PS5 Official Specs Reveal Event: SSD Storage, Custom Engine for Audio, Ray-Tracing GPU, Backwards Compatability & more


Ever since their respective announcements, Sony’s PS5 and Microsoft’s Xbox Series X have been pitted against each other in what is being called the ‘next-gen console war’.

Before Microsoft recently revealed their full specifications, it was well documented that both consoles would be seeing major graphical and systematic upgrades.

Well, now we finally have what we've been waiting for - a meaningful update on the specs.

Continue reading for all the information on the PS5's newly revealed specs!

Key points

The PlayStation 5 will have an AMD Ryzen CPU, with eight cores and the maker’s new 7nm Zen 2 microarchitecture, a next-gen Radeon GPU capable of ray tracing, a super-fast SSD that can load games in the blink of an eye.

That’s all we know so far.

SSD

The key to the next generation.

ps5 ssd
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CONFIRMED: All of the SSD patents we've seen in recent months were clearly onto something

They knew it would be difficult to achieve, but they also knew that its introduction would revolutionize gaming.

READ MORE: Playstation 5: Every confirmed game on Sony’s next-gen console

Sony Interactive Entertainment has confirmed that the cartridges are being developed as new storage solutions – expected to house solid-state drives (SSD).

“This is a recording medium which can record various data, such as a character, an image, an animation, a sound and a program. By loading the opening provided by the game console with the tip end part, the various data recorded on this cartridge can be read.”

This is all being implemented to remove load times, load screens, while providing ultra high-speed streaming.

Price

The profitability of the PS5 will depend on its price, so the bigger the markup, the bigger the profit for Sony’s shareholders.

But too high of a price and initial sales will be damaged, isolating the loyal PlayStation community at the same time.

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The PS5’s price was the main topic of conversation at Sony’s most recent investor call

On behalf of Sony, Hiroki Totoki explained that they are “analysing the cost, the acceptable price in the market, and platform penetration” before settling on a price.

READ MORE: PS5 price officially addressed by Sony’s chief financial officer

This indicates that the company has set its sights on making the PS5 affordable enough that it can get off to a running start, rather than leaving gamers hesitant to fork out on the upgrade.

Next-gen GPU

The PlayStation 5 will have a next-gen RDNA-2 GPU, capable of ray tracing.

Sony's biggest issue was with the size and frequency of the GPU, as it is a balancing act.

Their best results were found with boosting the frequency

Backwards Compatability

Not only will the PS5 be backwards compatible with PS4 games, but the DualShock 5 controllers will also be backwards compatible with the PS4 and PS4 Pro.

Though this was leaked on the PlayStation France website recently, it was nice to get official confirmation.

For more articles like this, take a look at our PS5 page.