My take and opinion on the announced specs, which btw are always subject to change.


CPU - AMD Zen 2 based architecture (8 cores confirmed)

Okay I'm glad it's finally official that they aren't gimping on the CPU this time and going for something relevant. However I doubt the CPU in the PS5 is going to be overly quick either, it will still be the bottleneck but hopefully sufficient enough to give us 1080p60fps games as a baseline, at least.

Clock speeds, I feel that 3.0ghz as the base clock and up to 3.6ghz as boost clock, but in a console environment they might even forego the boost to keep things as simple as possible too.

As for core count, 8 cores was always the obvious choice in order to keep parity with the PS4 for 100% backwards compatibility. But the interesting question here is if the CPU will get double threads up to 16 threads or are they strictly doing 8 cores and 8 threads only. Going to 16 threads would require some fairly beefy VRM design which also means the PSU would need to be decent and not just "barely passable" like the PS4 and PS4 Pro uses. It also means the cooling capability needs to be robust as well, the Xbox One X has done well in this regard so I'm sure Cerny and co. will have their work cut out for them in this department.


GPU - Navi based GPU

Quite an open secret, it was always going to be Navi and AMD has never denied that Navi is designed with consoles as the forefront on the architecture. Previously Cerny said that a console requires at least 8 TFLOPs to achieve native 4k. While on paper and with maths that is true, reality is that things aren't as rosy as it sounds. Google's Stadia is targeting 11 TFLOPs and I believe that Sony is also targeting a similar level of output on the GPU side. However TFLOPS don't really mean much anymore these days, so chasing the big number isn't always the most effective solution (Nvidia's RTX has less TFLOPs comparatively speaking with their Pascal predecessor as an example).

I expect the GPU to roughly match Vega 64 in performance levels but at a MUCH, MUCH lower TDP. I don't think we'll see too much 60fps games either next gen and that 4k30 will still be the target. I do however hope that a separate mode to allow players to choose a lower resolution for 60fps is available or better yet, pushing Freesync support as a major feature. Though unfortunately the latter is tied to displays adopting it or not, and even though Samsung and LG (this year) supports Freesync - the range it does it is at a minimum of 48hz which would mean it's kinda pointless for the vast majority of games. Why Sony aren't adopting Freesync on their TVs is beyond me though.

Also wonder about the amount of RAM the system will get, I'm thinking 12GB being the logical and cost effective step since they'll be using GDDR6. But surprise me with 16GB please, just like the PS4 did with 8GB.

Raytracing support has also been announced, but I'm skeptical if it'll even be widespread used. I doubt dedicated ray tracing cores will be built into Navi too, at least not at the PS5's price point (~$500). So I'm only expecting software based ray tracing which means rudimentary use of it.

A note about "8k support". Obviously, games aren't going to run at 8k. I am fairly certain that 8k support means the GPU has the right decoders to decode video files at 8k resolution so they don't stutter like a bitch when played back. Would also mean that streaming apps can push for 8k resolutions without relying on the CPU for software decoding.


Dedicated DSP - a focus on 3D audio

I don't like the term 3D audio, the correct term is binaural or HRTF (head related transfer function). This is old shit, like VERY old - games in the 90s already had binaural support. It's unfortunate that it never took off and I'm glad that Cerny has made it a focus and that he recognizes the leap in audio fidelity from PS3 to PS4 has been rather mundane. He talks about how headphones will be the 'gold' standard for gaming audio, while true I don't exactly agree.

For competitive shooters, yeah headphones undeniably gives you an edge and if binaural is well implemented - it's really an experience to behold, especially if you have good headphones to begin with.

But I'm not going to play the next God of War with headphones. I want to feel the bass ripping into my guts and I want to get a massage on my spine. Headphones cannot do that. With that, I hope the PS5 pushes the forefront for dedicated speaker setups too - i.e making Dolby Atmos and DTS:X mandatory. If they can support Auro3D, all the better but I doubt that's ever going to happen.


SSD as standard storage

The last but extremely important one. Yes, storage speed has been the bane of consoles this entire generation. There are a few ways Sony can go into doing this and my speculations are:

- A traditional 1TB SSD as the minimum either in 7mm 9.5" form factor or M.2 standard.
- 1TB SSD soldered onto the board itself, hence lower cost but that means no more storage change from the consumer side.
- An SSD cache of a considerable size (256GB perhaps) to cache the most frequently loaded game onto it while other unplayed games goes onto a mechanical HDD.

From what Cerny is saying about how the SSD will be "custom" built for the PS5, it seems that he's actually talking about the controller and not the NAND. I'm not sure if Sony's semiconductor arm is big enough to produce high demand NANDs or not (someone correct me here). But anyways, I'm fairly certain that Sony wants to make their own controller for the SSD so that they can dictate on every level how data can be stored and cached, as well as managing write wear levels.

The last one is important, because the storage is obviously going to need to be cost effective which means QLC NANDs are most definitely going to be used. Considering the PS5 will be always recording like the PS4 does, it would mean that large amount of data will be written and deleted all the time, at a much higher bitrate (for 4k support). I'm curious to see how Sony will manage the wear rate of the NAND here.

This post has been edited by SSJBen: Apr 18 2019, 05:50 PM

When hardware has to fit within a budget in an all-in-one box, it needs to be custom. That's simply how the economy for manufacturing works and yeah, it could be a double edged sword.

Here's hoping users can still switch out their own storage though.

Yes and no. NANDs has limited write/rewrite cycles, that's just the nature of of it. But at the same time because solid state storage doesn't have moving parts, it's also one less part to fail.

HDDs are just way too slow today. Only good for archival storage.

There are already many prototypes of a DS5. But it seems very likely that the shape won't change that much, but only with an addition of a touchscreen instead. But eh, controller designs change from month to month so anything can still happen.

The PS3 was rounded, beveled. Most people don't seem to like it.

Blu-Ray had no advancement? We went for 25GB to 100GB and upcoming 200GB discs in less than 10 years for consumers. We already have 3TB discs but most people won't have the money to afford them. There's really not much else that can be done on optical media as far as revolutionary ideas go.

Nothing to hope because economically speaking, it makes way more sense to push PS Now to a wider audience than to kill themselves trying to make a PS3 emulator.

PS3 compatibility is only through the cloud, Sony has made that very clear.

Be a half decent human and not a shit eating, butthash licking sub human and you'll be fine.

There is over a 100 million PS4s shipped, Sony won't be dropping support for the base model any time soon. The last time this happened, the PS2 specifically - it stayed on for so long.

More over with backwards compatibility being one of the core focus for the PS5 - it's easy to see why the PS4 will continue to sell well for at least the next 2 years.

You only look from the gamer's perspective.

In order for the PS5 to actually hit its targets, the PS5 isn't going to be selling as cheap as the PS4. That is for sure. The PS5 comes out, the PS4 drops in price for those who just wants an entry level machine to play games. The enthusiasts will pick the PS5. Either way, it generates the revenue Sony wants into their ecosystem.

Production for PS4 isn't stopping anytime soon.

I'd rather they charge it at a high price than try to short change people like with the PS4, which was already outdated even before it release.

This post has been edited by SSJBen: Oct 11 2019, 12:56 AM

Lol guys....

PS5's clockspeeds aren't judged by thermal limits, it's tied to POWER limit. This means that all a dev gotta do is fit their game within the power limit to hit the clock rate they want and that's all they gotta worry about.

Example; if the PS5's TDP is 150w and the max allowed for the GPU is 130w to hit 2.23ghz, all the developer has gotta do is make their game run within that power limit. If it can't, they just need to lower the chosen power limit (available through the PS5's SDK toolset) to bring down the clockspeeds. The TDP and clockspeeds co-relation is NOT linear however, minus 10watts does not equal minus 100mhz. From what Cerny says, power to clockspeeds relation is logarithmic.

In theory this means that thermals will always be under control and no matter how hot the PS5 runs (under thermal limits of course since ambient temps will still matter), all PS5 games will perform the same way.

What's the downside to power limits being the factor to clockspeeds? Well, Sony can't put the same trash PSUs they've been putting their consoles for the last 20 years that's what. They actually need to put PSUs with strong 12v rails, one with sufficiently more amps than needed for headroom. It also means that they can't cheese with cheaping out on PSUs anymore like they've always done.

@bolded
Sure, water is wet too no?

Because Sony would deliberately create a cooling system that isn't capable of handling 150w or whatever the TDP is they've decided for the PS5 so that NO ONE would ever hit 2.23ghz right?

This post has been edited by SSJBen: Mar 25 2020, 06:39 PM

Expecting the PS5 to launch at $450. But considering our shitty ringgit which in no way will recover beyond RM4.0 to 1USD by the end of the year, yeah expect around RM2.3k-ish for a PS5 here.


There is no fact that it can't hit 2.23ghz at a sustained clock speed. It is simply up to the developers to decide if they want to stay within the power limit to hit that 2.23ghz or go above that and lower the TDP instead.

Here, read what Cerny says:



All Sony needs to do if have a cooling system capable of the TDP chosen for the PS5, which is obviously a no brainer unless they want 360 RROD warranty-fest. Of course the cooling is indeed critical, but you make it sound like cooling the PS5 is the hardest thing to do on the system.

I'll be surprised they don't use a vapor chamber type of heatsink like the Series X (and Xbox One X) does. It's the easiest way to keep form factor small without over compromising on cooling.

DualSense will use a built-in li-on rechargeable battery. Who said it's using AAs?

Unreal Engine 5 tech demo.

Impressive stuff, show cases the use of ray traced lighting and audio. So here's hoping devs can come close to this level of quality, somehow doubt most can outside of first party studios.

This post has been edited by SSJBen: May 14 2020, 12:45 AM

There will be a handful of games that will receive a "PS5 patch". Spider-Man is top of that list.

As far as backwards compatibility goes, all games from released on the PS4 from July 13th 2020 on wards are COMPULSORY to be forwards compatible with the PS5.

I worded it poorly, but you are correct. Games submitted for certification from 13th July 2020 must be forwards compatible with the PS5.


CPU is vastly different, but it's still x86. Navi still has remnants of GCN (which PS4/Pro uses), so you can't really call it entirely different.

Sony doesn't have an excuse considering Microsoft is going to have backwards compatibility all the way back to the original Xbox PLUS implementing HDR for those old games. HDR for Ninja Gaiden Black? Hell yes.

Lol.

Look at the bigger picture please. All news about the PS5 would likely be drowned with all this blacklivesmatter trends and news of tragedies. Why would Sony bury the limelight of a product that would ride their profits for the next decade?

It's not live anyways, what's the difference watching at 4am or at 10am or any other time?