In context: Prior rumors and leaks have created a considerably murky image of Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 5 Professional console, however new documentation would possibly make clear some particulars. The mid-generation refresh, anticipated to ship later this yr, reportedly affords considerably improved ray tracing efficiency, machine learning-based upscaling, and different new options that builders might use to reinforce graphics considerably.
Eurogamer has acquired paperwork from Sony’s developer portal that shed new gentle on how the PlayStation 5 Professional’s structure improves upon the unique mannequin. The upgraded console makes use of a mix of elevated horsepower and new performance to spice up efficiency and picture high quality.
The brand new info confirms earlier rumors that the PlayStation 5 Professional options 60 compute items in comparison with the usual console’s 36. Nevertheless, this implies the brand new mannequin’s GPU operates at a base clock velocity of two.18 GHz, barely decrease than the unique PS5’s 2.23 GHz. The three-percent distinction is unlikely to degrade efficiency, and the PS5 Professional can increase to 2.35 GHz in restricted situations. Furthermore, it would characteristic 256 KB of L1 cache in comparison with its predecessor’s 128 KB.
Though the brand new mannequin reaches a theoretical 33.5 TFLOPs on paper, greater than tripling the bottom PlayStation 5’s 10.23 TFLOPs, Sony’s documentation says that sensible rasterization efficiency ought to solely improve by about 45 %. Nevertheless, the L0 cache doubles from 16 KB to 32 KB to assist enhance ray-tracing efficiency. Prior rumors point out that the PlayStation 5 Professional would possibly run RT operations between two and 4 instances quicker, presumably on account of new {hardware} primarily based on AMD’s upcoming RDNA 4 GPU structure, which leakers declare is totally totally different from RDNA2.
Different useful new options embody {hardware} assist for variable price shading (VRS) and mesh shaders. Each applied sciences have been obtainable for a while however have solely seen restricted use in video games, partially on account of lack of full assist from the PS5.
Mesh shaders allow video games to render considerably elevated geometric element, and are primarily chargeable for Alan Wake 2’s notoriously excessive PC system necessities. In the meantime, VRS saves efficiency whereas sustaining picture high quality by decreasing the decision of parts of the display screen gamers are much less more likely to discover, corresponding to areas coated in whole darkness. It stays unclear how a lot sport builders would make the most of the options only for PlayStation 5 Professional, because the console will probably comprise a small portion of whole PS5 gross sales.
These options would probably mix with the beforehand leaked PlayStation Spectral Tremendous Decision, Sony’s reply to Nvidia DLSS, which might upscale video games from decrease resolutions utilizing machine studying to extend framerates. Sony seems to be making it as straightforward for builders to implement the know-how as attainable, hoping they’ll add it to many older titles.
Sony hasn’t formally confirmed its plans to launch the PlayStation 5 Professional, however the console is predicted to reach later this yr. Particulars on pricing and the inclusion of a disc drive are unclear.
