The presented consoles are divided into major generational and minor intergenerational changes. The new generation of PlayStation will usually bring a new number and a significant improvement in functions. Intergenerational changes are often “facelifts” like the PS5 Slim aimed at optimizing the production of a console that has been in production for several years. However, it can also be a bigger improvement that will be reflected in the performance, which should also be the case with the upcoming news.
The PlayStation 5 Pro should be around a year away from launch, according to leaked information. This may sound like a long time, but for example, AMD taking care of APU development has to reserve manufacturing capacity with TSMC. The basic parameters must therefore already be set in stone, and only minor architectural elements can be changed, which will not have a major impact on the resulting chip size and the overall appearance of the hardware. Let’s summarize all currently available information, albeit from unofficial sources.
PS5 Pro will be a big improvement
The improvement is of an intergenerational nature and is manifested in the fact that it should be the biggest possible increase in performance without changing much from the point of view of architecture. Game developers do not want to re-optimize their titles, rather they would prefer to increase the raw performance so that already optimized games can achieve higher FPS without work. For example, more demanding games targeting 40 fps could suddenly run at a smoother 60 fps. Or games averaging 90 fps could be 120 fps.
So this is the first reason why Sony is expected to stick with today’s older Zen 2 processor architecture. The second reason is that Sony has made additional interventions in the processor architecture; the use of Zen 4, for example, would require further hardware development with Sony’s involvement. The final reason is the smaller space requirements of the Zen 2 architecture, it takes up less space on the semiconductor than Zen 4, which leads to lower costs.
However, Sony wants to improve the processor performance, most likely it will achieve this in a different way. The original production process of TSMC N7 for PS5, respectively TSMC N6 for PS5 Slim is to replace TSMC N4P. This has many advantages and one of them is the possibility to increase the clocks while maintaining the same power consumption. The original maximum clock speed of 3.5 GHz is supposed to be 4.4 GHz, which should bring the desired increase in performance without the need to intervene in the architecture and re-optimize games. It’s also still an octa-core processor.
The improvement of the production processor has another key advantage, which is a higher transistor density of up to 86%. Compute units are better at reducing footprint than cache when moving to a more advanced manufacturing process, which is another reason to use the Zen 2 architecture, which has lower capacities compared to newer iterations. This opens up the possibility for Sony to either save money by using an overall smaller chip, or to add new computing units and increase performance.
Will there be acceleration for AI?
According to current information, Sony decided not only to increase the number of graphics units, but also to reach for a better architecture. The original PS5 had 36 compute units on a modified RDNA2 architecture, the PS5 Pro should go up to 60 units built on a modified RDNA3. Two units are expected to be blocked due to expected defects, so the result should be 58 computing units.
Although there is talk about the RDNA3 architecture, it should be more of a base since Sony will still be tinkering with it. Some elements should be taken over from the as-yet-unpresented RDNA4 architecture, especially improved accelerators for ray tracing. The expected increase in graphics performance should be between 50 and 60% compared to PS5 (Slim), with ray tracing even double.
According to leaked information, XDNA2 NPU units for artificial intelligence acceleration should also appear on the chip. These will probably take care of upscaling the image to a higher resolution, which should be a sales hit for the new improved model. There is not much information available about the software part of upscaling yet, and we can look forward to it with the mentioned console.
When we go back to thinking about a better manufacturing process, a redesign for a more advanced manufacturing process, and perhaps a similar chip area, we should also reflect a higher manufacturing cost. Even if the chip area would remain the same, the newer manufacturing process is more expensive. However, to put it into context, the PS5 was introduced less than two years after the TSMC N7 went into production, the PS5 Pro comes about a year and a half after the TSMC N4P went into production. In addition, the more advanced N3 process has already been operating since 2022 and is used for the most modern and expensive chips, so the capacities for N4P should not be busy and the prices exorbitant.
Even with a newer production process (and possibly a slightly larger chip area), the costs will not increase by any means. Sony will remain with the same 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 256-bit bus, only increasing the speed from 14 to 18 Gb/s, while the prices of memory chips have also been decreasing. Another relative saving would be keeping the 1TB storage capacity, as prices have roughly halved in the interim.
The PlayStation 5 Pro could be a very interesting intergenerational upgrade. The last generation of consoles has lost steam compared to PCs in terms of performance since its launch, and the price may not be such a strong argument at worse details or lower refresh rates. Increased performance, new features and a similar price to the original model could help.
Sources: MLID, Videocardz.com