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Sony PS4 1TB

We've been hearing rumors for more than a month that Sony would launch an updated PS4. The specs on the new unit of measurement, known unofficially as the PS4K or PS4.5 accept at present leaked, and they point to a pregnant performance jump for the updated platform.

Co-ordinate to Giant Bomb, the new platform is codenamed Neo, and volition offer eight AMD Jaguar CPU cores clocked at 2.1GHz, 36 Compute Units based on Polaris and clocked at 911MHz, and the same 8GB of GDDR5, merely with maximum bandwidth of 218GB/s.

Polaris5

All of these specs are a notable comeback over the current PS4, only the GPU bound is easily the largest. The Neo'due south CPU is 31% faster than the old PS4, the GPU should exist more than than twice every bit powerful, and the arrangement packs 24% more memory bandwidth. This new platform would besides incorporate the bandwidth-saving color compression that launched with GCN 1.two, likewise equally any other improvements introduced by Polaris.

The 4K question

As we expected, games volition not be required to be 4K native, though Sony is leaving developers the option if they wish to target it. Critical to the Neo'southward proposition is that it must maintain frame rates at least every bit high every bit those on the original PS4. In practise, the Neo should outperform the classic PS4 at every level, with better operation in existing titles. Tellingly, there will exist no Neo-just games, no Neo-specific features in titles, and no unlocks or capabilities that are tied to owning the new platform.

If yous buy a Neo, y'all're buying ameliorate operation in games that will run but fine on the PS4, but not access to a special shop front, unique features, or other capabilities. This makes a sure amount of sense under what's called the iPhone model, in which a visitor maintains a limited number of product SKUs with a mutual operating arrangement and a mostly common set of capabilities. In that location can still be differences, yet — Apple yet gatekeeps some features, similar ad blocking, off older 32-bit phones. Sony isn't going that route, at least non all the same.

We speculated that the PS4 might re-vamp the CPU architecture, but there's no sign that's happening.

We speculated that the PS4 might re-vamp the CPU architecture, but at that place's no sign that'southward happening.

Sony's decision to go along the existing GDDR5 memory interface and to modestly ameliorate its bandwidth suggests a jump from 5.5Gbps chips to seven.0Gbps — well within current GDDR5 specs. The new GPU cores will be far more powerful than the current solution, only the lack of additional retentiveness bandwidth or a commensurate increment in CPU power means that Sony continues to target compute offload to the GPU as a major way to increment game performance. Compute offload shouldn't place a heavy burden on arrangement retention the style that increasing resolution does, and Polaris should be more than capable than the GCN solution currently inside the modern PS4.

The good news is this: There'due south no reason the PS4K shouldn't exist able to handle 1080p output at a abiding 30 FPS. It's not clear however if Sony will allow developers to offer higher resolution output, but even if resolution is locked for both consoles, the Neo version should be far superior to what PS4 players take put up with to date. CPU bottlenecks should exist significantly alleviated, while doubling GPU power and increasing the clock speed should yield great dividends at that place, also.

FO4-Girders

Games like FO4 could benefit from the improved horsepower.

Existing PS4 games should "but work" with Neo (possibly after a small patch), offering more than consistent frame times and fewer drops. This may let us identify which titles were fundamentally underpowered, and which had coding issues that led to functioning hits. While the original 2022 PS4 may accept been a tad underpowered, this new console offers significantly better operation. If games yet struggle to maintain a constant 30 FPS on both versions of the platform, it'll be a skillful bet that poor optimization, not intrinsic hardware weakness, is actually to blame.

There's no evidence of any VR tech integration with Neo or that using VR with Neo will unlock existing modes. This could limit the performance of Sony'south first-generation VR technology, merely making the hardware compatible with all PS4 variants gives the company a much larger install base and the but reasonable risk of shifting huge numbers of units by Christmas.

No SSD options, Ultra Blu-ray back up?

Eurogamer is reporting that the electric current specs for the PS4K don't actually include an updated Blu-ray drive or SSD options. Both of these surprise us — an SSD selection might have been a great manner to position a $499 SKU every bit a luxury upgrade over a standard HDD product at $399, while the improver of a UHD Blu-ray drive would position the PlayStation 4K every bit a natural fit for the new standard. Historically, Sony led the charge into both DVD and Blu-ray films with its PS2 and PS3. The PS4 launched earlier 4K Blu-ray was really ready for market, but skipping that transition now feels short-sighted.

Now that we've effectively got confirmation on a new PS4, one can only assume that Microsoft is working on something similar. There's no mode Microsoft could allow Sony to take the atomic number 82 with features like this without offer something of its ain in return.