The PS5 is still set to release this holiday season despite reports suggesting otherwise. Moreover, we learn from the lead system architect, Mark Cerny, what is powering the PS5 and how it compares to the current generation PS4.
The following video that’s currently up on PlayStation’s YouTube channel offers a detailed look at the PS5’s specs and how it will sport compatibility with “almost all PS4 titles.”
While we wait for Sony to announce PS5 compatibility with PS3, PS2, and PS1 games, you can listen to Cerny detail the PS5 and its specs right here:
“PS5 lead system architect Mark Cerny provides a deep dive into PS5’s system architecture and how it will shape the future of games.”
For those of you here for the PS5 specs, you can look over the following chart, which comes in courtesy of website newsweek.com:
| PS5 | PS4 | |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.5GHz (variable frequency) | 8x Jaguar Cores at 1.6GHz |
| GPU | 10.28 TFLOPs, 36 CUs at 2.23GHz (variable frequency) | 1.84 TFLOPs, 18 CUs at 800MHz |
| GPU Architecture | Custom RDNA 2 | Custom GCN |
| Memory/Interface | 16GB GDDR6/256-bit | 8GB GDDR5/256-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 448GB/s | 176GB/s |
| Internal Storage | Custom 825GB SSD | 500GB HDD |
| IO Throughput | 5.5GB/s (Raw), Typical 8-9GB/s (Compressed) | Approx 50-100MB/s (dependent on data location on HDD) |
| Expandable Storage | NVMe SSD Slot | Replaceable internal HDD |
| External Storage | USB HDD Support | USB HDD Support |
| Optical Drive | 4K UHD Blu-ray Drive | Blu-ray Drive |
If you want to look at more specs, the blog.us.playstation.com has another chart up showing what’s powering the PS5:
| CPU | x86-64-AMD Ryzen™ “Zen 2” |
| 8 Cores / 16 Threads | |
| Variable frequency, up to 3.5 GHz | |
| GPU | AMD Radeon™ RDNA 2-based graphics engine |
| Ray Tracing Acceleration | |
| Variable frequency, up to 2.23 GHz (10.3 TFLOPS) | |
| System Memory | GDDR6 16GB |
| 448GB/s Bandwidth | |
| SSD | 825GB |
| 5.5GB/s Read Bandwidth (Raw) | |
| PS5 Game Disc | Ultra HD Blu-ray™, up to 100GB/disc |
| Video Out | Support of 4K 120Hz TVs, 8K TVs, VRR (specified by HDMI ver.2.1) |
| Audio | “Tempest” 3D AudioTech |
It’s worth noting that the images that sit below are from the above video. With that said, the stills show off info related to the PS5’s CPU and GPU.
We also learn from the images that the PS5’s ray tracing support is supposedly in line with the implementations seen in the PC space.
Furthermore, we can see in the third image an overview of how Sony’s unique modules interface/interact. And lastly, in the fourth image, Sony’s next-gen audio system is said to be “so advanced” that it can be assigned to individual characteristics to fit a user’s preference — where we can see on the left side the PS5’s default setup and on the right side Mark Cerny’s config:
As of this moment, the PS5 doesn’t have an official price point yet, but Sony is still targeting to release the next-gen console late in 2020.