Sony’s official Playstation 5 system specs press reveal confirmed that the company’s next console will improve massively on its predecessor’s performance.
The Playstation 5 dry stats
Before we dive a little deeper into the most outstanding features, let’s see the full package of hardware information we received from Sony. The Playstation 5 will come with the following setup:
- CPU: AMD Zen 2-based CPU with 8 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
- Memory bandwidth: 448GB/s
- 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 (PS4 games only)
- Optical drive: 4K UHD Blu-ray drive
If none of this makes any sense to you, here’s what you should take away from the seemingly random numbers.
SSD coming to kick Playstation 5 into next gear
The most important addition (arguably) to the new console will be an 825 GB internal storage SSD. While the memory space itself could be a point of argument, the inclusion of the SSD in the first place should be where all of the focus falls on.
The feature will speed up loading time in and out of game tremendously – loading menus, cut scenes, fast-travel, everything will be moving at the speed of light compared to what we were used to. This could potentially allow for game developers to be much looser with the size and scale of the virtual worlds they’re creating as they would unravel much smoother on the PS5.
GPU will allow for backward compatibility
Sony’s CPU-GPU combo for the Playstation 5 will serve two main purposes. The 8-core AMD Zen 2-based 3.5GHz processor will further enhance the console’s performance, being twice as powerful as the PS4’s 1.6 GHz Jaguar cores.
Paired with the GPU, it will allow for an easy reproduction of most Playstation 4 titles. From what we can tell right now, nearly every top 100 PS4 title will be compatible with the PS5 at launch. It isn’t likely that PS3, PS2 and PS1 titles will get the same treatment, but it’s not like we expected that to be the case anyway.
Tempest Engine – bringing every PS5 sound to the ear
Another grand reveal was made concerning the 3D sound system of the PlayStation 5. Sony will strive to implement the Tempest Engine which is supposed to bring all the in-game noises, even the faintest ones, as separate entities to the ear. Much like real life, eh?
What that means in simple terms is that if ten guns are shot at you from the same direction at once, you won’t be hearing them as a single wall of sound but will have the pleasure of identifying every single shot separately before it hits you in the head. Neat.
The sound optimization could potentially include Head-related Transfer Function and Sony admit that it will more than likely take well beyond PS5’s launch date to reach the optimal specifics for every user to enjoy.
The PS5 release date, kind of, sort of
While all the specs are important and all, what most people wanted to hear was a set release date for the PS5. And they got…something along those lines. While we didn’t get a launch date, Sony hinted at a pre-winter holiday release, which means we’ll probably get the new machine sometime in mid-to-late November.
There is an expectancy for Sony to conduct another info reveal in the summer where all the remaining unknown entities, like the console’s design, its release date and some clarification on the games we’d be playing on it upon launch will be discussed.
