Sony has already shared some of the characteristics of what will be its next new generation console, an extremely powerful machine that seeks to differentiate itself in the market with a series of fundamental pillars that will shape its vision for the coming years.
A very powerful brain
The brain of the PS5 will be a chipset manufactured by AMD based on a 3.5 GHz (variable frequency) 8-core Zen 2 CPU and an RDNA 2 GPU with 36 2.23 GHz (variable frequency) computing units with the have to offer a total of 10.28 teraflops. It is a platform similar to the one we can find on Xbox Series X, although with certain differences.
In Sony’s words, this platform has sought to meet the needs that developers asked for, since, in previous generations, such a personalized SoC (as happened on PS3) created quite a bit of controversy among those who had to create the games, so they have sought gather as many amenities as possible to develop everything as easy as possible.
As you can see, the clock speed of the CPU and GPU will offer variable frequencies, and this is because they will adjust their speed according to the demand generated by the game. This will be controlled through an integrated power manager that will analyze the workloads on the CPU and GPU to adjust the frequencies of both brains to match. It is a very interesting method with which Sony ensures to squeeze the most of the processor without wasting energy or workload, but the challenge will be in dissipation, a detail that will be revealed later.
An extremely fast SSD
But according to Sony, if there was something that developers especially asked for, it was an SSD. The new generation of consoles will be characterized by extreme speed when loading games and loading textures, but on PS5 everything seems to reach a level never seen before. They have designed a completely custom drive that offers 825 GB of capacity and is capable of speeds of no less than 5.5 GB / s.
This will allow games to have incredibly large worlds that until now were limited by the technical capabilities of hard drives. If the 825 GB of capacity falls short, there will be the possibility of expanding them with third-party discs, the problem is that for now there is no technology that meets Sony’s requirements. For this, we will have to wait for the launch of PCI Express 4.0 units, and when it does, Sony must certify these units to ensure that they will work perfectly on their consoles.
To give you an idea, Xbox Series X offers rates of 2.4 GB / s, so you can already get an idea of the declaration of intent of PS5 in this aspect. According to some developers, the loading time achieved with the Sony console is simply spectacular.
New generation graphics
PS5 has a new engine called Geometry Engine that is responsible for unifying the processing tasks to allow, for example, to synthesize the geometry in real time while it is generated thanks to the Primitive Shadders . To all this, we must add the presence of Ray Tracing , which will improve reflections, ambient occlusion, shadows and global lighting. At the moment there is no type of demonstration that lets us see the first results, so we will have to wait.
The manufacturer has been quite concise in this type of visual details, so for the moment it seems that we are going to have to keep waiting for future talks to learn a little more about the console’s graphic potential.
What is Tempest 3D audio?
Convinced that the gaming experience can be further improved, Sony has developed an audio engine called the Tempest Engine . This sound brain will be responsible for offering a completely different sound experience than what we are used to finding on the market today. According to them, PSVR includes one of the most complete audio systems on the market by supporting 50 different audio sources, well, the PS5 engine is so advanced that it will be able to handle hundreds of them, to such an extent that we will be able to feel individual raindrops in a downpour.
To enjoy this new immersive experience we will only have to use headphones, but the company wants to go much further, since it is aware that a large number of players enjoy their playful entertainment in front of television using the device’s own speakers. or a surround sound system. To get the best sound projection towards the player, the machine would have to know the shape of the head or ears of the person in front of the screen, and it is something that Sony itself claims they could solve with a photo. This, although it sounds strange, is something that is already used in similar brand technologies such as 360 Reality Audio.
At the moment they have not confirmed anything, so we will see how they solve these loose ends to ensure that the sound experience will be the same in all cases. It seems like a pretty interesting challenge, so let’s hope it doesn’t get stuck in one of those functions limited to a specific context.
The backward compatibility of PS5
Considering how the video game market has evolved and the large number of titles that are sold (and given away) in digital format, the libraries of users are getting bigger. Knowing this, it is normal that the concern for users to continue playing their old games will be present with the arrival of PS5, so Sony has wanted to clarify what exactly is going to happen with this. When PS5 hits the stores, the 100 most played and demanded by gamers will automatically be backwards compatible with PS5 , while the rest of the games should be optimized to work perfectly on the new console. Sony wanted to reassure ensuring that the more than 4,000 PS4 games will work on its new console, but we imagine it will be a matter of time.
Unfortunately there is no information related to the backward compatibility of previous generations to PS4, so PS3, PS2 and PlayStation games could be left out of this requested function.
The new DualShock 5
The PS5 controller will also incorporate new features compared to the previous generation. Analog triggers will be included with which to offer greater precision when pressing the button. For example, when accelerating in a driving game we can do it more or less depending on how we are pulling the trigger. And is that these new triggers will be especially accurate because they are adaptive, and will offer different resistance depending on the context of the game. In addition, a new vibration motor will offer greater detail in terms of haptic sensations , so we can see how a vehicle moves through asphalt or a stone road with complete fidelity.
PS5 official features
- CPU: 3.5 GHz 8-core AMD Zen 2 (variable frequency)
- GPU: AMD RDNA 2 with 10.28 TFLOPs, 36 CUs at 2.23 GHz (variable frequency)
- RAM: 16GB GDDR6 / 256-bit 448GB / s
- Optical drive: 4K UHD Blu-ray
- Internal storage: 825GB proprietary SSD hard drive
- External storage: NVMe SSD slot
Questions that remain unanswered
What is the design of the PS5? Are there official photos?
It is one of the biggest questions that remains unanswered. The final design of the PS5 remains a mystery, so the solution to the puzzle will not come until Sony schedules its next conference dedicated especially to the appearance and other functions of its console. There are no related images or leaks, and all we know about it is what the development unit that programmers use to prepare games looks like. This unit is especially large and bulky, so we’ll see what differences there are with the final version of the product.
What games will PS5 have?
Like the rest of the specifications, the games are still unknown, so at the moment there is no data that helps us get an idea of what titles will accompany the console at launch.
How much will it cost?
This is possibly one of the biggest headaches that Sony is currently dealing with, which is speculating that the manufacturer could have stock problems in certain components that would force the official price of the console to rise. Launching a high priced console to the market would be quite a suicide (we have already seen it in previous launches such as the PS3 or Xbox One), so the brand is studying different solutions to be able to bring the product with the best possible label, and all this while Microsoft does exactly the same. According to the latest information, the brand is managing a cost price of about $ 450, so it will be necessary to see to what extent they are willing to lose money with the launch.
Is there going to be a PS5 Pro?
Launching a more powerful and higher-capacity PS5 might be an expected move, however we don’t expect to see a PS5 Pro hitting the market at the same time as the standard version. This model may have its place a couple of years later, but for now we are not betting too much on such a launch.