AMD has developed a new custom SoC for Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro, featuring 60 Compute units based on the RDNA architecture & other improvements.
AMD's Latest SoC With RDNA 4 GPU Features Debuts In Sony PlayStation 5 Pro: 60 Compute Units, Faster GDDR6 Memory & AI Enhancements
Sony today announced its new PlayStation 5 Pro gaming console which will feature an upgraded SoC from AMD with upgraded capabilities, especially on the GPU side which confirms previous reports.
Following are some of the highlights of today's release:
- Upgraded GPU: With PS5 Pro, we are upgrading to a GPU that has 67% more Compute Units than the current PS5 console and 28% faster memory. Overall, this enables up to 45% faster rendering for gameplay, making the experience much smoother.
- Advanced Ray Tracing: We’ve added even more powerful ray tracing that provides more dynamic reflection and refraction of light. This allows the rays to be cast at double, and at times triple, the speeds of the current PS5 console.
- AI-Driven Upscaling: We’re also introducing PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, an AI-driven upscaling that uses a machine learning-based technology to provide super sharp image clarity by adding an extraordinary amount of detail.
The company didn't go into a lot of details but from what was officially mentioned, the GPU side will be getting a 67% uplift in compute units which ends up to 60 CUs versus the 36 CUs featured on the PlayStation 5, a 28% increase in memory speed which will clock at 18 Gbps speeds for 576 GB/s of total bandwidth, all delivering up to 45% faster rendering performance.
The company also announced some brand new features thanks to the new AMD SoC which include advanced ray tracing capabilities to further boost the RT performance on consoles. A few of the RT upgrades are said to be coming from the RDNA 4 IP which will deliver a nice boost to consoles and next-generation discrete GPUs.
These changes include the following:
- Double Ray Tracing Intersect Engine
- RT Instance Node Transform
- 64B RT Node
- Ray Tracing Tri-Pair Optimization
- Change flags encoded in barycentric to simplify the detection of procedural nodes
- BVH Footprint Improvement
- RT support for OBB and Instance Node Intersection
Another major feature being announced today is PSSR or PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution which is an AI-driven upscaling method. XDNA 2, the same IP that is powering the NPU for AMD's Strix Point APUs will be used to handle the AI processes on the PS5 Pro. These are being referred to as the main three pillars of the next-gen Sony PlayStation 5 Pro console.
| Console | Xbox Series X | Sony PS5 | Sony PS5 Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Codename | Scarlett | Obreon | Viola |
| Process | TSMC 7nm | TSMC 7nm | TSMC 4nm |
| SoC Die Size | 360.5mm² | 308.0mm² | TBC |
| CPU | AMD Zen2 based 8-Core | AMD Zen2 based 8-Core | AMD Zen2 based 8-Core |
| CPU Clock speed | Up To 3.8 GHz | Up To 3.5 GHz | Up To 3.8 GHz |
| GPU | 52 CUs RDNA 2 GPU | 36 CUs RDNA 2 GPU | 60 CUs RDNA 3 GPU |
| NPU | N/A | N/A | XDNA 2 |
| Peak GPU Clock Speed | 1.825 GHz | 2.23 GHz | TBC |
| Peak FP32 Performance | 12.1 TFLOPs | 10.3 TFLOPs | TBC |
| Sustained GPU Clock Speed | 1.825 GHz | 2.0 GHz | TBC |
| Sustained FP32 Performance | 12.1 TFLOPs | 9.2 TFLOPs | TBC |
| Memory | 16 GB GDDR6 320-bit bus | 16 GB GDDR6 256-bit bus | 16 GB GDDR6 256-bit bus |
| Memory Bandwidth | 10GB 560 GB/s / 6GB 336 GB/s (14 Gbps) | 448 GB/s (14 Gbps) | 576 GB/s (18 Gbps) |
| Internal Storage | 1 TB Custom NVME SSD | 825 GB Custom SSD | TBC |
| I/O Throughput | 2.4 GB/s (Raw) / 4.8GB/s (Compressed) | 5.5 GB/s (Raw) | TBC |
| Expandable Storage | 1 TB Expansion Card | NVME SSD | TBC |
| External Storage | USB 3.2 External HDD Support | USB External HDD Support | TBC |
| Optical Drive | 4K UHD Blu-Ray Drive | 4K UHD Blu-Ray Drive | TBC |
| Display Connector | HDMI 2.1 (Variable Refresh Rate) | HDMI 2.1 (Variable Refresh Rate) | TBC |
| Audio | TBC | “Tempest” 3D AudioTech | TBC |
| Launch Price | $499 | $499 $399 (Slim) | TBC |
| Launch | November 2020 | November 2020 November 2023 (Slim) | November 2024 |
With the upgraded AMD SoC featuring a bigger GPU, the PlayStation 5 Pro console will allow users to be able to play their favorite AAA games at maximum fidelity mode without compromising the overall performance. Other technologies featured on the Sony PlayStation 5 Pro console include WiFi 7, VRR, and 8K resolution. Other specs such as the CPU will remain the same, offering 8 "Zen 2" cores but with higher clock speeds.
The console will be available on 7th November with pre-orders on the 26th of September. For more details, head over to our official PlayStation 5 Pro post here.
About the author: A Software Engineer by training and a PC enthusiast by passion, Hassan Mujtaba serves as Wccftech's Senior Editor for hardware section. With years of experience in the industry, he specializes in deep-dive technical analysis of next-generation CPU and GPU architectures, motherboards, and cooling solutions. His work involves not only breaking news on upcoming technologies but also extensive hands-on reviews and benchmarking.
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