PlayStation 5 Specs Component Spec CPU 8x Zen 2 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 Optical Drive 4K UHD Blu-ray Drive The high frequency made me a bit nervous, but Cerny claims it will have an impressive cooling solution and did bring up the issue of the PS4 Pro getting quite loud when playing certain games, which suggests they are going to be making efforts to address those consumer complaints about fan noise from this generation. The SSD is smaller than I was hoping, but memory will be expandable. Cerny emphasized a major focus of his design is to minimize bottlenecks as much as possible and suggested the PS5 would be far more efficient than previous consoles and may outperform expectations formed just based on the specs. His presentation suggested it will be very developer friendly and estimated developers would be acclimated within a month to PS5 development, which was even faster than PS4 and many times faster than the challenging PS3. He claimed to have already seen a demonstration of complex ray tracing used with moderate computational cost, and it appears they have really focused on improving audio quality more in line with being an audio powerhouse like PS3 was during its era. Sounds intriguing so far.
Digital Foundry's take is up. They are definitely impressed with that SSD bandwidth. I'm still not convinced that focusing on loading times was the wisest move. Nintendo tried that with the N64 and their solution gimped the machine. What did Sony sacrifice for those instant load times? A totally different approach than Microsofts. It's going to make DF's "vs" videos fun to watch.
There won't be any noticeable difference in load times between the two consoles. Beyond a certain point it all becomes academic and the games load instantaneously. In most games there isn't even a noticeable difference in load times between SATA and NVME SSDs.
My guess is Sony is going with one SKU initially, and they can't make the only model they sell over $500. I'm expecting the equivalent of the "Pro" for the PS5 in a few years that is significantly more powerful. ~9 TFLOPS boosted to 10.3 depending on load in RDNA2 is still substantially more powerful than any of the current consoles. It should be good for 4K for most games and will also be a huge boost to PSVR, which needs lots of frames. The emphasis on efficiency is interesting. Cerny seems to be trying to squeeze as much performance as possible out of more modest hardware compared to the XSX. I had read rumors of high clock speeds but dismissed them because I doubted that would be used in a console. Cerny mentioned the cooling solution they are using specifically regarding controlling both heat and noise, and that was one of the components specifically mentioned in reports about Sony having difficulties with getting adequate supply of parts.The cooling solution was reported to be rather expensive for a console; I'm getting very curious to see exactly what they are using. They also seemed to be guided heavily by developer requests, so they probably have that in their favor if the devs get the things they've been asking for.
I can't see them using a liquid cooling system - that would cost way too much and be too prone to breakage. It has to be vents and the fan system. If that's true, then this crazy looking dev kit that we've seen floating around the net, has to be the final design. I still think it belongs on the hood of a Mustang.
This is the PS4 dev kit. They usually don't look the same as the final model. It could share some elements of the design, though. I can understand why they have all those vents in the PS5 dev kit design given they're essentially overclocking a console.
Here's another tech analysis about the design of the PS5. I usually watch Digital Foundry and this guy when new hardware or tech emerges.
So, basically, the Xbox Series X vs PlayStation 5 is Brute force vs finesse. Sony listened to the developers and built what they wanted. Just like how Nintendo listened to Shigeru Miyamoto when they designed the N64 & GameCube. A high speed storage format will enable greater detail and larger worlds. Like what happened with Mario 64, Turok, Mario Sunshine, and all of the Zelda's. I'm trying to come up with more positive points, but I can't think of any.
The developers seem to be very happy about it. It looks like Cerny wasn't bullshitting about the design being guided by developer requests: Games journalists and YouTubers mostly hated the GDC-intended Cerny presentation. I think Sony needs to get one of its top developers to do really strong demonstration of the asset streaming and data transfer speed advantages to show the public what it can do and demonstrate why being able to move 2GB in 0.27 seconds is such an important, transformative feature for game development.
I agree with most of what he said with emphasis on the parts about how we really don't know yet how important these features are. With the PS5's storage speed, I have to wonder how much it will matter with multi-platform games. Developer can optimize all they want with exclusives but other games will still need to take in to account the slower load times on other platforms including people who still use hard drives on PC. I'm sure developers will love the load times but who knows if the customers will notice the difference between the new storage and the speed tricks implemented in the past on a good SSD. The extra power in the Xbox is also an unknown factor. To me the power difference of the current generation of consoles didn't seem to matter much. The next generation is different for two reason. 4k and ray tracing . When we look at the ray tracing that Nvidia implemented, we can see there wasn't much finesse involved. Raw power was the only way get acceptable frame rates. With ray tracing on, performance was cut in half. The 1080 could maintain 30 fps at but the 1070 could not. The difference between the two cards is only 15%, but with ray tracing on, it's a critical 15%. I image what we'll see in games is a medium level of ray tracing with the PS5 and a high level set on the Xbox S. Of course, from what I've seen in past demos, the difference between the two settings is almost imperceivable.
I think it's very likely we could see a similar pattern with first party exclusives vs. multiplatform games that we saw on the Pro. Most of the multiplatform games looked better on X1X than Pro, but the impact of games like Horizon, GT Sport, Spider-man, ect. has been substantial and carried them to a pretty commanding lead this generation. If they can get some of those first party developers providing solid demonstrations of the new technology along with maybe Half Life: Alyx for PSVR, they could create a much more positive perspective of the PS5 by the end of the year. I think it's going to be more competitive next generation than it was during this one, though.
https://blog.us.playstation.com/202...w-wireless-game-controller-for-playstation-5/ The new PS5 controller has been revealed, a haptic feedback controller they're calling DualSense. They claim you can feel distinct differences such as driving on various surfaces or the tension of a bow in the triggers. They are claiming a strong battery life for a rechargeable battery and a lightweight design but didn't give any numbers on those aspects. It's also possible to communicate through a built-in mic without a headset. The Share button is being replaced by a "Create" function, which sounded like an expansion on the Share functionality. Sony again brought up immersion similar to their discussion of 3D audio in Cerny's GDC-style presentation, suggesting this is one of their main areas of focus in the design of PS5. This also leads me to speculate that they're probably going to release an impressive budget PSVR2 headset and good motion controllers down the road in maybe a year or so after PS5's launch, which would definitely be very much in line with maximizing immersion and would be far more capable of doing so with the huge power and frame boost of the PS5 relative to PSVR1 and PS4. I typically do not place a lot of value on the plastic covering of a console, but this design has me curious if the console itself will also have a two-tone white and black look.
Haptic feedback instead of physical buttons? Sounds like a disaster in the making. Apple has experimented with haptic feedback home buttons and haptic feedback keyboards and the results were quite terrible. I can’t imagine trying to play games with something like that. They'll be releasing a "classic" controller with real buttons in no time, mark my words.
It looks like it still has buttons, but I have no idea what it will feel like without having it in my hands. Doesn't the Switch have some sort of haptic feedback?
I don't think so. Look at how flat the dpad and shape buttons look. I don't think those are physical buttons with switches. I'm really scratching my head at how someone could use the craptastic homebutton on an iPhone 7 or 8 and say "hey we need to replace the buttons on our game controller with that!"
I am a bit worried that the console is going to be an odd two tone design. I would hope I can still use my dualshock 4 controllers too.