Mark Cerny revealing PS 5 Specifications

[skyfire]

As per the update from the tweet, there is going to be specification reveal in the blog soon by Mark cerny. You can check out the tweet and official blog for further info. 

 

[Shagger]

So the spec's have been revealed and, whilst this looks promising in alot of ways, to be honest one or two things are giving me cause for concern.

 

The positives. I like the CPU. The weak CPU's on the PS4 and XBox One were problematic right from the start so glad to see a major upgrade there. I also like that it has the Blu-ray drive, we've not gone fully digital, and that's good. What I'm not sure about is storage. Good speed on that custom SSD, but that's a very strange size and I feel that's too small. The drive also can't be removed and swapped out like previous Playstation consoles. Instead you get expandable storage through an empty NVMe slot, and that's gonna make upgrading the storage more expensive that it really needed to be. Also, compared to the Series X;

 



 

The PS5 has a weaker GPU, the same CPU, less storage as standard and more flexibility when it comes to storage upgrades.

 

Overall Sony, I'm not that impressed. Still have high hopes for the console as the line if launch games I think will be stronger, but especially with the retro compatibility confirmed I actually believe the Series X looks like the superior console at the moment.

[Crazycrab]

2 hours ago, Shagger said:

So the spec's have been revealed and, whilst this looks promising in alot of ways, to be honest one or two things are giving me cause for concern.

 

The positives. I like the CPU. The weak CPU's on the PS4 and XBox One were problematic right from the start so glad to see a major upgrade there. I also like that it has the Blu-ray drive, we've not gone fully digital, and that's good. What I'm not sure about is storage. Good speed on that custom SSD, but that's a very strange size and I feel that's too small. The drive also can't be removed and swapped out like previous Playstation consoles. Instead you get expandable storage through an empty NVMe slot, and that's gonna make upgrading the storage more expensive that it really needed to be. Also, compared to the Series X;

 



 

The PS5 has a weaker GPU, the same CPU, less storage as standard and more flexibility when it comes to storage upgrades.

 

Overall Sony, I'm not that impressed. Still have high hopes for the console as the line if launch games I think will be stronger, but especially with the retro compatibility confirmed I actually believe the Series X looks like the superior console at the moment.

 

I've just seen Mark Cerny's breakdown of the PS5 and although it's how it looks on paper, it's not completely true and there is a bit more to it, the PS5's GPU has less Compute Unit's so It can run at higher clock speeds, the TFLOPS are lower but the actual game performance depends on whether the game want's to process faster or want a larger chunk of data each time it cycles.

 

I agree that the CPU in the XBox has the legs and I do like the fact that developers have to choose between SMT threading and higher clock speeds, I'd really like to know if they can do with a selection of cores or if they have to disable SMT for all 8.

 

When it comes to storage and expanding storage, I have some issues with both of them.  First of all wether, it is 1TB of 825GB is arbitrary to me since neither one is going to be large enough anyway.  I get why they aren’t bigger of course, high-speed SSD’s are very expensive the architecture in both systems has been designed specifically to work with them.  A regular HDD or even a lower speed SSD simply would not cut it, especially for XBox Series X or PS5 games. So in terms of balancing cost and storage, the ~1TB is a compromise that I am prepared to accept.

 

The difference here is in expansion options and again, I have issues with both.  The PS5 will allow you to use M.2 SSD’s but you can’t just use ANY M.2 SSD.  It has to be a PCI 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD that runs at 5.5GHz or better that fits in the SSD tray in the console.  Mark Cerny mentioned that there will be a certification process but not in time for the launch.  This is potentially a big problem because some people will want to expand the storage right away and I think ALLOT of users are going to end up buying the wrong thing.

 

With that in mind, XBox would seem to have a better solution with the proprietary storage cards, but these have problems too.  First of all they are almost certainly going to be VERY expensive.  I actully think they will be more expensive than the equivalent M.2 SSD you could get for the PS5 and you will need to buy another 2 or 3 over the course of the generation.  Also proprietary storage like this can be a real headache since it gives you less choice, just any anyone who has ever owned a VITA about the Memory Sticks!

 

Overall, I actully prefer the PS5 architexure because of the only differnce which I think is significant but a lot of people might not take much notice of:

 

XBox Series X

 

 

PS5

 

 

The PS5 will demand specifically a PCI 4.0 NVMe SSD for a reason!  The XBox might have slightly more powerful components, but the silicone fabric linking them all together has only around half the bandwidth.  This means that there is a significantly larger chance of bottlenecking between the CPU/GPU and the SSD storage, which means it's going to have to use more RAM to keep the data it needs closer to home and overall just be less efficient.  Whether this makes any difference further down the line only time will tell but Sony has definitely designed the more robust architecture here.

Edited March 18, 2020 by Crazycrab

[Shagger]

3 minutes ago, Crazycrab said:

 

I've just seen Mark Cerny's breakdown of the PS5 and although it's how it looks on paper, it's not completely true and there is a bit more to it, the PS5's GPU has less Compute Unit's so It can run at higher clock speeds, the TFLOPS are lower but the actual game performance depends on whether the game want's to process faster or want a larger chunk of data each time it cycles.

 

I agree that the CPU in the XBox has the legs and I do like the fact that developers have to choose between SMT threading and higher clock speeds, I'd really like to know if they can do with a selection of cores or if they have to disable SMT for all 8.

 

When it comes to storage and expanding storage, I have some issues with both of them.  First of all wether, it is 1TB of 825GB is arbitrary to me since neither one is going to be large enough anyway.  I get why they aren’t bigger of course, high-speed SSD’s are very expensive the architecture in both systems has been designed specifically to work with them.  A regular HDD or even a lower speed SSD simply would not cut it, especially for XBox Series X or PS5 games. So in terms of balancing cost and storage, the ~1TB is a compromise that I am prepared to accept.

 

The difference here is in expansion options and again, I have issues with both.  The PS5 will allow you to use M.2 SSD’s but you can’t just use ANY M.2 SSD.  It has to be a PCI 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD that runs at 5.5GHz or better that fits in the SSD tray in the console.  Mark Cerny mentioned that there will be a certification process but not in time for the launch.  This is potentially a big problem because some people will want to expand the storage right away and I think ALLOT of users are going to end up buying the wrong thing.

 

With that in mind, XBox would seem to have a better solution with the proprietary storage cards, but these have problems too.  First of all they are almost certainly going to be VERY expensive.  I actully think they will be more expensive than the equivalent M.2 SSD you could get for the PS5 and you will need to buy another 2 or 3 over the course of the generation.  Also proprietary storage like this can be a real headache since it gives you less choice, just any anyone who has ever owned a VITA about the Memory Sticks!

 

Overall, I actully prefer the PS5 architexure because of the only differnce which I think is significant but a lot of people might not take much notice of:

 

XBox Series X

 

 

PS5

 

 

The PS5 will demand specifically a PCI 4.0 NVMe SSD for a reason!  The XBox might have slightly more powerful components, but the silicone fabric linking them all together has only around half the bandwidth.  This means that there is a significantly larger chance of bottlenecking between the CPU/GPU and the SSD storage, which means it's going to have to use more RAM to keep the data it needs closer to home and overall just be less efficient.  Whether this makes any difference further down the line only time will tell but Sony has definitely designed the more robust architecture here.

 

As I would expect, as your level of technical adept surpasses mine by quite a margin, a great breakdown about what all this means. Thank you. I think I get what you're saying, the X-Box might be the faster runner, but it's wearing a greasy pair of shoes and just case use what it has as effectively, at least on paper anyway.

[The Blackangel]

I only have one question that makes a difference to me about the PS5. Is it backwards compatible, and if so, how far back?

I’m beyond confused at this point about what the hell is going on with the damn thing.

Edited March 18, 2020 by The Blackangel

[Crazycrab]

Just now, The Blackangel said:

I only have one question that makes a difference to me about the PS5. Is it backwards compatible, and if so, how far back?

 

We know it definitely goes as far back as the PS4, but any further I don't know.  Mark Cerny did mention backwards compatibility during his presentation but he wasn't very clear about whether the PS5 actually has it.

[kingpotato]

14 hours ago, Crazycrab said:

 

We know it definitely goes as far back as the PS4, but any further I don't know.  Mark Cerny did mention backwards compatibility during his presentation but he wasn't very clear about whether the PS5 actually has it.

As to what I understand its only as far back as the PS4, and even some titles may not work correctly due to some code difference that I wasnt able to understand. 

[SaucyPastaTho]

It was a very huge disappointment I was expecting it to be on par with the series x at most. But who knows leaks suggest there will be 2 versions of the PS5 at launch.

[kingpotato]

I would wait for the upgraded version, normally the original console system at release have a lot of issues that are later fixed on the slim or pro versions.

[SaucyPastaTho]

4 hours ago, kingpotato said:

I would wait for the upgraded version, normally the original console system at release have a lot of issues that are later fixed on the slim or pro versions.

That does sound like a good idea. However I feel like there won't be much of a key difference, maybe 1 or 2 more teraflops not to even match the new xbox.

[Crazycrab]

1 hour ago, SaucyPastaTho said:

That does sound like a good idea. However I feel like there won't be much of a key difference, maybe 1 or 2 more teraflops not to even match the new xbox.

 

The XBox has a slightly faster clock on the CPU and more Compute Units on the GPU, PS5 has a faster clock on the GPU and a faster SSD.  It's all swings and roundabouts, the difference between the two in terms of performance will be minimal if it's even noticeable at all.

Edited March 19, 2020 by Crazycrab

[skyfire]

I think backward in terms of hardware specific compatibility, obviously PS4 would be there. Not sure about PS 3 though. 

[SaucyPastaTho]

There were and still are several rumours floating around about it being fully backwards compatibility. Including all PS games.

[The Blackangel]

PS3 being their first Blu-ray system, I would expect it to be compatible. PS1 and PS2, I could see them leaving those out. I mean, honestly, aside from classic gamers, who actually plays PS1 and PS2 games anymore? Being a classic gamer myself, I know I do, but I have yet to meet anyone else who does.

[SaucyPastaTho]

7 minutes ago, The Blackangel said:

PS3 being their first Blu-ray system, I would expect it to be compatible. PS1 and PS2, I could see them leaving those out. I mean, honestly, aside from classic gamers, who actually plays PS1 and PS2 games anymore? Being a classic gamer myself, I know I do, but I have yet to meet anyone else who does.

People out there who can't let go of there old systems. Like NES PS1 or PS2, It took me a few years to get over the PS3 being dead for me to sell it.