Following Sony’s unveiling of the PlayStation 5 (PS5) console’s technical speculations, it has become clear that the gaming giant is in pursuit of a spectacular generational leap over PlayStation 4 (PS4).
However, hundreds of thousands of fans who tuned into Wednesday’s live stream event were left deflated when they realised that this was, in fact, not the console big reveal they’ve been anticipating.
As reported by Euro Gamer, if anything, Mark Cerny’s (Sony’s console system architect) presentation was the digitised version of what was on the cards at the now-cancelled Game Developers Conference (GDC).
So, this presentation was for technical junkies, not the regular consumer and by all accounts, the reception to what’s in store for the PS5 was positive.
PS5 technical specs unveiled: Here’s what to expect
These are the technical specifications of the PS5 console, placed next to its predecessor.
| PS5 | PS4 | |
| CPU | 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.5GHz with SMT (variable frequency) | 8x Jaguar Cores at 1.6GHz |
|---|---|---|
| GPU | 10.28 TFLOPs, 36 CUs at 2.23GHz (variable frequency) | 1.84 TFLOPs, 18 CUs at 800MHz |
| GPU Architecture | Custom RDNA 2 | Custom GCN |
| Memory/Interface | 16GB GDDR6/256-bit | 8GB GDDR5/256-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 448GB/s | 176GB/s |
| Internal Storage | Custom 825GB SSD | 500GB HDD |
| IO Throughput | 5.5GB/s (Raw), Typical 8-9GB/s (Compressed) | Approx 50-100MB/s (dependent on data location on HDD) |
| Expandable Storage | NVMe SSD Slot | Replaceable internal HDD |
| External Storage | USB HDD Support | USB HDD Support |
| Optical Drive | 4K UHD Blu-ray Drive | Blu-ray Drive |
Compared to the Xbox Series X, a known arch-enemy of Sony in gaming, the PS5 leads with an added advantage. According to Tom’s Guide, it has been confirmed that the Microsoft console will not come with optical audio out port.
This gives PS5 poll position to edge the Series X by a landslide after Cerny confirmed that the console will utilise unprecedented 3D audio fidelity via the Tempest 3D Audio Engine which is truly exciting.
The release date of the PS5 is still a mystery at this time. However, gamers and loyalists of the console will hope that the PS5 drops in 2020.
