Mark Cerny, lead architect on the PS5, gave an in-depth deep dive into the various features of the next-gen console. There were three key points on the 52-minute presentation: how it’s new custom SSD works, pioneering 3D audio, and how powerful the GPU is.
While we already know AMD is supplying components for PS5, and that it uses Zen 2-based CPU, not much was said about the GPU. Cerny clarified that the GPU is indeed based on RDNA 2- like the Xbox Series X- and it is custom-made where certain features may only be seen on the PS5. RDNA 2 can do ray-tracing by hardware, as AMD confirmed it’s next batch of Radeon graphics card, presumably based on RDNA 2, will have it.
Cerny also revealed the computing power, measured in teraflops, of the PS5. Not without warning about why comparing numbers isn’t the full story beforehand.
“It’s dangerous to rely on teraflops as an absolute indicator of performance,” he warns.
The PS5 GPU has 36 compute units (CUs), running at 2.23 GHz maximum producing 10.3 teraflops. For comparison, the Xbox Series X GPU has 52 CUs running at 1.825 GHz max, producing 12 teraflops.
However, Cerny explains that other parts of the PS5 GPU have other aspects that compensate for the lesser tflop count and lesser compute units (CU). One, a lesser CU count, Cerny explained, allows for easier parallel processing, and the higher GPU speed should increase the performance of many graphics processing across the board.
The presentation also goes into how the PS5 is solving an issue of the PS4- loud fan noises. This is due to console using up more electrical power in more demanding games (like God Of War), which makes the console hotter thus cranking up the fan speed.
For the PS5, the CPU and GPU can run at variable frequency speeds, but with constant power output. Cerny teased the “cost-effective and high-performance cooling solution” that will be revealed in a teardown of the console coming soon.
This explanation should alleviate some fans who might be worried about the disparity of tflops count of the two next-gen consoles. It’s a case of the two companies taking two different solutions for the same problem. While we can measure which console does it better eventually, there’s no need to be caught up with arguments about how big the tflops are. It’s how you use it.
Also, the cooling solution sounds like a neat idea.
The PS5 is slated for release by the end of the year.