Sony has dropped some details about its upcoming next-gen console, and by all accounts, it’s going to be one hefty motherfucker. Speaking with Wired, lead system architect, Mark Cerny, detailed a number of impressive specs about the PlayStation 5, though its actual name is still unknown.
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The most obvious difference straight off the bat will be the console’s increased storage size, which is essential when we’re talking about next-gen games which are likely to require hundreds of gigabytes worth of space. What’s particularly nice to hear about this, though, is that the PS5 will have a solid state drive (SSD), which will speed up loading and rendering times dramatically. Further specs on the drive are not known, but Cerny reckons it’ll likely be better than similar drives currently available for PCs.
According to Wired’s report, Cerny demonstrated the console’s raw processing power on what he called an early, “low-speed” version of the new hardware. He fired up the latest Spider-Man game and initiated a fast-travel sequence and, as Wired put it, “what took 15 seconds now takes less than one: 0.8 seconds, to be exact”.
There are some pretty techy details in the report about the unit’s CPU and GPU, but all you really need to know is that the CPU is “based on the third generation of AMD’s Ryzen line and contains eight cores,” and the GPU is “a custom variant of Radeon’s Navi family, will support ray tracing, a technique that models the travel of light to simulate complex interactions in 3D environments”. While most current TVs will output at 4K, the PS5 will be capable of 8K.
Ray tracing technology can also be used to facilitate improvements in audio, Cerny says. “With the next console the dream is to show how dramatically different the audio experience can be when we apply significant amounts of hardware horsepower to it.”
The report also mentions that the PSVR headset will be compatible with the PS5, as will PlayStation 4 titles. That’s right, folks, Sony is jumping on the backwards compatibility wagon.
Sony execs are only referring to the new hardware as the “next-gen console” for the moment, so we still don’t know what it’ll actually be called, but given the numbering system has been the way they’ve done things so far, it’s hard to imagine it being anything but the PlayStation 5. Time will tell, I guess.
No release date or window was given by Cerny, but the consensus still seems to be sometime in 2020 at the earliest, so don’t expect it this year. When it does eventually drop, you can be sure it’ll be an absolute beast.
