Yesterday, PlayStation released an intriguing video featuring Mark Cerny, diving into a technical seminar at Sony Interactive Entertainment HQ. As the mastermind behind the PS5 Pro’s architecture, Mark explored the new console’s hardware, tackling swirling rumors head-on. He particularly addressed the buzzword “FLOPflation,” which arose from a leaked and misunderstood figure of 33.5 TFLOPs. This misconception came from speculation about the hardware’s supposed deep integration of RDNA 3-like architecture.
In reality, the PS5 Pro achieves a performance of 16.7 TFLOPs, a solid improvement over the PS5’s 10 TFLOPs. Curiously, a correct pre-release leak highlighted the PS5 Pro’s capability of reaching 300 TOPS with 8-bit calculations and 67 TFLOPs with 16-bit computations. As Cerny emphasized, the RDNA 2.X architecture—Sony’s tailored version of AMD’s RDNA 2—integrates numerous RDNA 3 features while retaining enough of the original to avoid major code rewrites for developers.
During the presentation, Mark highlighted the PS5 Pro’s significant advancements, particularly in Ray Acceleration technology. This advancement is thanks to the new BVH8 (Bounding Volume Hierarchy) system and enhanced “Stack management in hardware.” This translates to simpler and more efficient handling of graphics shader code, optimizing performance on the upgraded system.
To give you more context, BVH improves the efficiency of 3D rendering calculations, such as reflections. The PS5 utilized a BVH4 system, grouping bounding boxes by four for real-time calculations. The PS5 Pro has upped the ante with BVH8, doubling this capability. Similarly, the Ray Intersection Engine of the PS5 Pro can now manage rays against 8 boxes and 2 triangles, compared to the PS5’s 4 boxes and 1 triangle configuration.
These refinements in the PS5 Pro’s ray tracing hardware, courtesy of a bespoke RDNA 2 GPU architecture, deliver significant performance boosts in rendering curved and textured light reflections. However, the enhancements for shadows and smooth surfaces are more modest.
For a deeper understanding and tech-focused insights, consider watching the comprehensive 37-minute video. It delves into the console industry’s competitive landscape and the technological strides necessary to excel in it.
