Sony released the PlayStation 5 Pro in September, an upgraded version of its current console. In a technical presentation, PS5 lead architect Mark Cerny outlined the capabilities of the PS5 Pro. Cerny has now taken a deep dive into the technical aspects of the console in a new in-depth video, detailing the PS5 Pro’s advanced ray tracing capabilities, new AI-driven upgrades, and more. Cerny and Sony also revealed a partnership with AMD to develop machine learning-based technology to improve graphics and gameplay.
PS5 Pro technical in-depth look
At a seminar held at Sony Interactive Entertainment headquarters, Cerny gave a “bits and pieces” presentation on the PS5 Pro, delving into the technical details of Sony’s latest console. In a nearly 40-minute demo shared on YouTube on Wednesday, Cerny detailed a “highly focused” upgrade approach to mid-generation Pro versions that prioritizes minimizing the amount of work required by game developers while delivering meaningful improvements for gamers.
Cerny revealed that the idea for the PS5 Pro began in 2020, the same year the standard PS5 was launched. Launching in select markets on November 7, the upgraded console comes with three key performance features: an upgraded GPU, upgraded ray tracing hardware, and a new upgraded AI-based technology called PlayStation Spectral Super-Resolution (PSSR).
Cerny detailed the technical aspects of the larger GPU on PS5 Pro. The base PS5 runs on an RDNA 2 GPU, which comes with 18 sub-units called Workgroup Processors (WGP). The PS5 Pro’s “hybrid” RDNA GPU, on the other hand, comes with 30 WGPs. In the video, Cerny explains the technology behind the 16.7 teraflops “hybrid” RDNA GPU on PS5 Pro, which combines multiple generations of RDNA technology.
“The underlying technology of PS5 Pro is between RDNA 2 and RDNA 3. I call it RDNA 2.x,” Cerny said. According to him, this option makes it easier for developers to port their games to PS5 Pro.
“Ray tracing uses what I call future RDNA technology. This is the RDNA roadmap, well beyond today’s feature set. It’s here first,” Cerny said. “Machine learning is custom-made, or more specifically, it’s a custom enhancement of RDNA,” he added.
According to Cerny, the PS5 Pro needs to be faster and have more memory to support a larger GPU. The upgraded host system memory bandwidth is 576Gbps, which is 28% faster than the 448Gbps of the base PS5. PS5 Pro also has over 1GB of game-usable memory, which is used to integrate PSSR, add ray tracing, and increase the rendering resolution of games. To achieve this, PS5 Pro comes with separate slower DDR5 RAM dedicated to the operating system, freeing up faster memory for games.
Cerny also elaborated on the PS5 Pro’s “RDNA 2.x” graphics card. The intermediate upgrade brings many of the features of RDNA 3 technology while avoiding situations that could lead to complications. He further detailed the technical aspects of improved ray tracing and machine learning technology in PS5 Pro.
Finally, Cerny announced that Sony has begun a deeper cooperation with AMD, code-named Amethyst, focusing on future machine learning hardware architecture.