As promised, Sony has finally shared some more news on the upcoming PlayStation 5. It might not be the exciting first-look at the console itself you were hoping for, and there were no details on launch titles or exclusives to speak of. But what we got, at last, was a comprehensive look at what's under the hood of the next-gen hardware, and it's a bit of a monster.
PS5 lead architect Mark Cerny delivered a... fairly overwhelming deep dive presentation that really dug into the new hardware and how it represents a real leap forward from its predecessor. While there was an awful lot of news in there that was arguably more developer-focused, there's still plenty for the rest of us to get excited about too.
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So let's stop screwing around and get down to it, shall we? Below you'll find all the key specs, straight from the horse's mouth. And by horse, I mean Sony.
- CPU: 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.5GHz (variable frequency)
- GPU: 10.28 TFLOPs, 36 CUs at 2.23GHz (variable frequency)
- GPU Architecture: Custom RDNA 2
- Memory/Interface: 16GB GDDR6/256-bit
- Internal Storage: Custom 825GB SSD
- IO Throughput: 5.5GB/s (Raw), Typical 8-9GB/s (Compressed)
- Expandable Storage: NVMe SSD Slot
- External Storage: USB HDD Support
- Optical Drive: 4K UHD Blu-ray Drive
Looking at the raw specs, it really does look like Sony isn't messing around with the PS5, does it? With a 4K UHD Blu-Ray drive, custom AMD GPU, and potentially game-changing SSD, there's a lot to take in. The PS5 is also packing an impressive 10.28 Teraflops of GPU power, which is just shy of the Xbox Series X's recently confirmed 12 Teraflops. I imagine people will get weird about that, but I can't bring myself to care. I'm already bored of the inevitable Xbox/PS5 comparisons.
The SSD seems to be the real headline, here - at least as far as Cerny is concerned. Internal storage clocks in at around 825GB for the console's custom SSD, which isn't as much as the Xbox Series X - but it's the way that Sony plans to use it that's key. As we've been told dozens of times over the last few months, SSDs are crucial in that they enable faster loading times.
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This in itself is great, but from a practical standpoint it can allow for bigger and more elaborate open worlds, as developers will be free to use system memory more efficiently.
"As game creators, we go from trying to distract the player from how long fast travel is taking - like those Spider-Man subway rides - to being so blindingly fast that we might even have to slow that transition down," Cerny said.
Regardless of whether the PS5 is "better or worse" than the Xbox Series X in terms of raw specs, Cerny explained all the power under the hood will make their console home to some truly gorgeous and immersive interactive experiences.
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On that, Cerny also stressed that the PS5 aims to be as developer-friendly as possible. Acknowledging that the PlayStation 3 was something of a nightmare to develop for in the beginning, he revealed that the latest hardware shouldn't be too difficult for developers that have gotten comfortable with creating games for the PlayStation 4.
"NVMe PC drives will work in PlayStation 5," added Cerny in regards to expendable storage. "The only problem is that PC technology is significantly behind PS5. It'll take some time for the newer, PCIe 4.0-based drives with the bandwidth required to match Sony's spec to hit the market."
"In short, expandable storage is possible and you won't need proprietary drives from Sony to get the extra space you want," he added. "However, in the short term at least, the advice is simple: don't buy an NVMe drive without Sony validation if you plan to use it in PlayStation 5."
"Also remember that extreme bandwidth PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives are likely to be very expensive - in the short term, at least," he continued. "This is cutting-edge technology, after all. Obviously though, the outlook should improve significantly as the next generation progresses - and prices do tend to drop significantly over time."
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Finally, and perhaps most importantly for many of us, there's the issue of backwards compatibility. It looks as if the PS5 will be able to play PS4 games, as previously promised. Cerny explained that Sony recently looked at the top 100 PS4 games by playtime, and the company is expecting "almost all of them" to be playable at launch.
Unfortunately, there was no mention of whether the console would be able to run PS3, PS2, or original PlayStation games. Whether or not this is something Sony will share at a later date remains to be seen, but I wouldn't get my hopes up. With Xbox making such a big deal about the Series X supporting every generation of Xbox, it seems unlikely that Sony would have neglected to mention a similar feature if it was planned.
Sony still has plenty to share when it comes to the PS5. We still don't know what the console looks like, or what games the company has planned for it. At least for now we can dive into a conclusive list of specs, and I've no doubt that developers and people a lot cleverer than myself will have some interesting observations to share in the coming days.
Featured Image Credit: SonyTopics: PS5, Xbox Series X, PlayStation