Sony confirms PlayStation 5 details such as backwards compatibility, 8K graphics and SSD...

[onetheycallEric]

Highly anticipated: Details regarding Sony's highly anticipated next generation console have finally emerged as confirmed by lead architect Mark Cerny. While the console is as of yet unnamed, Sony is promising 8K resolution support, ray tracing, backwards compatibility, and SSD storage that is sure to unravel load times. Sony is again working with AMD to power the new console, with the chip maker set to deliver an 8-core chip based on its third generation Ryzen series, boasting the 7nm Zen 2 microarchitecture.

In an exclusive with Wired, Sony's lead system architect Mark Cerny talked shop about the upcoming PlayStation 5 -- although it's been made clear Sony hasn't committed to the name. Sony's next-gen console is already in the hands of developers in the form of development kits, and Sony is rapidly accelerating the deployment of those kits so game studios have ample time to acclimate to its capabilities.

Capability is something Cerny framed heavily in his interview, divulging that the PlayStation 4's successor will be powered by a third generation Ryzen processor boasting eight cores and AMD's 7nm Zen 2 architecture. The new console will also leverage a custom Radeon Navi graphics variant, supporting ray tracing and resolutions up to 8K.

Cerny, noting that audio capabilities changed little between the PS3 and PS4, states that 3D audio will be a prominent aspect this time around. “It's been a little bit of a frustration that audio did not change too much between PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4. 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,” says Cerny.

Super excited to expand our partnership with @Sony on their next-generation @PlayStation console powered by a custom chip with @AMDRyzen Zen2 and @Radeon Navi architecture! https://t.co/EvdIrMNLiV

— Lisa Su (@LisaSu) April 16, 2019

However, the "key to the next generation" as Cerny puts it, is in the inclusion of super fast storage. According to Cerny, it's no ordinary SSD, claiming it "has a raw bandwidth higher than any SSD available for PCs."

Cerny offered a demonstration using a Spider-Man fast travel sequence on the PlayStation 4, where the loading sequence took roughly 15 seconds. Cerny repeated the process on a PlayStation 5 dev kit, and that same process allegedly took less than one second.

Sony's next console is, to an extent, based on the PlayStation 4 architecture and will be backwards compatible, something rumors have heavily suggested. The new console will also accept physical media, eschewing any notion that it will be download based only. While Cerny put to rest any hope that the console will release in 2019, he hinted that upcoming games like Death Stranding could span generations.

It seems we'll have to wait until 2020 to see the next PlayStation, although there's sure to be news before then. However, don't expect much from Sony at E3 later this summer as the company has opted to skip the show this year.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/79676-sony-confirms-playstation-5-details-backwards-compatibility-8k.html

 

[ShagnWagn]

Is this like a "will support 8K resolution, but looks like (upscaled) 1080p? I will be looking forward to more hardware articles for this.

 

[QuantumPhysics]

#1 I absolutely love the way the PS and Xbox offered support for 4K graphics, yet over 90% of the owners didn't have 4K HDTV.

I wonder how many will have 8KTV by the time these come to market? (Answer less than 1%)

"Will support" just means that the resolution "can be used". Certainly doesn't tell us how many FPS. When a $1400 video card can't do 4K at 60FPS, I won't be surprised when this releases incapable of doing 8K at 30FPS.

#2 Storage needs to be user definable. As far as I'm concerned, the main OS drive should be a 120 or less SSD and the system should offer an empty drivebay for any HDD or SSD we choose. Some people need more storage...some people need less.

I'd put all the new games that I'm playing on the SSD and then offload all my older games that I finished and stopped playing onto the HDD.

4.5TB on my Xbox One is a comfortable storage amount.

My desktop computer and laptop have around 3TB - 4TB of SSD storage each.

 

[EEatGDL]

If it has a UBD player, I'll buy it on launch. That is exactly the PS I'm waiting for: I want XBox One X HW level (or better) with the PS4 titles.

 

[Roy Mepham]

#1 I absolutely love the way the PS and Xbox offered support for 4K graphics, yet over 90% of the owners didn't have 4K HDTV.

I wonder how many will have 8KTV by the time these come to market? (Answer less than 1%)

#2 Storage needs to be user definable. As far as I'm concerned, the main OS drive should be a 120 or less SSD and the system should offer an empty drivebay for any HDD or SSD we choose. Some people need more storage...some people need less.

I'd put all the new games that I'm playing on the SSD and then offload all my older games that I finished and stopped playing onto the HDD.

4.5TB on my Xbox One is a comfortable storage amount.

My desktop computer and laptop have around 3TB - 4TB of SSD storage each.

And how about in 5 years?

 

[m4a4]

Ugh, we don't even have widespread 4k support, and they want to say they support a format 4x as large? I'd rather they brag about solid/competent 60FPS (or more) at 1k or 2k.

Heck, I'm not the type of gamer that cares about graphics that much. Focus on load times and storage size, and things that will help with gameplay. Resolution just sounds like a cheap gimmick.

 

[kira setsu]

8k support?

so if we stick with tradition it'll upscale to that yet still struggle with 1080p 60fps.

 

[Capaill]

#1 I absolutely love the way the PS and Xbox offered support for 4K graphics, yet over 90% of the owners didn't have 4K HDTV.

I wonder how many will have 8KTV by the time these come to market? (Answer less than 1%)

And how about in 5 years?

4%

 

[parowOOz]

"8K support" is such a BS feature to trot out. I'm not even talking about how widespread 8K TVs are but rather that it doesn't precisely communicate what it actually means. For reference, the GTX 1050 "supports" resolutions up to 8K. So yeah, you'll be able to see your desktop in full 8K glory but that's about it.

What irritates me about this type of marketing "wank" is that it's just a matter of time before some uninformed person starts running around saying that PS5 is an 8K.console.

 

[Uncle Al]

Backward compatibility? How far back? Still, it's good to see somebody in the business world is thinking ... for a change!

 

[redhat]

Hope it will support PS3 games too, otherwise I will go with PS NOW.
As for 8k I think they mean playing BD at 8k not games.

 

[pcnthuziast]

Was gonna get a Zen 2 chip, but this changed my mind. I want the hardware in my pc to be in a whole other class and it sounds like for that I'll at least need to wait for Intel's response to Zen 2.

 

[Vulcanproject]

The SSD sounds interesting. Mechanical drive plus enough NAND memory on the motherboard to store the OS and most of one game's files in? It sounds more likely to be small cache, a hybrid drive. Pull data off the mechanical drive into cache during background while the game boots/initial level load.

120GB would probably be more than enough, and that is fairly cheap now. Even for a next gen machine having a full size SSD for all game storage would be far too expensive to include as standard.

 

[yRaz]

Why are people poo-pooing 8k support? It doesn't take more than adding a couple of values in a registry file somewhere.

And as far as no one having 4k TVs? I went to walmart yesterday and didn't see a single 1080P TV bigger than 32 inches. Further, There were plenty of 60"+ 4k TV's UNDER $500!!!!! My 65" 4k cost me $1800 before tax two years ago and it was the cheapest one in it's class!

"8K support" is such a BS feature to trot out. I'm not even talking about how widespread 8K TVs are but rather that it doesn't precisely communicate what it actually means. For reference, the GTX 1050 "supports" resolutions up to 8K. So yeah, you'll be able to see your desktop in full 8K glory but that's about it.

What irritates me about this type of marketing "wank" is that it's just a matter of time before some uninformed person starts running around saying that PS5 is an 8K.console.

well, technically, it now is. The people too dumb to believe that don't matter and the people who do know better ignore the claims and by a PC anyway.

I don't understand why talking about other peoples stupidity is a valid argument on internet forums. You already said only dumb people will buy it for that reason. Those dumb people weren't going to buy a PC anyway, get over it. Don't get mad at other people for being *****s with their own money.

 

[Squid Surprise]

Why are people poo-pooing 8k support? It doesn't take more than adding a couple of values in a registry file somewhere.

And as far as no one having 4k TVs? I went to walmart yesterday and didn't see a single 1080P TV bigger than 32 inches. Further, There were plenty of 60"+ 4k TV's UNDER $500!!!!! My 65" 4k cost me $1800 before tax two years ago and it was the cheapest one in it's class!

"8K support" is such a BS feature to trot out. I'm not even talking about how widespread 8K TVs are but rather that it doesn't precisely communicate what it actually means. For reference, the GTX 1050 "supports" resolutions up to 8K. So yeah, you'll be able to see your desktop in full 8K glory but that's about it.

What irritates me about this type of marketing "wank" is that it's just a matter of time before some uninformed person starts running around saying that PS5 is an 8K.console.

well, technically, it now is. The people too dumb to believe that don't matter and the people who do know better ignore the claims and by a PC anyway.

I don't understand why talking about other peoples stupidity is a valid argument on internet forums. You already said only dumb people will buy it for that reason. Those dumb people weren't going to buy a PC anyway, get over it. Don't get mad at other people for being *****s with their own money.

8K is only useful to someone who has a GIANT screen (we're talking like 100" or bigger) and is sitting like 6 feet or closer from it... Honestly, most people can't even tell the difference between 1080P and 4K unless they have a 60" or larger screen and are closer than 6' away...

The reason "smart" people buy 4K TVs now anyways (and will eventually buy 8K ones) is that all of the new advances like HDR, Dolby, etc are virtually exclusive to 4K sets...

And since even a 2080Ti can barely run the most demanding AAA titles at 60FPS @ 4K resolution, there's no way an AMD card will be able to run any game at 8K with anything approaching playable framerates.

As a few posters have already stated, "support" for 8K is very different than actually gaming at 8K. All "support for 8K" means is that you will be able to connect your PS5 to an 8K TV and see an image... it will almost certainly be upscaled by the TV from whatever actual resolution you are playing (probably 1080P).

The thing is, resolution isn't really a huge concern on a console - I'd far prefer guaranteeing that every game plays at the least 60FPS.

While it would be nice to have movies at 8K, I would highly doubt it will happen on the PS5 as we don't even have an 8K disk standardized yet and this console is already being pushed to developers... I'm assuming UHD Blu-Ray @ 4k max.

 

[Aiibo]

Zen 2 + Navi + SSD is a healthy base for a nice machine.

I can already imagine what will skilled 1st party developers do with these.

 

[GamerNerves]

All sounds very good, especially the SSD storage, but I suspect something lesser what some may expect:

- SSD is going be a hybrid drive of some sort, since games consume very much space today and even the cheapest SSDs cost over 100 euros. Is that a realistic price for a storage in a console? No, not even close to that.

- Custom Zen 2 chip means 'much lesser than the PC variants'. It's either the very lowest PC variant available, four cores without extra threads or with eight threads most, or it's a mobile eight core part with clocks cranked up. Eight cores cost too much in a console!

- It is hard to say anything about the Navi implementation, but given that PS4 Pro's GPU is something similiar to RX 480, we expect better than that, so let's say it's going to be the Navi model that equals GTX 1080 class of performance, so good news here.

- Shared RAM will be very expensive when using GDDR6 or even GDDR5X, so I wouldn't be surprised if we see regural DDR RAM returning back. 8 Gt of system memory and 8 Gt of video memory should be sufficient.

 

[Polycount]

I'd much rather have the option to play at higher framerates (60+) than a ridiculous 8K resolution. I don't even play at 1440p, much less 4K or higher.

Guess I'll be sticking to PC for yet another generation. Too bad, because Sony has a lot of nice exclusives going for them.

 

[pencea]

I'd much rather have the option to play at higher framerates (60+) than a ridiculous 8K resolution. I don't even play at 1440p, much less 4K or higher.

Guess I'll be sticking to PC for yet another generation. Too bad, because Sony has a lot of nice exclusives going for them.

That's too bad. You're going to miss out on their awesome exclusives yet again. I own a high end PC, along with PS4 Pro, and Switch. Enjoying the benefits of both worlds is a good thing

Also by saying they support 8K, I'm willing to bet they meant movie content. Not games.

 

[parowOOz]

Why are people poo-pooing 8k support? It doesn't take more than adding a couple of values in a registry file somewhere.

And as far as no one having 4k TVs? I went to walmart yesterday and didn't see a single 1080P TV bigger than 32 inches. Further, There were plenty of 60"+ 4k TV's UNDER $500!!!!! My 65" 4k cost me $1800 before tax two years ago and it was the cheapest one in it's class!


well, technically, it now is. The people too dumb to believe that don't matter and the people who do know better ignore the claims and by a PC anyway.

I don't understand why talking about other peoples stupidity is a valid argument on internet forums. You already said only dumb people will buy it for that reason. Those dumb people weren't going to buy a PC anyway, get over it. Don't get mad at other people for being *****s with their own money.

I'm not dumping on the PS5 for having support for 8K. I was clear that what bothers me is the marketing wank which is designed to trick people that don't know any better. Call it dishonest, if you will. I have a problem with that, not the people who fall for it.

I'd also like to point out that the title of this article is worded even worse. "8K graphics" implies gaming at 8K even more so than "support for resolutions up to 8K".

 

[Polycount]

That's too bad. You're going to miss out on their awesome exclusives yet again. I own a high end PC, along with PS4 Pro, and Switch. Enjoying the benefits of both worlds is a good thing

Also by saying they support 8K, I'm willing to bet they meant movie content. Not games.

It's not tribalism on my part. I have nothing against consoles, and the PS4 is clearly the better of the two consoles. I just can't stand playing games that are locked at 30 FPS. It literally makes me feel nauseous.

I used to be able to, but this seems to be what happens when your brain adapts to something. Similar case with game FOVs. I used to be able to handle around 60, but since switching to 90 (and then eventually 100), it's hard to play with anything lower.

I loved Red Dead Redemption 2 for a while, but with how often the framerate dipped below 24, I just couldn't do it. Perhaps it's not the 30 that bothers me, but the inconsistency?

 

[yRaz]

I'm not dumping on the PS5 for having support for 8K. I was clear that what bothers me is the marketing wank which is designed to trick people that don't know any better. Call it dishonest, if you will. I have a problem with that, not the people who fall for it.

I'd also like to point out that the title of this article is worded even worse. "8K graphics" implies gaming at 8K even more so than "support for resolutions up to 8K".

Well, something I would like to point out is that when TVs have to rely on internal upscaling the latency goes WAY UP. On my 4K, if I'm not inoutinf 4k signal into it I get 200ms delays from mouse movement to screen.

As a fight to reduce TV latency, they may do the upscaling internally to reduce latency/input lag

 

[urbanman2004]

A little too bold for Sony and AMD to be bolstering 8K support on the PS5 when that feature isn't even widely adopted or remotely available mainstream as of yet, and it's not even trending in the PC Master Race space.

 

[Evernessince]

Many graphics cards support higher resolutions then what they can actually run games at. I don't expect this console to go above 4K when actually gaming.

 

[Axiarus]

Many graphics cards support higher resolutions then what they can actually run games at. I don't expect this console to go above 4K when actually gaming.

This. Yes, my graphics card can run 4k, but can it do it well? No. Also, upscaled 8k =/= 8k.