Sony has officially unveiled the PlayStation 5 Pro, revealing substantial enhancements to its next-gen console and announcing a strategic collaboration with AMD to advance machine learning technologies for gaming.
In a comprehensive technical presentation, Mark Cerny, the lead architect behind the PS5, detailed the significant upgrades that define the PS5 Pro.
During a detailed seminar at Sony Interactive Entertainment Headquarters, Cerny delivered an in-depth “bits and bytes” talk on the technical refinements of the PS5 Pro. His nearly 40-minute discussion, which Sony shared on YouTube, emphasized the console’s mid-generation improvements designed to minimize developer efforts while significantly enhancing user experience.
Cerny highlighted that planning for the PS5 Pro started in 2020, coinciding with the launch of the original PS5. The upgraded console debuted on November 7 in select markets, boasting three major performance upgrades: an enhanced GPU, advanced ray tracing capabilities, and a novel AI-driven upscaling technology known as PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR).
Cerny confirmed a few things
🔹The Pro GPU is still RDNA 2
🔹Clarified that the 33TF was "Flopflation" 😂 (is 16.7TF)
🔹PSSR was trained on fluctuating resolutions and a steady (60) framerate
The Pro is just an overclocked PS5 w/ a slight GPU upgrade 🥱#ThePS5ProCantSaveYou pic.twitter.com/67vsFn9fI0
— Bloo (@BlooHook) December 19, 2024The PS5 Pro operates on a “hybrid” RDNA GPU, which includes 30 Work Group Processors (WGPs) — a substantial increase from the 18 WGPs found in the base PS5’s RDNA 2 GPU. Cerny elaborated on the 16.7 teraflops hybrid RDNA GPU, which merges elements from multiple RDNA generations. “The base technology for PS5 Pro straddles RDNA 2 and RDNA 3, which I’ve termed RDNA 2.x,” Cerny explained, noting that this facilitates easier game porting for developers.
Read: Sony Unveils PlayStation 5 Pro with Advanced Graphics and AI
Ray tracing on the PS5 Pro utilizes what Cerny called “Future RDNA technology,” which exceeds current specifications and debuts in this console. The machine learning capabilities have also seen custom enhancements specific to the PS5 Pro’s needs.
To support the advanced hardware, the PS5 Pro includes faster and more extensive memory. It boasts a system memory bandwidth of 576Gbps, 28 per cent quicker than the 448Gbps of the base model. This upgrade allows for more memory availability for games, which is crucial for integrating PSSR, improving ray tracing, and enhancing game rendering resolutions. Furthermore, the PS5 Pro features dedicated slower DDR5 RAM for the operating system, allowing the faster memory to be reserved exclusively for gaming applications.
