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[bitbydeath]

DISCLAIMER: This is an information thread, not a comparison thread. Please leave your comparisons or MeToo's for other such threads. Also please tag me if you believe something of value is missing.

Other Applications available at launch:
Funimation
Plex

More information on BC can be found here

Spoiler

Sony is investing heavily in 3D audio via a dedicated Tempest Engine with custom designs to make sound appear more realistic and situational.

The "tempest engine" is based on AMD's GPU technology, and is built around SPU-like architecture, which is not dissimilar to the PS3.

It has enough processing ability (with a kind of processing called single instruction, multiple data, or SIMD) as all of the PS4’s eight-core processing capability combined — just for 3D audio.
"Where we ended up is a unit with roughly the same SIMD power and bandwidth as all eight Jaguar cores in the PS4 combined," Mark Cerny reveals in his presentation.

"If we were to use the same algorithms as PSVR, that's enough for something like five thousand sound sources - but of course we want to use more complex algorithms, and we don't need anything like that number of sounds."
The PS5’s new Tempest Engine will support hundreds of sound sources, meaning it will appear that sound could be coming from hundreds of different directions as you hear it in a game. When you have something like raindrops, you’ll hear them coming from many different directions.

You can also more precisely track locality, or where objects are located. If an enemy is sneaking up on you, you’ll be better able to tell that.

Going forward, Sony is optimistic about great results from virtual surround from TV speakers and sound bars, with multi-speaker systems also due for support.

However, the ambition of the surround audio system is such that we may not see its potential fully realised for some time.

Note: Not every game is going to have super complex audio sampling and rendering, and for those games, Cerny says the Tempest 3D Audio Engine can be used as an extra processor for certain types of calculations.

PS5 features hardware based 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's Ray tracing uses the same strategy as AMD's upcoming PC GPUs.
The CU's contain a new specialized unit called the intersection engine which can calculate the intersection of rays with
boxes and triangles.

I've (Mark Cerny has) already seen a PlayStation 5 title that's successfully using ray tracing based reflections in complex animated scenes with only modest costs.

CPU overhead from data decompression and management is pretty high. The more data that's moved, the more the CPU is taxed, and if it's pushed too far, frame rates drop astronomically.

To solve these issues, a custom decompressor was built directly into the I/O (Input/Output) unit.

"By the way, in terms of performance, that custom decompressor equates to nine of our Zen 2 cores, that's what it would take to decompress the Kraken stream with a conventional CPU," Cerny reveals.

PS5's GPU is equipped with what is known as a Cache Scrubber.
This function is used to improve efficiency and ensure the cache isn't filled with redundant data.

The whole process of loading it happens invisibly to you (the developer) and at very high speed.
Allowing the dream of no load screens and super-fast streaming to become a reality.

To avoid further impacts to GPU performance - we've (Sony has) implemented coherency engines to inform the GPU of the overwritten address ranges and custom scrubbers in several dozen GPU caches to pinpoint evictions of just those address ranges.

This memory is synergized with the SSD on an architectural level and drastically boosts RAM efficiency. The memory is no longer "parking" data from an HDD; the SSD can deliver data right to the RAM almost instananeously.

The result sees RAM only holding assets and data for the next 1 second of gameplay. The PS4's 8GB of GDDR5 memory held assets for the next 30 seconds of gameplay.

The I/O unit is capable of handling over 5 gigabytes of kraken format input data a second. After decompression that typically becomes eight or nine gigabytes but the unit itself is capable of outputting as much as 22 gigabytes a second if the data
is compressed particularly well.

The I/O unit also contains a large pool of SRAM which is used principally to direct the variety of custom hardware around it.

A dedicated DMA controller (equivalent to one or two Zen 2 cores in performance terms) directs data to where it needs to be, while two dedicated, custom processors handle I/O and memory mapping. On top of that, coherency engines operate as housekeepers of sorts.

The SSD is so fast that textures can be loaded within the same second that you move the player.

Spoiler

https://www.wired.com/story/exclusive-sony-next-gen-console/
https://www.wired.com/story/exclusive-playstation-5/
https://blog.us.playstation.com/201...next-gen-playstation-5-launches-holiday-2020/
https://venturebeat.com/2020/03/18/playstation-5-mark-cerny-explains-tempest-engine-for-3d-audio/
https://www.tweaktown.com/news/7134...ep-dive-into-next-gen-storage-tech/index.html
https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...s-and-tech-that-deliver-sonys-next-gen-vision
https://blog.us.playstation.com/202...w-wireless-game-controller-for-playstation-5/
https://www.gamesradar.com/ps5-audio-tempest/
https://www.techradar.com/news/ps5-...quire-you-to-send-sony-a-picture-of-your-ears
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...n-limited-playstation-5-output-in-first-year
https://blog.playstation.com/2020/0...499-for-ps5-with-ultra-hd-blu-ray-disc-drive/
https://blog.playstation.com/2020/10/15/first-look-playstation-5s-next-generation-user-experience/
https://blog.playstation.com/2020/10/09/ps4-games-on-ps5-your-top-questions-answered/
https://blog.playstation.com/2020/1...p-entertainment-streaming-apps-coming-to-ps5/
https://blog.playstation.com/2020/11/09/ps5-the-ultimate-faq/

 

[Mista]

Thats a beautiful thread mate. Thank you

 

[Portugeezer]

Now show us Horizon 2 (and Knack 3)

 

[M1chl]

Nicely done

 

[SaucyJack]

Nice thread. I dread to think what is going to follow over the next few pages though .......

 

[farmerboy]

Really excited for;

Tempest - audio is a bigger deal than people think.
SSD - Who fucking knows what they'll do with it!?!

Great thread, THANKS!!

 

[jackets with pockets]

Good one.

Still too early for this thread, though.

 

[Mista]

Nice thread. I dread to think what is going to follow over the next few pages though .......

Maybe don't give them an idea?

 

[Skyr]

Great thread op! I can't wait for the real console reveal with showcases. Bring it on!

 

[-Arcadia-]

Setting up camp here. This should be a fun OT to hang out in, and learn some things from.

Would like to see someone set up something similar for Series X as well.

 

[protonion]

I cannot wait!

I have all the PlayStation consoles and for PS4 I was there day one. So its been a while!

It has been an awesome ride for over 20 years now.

I hope the v design is the base of the retail unit. There is a black render floating around that looks amazing.

I believe until mid June we will have the reveal event.

I will be there day one again.

 

[bitbydeath]

Thats a beautiful thread mate. Thank you

Thank you for the gift kind sir.

 

[bitbydeath]

Nice thread. I dread to think what is going to follow over the next few pages though .......

This isn’t a comparison thread, it’s simply a thread to easily display what we know.

 

[bitbydeath]

Setting up camp here. This should be a fun OT to hang out in, and learn some things from.

Would like to see someone set up something similar for Series X as well.

Agreed, would love to see an XSX one too!

 

[Phoebe Buffay]

Come on Sony, show us what our next PlayStation looks like and, of course, games.

Nice OP btw

 

[Mista]

Would like to see someone set up something similar for Series X as well.

Would do one if I actually knew how to do what OP did with all those banners

Thank you for the gift kind sir.

Most welcome mate

 

[-Arcadia-]

Would do one if I actually knew how to do what OP did with all those banners

Most welcome mate

Same. That kind of graphical design just goes right above my head. My props to him though, it looks great.

 

[bitbydeath]

Good one.

Still too early for this thread, though.

Intentions were that by separating camps and not talking about the competition would bring more harmony and better conversation to GAF.

We all deserve to be excited for next-gen.

 

[Von Hugh]

Really excited for the SSD!

 

[bitbydeath]

Would do one if I actually knew how to do what OP did with all those banners

Most welcome mate

For the banners I just googled PlayStation font and typed away, white text, black background walla!

 

[-Arcadia-]

To help start us off, could someone help me understand how the PS5 GPU and CPU’s Boost Mode operations differ compared to a traditional console?

I’ve watched Mark Cerny talk about it. I’ve watched Digital Foundry talk about it. It still, however, kind of goes over my head.

 

[Thedtrain]

That font is heavenly. Hopefully we can keep this thread on topic!

 

[Yakuzakazuya]

I need to see this SSD "magic" working on exclusive first party games. Day one if Sony does a good preview on them.

 

[Physiognomonics]

Great job OP. You should talk about the I/O custom hardware (Kraken + DMA controller) performance equivalent to 10 or 11 zen 2 cores. This is a lot of performance dedicated to SSD loading and streaming.

"By the way, in terms of performance, that custom decompressor equates to nine of our Zen 2 cores, that's what it would take to decompress the Kraken stream with a conventional CPU," Cerny reveals.

A dedicated DMA controller (equivalent to one or two Zen 2 cores in performance terms) directs data to where it needs to be, while two dedicated, custom processors handle I/O and memory mapping. On top of that, coherency engines operate as housekeepers of sorts.

Inside PlayStation 5: the specs and the tech that deliver Sony's next-gen vision

www.eurogamer.net

Also the GPU scrubbers will actually improve GPU performance during any I/O job:

it could really hurt the GPU performance - so we've implemented a gentler way of doing things, where the coherency engines inform the GPU of the overwritten address ranges and custom scrubbers in several dozen GPU caches do pinpoint evictions of just those address ranges.

 

[bitbydeath]

To help start us off, could someone help me understand how the PS5 GPU and CPU’s Boost Mode operations differ compared to a traditional console?

I’ve watched Mark Cerny talk about it. I’ve watched Digital Foundry talk about it. It still, however, kind of goes over my head.

Disclaimer: This is from my understanding, which could always be wrong.

GPU Cache Scrubber:

You’re probably familiar with the term cache for web browsers, that’s when you visit a website such as this one and it downloads the contents (images and such) to a local cache so it doesn’t have to redownload content upon refreshing the page.

Now translating that to gaming, when you hit a load screen it is preparing the cache for what you’re about to see in game. I imagine this typically clears out when you hit the next load screen and then it gathers the new content. (Think Skyrim and the nightmare endured of walking in and out of a building.)

Since the SSD is now fast enough to stream content while you play that data no longer needs to stay in cache and the scrubber clears it out just as quickly as it arrives thereby freeing up resources.


CPU:

All data is compressed, to achieve loading data on the fly as mentioned above for the GPU would mean the CPU would constantly be doing that job as it’s now running it as you move instead of at the loading of a level.

This task was moved to custom hardware so the CPU wouldn’t be as restricted and could instead focus on other tasks such as physics or AI.

 

[KlickKlack]

Really excited for;

Tempest - audio is a bigger deal than people think.


Great thread, THANKS!!

not really... i think you don't know that soundwise Xbox one is one generation ahead above ps4.
xbox one can Dolby Digital and MS tech: Sonicaudio.

There are many xbox games with RT audio [gears4/5, sea of thieves..Forza Motorsport 7, Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Assassins’s Creed Origins, Super Lucky’s Tale, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. etc.]

Project Triton - Immersive sound propagation - Microsoft Research

Project Triton models immersive sound propagation for games and mixed reality, accurately modeling wave effects like diffraction in complex 3D scenes.

www.microsoft.com

Experience Your Games in Full Audio Immersion with Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos Spatial Sound - Xbox Wire

This holiday, not only can you play your games on Xbox One X, the world’s most powerful console, but you also have a broad and diverse lineup of new games to experience – including Forza Motorsport 7, Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Assassins’s Creed Origins, Super Lucky’s Tale, and PlayerUnknown’s...

news.xbox.com

 

[bitbydeath]

not really... i think you don't know that soundwise Xbox one is one generation ahead above ps4.
xbox one can Dolby Digital and MS tech: Sonicaudio.

There are many xbox games with RT audio [gears4/5, sea of thieves..Forza Motorsport 7, Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Assassins’s Creed Origins, Super Lucky’s Tale, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. etc.]

Project Triton - Immersive sound propagation - Microsoft Research

Project Triton models immersive sound propagation for games and mixed reality, accurately modeling wave effects like diffraction in complex 3D scenes.

www.microsoft.com

Experience Your Games in Full Audio Immersion with Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos Spatial Sound - Xbox Wire

This holiday, not only can you play your games on Xbox One X, the world’s most powerful console, but you also have a broad and diverse lineup of new games to experience – including Forza Motorsport 7, Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Assassins’s Creed Origins, Super Lucky’s Tale, and PlayerUnknown’s...

news.xbox.com

None of that please.

 

[bitbydeath]

Great job OP. You should talk about the I/O custom hardware (Kraken + DMA controller) performance equivalent to 10 or 11 zen 2 cores. This is a lot of performance dedicated to SSD loading and streaming.

Inside PlayStation 5: the specs and the tech that deliver Sony's next-gen vision

www.eurogamer.net

Also the GPU scrubbers will actually improve GPU performance during any I/O job:

Thanks, will get around to adding that info in the morning.

 

[-Arcadia-]

not really... i think you don't know that soundwise Xbox one is one generation ahead above ps4.
xbox one can Dolby Digital and MS tech: Sonicaudio.

There are many xbox games with RT audio [gears4/5, sea of thieves..Forza Motorsport 7, Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Assassins’s Creed Origins, Super Lucky’s Tale, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. etc.]

Project Triton - Immersive sound propagation - Microsoft Research

Project Triton models immersive sound propagation for games and mixed reality, accurately modeling wave effects like diffraction in complex 3D scenes.

www.microsoft.com

Experience Your Games in Full Audio Immersion with Windows Sonic and Dolby Atmos Spatial Sound - Xbox Wire

This holiday, not only can you play your games on Xbox One X, the world’s most powerful console, but you also have a broad and diverse lineup of new games to experience – including Forza Motorsport 7, Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Assassins’s Creed Origins, Super Lucky’s Tale, and PlayerUnknown’s...

news.xbox.com

We have enough comparison battlegrounds. This thread is about the PS5.

 

[INC]

I give this thread 9.2tf out of 10

 

[-Arcadia-]

Disclaimer: This is from my understanding, which could always be wrong.

GPU Cache Scrubber:

You’re probably familiar with the term cache for web browsers, that’s when you visit a website such as this one and it downloads the contents (images and such) to a local cache so it doesn’t have to redownload content upon refreshing the page.

Now translating that to gaming, when you hit a load screen it is preparing the cache for what you’re about to see in game. I imagine this typically clears out when you hit the next load screen and then it gathers the new content. (Think Skyrim and the nightmare endured of walking in and out of a building.)

Since the SSD is now fast enough to stream content while you play that data no longer needs to stay in cache and the scrubber clears it out just as quickly as it arrives thereby freeing up resources.


CPU:

All data is compressed, to achieve loading data on the fly as mentioned above for the GPU would mean the CPU would constantly be doing that job as it’s now running it as you move instead of at the loading of a level.

This task was moved to custom hardware so the CPU wouldn’t be as restricted and could instead focus on other tasks such as physics or AI.

That’s incredibly informative, and appreciated.

I meant how PS5 handles it’s GPU/CPU clocks, though. That strikes me as a really interesting, unique, and clever part of its architecture, at least what I do understand.

 

[Maroon Gamer]

Great thread. The PS5 is going to be an amazing next gen console.

 

[Grinchy]

It's gonna be a beast! Can't wait for them to finally show it at some point.

 

[magnumpy]

since both systems have basically the same hardware, how awful would it be if one of them is hands down better? but even in that case, are we talking more than a ~15% difference between them?

D:

 

[I Love Rock 'n' Roll]

Yea, it's about time for an official PS5 thread. Thanks OP!

 

[Fake]

Great thread. One correction, is the GPU a custom made RDNA 2.0, not RDNA 2?
And virtual surround. Maybe I missed that in audio feactures.

I give this thread 9.2tf out of 10

Did not take too long.

 

[JareBear: Remastered]

Great OT.

I’m really excited to see some first party gameplay footage in the coming months. The next God of War and Spider-Man are two of my most anticipated games.

Also really wanna see the actual design, can’t wait to see what they cooked up

 

[Imtjnotu]

I know they gave us the amount of PS2 that the ps5 equates too. But what about the amount of PSP's?

 

[Captain Hero]

OP ! What a great thread .. thank you for the info you put and nicely done

 

[Captain Hero]

I believe PS5 will introduce a new way for devs to develop games in more easy and fast ways without taking time to build something just to solve another thing .. I’m excited to see what First party at Sony did for the PS5

going to be huge

 

[EverydayBeast]

PS5 will be on another level.

 

[Celcius]

Here’s hoping that the final product looks similar to the dev kit. Looking forward to seeing games, price, and release date as well.

 

[Kagero]

Awesome thread. Can't wait for the PS5!

 

[TGO]

Would do one if I actually knew how to do what OP did with all those banners

Just install the font https://www.fontspace.com/slim-play-font-f26536
And voila!

This one is epic!

 

[Kusarigama]

My excitement for the PS5 is through the roof!
Amazing job with the opening post.

 

[sircaw]

Thank you for creating the thread.
Well thought out.


Really looking forward to more details on the ssd and the cooling system.

 

[LordOfChaos]

I was a little whelmed with the final CPU and GPU numbers, but this was a clear matter of drummed up expectations, Microsoft went hard and that's fine. The more I stew on it, the more many of my gaming annoyances will be handled by this focus on SSD tech.

What was the biggest flaw with the last God of War? For me, all the waiting, going back to the world tree, spinning it to load in a new area, etc. What if you could run between realms instantly, what could that do for gameplay? Interacting with one alters another, etc?

Same limitations with so many games, Horizon devs wanted to have flying but needed to put a cap on how fast you could move etc. Imagine what Santa Monica, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla and so on are going to do with a much more powerful box with vastly more powerful IO.

I know they gave us the amount of PS2 that the ps5 equates too. But what about the amount of PSP's?

About 433

 

[TTOOLL]

Nice thread, dude! Also, necessary thread!! I'm very excited for this machine as someone who just got a PS4 pro later last year after my last console being a PS2.

I'll just buy it by the end of 2021 probably.

 

[splattered]

Good job nice thread!

 

[CatLady]

This is a great thread bitbydeath .

Hopefully it will help to contain the proliferation of SSD threads, while keeping the the never-ending console-warring out.