The PlayStation 5 was always a PC. Sony never said it, but a security engineer proved it. Andy Nguyen, known in the modding community as TheFlow, installed Linux functionally on a PS5 and used it to run Steam games at 60 frames per second. The experiment was documented on video and the numbers leave no room for doubts. 

GTA V Enhanced Edition ran at 1440p with ray tracing on and no significant performance drops. It wasn't a lab hack with ideal conditions. It was a home PS5 doing what Sony says it can't do. 

Why the PS5 was always a PC in disguise

The console is built on x86-64 architecture, the same base used by Intel and AMD processors in any computer conventional ra. Under the case there is an 8-core Zen 2 processor at 3.5GHz and an RDNA 2 GPU capable of reaching 2.23 GHz. 

What separated the PS5 from a PC wasn't the hardware. It was the software. Sony installs a hypervisor, a control layer that prevents unauthorized code from being executed and keeps everything inside e its closed ecosystem. Nguyen found vulnerabilities in firmwares between versions 3.xx and 4.xx, created an exploit to remove that hypervisor and opened the door to installing Ubuntu. 

Once inside, the console boots like any PC with Linux. And from there, everything changes.

How to install Steam on the PS5 and what games can run

With Linux active, the next step is install Steam. The key is Proton, the compatibility layer developed by Valve that allows running ju egos designed for Windows directly on Linux. The result is access to thousands of PC titles from a PS5, using a controller, on the TV. 

Digital Foundry put the configuration to the test by comparing the native performance of the console against those same games running on Steam with Proton on Linux. The results almost equaled native performance. There was no real sacrifice in graphical quality nor fluidity. 

The video output runs at 4K at 60Hz, all USB ports are operational and the fan controls are customizable. VRAM can also be allocated on a granular basis, something no official Sony has ever offered. 

The background with the PS3 and what this means for gaming in 2026

This has happened before. Sony allowed to install Linux on the PlayStation 3 officially through a feature called OtherOS. In 2010 it removed it firmware update. The decision triggered a class lawsuit in the United States that the company resolved years later with an out-of-court agreement. 

That movement did not protect the users. It deprived them of a functionality that they already had.

In 2026, Valve is about to launch its new Steam Machines with SteamOS based on Linux and hardware architecturally very similar to l of the PS5. What Nguyen achieved is, in essence, getting ahead of that scenario using hardware that millions of people already have at home. 

The process has clear limitations. Only works on PS5 consoles with firmware between versions 3.xx and 4.xx, requires advanced technical knowledge and voids warranty. Nguyen published all documentation on GitHub so that the community can reproduce it.