Sony revealed the PlayStation 5 Pro, the upgraded model of its current-gen console, in September. In a technical presentation, Mark Cerny, lead architect of the PS5, gave an summary of the PS5 Pro’s options. Cerny has now gone in-depth into the technical elements of the console in a brand new deep-dive video, detailing the PS5 Pro’s superior ray tracing options, the brand new AI-driven upscaling method and extra. Cerny and Sony have additionally revealed a collaboration with AMD on Machine Learning-based expertise for improved graphics and gameplay.
PS5 Pro Technical Deep-Dive
At a seminar at Sony Interactive Entertainment HQ, Cerny gave a “bits and bytes” discuss on the PS5 Pro, diving into the technical particulars that went into Sony’s latest console. In a close to 40-minute presentation, shared on YouTube Wednesday, Cerny detailed the “tightly focussed” strategy to upgrades for a mid-generation Pro variant that prioritises retaining the work wanted from sport builders to an absolute minimal, whereas bringing enhancements that really feel vital to players.
Cerny revealed that the ideation for the PS5 Pro started in 2020, the identical yr that the usual PS5 launched. The upgraded console, which launched November 7 in choose markets, comes with three headline efficiency options — an upgraded GPU, upgraded ray tracing {hardware}, and a brand new AI-based upscaling expertise, dubbed PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR).
Cerny detailed the technical elements of the bigger GPU on the PS5 Pro. The base PS5 runs on RDNA 2 GPU, which comes with 18 sub-units, known as Work Group Processors (WGPs). The PS5 Pro’s “hybrid” RDNA GPU, alternatively, comes with 30 WGPs. In the video, Cerny defined the expertise behind the 16.7 teraflops “hybrid” RDNA GPU on the PS5 Pro, that mixes a number of generations of RDNA expertise.
“The base technology for PS5 Pro is somewhere between RDNA 2 and RDNA 3. I’m calling it RDNA 2.x,” Cerny mentioned. According to him, that selection makes it simpler for builders to port their video games to the PS5 Pro.
“Ray tracing uses what I’m calling Future RDNA technology. It’s roadmap RDNA that’s well past the feature set today. It’s showing up here first,” Cerny mentioned. “And machine learning is custom, or to be more specific, it’s custom enhancements to RDNA,” he added.
According to Cerny, the PS5 Pro required sooner and extra reminiscence to help its bigger GPU. The upgraded console’s system reminiscence has a bandwidth of 576Gbps — 28 % sooner than the bottom PS5’s 448Gbps. The PS5 Pro additionally has over 1GB extra reminiscence obtainable to video games, which is utilised to combine PSSR, including ray tracing, and rising rendering decision of video games. To obtain this, the PS5 Pro comes with a separate slower DDR5 RAM devoted to the working system, thus liberating up sooner reminiscence for video games.
Cerny additionally elaborated on the PS5 Pro’s “RDNA 2.x” graphics. The middle-of-the-road improve brings a variety of options from RDNA 3 expertise, whereas retaining issues that may trigger problems at bay. He additional detailed the technical elements of enhancements to ray tracing and machine studying expertise packed within the PS5 Pro.
Finally, Cerny introduced the start of Sony’s deeper collaboration with AMD, codenamed Amethyst, with a concentrate on future {hardware} architectures for Machine Learning.
