desktop level performance does sound a little overzealous but regardless I hope it ends up being strong.
So yes, prices have gone up in nominal terms but not in actual market value. Frankly gaming is a luxury hobby that consumes massive amounts of time for no real world gain. If you cant find $500 today....you probably should not be buying video game consoles.
It can still be a more cost efficient luxury but still raise prices significantly. Almost every form of entertainment in my area (concerts, live sporting events, movie theater, amusement parks, restaurants, golfing) has increased anywhere from 50-100% in price in the last 10 years so consoles could theoretically jack there prices up and it would still proportionally be in line with other forms of entertainment.
Inflation notwithstanding (it’s not the only yardstick in town) it is undeniable that gaming has become more expensive in the recent years. It's totally unprecedented that a console actually rises in MSRP price 5 years after launch. Back in the day I was often living in the low-income bracket, and yet I could afford to purchase consoles because their price was dropping like a stone year on year, plus there was a robust second hand market. Looking at the prices now, I'm quite happy that I don't really wish to play any of their exclusives.
As for 1200$ Helix it will be interested to see what comes out of this. Last preem console I remember were 3DO and NeoGeo. It didn't work out well for the former but the latter had some traction. That's mostly because of superior library full of exclusives, something that Xbox doesn't have, and also costs / profits involved are magnitudes different. MS needs big income to justify propping Xbox, so perhaps this console is designed for failure, so then they can just wash their hands of the whole HW business and stick to being a GamePass-centered publisher.
Regards,
Fred.
2-3yrs after launch, someone building their own PC, for a similar cost, will be able to choose a much faster CPU & GPU combo.
Unless this thing is user upgradeable, and I dont see how it can be, it will have a short shelf life as a appealing choice for a PC gamer.
The days of cheap gaming on own hardware feels like will soon be over. If they can stream the game from a datacenter and you just need to buy a competent streaming device for them it's the best scenario. They just need to make subscription that locks you into paying it even if you don't use it. Similar to some gym memberships.
Unless someone figures out a way to make cheaper components and not have them scalped before they reach the end user this trend will just continue. Of subscription based living. Because affording the real thing will be too expensive and only for the "select" few.
Maybe 70s class GPU maybe 80s LOL
Maybe its Intel who knows?
Hella Fucking No.
I never once cared about a title released on another platform. Separate the console from the PC. Please. I Don't want kiddie console crap in my PC. And I damn sure ain't giving no kid a fully functional PC who only wants to play games. Most parents are too busy being adults to properly supervise their kids on the net. Bringing titles like Grand Theft Auto to consoles is the stupidest shit I have seen in a long time. I see the little brats all the time on the dedicated channel for car chases stealing cars and getting chased by cops. They think it is funny. Until one of them crashes or gets shot to death, then the parents cry about harsh laws and police abuse.
I ain't here to fix the planets moral issues, but damn, this is so retarded just so a company can make extra cash. How long will everyone just sit and watch it doing nothing.
more like a hot air hyper.
Fixating on some extremely high framerate at extremely high resolution for some expensively-shaded scenes was always unreasonable. Moore's law is dead. Welcome to the land of diminishing returns.
$1200, APU, RDNA 5, but memory bandwidth limited.... vs $600-800, CPU, GPU, RDNA 3, not memory limited...
I don't have a name for this but we all have a game or few of them we will never spin up but watch others play.
Anyway I have to agree that the compare is absurd. Yeah we'll think it's lowball in a year, much to market shock but good.
The entire point of a console is that it does more with less. We don't need gigantic storage volumes to house game libraries.
My 360 has maybe 3 physical games in total that take up less than 10GB on a 240GB 2.5" HDD.
The best parts of my PS2 library average out to roughly 1GB per disc and there's like 30 of them.
The PS3 title I ran for the first time clocks in at a hefty 5.75GB and it's visual novel, not action.
Yeah game development has progression but unless optimization comes back we're in trouble.
Now, when they are no longer dominant in PC, but have their stake in console world (smaller than PS, but still) , now they want to abandon console world and return to PC?
Idiots.
This is how it has always been....
Well, except for maybe the PS4/XboxOne.
The GPU divide is cool, but without more information it doesn't really matter. Series X is 52CU. PS5 is 36CU. Series X doesn't really have any significant advantage over the PS5.