PlayStation 5 is SONY’s new next-gen console. This platform sets itself the firm goal of repeating the success of the previous console by dominating the market again with a thick lineup and a strong “wink” at new technologies. PS5 is available from November 19, 2020. But what are the technical specifications, price, accessories and all the unique features of PS5?
In this article, which we will constantly update; we will report all the news on the new console and the new games available at launch, trying to rearrange the most important news to allow you to arrive with the right amount of information when they finally open.
Contents
Preorders PS5 | Official Technical Specifications
The new Sony home console is powerful, fast, and quite large, not for anything else, measuring 39 x 10.4 x 26. The official technical specifications of PS5 are as follows:
- CPU: 8x Zen 2 Cores at 3.5GHz
- GPU: 10.28 TFLOPs, 36 CUs at 2.23GHz (variable frequency)
- GPU Architecture: Custom RDNA 2
- Memory: 16GB GDDR6 / 256-bit
- Memory bandwidth: 448GB / s
- Internal storage space: Custom 825GB SSD
- I / O Throughput: 5.5GB / s (Raw), Typical 8-9GB / s (Compressed)
- Expandable storage space: NVMe SSD Slot
- External storage space: USB HDD Support
- Optical drive: 4K UHD Blu-ray Drive
- As you can read, PS5 offers 10.28 TFLOPS compared to the 12 TFLOPS of Xbox Series X. The real difference is the I / O Throughput: which, when compressed, reaches 9 GB / s against the 4.8 GB / s of Xbox Series X. In addition, the PS5 clock frequency is variable, while on Xbox Series X, it is frozen: a detail that, in certain contexts, can make a difference.
Cerny underlined that instead of going at a constant frequency and making sure that the power changes according to the workload, Sony, for PS5, has preferred to opt for a system that “delivers the right processing power by letting the frequency console variable manages workloads as needed”. Regarding the actual graphics power, Mark Cerny explained that 10.28 TFLOPS are only a unit of measurement and are only “a part of the potential of a GPU”. There are other elements to take into consideration. The variable frequency, therefore, is a fundamental point to reach sufficient power to manage the next generation of games.
Cerny added that switching to a variable frequency approach significantly benefits all console owners. It also revealed that the level of functionality suggests parity with other AMD products and derivatives based on RDNA 2 technology. This functionality extends to creating “primitive shaders”, similar to the shaders seen in Nvidia Turing and RDNA GPUs 2. PS5 offers hardware accelerated ray tracing via its engine. Some time ago, there was a rumour about an external block, but this is not the case; the hardware is fully integrated into the shaders.
PS5 | SSD and Tempest Engine
Since the first moments in which SONY talked about PS5 when it was still called “the new generation of consoles”, the Japanese giant has always put in the foreground the improvements that the players, and the developers, will perceive the use of the SSD. What transpires from Cerny’s speech, released on the PlayStation YouTube channel on March 18, is how SONY’s engineers based on feedback received from various development studios and publishers worldwide. SSD integration has been the number one request for the next generation console, so PS5 provides twice as much solid-state disk storage as PS4 guaranteed in its debut.
This allows the PS5 to have an 825GB SSD. During the extensive minutes dedicated to the increase in performance guaranteed by the use of a solid-state drive, Cerny confirmed that, unlike the choice that Microsoft made for Xbox Series X, the expansion of the PS5 memory does not need proprietary supports, which translates into the possibility of allowing each manufacturer to launch its version, thus allowing greater variety on the market, with the only condition of passing the “PlayStation Certification” process.
After presenting the various technical specifications demonstrating the ugly power of the future console, Mark Cerny has decided to focus on the new console’s more “characteristic” aspects. With the guys from Digital Foundry, SONY, he unveiled an interesting new aspect regarding the next generation audio engine, the Tempest Engine.
The Tempest Engine is a new audio engine that tries to make every sound more dynamic. Think, for example, of the phenomenon of rain (which uses a unique audio effect); the Tempest Engine can independently recreate the sound produced by every single drop of water. During the reveal of March 18, however, Cerny illustrated the same operation using as a comparison the three-dimensionality that environmental sounds or sound effects such as bullet shots can have, allowing the player to grasp from which direction they can arrive.
PS5 | The new DualSense controller
The DualSense is the new next-gen controller dedicated to PS5. This pad offers haptic feedback, a new type of vibration that is much more precise and sensorially profound. As indicated several times by Sony, it allows you to perceive actions such as a walk in the tall grass or the tires of a car sliding over it. The mud. There are also two adaptive triggers, on L2 and R2, which are programmable by the developers to make them exert a different resistance depending on the action performed by playing, such as the tension of the string of a bow.
The Share button has been removed only to replace it with an evolution: Create. The controller is equipped with a microphone, so you can talk to friends without using a headset: obviously, the latter is still the best option. In this respect, the DualSense still features an audio jack, like the PS4’s DualShock 4.
The shape has also changed, now more rounded on the sides, making the DualSense resemble the Xbox and Stadia controllers: it seems that the video game industry has now decided which is the best shape for a video game controller. Another big variation is the colouring: for the first time, Sony abandons the monochrome of the official base controller and opts for a black-white combination. Beyond the aesthetic result, this double colour opens interesting scenarios for the console’s design and has unleashed numerous artists’ imaginations on the web.
PS5 | The games are available and in development.
PlayStation 5 maintains the tradition of the great lineup. Numerous games are already available for Sony’s next-gen console, and many more are on the way over the next few months.
- Godfall
- Marvel’s Spider-Man Miles Morales
- Demon’s Souls Remake
- Astro’s Playroom
- Destruction AllStars
- Sackboy: A Big Adventure
- Devil May Cry 5 Special Edition
- Returns
- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
- Spider-Man Miles Morales
The list, on the other hand, of the titles known to be currently under development, is as follows:
- Kena: Bridge Of Spirits
- Horizon II – Forbidden West
- God of War Ragnarock
- Final Fantasy XVI
- GhostWire Tokyo
- Jett
- Gran Turismo 7
- Forspoken
- Death loop
- goofball
PS5 | Backward compatibility
First of all, there is no backward compatibility with PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3, which is quite normal if you consider the completely different architectures of the various machines released by SONY over the years.
On the other hand, backwards compatibility with PlayStation 4 is fully supported, with some minor limitations, mainly concerning sports games.
During the presentation, Mark Cerny explained the differences between the backward compatibility of PS5 and the latest experiment of this kind by Sony in this field with PlayStation 3. If the latter had to integrate the PlayStation 2 processor inside, in the case of a new console, the emulation would occur directly using the new processor made for02 PS5. In the presentation, Cerny distinguished three modes concerning the reproduction of games: native (PS5) and Pro Legacy (PS4 Pro).
PS5 | Price and release date
PS5 is available in two different editions, PlayStation 5 Standard Edition (with optical drive) and PlayStation 5 Digital Edition (without optical drive). The two consoles, of course, have different costs; here is the price:
- Standard Edition: 499 euros
- Digital Edition: 399 euros
PlayStation 5 | Accessories
After the presentation on September 16 dedicated to PS5, Sony also announced, through a post on the official blog, what are the prices of accessories for the console. For some time, we have known the peripherals on PlayStation 5. Among these, in addition to the controller, there are also the new headphones that exploit the potential of the 3D Tempest Engine audio and remote control, an accessory that we have not seen since the PlayStation 2.
We know that the Pulse 3D wireless headphones with three-dimensional audio and noise cancellation are priced at € 99.99. The HD camera, required for the PSVR system, costs € 59.99. You solve it one maximum is 1080p, and Sony points out that it can also be used for streaming broadcasts. The multimedia remote control allows one-button access directly to some streaming platforms. Along with these accessories, Sony also detailed the cost of the DualSense controller, which is required to play PS5 titles.
