Official PlayStation 5 thread

[Kain]

Tomorrow at 9am Pacific Time, PS5 lead system architect Mark Cerny will provide a deep dive into PS5’s system architecture, and how it will shape the future of games.

Watch tomorrow at PlayStation Blog: https://blog.us.playstation.com

https://twitter.com/PlayStation/stat...84910812450816

[alitayyab]

slightly weaker (GPU) rated performance as compared to the next X.
With both m$ and Sony looking towards PC as a viable second market for their exclusives Sony must be looking (gunning for) at a significant price advantage against the next X.

[Fuku2]

slightly weaker (GPU) rated performance as compared to the next X.
With both m$ and Sony looking towards PC as a viable second market for their exclusives Sony must be looking (gunning for) at a significant price advantage against the next X.

Maybe we'll know more later Horrordee.

Whoops!

[Trunks0]

Loved the talk about 3D audio. It kinda came off like they where reinventing the wheel.... but it sounded really promising and I can't wait to hear it.

[SirBaron]

The PS5 better be at least 50-100 cheaper.

Also it doesn't have 100% backwards compatibility with the PS4, they tested 100 popular titles and most worked, some too fast.

[SirBaron]

Loved the talk about 3D audio. It kinda came off like they where reinventing the wheel.... but it sounded really promising and I can't wait to hear it.

Xbox one has 3D audio for headphones, plus you can test it on PC with supported games with DTS Sound Unbound (14 day trial) and get 3D spatial audio using only Stereo headphones.

For non supported games with 5.1 or whatever, they get converted but the naitive Dolby support is much better.

[Greasy]

I expected it to be more powerful than the x, but seems they went the more affordable route with their hardware this time around.

[Trunks0]

That part was cool, but we have that now. The talk about actual 3D audio, that was using RayTracing to get highly accurate sound is what got me excited.

[SirBaron]

That part was cool, but we have that now. The talk about actual 3D audio, that was using RayTracing to get highly accurate sound is what got me excited.

This is only for surround sound systems or also headphones? I ask because getting surround in my setup is impossible lol

[Trunks0]

The Raytraced 3D audio should be speaker setup agnostic. Sony's own HRTF being mostly headphone centric at the moment. They also said it's working with stereo speaker setups, but has sweet spotting. Also sounds like HRTF for home theatre setups may happen later down the line.

[yt]KasVMOMWM-4[/yt]

EuroGamer - Digital Foundry has a pretty good article up based on the video
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/d...ext-gen-vision

Kinda sounds like this " Tempest Engine" is an evolution of AMD's TrueAudio.

[SubCog]

Fascinating stuff, and Mark Cerny is the best in the business. Hopefully he'll continue to design hardware for Sony for years to come.

Interesting to see how similar PS5 & xbox series x solutions are. Ryzen+RDNA with some additional hardware optimizations, dedicated audio processing chips, SSD utilization with lots of novel strategies to make the most of the system's RAM. Expandable SSD storage options, plus ability to backup games on an older harddrive. I suppose alot of this is pretty obvious, but it's nice to see anyway.

One big difference was that Cerny emphasized PS5 using variable frequencies, while MS emphasized static frequencies... both seem to be claiming advantages over the other.

Still some outstanding questions remaining:

• Will Sony and/or MS be launching rumored cheaper lower-spec models?
• Will PS5 VR support inside-out tracking & wireless capabilities? Will MS eventually support VR goggles at all? (I'd love to see MS support 3rd party PC VR goggles).
• How strongly will Sony & MS push for using consoles with m+k controls to replace PC gaming?
• Will either next-gen console be able to launch on time?
• Will there be enough games that star non-cis women of color?
• Price.

I'm a bit disappointed to hear that not PS4 games are bc supported... Hopefully the small % that are not supported at launch will be supported later on with software updates? I assume the most popular PS4 games will get updated to take advantage of PS5's capabilities.

'Sounds like the rumors of bc support for PS2/PS3 games was not true... unless Sony is waiting for surprise reveals later? I'm sure Sony will be happy to sell you new HD remasters of the same PS2 games again though!

[Nascar24]

Wallet will go empty this year, XBOX series X, PS5, New Video Card, 2K or more gone. Video Card will not be one of the Ti versions at $1500.

[Greasy]

Wallet will go empty this year, XBOX series X, PS5, New Video Card, 2K or more gone. Video Card will not be one of the Ti versions at $1500.

If you're still PC gaming, I don't see the value in getting an xbox since all their exclusives come to PC now.

If not then xbox seems to be the winner this new gen in terms of performance.

[OverclockN']

If you're still PC gaming, I don't see the value in getting an xbox since all their exclusives come to PC now.

If not then xbox seems to be the winner this new gen in terms of performance.

Yeah, I can't see the point of XBox at all any more. Unless you want to game at close to 4k and not pay the cost of doing it on PC. Otherwise yeah...they share all the games.

[Nascar24]

If you're still PC gaming, I don't see the value in getting an xbox since all their exclusives come to PC now.

If not then xbox seems to be the winner this new gen in terms of performance.

You could be right, I could just keep my Xbox One X and use that for my BC of all my games. And just buy the next great Video Card and use my Xbox game Pass on my PC.

[SubCog]

So PS5's ssd is 5.5gb/s, compared to xbox series x 2.4gb/s. https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/18/2...s-release-date Cerny says levels will load in 1 second on PS5... I guess that means levels will load in 2 seconds on xbox?

The Digital Foundry guys were speculating that the SSD may be fast enough that they might be able to render textures directly from the SSD without having to use RAM... or at least be ultra-optimized for just the textures you're seeing on screen.

Makes me think about Carmack's megatexture tech, which is basically dead now. Maybe it was just way ahead of it's time?

[DeathKnight]

So PS5's ssd is 5.5gb/s, compared to xbox series x 2.4gb/s. https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/18/2...s-release-date Cerny says levels will load in 1 second on PS5... I guess that means levels will load in 2 seconds on xbox?

Sounds like theoretical mumbo jumbo really. In the real world I'd wager there's not going to be much difference, if any, between the two in that regard. PCIE 4.0 level SSD speeds are a pretty significant expense over 3.0. I can't help but think that particular investment is misplaced.

[shrike126]

Sounds like theoretical mumbo jumbo really. In the real world I'd wager there's not going to be much difference, if any, between the two in that regard. PCIE 4.0 level SSD speeds are a pretty significant expense over 3.0. I can't help but think that particular investment is misplaced.

Having watched a couple tech demos with games from the current gen not optimized, it's a night and day difference already.

[DeathKnight]

Having watched a couple tech demos with games from the current gen not optimized, it's a night and day difference already.

What are these tech demos and what exactly is being tested/compared?

[shrike126]

What are these tech demos and what exactly is being tested/compared?

Here's one.

https://youtu.be/0eBaPS3uj-A

[DeathKnight]

Here's one.

https://youtu.be/0eBaPS3uj-A

I've already seen that. It's a comparison between an old spinner hard drive and the new Series X NVME SSD.

My post above was about there being little or no real world difference between a PCIE 3 level NVME SSD and a PCIE 4 level NVME SSD. This holds true for pretty much everything except specific sustained sequential workloads that you'll never see with gaming.

It's a no-brainer for both next gen consoles to include NVME SSD's. I just think Sony's choice to go with one as fast as that wasn't the wisest decision.

[shrike126]

I've already seen that. It's a comparison between an old spinner hard drive and the new Series X NVME SSD.

My post above was about there being little or no real world difference between a PCIE 3 level NVME SSD and a PCIE 4 level NVME SSD. This holds true for pretty much everything except specific sustained sequential workloads that you'll never see with gaming.

It's a no-brainer for both next gen consoles to include NVME SSD's. I just think Sony's choice to go with one as fast as that wasn't the wisest decision.

Ah okay I see what you were talking about now. I misunderstood the point you were making. Apologies.

[Lazy8s]

I'm all in on the PS as far as consoles go. If the 5 has decent enough BC I might do it, but right now the 4 pro handles my console needs just fine.

[Dave]

Doesnt matter if the PS5 is slower than the new xbox - its down to the games at this point. The difference between those specs is not going to show a visual difference in games. PS5 has the huge advantage of Sony's exclusive titles.

[SubCog]

Sounds like theoretical mumbo jumbo really. In the real world I'd wager there's not going to be much difference, if any, between the two in that regard. PCIE 4.0 level SSD speeds are a pretty significant expense over 3.0. I can't help but think that particular investment is misplaced.

Microsoft seems to agree with you there. Time will tell. Of course, PCIE 4.0 SSDs will become alot cheaper over time, so maybe Sony is just biting the bullet for the first year or two, and perhaps it will have long-term benefits after that.

[SubCog]

I'm all in on the PS as far as consoles go. If the 5 has decent enough BC I might do it, but right now the 4 pro handles my console needs just fine.

I've said it before, that I expect both xbox & playstation to make a play to take over PC gaming. This generation has the specs to run well with m+k controls. Even if each new console costs $600, I can buy both for about what I would spend on a new gaming PC.

[SubCog]

My post above was about there being little or no real world difference between a PCIE 3 level NVME SSD and a PCIE 4 level NVME SSD. This holds true for pretty much everything except specific sustained sequential workloads that you'll never see with gaming.

Cerny was talking about being able to load texture data faster than you can turn around and look behind you. If that's true, and devs take advantage of it, it might be a big advantage in texture quality. Instead of having to hold all of the textures in memory for a chunk of the levels, you can hold only the textures that the player is seeing on screen at that exact moment.

Of course, one can question whether texture quality is really going to be that important moving forward (as textures are already pretty sharp).

[Trunks0]

When your in a closed system, the ability to utilize that extra bandwidth will play out. Don't forget, devs have been messing with texture streaming tech since PS2. That was pulling from a bloody DVD drive.

[SirBaron]

I've said it before, that I expect both xbox & playstation to make a play to take over PC gaming. This generation has the specs to run well with m+k controls. Even if each new console costs $600, I can buy both for about what I would spend on a new gaming PC.

It's always like that, with the exception of the current gen. Each generation the consoles are pretty powerful for what they are, but after 2 years they are already out of date (in comparison to medium-highend PC hardware).

[Kain]

Mark Cerny explains why he likes running higher GPU clocks. Watch from 31:37 to 33:17:

[yt]ph8LyNIT9sg?t=1912[/yt]

[SubCog]

It's always like that, with the exception of the current gen. Each generation the consoles are pretty powerful for what they are, but after 2 years they are already out of date (in comparison to medium-highend PC hardware).

I don't think this is like any other console generation. This is the first console generation that will be targeting very solid 60fps for most games, which has been mostly the cost-of-entry for PC gaming for the last 2 decades. 60fps is critical for running with m+k controls. At 30fps it's best to stick with thumbsticks... this will be the first generation that can even attempt to take over desktop gaming.

Sure, PCs will be alot more powerful in a couple years, but that matters less and less nowadays. With 4k graphics, ray tracing, high framerates, graphics will be driving straight into the diminishing-returns territory. Especially since most studios are targeting consoles anyway, I expect most upcoming games will run fine on console-level hardware for the duration of this generation.

[SirBaron]

If not at the start, then after one year Most games will be 4k30fps and many eventually will be below 4K upscale by checkerboard rendering.

If anyone thinks developers are going to stick with 60fps when they can increase visuals by dropping FPS or resolution then they’ve been living under a rock for the past 3 generations.

Frame rate and resolution are always the first to drop, always have, always will.

[Lazy8s]

I've said it before, that I expect both xbox & playstation to make a play to take over PC gaming. This generation has the specs to run well with m+k controls. Even if each new console costs $600, I can buy both for about what I would spend on a new gaming PC.

Quite frankly I hope both PC and console markets make huge strides and keep gaming strong. If the game I'm playing looks great and runs great then I really don't care which platform I'm using.

I'm very much of the same mind as you though. If I can get that satisfying experience for less than the cost of a new video card alone, I'll take it.

I'd sure like to see that backwards compatibility though...

[SubCog]

Quite frankly I hope both PC and console markets make huge strides and keep gaming strong. If the game I'm playing looks great and runs great then I really don't care which platform I'm using.

I'm very much of the same mind as you though. If I can get that satisfying experience for less than the cost of a new video card alone, I'll take it.

I'd sure like to see that backwards compatibility though...

For me it's both a matter of cost, but also a matter of simplicity. I just don't have time these days to tinker with my PC to get things to work right. There's been several times in the last few years that I set aside time to play a game, and end up tinkering with configs and such instead. I used to really enjoy the tinkering, but I just don't have time for it anymore.

[Jay20016]

I honestly don't think that the PS5's big new SSD tech is going to be all that game changing or even noticeable on something other than their exclusives. If it is cross platform game, I doubt that most developers are going to design for two separate systems vs. go with the lowest common denominator, which is still a HUGE increase over previous gen.

As for why the Xbox or PS5 over a PC for the majority of people, simplicity. Drivers, OS updates, and all sort of things can often break a game outright. Not to mention, I still game a lot on my Xbox simply because that is where my friends are. Sure, solo games are fun and all, but there is something to be said about getting 4 or 5 of your best friends and playing until 3am...

[Nascar24]

PS5 Controller

https://blog.us.playstation.com/2020...playstation-5/

[SubCog]

I honestly don't think that the PS5's big new SSD tech is going to be all that game changing or even noticeable on something other than their exclusives. If it is cross platform game, I doubt that most developers are going to design for two separate systems vs. go with the lowest common denominator, which is still a HUGE increase over previous gen.

[SubCog]

PS5 Controller

https://blog.us.playstation.com/2020...playstation-5/

Neat-o. Honestly I keep waiting for console makers to say "no new controllers this time, as the previous ones were basically perfect." Honestly I think we've been getting diminishing returns on controllers since the PS3/xbox360 era.

[Nascar24]

Neat-o. Honestly I keep waiting for console makers to say "no new controllers this time, as the previous ones were basically perfect." Honestly I think we've been getting diminishing returns on controllers since the PS3/xbox360 era.

I don’t agree with this, they keep adding stuff such as back side buttons and better feed back such as this new controller for the PS5, this is probably the biggest change I have seen from Sony on their controller looking at all their years past versions. I’m honestly surprised they don’t appear to have added buttons to the back at least natively.

[OverclockN']

I don’t agree with this, they keep adding stuff such as back side buttons and better feed back such as this new controller for the PS5, this is probably the biggest change I have seen from Sony on their controller looking at all their years past versions. I’m honestly surprised they don’t appear to have added buttons to the back at least natively.

Agreed. I like how they keep moving forward. It doesn't need to be revolutionary, incremental steps are just fine.