Tuesday, July 25th 2023
Insider Claims PlayStation 5 Pro Targeting 8K "Performance Mode" & Accelerated Ray Tracing
Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson has picked up some interesting insider knowledge about the long rumored PlayStation 5 Pro gaming console—his (side hustle) Key to Gaming article theorizes that a project codenamed "Trinity" has been in-progress since early 2022. Sony is apparently sticking to its tradition of using Matrix themed codenames for internal hardware projects—PlayStation 4 Pro was referred to as "Neo," and PlayStation VR's alias was "Morpheus." His inside sources claim that Sony has been showing off Trinity prototype units to game development studios, with refreshed dev kits lined up for the "majority" of interested parties by November 2023.
Henderson's sources provided scant info about Trinity's specs and performance goals: "Although the Pro's specs were difficult to pin down, (admittedly) due to my lack of technological prowess, sources have stated that Trinity with have 30 WGP and 18000mts memory. As for the consoles performance targets and as to be expected, the PlayStation 5 Pro will be targeting improved and consistent FPS at 4K resolution, a new "performance mode" for 8K resolution, and accelerated ray tracing. Whether or not a PlayStation 5 Pro console is desired enough in the current market remains to be seen, but as of writing, the PlayStation 5 Pro is in development and is targeting a November 2024 release date." The leaked information has been interpreted several ways by different outlets—mostly focusing on the improved AMD RDNA-powered GPU. I have included Zuba_Tech's updated spec sheet (see below), which seems to be a bit on the fanciful side of things (proposing 72 CUs). Others have theorized that the revised GPU could offer twice the performance of the base PS5 model's Oberon RDNA 2-based GPU (36 CUs).
Digital Foundry's tech editor, Richard Leadbetter, chipped in with his interpretation yesterday: "First up, let's quickly discuss the PS5 Pro rumors... I do think the "Project Trinity" story is at least somewhat credible. Most of the hardware leaks that emerge are more wish-fulfilment as opposed to genuinely workable products. The mooted Viola APU for the PS5 Pro apparently has 60 compute units, possibly with four disabled. This would only constitute four more CUs than Xbox Series X, so in terms of a key area of expense - the main processor - it seems affordable. Moving to a likely 5 nm production process also means that the APU could run at higher clock speeds. A circa 10.2TF of GPU compute in PS5 Pro rises to circa 18.6TF, assuming 56 CUs running at around 2.6 GHz, up from the 2.2 GHz in PS5. Notionally, that would rise to 37.3TF with RDNA 3's dual-issue FP32 functionality (though do not that its real world use in gaming has proven limited thus far)."
Sources:
Key to Gaming, Kit Guru, Digital Foundry / Eurogamer, Zuby_Tech Tweet
Henderson's sources provided scant info about Trinity's specs and performance goals: "Although the Pro's specs were difficult to pin down, (admittedly) due to my lack of technological prowess, sources have stated that Trinity with have 30 WGP and 18000mts memory. As for the consoles performance targets and as to be expected, the PlayStation 5 Pro will be targeting improved and consistent FPS at 4K resolution, a new "performance mode" for 8K resolution, and accelerated ray tracing. Whether or not a PlayStation 5 Pro console is desired enough in the current market remains to be seen, but as of writing, the PlayStation 5 Pro is in development and is targeting a November 2024 release date." The leaked information has been interpreted several ways by different outlets—mostly focusing on the improved AMD RDNA-powered GPU. I have included Zuba_Tech's updated spec sheet (see below), which seems to be a bit on the fanciful side of things (proposing 72 CUs). Others have theorized that the revised GPU could offer twice the performance of the base PS5 model's Oberon RDNA 2-based GPU (36 CUs).
32 Comments on Insider Claims PlayStation 5 Pro Targeting 8K "Performance Mode" & Accelerated Ray Tracing
Plus GDDR6X doesn't sound very realistic I believe only nVidia is using them.
"Though do not that its real world use in gaming has proven limited thus far"
Games need to be programmed to take advantage of this. It's not like it's impossible.
If you’re doing this crap, you should just be gaming on a PC. Why not just be ok with an $800 console that actually has the longevity you expect. And to be clear, the PS5 is perfectly capable for what it is and what it costs.
However, there are some assumptions being made with your assertions. First many who already have a PS5 won't be upgrading to a PS5 Pro, I know I won't. Those who buy a PS5 Pro looking to take advantage of the feature set such as 8K probably already have an 8K display and as such aren't necessarily making wise purchasing choices,.......and have money burning a whole in their pockets,......
I for one never really understood the point of the Pro version of the PlayStation line because they always come too late in the production cycle. If Sony wants me to consider a Pro product they need to launch it alongside the standard version or very nearly so. Failing that, for example, I can stick with the PS5 until the PS6 comes out,.......No problem,...
8K is also helpful because it helps remind you how much the hardware is going to cost to run that stupid resolution! 8K!!!!
Sony does some customization in the geometry engine and stuff, and both also do custom audio engines(which should theoretically be a lot more capable than the Cadence HiFi that you find on PCs, but I don't know if anyone ever ends up using it).
So there is in fact a lot of convergence, specially when compared to earlier generations of consoles but it's still not 'basically PCs'. Funnily enough current Xbox is probably more different to PCs than the original Xbox, which really was 95% PC and used a lot of off-the-shelves components(you can even upgrade the CPU).
What's next, a 4090 Ti for 400 USD?
I would welcome a PS5 slim that is a normal console shape though, when fitting my NVME to it last week, it seems the stand is now failing and not using the stand is a problem given the shape and weight of the thing. The prongs that hold it on now are just loose so slightly moving it or even lifting it up makes it fall off, and the stand itself doesnt stay locked in the correct position anymore, so I had to take extreme care when positioning my PS5.I did grab a PS4 pro, but the pricing was very favourable, I managed to sell my PS4 for almost what I paid for it, (cant believe someone bit at the high buy it now price) and I owned a lot more PS4 games than PS5 games I own now, I actually only own three PS5 specific game's (FF7 remake, FF16 and crisis core remake). If I remember right the PS4 was considered under spec'd at launch, and not quite the same for the PS5, plus base PS5 pricing is way higher than PS4 base pricing was, so there was room for a pro model pricing wise. This generation just feels so weird, barely any games.
I just don't see marginal fps gains and/or slightly better RT moving a lot of consoles.
That's something lacking on both the current big boy consoles; Spencer was BS when he said there was no need for one.
As for 8K, I can't see it being much more than retro/arcade and casual stuff - more a marketing gimmick than anything.
Also, after seeing how bad UE5 runs on PS5 maybe they need to offer something much better ASAP.