Unveiling New Details of PlayStation 5: Hardware Technical Specs [UPDATED]

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Unveiling New Details of PlayStation 5: Hardware Technical Specs [UPDATED]

Watch live for a deep dive into PS5's system architecture and how it will shape the future of games.

UPDATE: A quick update on backward compatibility – With all of the amazing games in PS4’s catalog, we’ve devoted significant efforts to enable our fans to play their favorites on PS5. We believe that the overwhelming majority of the 4,000+ PS4 titles will be playable on PS5.

We’re expecting backward compatible titles will run at a boosted frequency on PS5 so that they can benefit from higher or more stable frame rates and potentially higher resolutions. We’re currently evaluating games on a title-by-title basis to spot any issues that need adjustment from the original software developers.

In his presentation, Mark Cerny provided a snapshot into the Top 100 most-played PS4 titles, demonstrating how well our backward compatibility efforts are going. We have already tested hundreds of titles and are preparing to test thousands more as we move toward launch. We will provide updates on backward compatibility, along with much more PS5 news, in the months ahead. Stay tuned!


We know that fans are excited to find out more about our next-generation console, PlayStation 5, and exactly how it will bring about the future of gaming. Today we’re proud to unveil more details behind the technical and hardware components that make PlayStation 5 such an innovative and powerful platform – the ultra-high-speed SSD, integrated custom I/O system, custom AMD GPU with ray tracing, and highly immersive 3D audio. With these capabilities, PS5 will allow developers to maximize their creativity, building expansive worlds and new play experiences in the games they design.

This presentation from Mark Cerny, lead system architect for PS5, dives deep into the hardware system’s architecture and how we designed PS5 to benefit developers and the games they create.

As Mark discussed in his presentation, PS5’s ultra-high-speed SSD and integrated custom I/O system were developed with the goal of removing barriers to play – specifically loading screens. Developers are able to stream assets into PS5 games at an incredibly fast rate, so PS5 play experiences can be seamless and dynamic, with near-instantaneous fast travel through large game worlds. This enhanced speed will enable game developers to create larger, richer worlds without traditional limitations, such as load times, and also allows gamers to spend more time gaming than waiting.

We also wanted to introduce new capabilities with PS5’s custom GPU. Additional GPU power will allow for higher resolution in games, but a major new feature that benefits the visuals of games even further is ray tracing. Ray tracing simulates the way light moves in real life, and how it bounces off various surfaces. Games that take advantage of this feature will render objects much more accurately, and with heightened realism. Water, glass, light refraction, a character’s hair and so on, will look even more realistic.

PS5 will also allow games to offer a much deeper sense of immersion through 3D audio. Visuals are of course imperative to the gaming experience, but we believe audio plays a crucial role as well. We wanted to deliver a compelling audio experience for all users, not just those who own high-end speaker systems. So we designed and built a custom engine for 3D audio that is equipped with the power and efficiency for ideal audio rendering. With 3D audio on PS5, the sounds you hear while playing will offer a greater sense of presence and locality. You’ll be able to hear raindrops hitting different surfaces all around you, and you can hear and precisely locate where an enemy is lurking behind you.

Lastly, we’re excited to confirm that the backwards compatibility features are working well. We recently took a look at the top 100 PS4 titles as ranked by play time, and we’re expecting almost all of them to be playable at launch on PS5. With more than 4000 games published on PS4, we will continue the testing process and expand backwards compatibility coverage over time.

Make sure to keep an eye out for more PlayStation 5 updates down the road, and meanwhile, check out the chart below for the official list of PS5 specs.

CPU x86-64-AMD Ryzen™ “Zen 2”
8 Cores / 16 Threads
Variable frequency, up to 3.5 GHz
GPU AMD Radeon™ RDNA 2-based graphics engine
Ray Tracing Acceleration
Variable frequency, up to 2.23 GHz (10.3 TFLOPS)
System Memory GDDR6 16GB
448GB/s Bandwidth
SSD 825GB
5.5GB/s Read Bandwidth (Raw)
PS5 Game Disc Ultra HD Blu-ray™, up to 100GB/disc
Video Out Support of 4K 120Hz TVs, 8K TVs, VRR (specified by HDMI ver.2.1)
Audio “Tempest” 3D AudioTech

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513 Comments

  • Sooo… I need to measure my ear??

    • I was wondering about that.. like if there will be a camera or something that will scan your head. Maybe if you have PSVR or get PSVR2. I don’t think they have anything like that yet but maybe during the generation they will be able to factor your head in to the audio algorithm or whatever

    • Just adding, they already have configuration like this for PSVR which measure the distance apart your eyes are to properly fit the angle of the screens. Can’t remember exactly. I did the configuration years ago

    • It was an interesting comment, but I wonder if Cerny was being a bit more facetious and theoretical on that. (Although it is an interesting concept).

      I do think we’ll likely just see the “pick a profile” from one of 5-10 profiles, and maybe the number of profiles increases, and the efficiency of the tool that measures that improves over time. I’d argue that’d be more than sufficient.

  • “No console survives without exclusive games”. Don’t know if you’re being serious but..

    – Nioh 2, a Sony exclusive, came out 5 days ago.
    – We get Final Fantasy 7 Remake as a one-year timed exclusive in April.
    – The Last of Us Part 2 is coming out in May.
    – Ghost Of Tsushima arrives in June.

    Also, it has been confirmed that the God Of War & Spider-Man sequels are currently in development.

    What more do you want ?

  • SSD, Throttling & 3D Audio – really?

  • You’re losing the PR war to Microsoft. Didn’t even show us what it looked like. Didn’t even do a demo of a PS4 game playing on PS4 vs playing on PS5. You are making terrible marketing decisions. I’m inclined right now to go Microsoft until more info and games are revealed. I get it this may have been for the GDC but at least advertise this was the presentation for GDC so fans aren’t misled. Frustrated with Sony but not gonna give up. I guess this is what happens when you let go of a good President and lack good leadership.

    Side note. Have Linus Sebastian talk about the console next time, at least he can explain it across all generations with enthusiasm lol

    • Extremely excited for the PS5 and especially for the Tempest audio feature. The fact that Sony is willing to spend money on researching the best sound experience and cater to everyone’s individual need is huge.

    • I agree it would have been a smarter marketing move to give consumers a bit more before this. Consumers are so starved for details that they were bound to hope for more than a deep dive into architecture, even if that’s exactly what it was said to be. I think Sony is just keeping some things close to the vest in a game of chicken with XB.

    • We’ve already seen PS4 games playing on PS5 via load time demonstrations… lol. Who cares what it looks like? “Wow, I don’t care about your console because I don’t know what it looks like.”

      PS4 looks like a stupid eraser, didn’t stop people from buying it.

      It’s a talk from Mark Cerny, of course it’s about technology. He ~always~ talks about this stuff.

    • Except that if you were paying attention you would understand that the PS5 is much more powerful than the Xbox overall. Kind of like the new C8 vette with less overall HP than a lot of vehicles but is much faster. Bandwidth and SSD speed coupled with potentially more powerful CUs on GPU, less of them but running at a higher clock and with much more bandwidth.

    • Whoa, I’m not that ill lol. I wouldn’t trust Microsoft if they were the last console maker on earth. I have ZERO Xbox games that will play on a next gen Xbox and they showed nothing either.

      Oh right, they showed the Unreal Engine 4 (an engine not built with GDDR6 in mind), cartoony Gears 5 running on next gen, wow, mind blowing stuff.

    • Lol they did say that but some of the people here don’t read

  • I was so excited to hear just about anything about the PS5 and yet somehow (while now knowing this discussion was initially meant specifically for developers) I was bored and confused at the same time. There some good news to be found in this briefing but from the format with the fake audience to the over abundance of technical jargon, it felt like a huge missed step for Sony to promote this out to the wider public without tailoring this conversation to include them. This was a deep, deep dive into astrophysics with an audience just there to see the pretty stars.

    Hopefully at some point soon Sony will actually reveal the PS5 so I can have something solid to be excited for and give them my freaking money!

    • As you mention, this was a dev-geared stream. It’s almost certain there will be a custom-focused event that serves as a proper announcement showing the console, gameplay, release titles, etc.

      That said, I think it’s good Sony is being open about this stuff for devs. They really seem to be taking developer relationship seriously, and they should, considering how that openness w/ developers for the PS4 was likely a large key to the console’s success.

  • …look at all the “people” mad it wasn’t some Saturday morning cartoon show. All the Xbox only trolls too. This will make for a good video.

  • SONY listen and listen GOOD… YOU need to bring back Kevin Butler back ASAP and by any means necessary!!!

  • So if I understood things right, you can play PS4 games on a PS5 using a USB external HDD, but it wont take advantage of the fast load speed from the SSD?

    If so then to take advantage of that youd have to copy the games on to the internal then move em back from internal to external to save space?

    Now that WOULD be viable except for one small problem. Read and write speed. How long is it gonna take to transfer a 50gb game from a USB external HDD to an internal SSD, then from the internal SDD back to the USB external HDD?

    If it can be done in 60 secs or less (doubtful) then Id get 2 USB external HDDs (hopefully it comes with at least 4 USB ports) 1 for my PS4 games and 1 for my PS5 games, keep em on the external when Im not playing them then transfer them to internal when I wanna play them then put em back on external when i finish.

    Lastly, someone said in a previous thread that it was confirmed in a slide that PS5 has no PS1-3 Backwards compatibility? Anyone got a link to that cause I didnt see it, all I saw is they only talked about PS4 BC and never mentioned PS 1-3 , but they didnt flat out SAY no PS1-3 BC, so Id like to see this supposed slide that does say it.

    • do you really even play Ps1 Ps2 and Ps3 games? I for onehave been with Sony since the PS1 days and have played all the great games and for one I can go back to those games I cant see way anyone would want too. Now remakes I enjoy RE2 was really good or FF7 looks good but 8 bit 16 bit lived those games once dont need them again.

    • PS1 games are really hit or miss, but PS2 games have aged extremely well in comparison. The PS5 should at least be able to run the PS Classics available on the store.

    • Yes PS2 games have aged well, I was just playing Bully and San Andreas, Final Fantasy X and Persona 4 also come to mind, and obviously PS3 games are in great shape. I have a huge library of PS3 games on disc, many I consider masterpieces, that I do not want to lose access to if my PS3 ever fails in the future. I am really crossing my fingers for this from Playstation.

  • I hope the PS5 doesnt tera-flop!

  • This was… unexpected. The audience shouldn’t have been the guys on the PS Blog….

    • Yeah… Wasn’t the initial tweet sending us to blog.playstation.com?

      I definitely wasn’t expecting that. I love Cerny and I love Sony’s attention to details, but I’m really disappointed.

  • First of all you definitely don’t speak for me as a fan, and I seriously doubt you speak for most PS4 fans.

    I do not care if they release their games on PC. The more players that play the more money developers get and the more chances they get to make great gamss.

    As for PS Now, right now I’m leaning more towards and Xbox just for the value of game pass alone. If Sony doesn’t do something with PS Now to compete with games pass, I may be jumping over.

  • Please provide a date for the tear-down. Although I appreciate the in-depth look at much of the computer architecture there is more to the system.

  • Starts with Jim Ryan making the announcement to open the presentation, seeming distracted and like he didn’t want to be there to Cerny giving a dry, dull presentation in front of a green screen with a cheap audience pasted in. It felt weird and not what I expected at all. Then the fact that the specs are weaker in almost every way conceivable means it’ll have the worst multiplatform versions. Not to mention backwards compatibility is limited to PS4…Just so disappointed…

  • I honestly, really liked hearing all the extra technical details and thoughtful approach they took to building the next console. It pleasantly reminded me of Mark doing a similar talk on the PlayStation 4. That being said, I do work in the game industry and am a big fan of PlayStation already, so I’m in a very specific niche.

    However, I can’t help but feel misled on what to expect today from a before-presentation communications perspective. Instead of just saying, “surprise more PS5 details tomorrow” via Twitter only, I wish I was told essentially what the description on this page was before tuning in. It is going to be a “talk” to go over more technical details of what is in PlayStation 5 and was meant to be shared to PS5 developers at GDC. Then I would have gone ok cool, I’ll check it out when I have time.

    Instead, the surprise news went… Hey, I’m going to wake up early (me) or stay up really late (my wife) to watch this immediately as it drops. When games are being announced and launched within 24 hours of their announcement (and the majority of the world is remaining isolated in their homes) it is hard not to pivot your schedule because you don’t know what is going to happen with a big pending announcement like this. In this case, I felt like I learned some new things I didn’t know but anyone that was looking for a console reveal, launch date, or price is going to be really, really sorely disappointed.

    Definitely, please keep sharing these kind of talks and insights to your players! It helps us all remember that we’re all human and that it takes a lot of work to make the consoles and games we love. Ultimately, it would be great if some of the learnings from this presentation style could be mixed with that of the State of Play (which feels like a semi-unnecessary trailer montage). In the end, I think what we all want is that same personal touch and magic of a Sony Keynote E3 press conference in digital form.

    Hope this is constructive feedback for the future presentations and reveals like this! Please keep at it, and hopefully in the near future you guys can come swinging for the fences when PlayStation 5 launches!

  • Just so I’m clear, a lot of you knew this was a presentation meant for game developers, yet watch it anyway only to complain about it after it was over….lmao. It was perfectly fine for me. Then again I’m a software developer, not game development though. I found it very interesting. Yes Xbox has more power, but if you actually look at the specs you’ll see that the PS5 is faster. All of this is a moot point though as of right now as neither has shown any actual games running on the hardware yet.

  • One question: Is PS5 going to have an optical audio out (Toslink)?

  • Congratulations sony

  • My hype for PS5 is almost zero thanks to Steam Hermen and PC Jim.

    @berianco: Maybe you should go to Xbox instead if you like so much a platform without exclusives and a low player base.

  • When does preorder for PS5 start it is tax season u know 😁

  • Those are good stats for the base model. Any news on the Pro version for us hardcore gamers?

  • ALL I wanted was for the PS5 to be the most POWERFUL console this generation wtf SONY I sure hope there is a Pro model @ launch too or it looks like I’ll be getting the XSX smdh IDK why Sony thinks they can get away with less power just like the Ps4 Pro and the XBX now I buy all 3rd party games for my XBX. Well till now I’ll be buying 3rd party games for PC just built a 3950x with a 2080 ti but anyways some people just want the best and Sony has showed us the past 2 consoles PS4 Pro and PS5 that they’re willing to be 2nd best. Good luck Sony !

    • I know it’s exciting to have the most powerful console, but after a short while it won’t really have an effect on your happiness. If you have a fast gaming PC and you can play Xbox games on it and you could probably find a way to use the controller, then why buy the (probably more expensive) Xbox? That’s assuming it is actually more powerful since raw CPU and GOU specs don’t determine actual speed and graphics power. Depending on the system, the ps4 might end up faster. But most importantly, ps5 is going to be about the exclusives. The terraflop difference won’t actually increase how much fun you’ll have. You’ll get sick of bragging about your most powerful console.

  • Lack of backwards Compatibility REALLY hurts it for me. Not sure how bad I want it now. It better have some mind blowing exclusives or I may have to pass on buying one.

    • I feel the same. Before now Sony imLIED that PS5 would be PS4 BC. The rumor mill was suggesting full BC. Less than 100 titles is an epic fail. It should have been full BC with PS1-4. Even the PS3 cell is easily emulated on PCs now. There was no excuse for this. Sony just doesn’t respect our past investments.

    • impLIED, not imLIED of course.

  • And you’re still going to release your games on PC? Just be clear about this already and stop lying to your consumers.

    A platform without exclusives is nothing.

    • Agreed.

      1. They need to be perfectly clear about this. For example, they can say “going forward, all games that launch only on Playstation at launch, might come to PC later”. They need to be clear and honest if this is the case.

      2. Horizon NEVER should have gone to PC. Because it was sold as ONLY ON PLAYSTATION. Sony literally makes masterpiece exclusives to get people to spend hundreds on their console, rather than just giving the much smaller price of 1 game through a PC purchase. Horizon incentivized people to buy the PS4. It never should have gone to PC. Only FUTURE titles and AFTER an honest and clear statement from Sony.

  • Bring back Socom pls in its original makeup. Like Socom 2 to be more exact 👍

  • When will we get a look at it and when can we preorder?

  • Will there be a PRO version?

  • A tip for the 4.86 PS3 update: allow consoles with dead WiFi/Bluetooth modules or Blu-ray disc drive to update without getting bricked in the process!
    Come on, do something in favor of your user base once in a while.

  • I love sony

  • The Series X is fully backwards compatible with everything on the XB1 (even 360 and OG Xbox games). I was expecting that I’d be able to play all of my PS4 games on PS5. How can MS achieve this but Sony can’t? Sony’s lack of effort on backwards compatibility is amazing.
    Jim Ryan SONY NEW CEO NOW I SEE WHY

    Understandable enough, but then he goes on: “That, and I was at a Gran Turismo event recently where they had PS1, PS2, PS3 and PS4 games,” he continued, “and the PS1 and the PS2 games, they looked ancient, like why would anybody play this?”

  • I thought Mark Cerny was saying that it was only PS5’s boosted Backwards compatibility that was giving an issue and needs to be tested/expanded on a title by title basis. Are you really saying that normal backwards compatibility for ps4 and pro titles is going to be added title by title instead of just working for all of them?

  • Am I the only one that wants to know what they are doing about cooking? No more jet engines please?

  • Am I the only one that wants to know what they are doing about cooling? No more jet engines please?

  • Pre-order date?

  • I’m so disappointed because I wasn’t expecting this kind of content. As a PS fan who never owned an XBOX, I know more about the new XBOX than I do for the PS5, and I’m too bummed to even care about today’s content.

  • I’m glad we got interchangeable internal storgae and external storage support.

    But WE NEED PS1-3 BC!!!

  • This video might not appeal to everyone, but I loved it^^
    Also Mr. Cerny is very good at explaining the complex stuff. The only thing I’m left wondering is if the backwards compatibility can be expanded further back, since I dont know how long my old consoles will keep working xD

  • Day one!

    But 825gb? What kind of nonsense is that?

  • Just so people know that press conference was for developers not consumers, I’ve been seeing people mad that they didn’t show the console, it’s to early anyways.

    Just wait people and be patient.

  • This live stream was a bad idea, lots of mixed messaging because of the GDC Talk. You should have had a front-facing consumer show to better show the advantages of PS5. What’s is going on at PlayStation first Only on PlayStation is dead? Now a bad first step with PS5.

  • Deception :(

  • OK cool,
    1.Now please show us the new games.
    2.Be more specific about the PS4 backwards compatibility, list the 100 supported game?
    3.What about backwards compatibility for PS1,2&3?
    4.Price point?
    5.Release date?

  • Is backwards compatibility going to work with physical ps4 games?

  • I was hoping a glimse of a silhouette of the ps5 but i like this Conference. The WOW moment was the ssd part. I was thinking that this mind be the point we are go back to the snes/mega drive Time where you plug’n’play a freaking game without Loading Time! I got high hopes! Price mind be high but that mind not the problem.

  • With a weaker machine, the price difference must be bigger than xbox, plus the fact that games will run crappier on ps5 than xsx based on the specsheet

  • The only thing I wanted from this presentation was a look at what the console/controller looked like. I wasn’t expecting a date or price, but there is no doubt that MS has the lead going into the next gen due to their information/visual combination as well GamePass. I will probably get a PS5 due to the exclusives (Spider-Man, GOW and Horizon to name a few), but I am actually thinking hard about XB for the first time. I was thoroughly disappointed in the presentation today.

    • We knew that wasn’t gonna happen. I don’t even think it matters at THIS point in time even after Microsoft’s strategy. If people are disappointed, that’s their problem. Should have known better.

  • Massively disappointed. Please announce a PS5 Pro for 2020 launch asap!

  • 3D Audio solution got me so hyped but will need details on that. For example can I use my HIFI level 50mm driver over the ear headphones for that 3D effect and connecting it through DS5 will be enough for that? Also I have a pretty good 5.1 system but it uses Optical audio over SPDIF please tell me I can still use my system and also have your custom 3D solution with that, please do not remove optical out from your next-gen console like Microsoft did with Series X.

    RT is going to be lit and I hope we can get millions of ray version for reflections and shadows not just basic ray traced Global Illumination for AAA first party games. I hope RT was very important in your designs as it’s the future in gaming.

    Also when is the teardown Cerny mentions when talking about cooling solution I’m really interested in that. My Pro isn’t that noisy but that is after I applied top of the line thermal grease to APU and also memory pads to GDDR5 RAMs (the originals were measly black things that were cheapest of the cheap) now we need creme de la creme engineering for the cooling that users won’t have to intervene for a cool and quiet gaming… Show us PS5’s giant vapor chamber, huge heat sink and the quietest fan ever on a console. This point couldn’t be more important… Looking forward to that teardown video.

  • Now I in know why we only got 24hr notice because we got nothing.

    • To be fair it was a press conference about the specs of the system not gameplay. It was interesting but boring.

  • No word on upcoming events,
    what a fail.

  • Okay everything sounds great, except HD only 1TB, with games that take up 50-60GB…This is stupid it should have at LEAST 2.5TB…Specially since everyone is downloading instead of buying the discs. I bet there will be a “PRO” version for $200 more. Make one damn console, and make it to specs that your customers are wanting.. This is pretty basic, a few upgraded version of PS4 Pro… You better make this console cheaper then the ps4 is right now. If your price is over $600, might as well build a pc.

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