PlayStation recently released an intriguing video featuring Mark Cerny at Sony Interactive Entertainment’s HQ, where he presented a detailed technical seminar about the PS5 Pro. This session didn’t just focus on the new hardware; Cerny took the opportunity to dispel some circulating rumors about the console. In particular, he addressed the concept of “FLOPflation,” which arose after a leak mistakenly claimed the PS5 Pro would deliver a whopping 33.5 TFLOPs due to a misinterpretation of the hardware’s architecture. The leak involved a deeper application of RDNA 3-inspired elements than actually exists.
In reality, the PS5 Pro delivers a solid 16.7 TFLOPs, building on the standard PS5’s 10 TFLOPs. Prior to its official reveal, one accurate leak did mention the console hitting 300 TOPS with 8-bit calculations, and for 16-bit computations, it manages 67 TFLOPS. Cerny explained that their RDNA 2.X architecture is a modification of AMD’s RDNA 2. It retains enough of the initial framework, incorporating elements from RDNA 3, so developers won’t need to rewrite code for the new console.
During the seminar, which you can check out on YouTube, Cerny mentioned that one of the PS5 Pro’s standout enhancements lies in its new Ray Acceleration architecture. This uses BVH8 (Bounding Volume Hierarchy) alongside refined “Stack management in hardware”, making graphics shader code not only more manageable but also more efficient.
For those unfamiliar, BVH aids in handling 3D graphics calculations like reflections by grouping bounding boxes, which are common in rendering processes. The original PS5 used BVH4, grouping bounding boxes in sets of four, for ray tracing calculations. Now, the PS5 Pro uses BVH8, effectively doubling to groups of eight. Furthermore, the Ray Intersection Engine has improved, allowing it to assess eight boxes and two triangles at a time instead of four boxes and one triangle.
These ray tracing upgrades in the PlayStation 5 Pro, powered by a highly tailored RDNA 2 GPU design, provide substantial enhancements in light reflections, particularly when they’re curved or textured. However, improvements in shadows and flat reflections are more modest.
For enthusiasts eager for a deeper dive into the tech specs and market insights, the full 37-minute video offers a wealth of knowledge about what’s under the hood of the PS5 Pro and the competitive technology landscape in the gaming console industry. It’s certainly worth a watch if you’re into understanding the intricacies of gaming hardware innovation.
