PS5 GPU, Performance Specs Leak - Teraflops, GDDR6 Memory, Backwards Compatibility - PlayStation Universe (original) (raw)

Of all the leaks to have come along regarding PS5 in recent times, this looks to be one of the biggest. Built up over the course of six months, a well-regarded snooper has unearthed a raft of new information regarding the performance of the PlayStation 5. Gleaned from the same 3DMark database which yielded the ‘Oberon’ codename for the PlayStation 5’s AMD manufactured gaming processor, this same individual has also managed to confirm a number of performance related details regarding the architecture of the PS5 too, such as the amount of Teraflops the machine can kick out, the GDDR6 memory used in the console and much more besides.

Should you trust this leak though? That’s the question. Well, thanks to some deep dive work from the always excellent folks at Digital Foundry, we can confirm that the source has been independently verified and that the metrics and measurements all come directly from AMD itself and have not been adjusted or tampered with in any fashion.

Additionally, as Richard Leadbetter at Digital Foundry notes, developing next generation silicon is a lengthy, multi-year process, and so while Sony will certainly elect to make some more subtle and nuanced changes to the console before it releases in just under a year’s time, this is pretty much the final version of the console’s architectural innards – with improved clock speeds and all.

PS5 GPU – Teraflops, Performance

According to the AMD leak, the PS5 GPU will boast 36 available compute unites running at 2.0 GHz. Though this remains to be confirmed (as does all of this until Sony officially puts it in print), that would provide the PS5 with 9.2 Teraflops of performance.

Don’t let the Teraflop figure fool you – next-gen Teraflops are much more capable than their current-gen equivalents. Also, Teraflops do not take into account other aspects of the hardware such as SSD, Ray Tracing and other such features.

Now, before you go off on a mad one about how that’s only 3 Teraflops more than the Xbox One X, it’s worth remembering that an AMD Navi Teraflop is much more efficient than a current-gen Teraflop, so the comparison doesn’t really stand in this regard. And again, there is much more to next-gen consoles than just Teraflops, as other hardware innovations such as super fast, low-level SSD’s are not included in this figure, but remain game changers in their own right.

PS5 RAM – GDDR6 Confirmed

This leak also confirms that not only will the PS5 will use expensive GDDR6 RAM, but that it will be super fast too, clocking in at around 512 GB per second. As to the amount of RAM, the leak points to around 16GB of RAM – the same as what Xbox Series X is supposed to have.

The combination of super fast, GDDR6 RAM and a low-level SSD access will mean that massive, sprawling worlds such as those seen in Cyberpunk 2077 will be a cinch for the PS5 to deal with.

Again, if that number seems low, do bear in mind that Sony, like Microsoft, will be using SSD at a low, system level – effectively allowing both the PS5 and the Xbox Series X to second that SSD as additional memory when required. The upshot of this is much, much larger worlds that should load in absolutely seamlessly.

PS5 Backwards Compatibility – Hardware Confirmed

Now this is the interesting one.

The leak has also confirmed that the GPU has three different modes that it can be switched between. Though the standard 2.0Ghz CPU clock exists for native PS5 games, or also referred to as ‘Gen2’ by the leak, the GPU has two other modes, titled ‘Gen1’ and ‘Gen0’, too.

There’s no software emulators or PS Now trickery here – existing PS4 games will just *work* with PS5. No ifs, no buts.

Gen1 is basically an exact match for the specs of the PlayStation 4 Pro, while Gen0 is also a perfect match for the original PlayStation 4, meaning that rather than emulating PS4 games, the PS5 will simply be able to play PS4 games at the hardware level – meaning you should just be able to pop a PS4 disc in the drive, or a download a PS4 game and it’ll just… work.

As to the extent that the PS5 will upscale or otherwise improve existing PS4 games, with improved resolution and frame rates however, that is not yet known.

Source: Apisak, Eurogamer (Digital Foundry), ResetEra