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

  • Epic, epic fail! Less than 100 PS4 titles backwards compatibility on launch. The entire catalog of Xbox 1 will be BC on day 1 as well as all existing 360 and OG titles.

    I was looking forward to PS5 announcing full backwards compatibility. The PS3 Cell has now long been emulated successfully on PC for those apparently out of the loop.

    This is pathetic. I thought that the worst case scenario would be only PS4 titles being backwards compatible. Less than 100 BC titles. Fail.

  • Does the backwards compatibility apply to digital libraries? I only buy digitally and I feel like plenty of the community does as well. It would be a shame if the backwards compatibility only applied to disc versions of the games.

  • You having a bad day there sport? Need a juice box?

  • Omg :O

  • I must say that the past few months have been great for the PlayStation brand. After this, I don’t see a future in which sony can regain there footing they had in the ps4 generation. I am an avid PlayStation fan, but today was a perfect example of why they are not marketing the ps5 correctly. Today should have been for all the fans, but instead, it was for the people obsessed with specs. There should have been at least one big “reveal” for everyone. Whether that be a studio acquisition, showing the actual ps5, price, showing even a ps4 game running, give more info on the backward compatibility, or even something as small as someone is working on this particular game. This is an incredibly weird way to market things. I hope within 2 weeks we will see something that everyone will enjoy.

  • This was the deep tech dive i was waiting for now they confirmed everything i wanted RDNA 2, Zen 2, GDDR6, New Engines a balance of everything!

  • I am really excited for the PS5! The specs look incredible. Thanks for the cool insights into the hardware.

  • Super excited for the new console :)

  • I’m just gonna day this. This was a tech conference for developers, still I’m very excited to see what the final product is. This proves that PlayStation will blow Xbox out of the water for yet another console generation with showing Superior components then Xbox’s. Even when Xbox claimed there next gen is the most powerful 😂 wrong! Haha

  • Je suis très déçu par sony qui nous ont fait une conférence basé sur la technique en manquant terriblement de vidéo démonstratif.
    J’aime beaucoup playstation et j’ai acheté des centaines de jeux depuis, (je suis playstation depuis la ps1) mais il faut reconnaître que la conférence était vraiment incomplète et pas prête du tout en vérité.
    La ps5 doit absolument être entièrement rétrocompatible surtout quand on a une console moins puissante.
    En gros playstation vous êtes entrain de vous faire dépassé par microsoft niveau communication et je trouve ça grave, vous leurs donnez des points gratuitement.
    J’espère vraiment que sony n’est pas entrain de devenir arrogant comme ce fut le cas à l’époque ps3.

    Sony j’espère vraiment que vous réservez d’énormes surprises comme le rachat de nouveaux studios et de nouvelles licences car sinon vous risquez d’avoir un concurrent qui va vous prendre une énorme part du marché!
    Juste en ce moment j’ai acheté nioh 2, reservé ff7 remake, persona 5 R , resident evil 3, tlou2, ghost of tsushima et doom sur ps4 pro, je prend même les jeux tiers chez vous malgré que j’ai la xbox one x car question exclu vous me faite vraiment plaisir et j’espère vraiment qu’avec la ps5 vous aurez des tueries en exclus et là tout le monde oubliera cette conf comme si elle a jamais existé.
    Sony si la ps5 a des grosses exclus comme celle de la ps4 en meilleur et plus nombreux comme silent hill, metal gear, castlevania + le rachat total de fromsoftware en + des exclus avec capcom là je suis certain que vous resterez leader
    montrez nous playstation europe que vous êtes meilleur que sony japan ou sony usa

  • Greets!

    What separates Playstation 5s 3D “Tempest” audio from Dolbys Atmos and is this the same as Sonys 3D headphone tech?

    Thank you,

    #PS5LIVES

  • Also,

    If I own a 6.1.2 will this sound better, the same or different?

  • I am not satisfied with lower Teraflops than Microsoft, and very worried about the Small SSD and 3rd party upgrades not being PS5 specs. Not completely reverse compatibility with PS4, and no reverse compatibility with any previous gens is disappointing, and paying for a monthly service to play old games is not cost effective for me. I would pay more money for much higher specs. But now I feel like the price point has to be lower than Microsoft X series. I hate to say this but Sony dropped the ball, pushed the referee and kicked the fan in the face. Ive bought launch day consoles since PS2. I’ve been loyal Sony have you?

  • Finally,

    Its sad to think we might’ve gotten overhyped over the prospect of PS1, PS2 and PS3 non to mention PSP compatibility. The rumors simply weren’t true?

  • Still need clarification on SSD size, is 175GB being reserved for the OS?

  • Release date? Price? Pre order date?
    Optimized Streaming features?

  • I do not care much that the competition is more powerful, since the Sony studios are capable of doing incredible things with the available hardware, but please, try to integrate compatibility with PS3 games at launch, with that you will have the assured purchase of many people who want to revive the classics of that console. Thanks Sony.

  • While most on this thread are measuring flops, many PS fans should remember that PS has rarely held the power crown. Yet, they along with Nintendo, have trounced Microsoft in mind share and sales. It’s always been Sony’s first party games(same as Nintendo) that have been the difference when it’s time to purchase a console. The focus on raw power has continually landed Microsoft in 3rd place. When and if the fruits of Microsoft’s first party studio purchases begin to pay off, I’ll start paying attention.

  • Surprisingly streamlined for those who are uninitiated on the tech side. Curious to see the final design and some performance demos.

  • I want the VR on PS5 to be strong enough for those PS Exclusives Last of Us 2 VR HYPE

  • My posts got deleted. Must have said something true they didn’t want known here.

  • will the ps5 be using the same every game uses a separate partition on the storage drive for each game like the ps4 does (a major reason that deleting a game takes longer and amount of storage space needed for the game had to be more than what was needed because of the partition an allocation tables that had to be created or adjusted outside of patch data) or will it actually be more like on a pc where each game would be a separate directory instead to avoid a massive amount of creation an deletion of partitions.

    Will the ps5 ssd have a dram cache and how big is it or does it use system ram as a dram cache.

  • I was especting more from Sony, 10,3 tflops vs 12 of xsiries is a serius gap, I hope they come out with a 399 price, maximun 450, beacause if is not like that Micro will win this generation. Will see what happen but starting under the competitivo is not good at all.

    • It’s the same teraflop gap between 1X and PS4 Pro but at twice the teraflops thus a much smaller difference in percentage. And because of diminishing returns, that gap becomes even smaller.

      Think about it this way, the difference between PS4 Pro and XB1 X is fairly significant but not huge. Now, take Pro 4.2tf and 1X 6tf and cut 3tf from each (essentially cutting 1X in half). We’re talking 1.2tf compared to 3tf. It’s still the same TF difference (1.8) but it means so much more at lower TF levels and so much less at higher TF levels.

      That is basic math, but the gap is further reduced due to diminishing power returns the higher you go. Then consider a teraflop isn’t always created equal and performance isn’t solely predicated by teraflops and this 1.7tf difference potentially becomes even weaker.

  • And also they must have a bounch of games during the first year and launch…. I am a little disapointing from a sony fan.

    • I’m excited. Series X is Xbox’s Pro model anyway. I never expected Sony’s base console to beat Xbox’s Pro in terms of overhyped teraflops.

      If Xbox didn’t exist ppl would be thrilled with the PS5 and 10.3TF.

      Why exactly is Teraflop so relevant anyway? It’s a simplified term “power” but it isn’t what ppl think it is.

      How about we highlight the SSD being twice as fast on PS5 as Series X and the 3D audio chip, whereas, Series does not one at all. We could talk on built in VR technology or haptic feedback in the DS5 sticks or the PS5s high textile range but everyone focuses on teraflop because they are told to.

    • Also, not only is the SSD fast, but the decompression of data is improved in hardware so it’s potentially possible to get an immense amount of assets out of just that 5.5GB chunk without (a lot of) overhead.

  • WHERE IS PS3 COMPATIBILITY? IT WAS THE ONLY THING WE EVER WANTED!

  • PC isn’t a competitor for PS. PC gamers already aren’t buying 3rd party games on PS. They only buy the exclusives, and still will. Meanwhile console gamers don’t want deal with PC. I’m not jumping to PC even if all XB, PS and Nintendo games are there.

    We need all PS games on PC. More players for fans, more revenue for PS. The PC gamers that like PS exclusives now will still buy them, and all the PC gamers that didn’t think a PS was worth buying for exclusives now have the option to buy as well.

    All porting to PC does is generate more revenue and more players for exclusive games, which are prone to dead lobies after several months and could really use more gamers.

    PS only competes with Nintendo and XB. As long as they don’t put exclusives on the competition, PS isn’t about to lose any 3rd party software sales.

  • I’m ready to move to PlayStation Games on Steam. I have been buying 3rd party games on PS devices since PS1, but it looks like I will be moving to Xbox or PC starting next gen. Not pleased at all with the lack of 100% PS4 backwards compatibility, or the underwhelming performance specs shown today for future titles.

    It looked like Sony was going in the right direction from 2013 – 2016, but since PS4 Pro and PSVR shipped, things have really went down hill. No consumer facing features for PS4 and PSVR Firmware updates, No Improvements to PSN, PS4 Pro itself lacking in Power and Features due to targeting low end pricing on a Premium device, and now PS5 is going down the same path.

    Sony had the gaming industry handed to them on a silver platter, and they have let it slip through their fingers.

    Anyways, go ahead and bring all of those great SIEWWS titles over to Steam, and let consumers choose their own hardware. PlayStation hardware just isn’t the cutting edge tech it used to be.

    • Purely in terms of teraflop output, sure, but it’s far more intricate than that.

      First, teraflops isn’t the sole determining factor for performance and every teraflop is NOT created equal.

      Second, the 1.7 teraflop difference is the same difference between 1X and PS4 Pro, HOWEVER, that 1.7 in terms of a percentage difference means far less at 10_12 flops rather than 4-6. It’s simple math PLUS diminishing returns the higher you go. Even if the system were designed the same, 10.3 to 12 TF isn’t that dramatic, but they aren’t. The design is dramatically different in terms of structure and philosophy. Both use similar tech but it’s not a straight comparison. It isn’t even a foregone conclusion that most 3rd party games will perform better on Series X. I truly believe multiplats will perform differently depending on the game with perhaps a slight edge to the Series X, but exclusives will absolutely be more impressive on PS5. Heck, 1X has a much larger power advantage than SX will have yet PlayStation currently has the better looking first party games.

      3rd, i like you. I believe you to be a good, open minded guy. Please do not fall into the PR trap and feed into the media circus. The SX is Pro anyway, games will built to the minimum specs of Lockhart (base Xbox next gen) or worse XB1. The SX version might throw some higher resolution on it but it will be the same 1.3tf or 9TF (i’m guessing with Lockhart at 9TF) game that was designed. I believe you are missing the boat here and feeding into the worst part of the industry. Propaganda, bullet point, teraflop nonsense. Just wait and see. You are usually on point my man. Don’t let go of true artistry for some marketing “who’s is bigger” contest.

      Even IF the Xbox’s Pro console has a significant power advantage over Sony’s base, there are so many immersive features (and tech) that balance it out.

      The SSD in PS5 is twice as fast as the Series X and with Sony’s commitment to PS5 exclusives, games will be designed around it and thus truly innovative and next gen.

      3D audio built into the silicon will truly help to revolutionize a very overlooked feature in modern games and add immersion.

      There were also many interesting things regarding Tempest, Kraken, and proprietary tech within the system. Haptic sticks, VR, the most talented devs in the business. A lot goes into Sony’s next generation ecosystem don’t make snap judgements on power. And 10-12 TF on PC is not the same as 10-12 on console. PS5 will be a beautiful and elegant machine with top tier SSD, audio, games, and immersion. You reconsider.

  • I doubt he’s a robot…

  • sony bring back Kaz harai, andrew house, and jack tretton ASAP this is from badddddd to worseeeeee

  • Such a disappointment with just 10 teraflops

  • Honestly the one thing I’m most interested in about the PS5 are improvements to the VR electronics and whether or not I can play my PS1/2/3 games.

    Not sure about anyone else but my old games are just gathering dust when I’d really love to play classic Tomb Raider, .Hack//Sign, etc., while newer titles on the HTC Vive are benefitting from Steam controls with individual finger movements as well.

    Otherwise it will be a while before I can get an 8k or even 4k TV to truly care about PS5 graphic capabilities.

  • I’m ready to pounce on the PS5!!!

  • So terribly unnecessary to look through this presentation, I understood 30% of what Mark said ! sure sounded good but not for a regular player!
    I wanted to see what it can do and what it looks like the V shape form and all the light´S but no!! :( :/

    And I was so happy to FINALLY play my older games Atleast PS3, PS4 !! on PS5
    But what a disappointment only a little over 100 titles on the PS4 are playable what a joke !!!!! and they demand around SEK 10,000

    Look at the New Xbox they have released everything how it looks and are backwards compatible much more than the PS5 can offer
    very disappointed and more there to my friends!
    unfortunately i’m driving my PS4 for a long time to not worth throwing money at it!

    • Just want to add that Mark’s speech was incredible to have so much information he just talk as he read from a book!

      And as they said their display of console was canceled!
      everything can happen!

      Was most disappointed that it will not be directly backwards compatible it is like the Xbox 360 had on their machine which was also there was a flop!!

      Really hope they for it a clean backwards compatible not mass of selected titles we are different players and for many it will be a big disappointment and unnecessary purchase!

      Right now you have plenty of Consoles everywhere in the home the place is not enough!

      You want it comfortable and not 20 cables behind the TV!

  • I’m excited for the ssd but I’m disappointed with the gpu

  • Awesome presentation. I thought it was fascinating to hear the nuts and bolts of what’s inside and how it all works. Thanks for sharing. Can’t wait for more info!

  • I’m hyped, the PS5 sounds incredible.

    Watch how 1st party games blow Microsoft out the box at 10.3 teraflops.

  • all i see are babys crying about amazing tech specs and what Mark Cerny said. The tech behind PS5 sounds great and i hope it goes well. I hope all game companys can make full use of the hardware and make games greater before. If not all Mark Cerny said would be put to shame.


  • That graphic regarding PS5 playing PS5 PS4 pro & vanilla PS4 looks “Incomplete”. Just gonna say that and walk away.

  • I love everything i hear about PS5.

    Blazing fast SSD up to 9gb/s (PS5s SSD twice as fast as Xbox Series X)

    3D audio chip will improve sound on any speaker.

    Elegant, proprietary, tech will make PS5 the most efficient and immersive console EVER created. 10.3TFs on PS5 will perform roughly in line with Xbox’s Pro console Series X, but more so, it with decimate the weaker base Xbox (Lockhart). PlayStation fans should be happy, developers with an eye for tech are calling it the most impressive console tech in 20 years because of the intricacies and the immersive features. There is far more to it than the supposed grunt power of teraflops, if you must use such a broad and archaic term for “power” 10.3 teraflops is plenty, but that doesn’t begin to tell the entire story.

    Mark my words: PS5 will perform almost as well/roughly in line with Series X in terms of multiplatform game performance, but Sony first party games and most true exclusives will blow Microsoft’s offerings out the box. Meaning, they will be vastly more impressive in terms of visuals, design, and quality. PS5 is coming. It will be intense. VR, 3D audio, haptic triggers, the fasted load times on console. Let’s go.

  • Hi Sony, a very good and detailed presentation, if we consider that it was planned for GDC.

    Unfurtunatly the new PS5 (10,3 TF) is even less powerful than Stadia (10,7) and we do not even need to compare it to XBX (12 TF) – so you will put a system into the market, for us as your loyal customers, which is the the worst in terms of power (graphics). Is there any hope that you can adjust- seriously – take the opportunity and rethink a bit also in the current Situation of coronavirus. SSD is great, but you are to focused just on that aspact. In general im really looking forward to the PS5 but now i‘m a bit dissappointed. Still great presenatation and also a lot of good aspects but not as expected from you the best .

  • :-( We are still waiting for what this console will look like… Ah well I guess they not ready for it to be seen and no mention on pricing too.

    3D audio… What about those of us like me who have a Sony Dolby Atmos amp 8 physical speakers. Are we been left in the dark? There is no excuse on why Sony can’t pay the licensing fee for a Dolby Atmos chipset and or software along with PS5’s custom Audio chipset.

    PS5 is definitely looking like Sony hasn’t yet figured out price due to its complexity. And has far as SSD’s go for PS4 Pro users that have installed one internally like me I am disappointed that Sony hasn’t implemented a patch that takes advantage of a SSD.

    Am I happy what I just watched… Yes and no but can say it looks very promising to PlayStation console range into the future.

  • I just hope ventilations is improved to prevent overheating

    • i had to drill 8 cm hole in the bottom and change thermalpaste and thermalpads to improve heat dissipation…

  • We want ps5 to play all games all the way back to ps1. If this system is sooo powerful it should be able to handle it. Maybe not the PS3 since it’s complicated, but ps1-ps2 is a must

  • I don’t really have a strong opinion about the specs, which seem to be aligned to everybody’s expectations, but the ad-hoc compatibility is a big let down.

    I appreciate that people buy a console to play the new games – as you do – but we all have big libraries of games that we bought and didn’t have time to play yet.

    This might have been OK for the PS3, as the architecture was very different and digital delivery was still not as popular, but this is not acceptable for the PS4.

    A lot of gamers, including myself, were going to upgrade straightaway to PS5 if full retro-compatibility was granted, but as it stands, this might not be the case anymore.

    I am shocked this has not been chosen as must-have feature to the engineers when they have designed the new console. It really is a shame.

  • Me parece que 100 títulos retroconpatibles en un catálogo de 4000 es de risa y más teniendo en cuenta que la competencia la tiene total

  • En pocas palabras sin retrocompatibilidad es una mala broma lo que presentaron

  • erasing my comments poor sony why u hurt?

  • I am more underwhelmed than anything, I would of at least expected the support of m.2 NVME Gen 3 before making Gen 4 forced upon the end user. The cost of GEN4 NVME most of your end users won’t ever be able to afford because they couldn’t even afford to upgrade their ps4s HDD to a SSD but I think Cerny has a Societal disconnect when he thought this through. I would like to see support for GEN 3 NVME implemented before release. As of now Xbox is the clear winner here if looking at raw power.

    I am still waiting to see the game line up an other features, but todays presentation really didn’t do much to sell the console to your consumers an you can tell by the dislike ratio on YouTube because they didn’t understand what was being said. I hope sony sees this an realizes they’ve made some errors along the way.

  • I’m slightly underwhelmed, but not because of the specs. I thought backwards compatibility would be a nice feature added for PS1, 2 and possibly 3. Now to hear at launch that a lot of even PS4 games may not work on the PS5 is just wild to me. Just sound like Cerny was talking about a whole bunch of marketing garbage and “Oh hey, fast SSD”. Why that is great, everything else seemed phony. Hopefully, the games save it as this doesn’t look like a day one purchase for me.

  • I’m loving the GDC conference video so far. I’m really glad that Sony focused on the actual developers, improving the pipeline, and console cost to consumers instead of just raw power.

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