Specifications of the New PlayStation 5 Device
by mohdbali
🧭 Introduction
The PS5 device is less mysterious than before, thanks to Sony’s livestream today (18 March). Mark Cerny, Sony’s lead systems engineer, hosted a talk about the user experience through some of the highlights of the PS5 hardware. The lecture was somewhat technical in nature – much to the annoyance of some fans who were hoping for a more straightforward reveal event – but it gave us some solid information about how the PS5 performs, and the hardware that makes that performance possible.
During his talk, Cerny hit three main pillars for PS5 development: “listening to developers,” “balancing evolution and revolution,” and “finding new dreams.” In practical terms, these three categories speak to the PS5’s SSD configuration, backward compatibility, and 3D audio capabilities. We also learned about the system CPU, GPU, and RAM, although this information is likely to be more useful to developers than to ordinary consumers for now.
🧠 Processor
Processor
The PlayStation 5 uses AMD’s Zen 2 processor with 8 cores running at a variable frequency of up to 3.5 GHz.
🎮 Graphics
Graphics
As for graphics, the GPU will be a custom system on a chip (SOC) based on AMD’s RDNA 2, featuring 36 compute units running at a variable frequency, at 2.23 GHz, with 10.28 TFLOPS. Both the CPU and GPU are monitored through a special boosting system that includes AMD’s SmartShift technology, which adjusts the frequency of these systems based on the current activity of each chip, to target the optimal fixed power and typical SOC performance. For example, if the CPU is operating at a lower activity level, the boost system may reduce its frequency and increase the GPU’s frequency to allow it to run at higher performance without affecting power consumption or cooling. For this reason, Cerny said that direct comparisons based on compute units or FLOPS with other hardware systems may not be accurate.
🔥 Ray Tracing
Ray Tracing
The GPU includes support for hardware acceleration of ray tracing displays, enabling real-time ray tracing graphics.
🔊 Audio
Audio
The device includes a new audio technology called Tempest Engine based on AMD GPU technology, which not only allows hundreds of in-game audio sources to be calculated into the audio output compared to 50 for the PlayStation 4, but also how that audio is delivered based on the user’s device and preferences.
💾 Memory
Memory
The unit will contain 16 GB of GDDR6 SDRAM with a bandwidth of 448 GB/s.
⚡ SSD
SSD
The custom SSD storage solution for PlayStation 5 is designed to provide faster data input/output rates for rapid loading times and greater bandwidth to make games more immersive, as well as support for streaming content on demand from the disc in 8K resolution. The platform will offer a 825 GB SSD connected via a 12-channel interface for the main system, achieving an uncompressed transfer rate of 5.5 GB/s, and between 8 to 9 GB/s using compression with RAD Game Tools’ Oodle Kraken protocol. The atypical drive size was found to be ideal for the system’s 12-channel path rather than typical 500 GB or 1 TB units. Direct game storage will be expanded through a (NVM Express) port supporting M.1 or M.2 formats, while additional storage space can be provided through USB-compatible drives. The system includes a 4K-compatible Ultra HD Blu-ray drive. Although installing the game from the disc is mandatory to take advantage of the SSD, the user will have some fine-grained control over how much they want to install, such as installing only the multiplayer components of the game.
🛠️ Other Changes
Other Changes
The changes were not limited to the external design of the platform’s chassis alone; they extended to all internal technologies, making the PlayStation 5 one of the best new electronics for video game enthusiasts.about:blankImageUpload an image file, or choose one from your media library, or add one from a URL.UploadMedia LibraryInsert from URL
📝 Summary
Summary
The most important thing this platform will get is AMD Zen 2 CPU processors with a frequency of up to 3.5 GHz, and an AMD RDNA 2 graphics processor, all of which give it the ability to process images and videos very quickly, and handle 4K and 8K videos.
And like the Xbox Series X platforms, the new PlayStation received an internal SSD storage drive with a capacity of 825 GB, but its random-access memory came as GDDR6 and at a size of 16 GB, with the ability to handle data up to 448 GB in one second.
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