Insider Claims PlayStation 5 Pro Targeting 8K "Performance Mode" & Accelerated Ray Tracing

[T0@st]

Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson has picked up some interesting insider knowledge about the long rumored PlayStation 5 Pro gaming console—his (side hustle) Key to Gaming article theorizes that a project codenamed "Trinity" has been in-progress since early 2022. Sony is apparently sticking to its tradition of using Matrix themed codenames for internal hardware projects—PlayStation 4 Pro was referred to as "Neo," and PlayStation VR's alias was "Morpheus." His inside sources claim that Sony has been showing off Trinity prototype units to game development studios, with refreshed dev kits lined up for the "majority" of interested parties by November 2023.

Henderson's sources provided scant info about Trinity's specs and performance goals: "Although the Pro's specs were difficult to pin down, (admittedly) due to my lack of technological prowess, sources have stated that Trinity with have 30 WGP and 18000mts memory. As for the consoles performance targets and as to be expected, the PlayStation 5 Pro will be targeting improved and consistent FPS at 4K resolution, a new "performance mode" for 8K resolution, and accelerated ray tracing. Whether or not a PlayStation 5 Pro console is desired enough in the current market remains to be seen, but as of writing, the PlayStation 5 Pro is in development and is targeting a November 2024 release date." The leaked information has been interpreted several ways by different outlets—mostly focusing on the improved AMD RDNA-powered GPU. I have included Zuba_Tech's updated spec sheet (see below), which seems to be a bit on the fanciful side of things (proposing 72 CUs). Others have theorized that the revised GPU could offer twice the performance of the base PS5 model's Oberon RDNA 2-based GPU (36 CUs).



Digital Foundry's tech editor, Richard Leadbetter, chipped in with his interpretation yesterday: "First up, let's quickly discuss the PS5 Pro rumors... I do think the "Project Trinity" story is at least somewhat credible. Most of the hardware leaks that emerge are more wish-fulfilment as opposed to genuinely workable products. The mooted Viola APU for the PS5 Pro apparently has 60 compute units, possibly with four disabled. This would only constitute four more CUs than Xbox Series X, so in terms of a key area of expense - the main processor - it seems affordable. Moving to a likely 5 nm production process also means that the APU could run at higher clock speeds. A circa 10.2TF of GPU compute in PS5 Pro rises to circa 18.6TF, assuming 56 CUs running at around 2.6 GHz, up from the 2.2 GHz in PS5. Notionally, that would rise to 37.3TF with RDNA 3's dual-issue FP32 functionality (though do not that its real world use in gaming has proven limited thus far)."

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[MrDweezil]

They'd certainly be breaking new ground with console price brackets, but people pay $1000+ for phones these days, so there's surely some customers who'd be willing to spend for more performance.

 

[mb194dc]

Surely they can do something with AI for it?

 

[Deleted member 185088]

I don't see a lot of sense in having pro versions now, we barely have any current gen games, and wasting performance on the useless RT is just stupid.

Plus GDDR6X doesn't sound very realistic I believe only nVidia is using them.

 

[Tropick]

Look at those specs, these consoles are basically just SFF PCs that run custom OSes these days.

 

[Denver]

I also think they are more likely to use Samsung memory faster than GDDR6X. BTw, This would certainly be a huge step forward in terms of the performance available to play with, I don't want to imagine the weight on port requirements this will have.

"Though do not that its real world use in gaming has proven limited thus far"

Games need to be programmed to take advantage of this. It's not like it's impossible.

 

[Psyclown]

I just don’t understand consumers at all. They throw a fit if a console launches at more than $500 but they are perfectly fine with buying a $500 console and then only a few years or months later buying an upgrade that would honestly have to cost $1k.
If you’re doing this crap, you should just be gaming on a PC. Why not just be ok with an $800 console that actually has the longevity you expect. And to be clear, the PS5 is perfectly capable for what it is and what it costs.

 

[Space Lynx]

Still riding that 8k nonsense when they can't even hit 60 fps 4k in modern AAA games huh? Fascinating.

 

[Octavean]

I just don’t understand consumers at all. They throw a fit if a console launches at more than $500 but they are perfectly fine with buying a $500 console and then only a few years or months later buying an upgrade that would honestly have to cost $1k.
If you’re doing this crap, you should just be gaming on a PC. Why not just be ok with an $800 console that actually has the longevity you expect. And to be clear, the PS5 is perfectly capable for what it is and what it costs.

Point well taken,....

However, there are some assumptions being made with your assertions. First many who already have a PS5 won't be upgrading to a PS5 Pro, I know I won't. Those who buy a PS5 Pro looking to take advantage of the feature set such as 8K probably already have an 8K display and as such aren't necessarily making wise purchasing choices,.......and have money burning a whole in their pockets,......

I for one never really understood the point of the Pro version of the PlayStation line because they always come too late in the production cycle. If Sony wants me to consider a Pro product they need to launch it alongside the standard version or very nearly so. Failing that, for example, I can stick with the PS5 until the PS6 comes out,.......No problem,...

 

[Double-Click]

It will play arcade games at 8K, this is just going to let it run the majority of AAA titles at 4K 60 without issue, and some less demanding ones at 4K 120.

 

[Tropick]

Still riding that 8k nonsense when they can't even hit 60 fps 4k in modern AAA games huh? Fascinating.

What are you talking about? Everyone I know has 8K displays, 8K phones, 8K microwaves, 8K 5G AI Web3 crypto toasters, you name it!

8K is also helpful because it helps remind you how much the hardware is going to cost to run that stupid resolution! 8K!!!!

 

[persondb]

Look at those specs, these consoles are basically just SFF PCs that run custom OSes these days.

Well, they still have custom chips. Which do in fact have quite a bit of customization in them, like the hardware decompression blocks that improve the transference throughput from SSD, which DirectStorage was supposed to be the PC version of it(but with shaders doing the decompression), but still isn't fully there yet.

Sony does some customization in the geometry engine and stuff, and both also do custom audio engines(which should theoretically be a lot more capable than the Cadence HiFi that you find on PCs, but I don't know if anyone ever ends up using it).

So there is in fact a lot of convergence, specially when compared to earlier generations of consoles but it's still not 'basically PCs'. Funnily enough current Xbox is probably more different to PCs than the original Xbox, which really was 95% PC and used a lot of off-the-shelves components(you can even upgrade the CPU).

 

[GoldenX]

8k RT, with an RDNA3...
What's next, a 4090 Ti for 400 USD?

 

[NoneRain]

8K hahahahahahah

 

[chrcoluk]

PS5 doesnt really have a proper gaming library to justify this in my opinion, Sony need to get more games before pushing more hardware.

I would welcome a PS5 slim that is a normal console shape though, when fitting my NVME to it last week, it seems the stand is now failing and not using the stand is a problem given the shape and weight of the thing. The prongs that hold it on now are just loose so slightly moving it or even lifting it up makes it fall off, and the stand itself doesnt stay locked in the correct position anymore, so I had to take extreme care when positioning my PS5.

Point well taken,....

However, there are some assumptions being made with your assertions. First many who already have a PS5 won't be upgrading to a PS5 Pro, I know I won't. Those who buy a PS5 Pro looking to take advantage of the feature set such as 8K probably already have an 8K display and as such aren't necessarily making wise purchasing choices,.......and have money burning a whole in their pockets,......

I for one never really understood the point of the Pro version of the PlayStation line because they always come too late in the production cycle. If Sony wants me to consider a Pro product they need to launch it alongside the standard version or very nearly so. Failing that, for example, I can stick with the PS5 until the PS6 comes out,.......No problem,...

I did grab a PS4 pro, but the pricing was very favourable, I managed to sell my PS4 for almost what I paid for it, (cant believe someone bit at the high buy it now price) and I owned a lot more PS4 games than PS5 games I own now, I actually only own three PS5 specific game's (FF7 remake, FF16 and crisis core remake). If I remember right the PS4 was considered under spec'd at launch, and not quite the same for the PS5, plus base PS5 pricing is way higher than PS4 base pricing was, so there was room for a pro model pricing wise. This generation just feels so weird, barely any games.

 

[Pumper]

7900XTX can't even do 4K with RT on and we are supposed to believe that their new console level GPU will be pushing 8K?

 

[Denver]

7900XTX can't even do 4K with RT on and we are supposed to believe that their new console level GPU will be pushing 8K?

No GPU can run RT at 1080P 30fps depending on the number of rays in the scene. They will simply use extremely limited RT and upscaling.

 

[gffermari]

8K? RT with RDNA in a console?

 

[Tek-Check]

7900XTX can't even do 4K with RT on and we are supposed to believe that their new console level GPU will be pushing 8K?

I agree about "8K" nonsense, but dude, why such nonsense about 7900XTX?

 

[trsttte]

They'd certainly be breaking new ground with console price brackets, but people pay $1000+ for phones these days, so there's surely some customers who'd be willing to spend for more performance.

Not necessarily, the PS5 is starting to get discounts and it has been expensive for so long because supply and demand. With a more advanced node and more modern architectures (zen3 or 4 and rdna 3) they could get the performance boost without spending much more money and launch the mid generation slim version at a cheaper price and a new "pro" model at the price of the original. Wasn't that what happened with the PS4 for example?

I just don’t understand consumers at all. They throw a fit if a console launches at more than $500 but they are perfectly fine with buying a $500 console and then only a few years or months later buying an upgrade that would honestly have to cost $1k.
If you’re doing this crap, you should just be gaming on a PC. Why not just be ok with an $800 console that actually has the longevity you expect. And to be clear, the PS5 is perfectly capable for what it is and what it costs.

Most people don't buy the upgraded console, only fans/enthusiasts or people who didn't have one before.

It will play arcade games at 8K, this is just going to let it run the majority of AAA titles at 4K 60 without issue, and some less demanding ones at 4K 120.

Going for 8k is a stupid idea, the computing power necessary is much much higher. Maybe they'll do a 8k30 performance mode just for the marketing points but that'll be a pretty bad experience. 4k120 on the majority of games and end the distinction between performance 4k60 and fidelity 4k30 would be interesting and i'd be willing to pay for it but I don't have much trust that they'd update the games to use the increased resources - they didn't do anything about the majority of ps4 games for example

 

[Tek-Check]

Going for 8k is a stupid idea

Plus, the state of 8K TV and 8K monitor global markets is dismal...

 

[MrDweezil]

Not necessarily, the PS5 is starting to get discounts and it has been expensive for so long because supply and demand. With a more advanced node and more modern architectures (zen3 or 4 and rdna 3) they could get the performance boost without spending much more money and launch the mid generation slim version at a cheaper price and a new "pro" model at the price of the original. Wasn't that what happened with the PS4 for example?

This isn't going to happen. We've just watched a whole generation of GPUs launch with tech advancements that brought more performance and better efficiency, but not any cost savings. Both current consoles have only risen in price since launch.

 

[3DVCash]

I'm still not convinced this is even real. The PS4 Pro made sense. It could do 4K (upscaled)... something the PS4 couldn't.

I just don't see marginal fps gains and/or slightly better RT moving a lot of consoles.

 

[Double-Click]

Going for 8k is a stupid idea, the computing power necessary is much much higher. Maybe they'll do a 8k30 performance mode just for the marketing points but that'll be a pretty bad experience. 4k120 on the majority of games and end the distinction between performance 4k60 and fidelity 4k30 would be interesting and i'd be willing to pay for it but I don't have much trust that they'd update the games to use the increased resources - they didn't do anything about the majority of ps4 games for example

Yea a Pro model will be good for enabling more settings / eye candy @ 4K/60 and hopefully give the 120Hz option on more games too.
That's something lacking on both the current big boy consoles; Spencer was BS when he said there was no need for one.

As for 8K, I can't see it being much more than retro/arcade and casual stuff - more a marketing gimmick than anything.

 

[Minus Infinity]

I don't see a lot of sense in having pro versions now, we barely have any current gen games, and wasting performance on the useless RT is just stupid.

Plus GDDR6X doesn't sound very realistic I believe only nVidia is using them.

5+ more years until PS6, so this is a mid term upgrade coming out late 2024 with custom Strix APU. The 8K is marketing BS and fluff, but making it so it could offer rock solid 4K 60fps or 90fps with RT would be nice. Strix APU's will use a RDNA3/4 hybrid design.

Also, after seeing how bad UE5 runs on PS5 maybe they need to offer something much better ASAP.