We Talk Over: The PS5 Hardware Tech Spec Stream

I love smarter Z Libs from my simple cousin.

The 'lol ima gamerz' hot takes in the comments aside this talk was amazing. Basically lots of people have talked about how SSDs have been the biggest game changer in PC gaming for ages, and this talk is exactly what someone 'doing it right' in a closed system is about. This is optimizing data retrieval in an awesome way.

Seems like Xbox is going hardcore on the GPU w/ extra caching and raw horsepower.

Sony seems to be optimizing the FRACK out of the bottom half of the pipeline to get rid of any bottlenecks.

This was mesmerizing... and relaxing, despite only understanding a fraction of what was said technically, before Cerny explained it.

Mark Cerny is the "Bob Ross" of computer science.

I feel like the audience there will stand up at the end and slowly face the camera to reveal they are all Mark Cerny. Their eyes flash red and the stream turns to static...

This was a thing maybe Sony shouldn't have streamed. It's interesting information, but none of it will satiate the angry troll mob. This also didn't lend itself well to being talked over.

Huh, Cerny's using a Vaio laptop at the podium. I thought Sony discontinued their Vaio series a long time ago...

My wife walked by and asked, "What is Dana Carving doing announcing PS5 stuff?"

Honestly I think the SSD performance between the 3.0 to 5.5 GB would not be as noticeable, like in the range of a few seconds. And multiplatforms wouldn't benefit as much from the data caching and 3-D audio. In the first few years anyway. But! The exclusive content will be where the console can make the greatest impact...

@thorne: when the sky darkens and all load times are reduced to nothing, all that will be left is Mark Cerny.

I thought the Console Wars were over. :b

I think people missed a lot about what Cerny said, but I blame that mostly on much of what he said having only slight similarities to how PC's are talked about.

When PS4 and Xbox One came out they ran proprietary chips and proprietary graphics, but very much in a vanilla way. From what MS and Sony have said, don't even start thinking about their machines running that way. It appears like both companies worked hard on optimization and that optimization is proprietary and hardware based.

PC are hamstrung by their "interchangeable" and "inter-operational" hardware that is STILL based on 1980 technology. The BUS communication system between the hardware on these consoles just does not seem to be ABLE TO BE replicated on PC.

I think when we see the game on both consoles running people will drop their jaws. And I think when these games made for the consoles are run head to head with PC ports, the "master race" will be annoyed.

What people think they know, just got changed, and this adjustment will take time. In fact, I think a lot of pundits on tech channels will be feeling sheepish when they are confronted with their own words in November. So many f them just heard to what MS and Sony said, but didn't listen - they don't get it yet.

@monkeyking1969: Yes, I only game on PC now but this console generation is really exciting. I have to laugh when I see all the PCMR people saying stuff like, "Consoles have SSDs now welcome to 2010."

I'm not going to give up my mouse and keyboard anytime soon but I'm really looking forward to where these consoles are going to take gaming.

@sir5000 said:

loooooooooooooooooooooooool

@foreveralice: Mordin had more personality. Jesus was this boring, even the quips from the peanut gallery. I was losing most of what they were saying because Cerny just kept droning on and on.

PS5 was originally a 9.2 tflop gpu and 3.2 ghz cpu machine. They knew they were way behind MS on horsepower and overclocked to death to make the numbers look better, but this thing is not running above 10 tflops often. the GPU and CPU can't both max out at the same time. Also the overall memory bandwidth of this system is far worse than the series x. People going on about the ps5 being better in any way besides ssd are just buying this 52 minutes of marketing spin. The ssd might get you a second or two faster initial loads and that's it. Xbox is actually showing off their new tech, Sony isn't even there on that yet.

Good Lord. The number of people here with the "this was soooo boring." This talk is NOT for you. It would have been a closed door session at GDC had it not been postponed. And YouTube was probably the best way to reach their audience without needing to track down every dev attendee and hosting the conference feed themselves. As a developer myself, this was fascinating and a great talk. Just accept that everything isn't meant for your sole entertainment.

pargon pargon pargon

Yeah PCs are awesome - I have three. But now with less powerful hardware BOTH consoles are punching WAY above their weight. They will likely punch so far above their weight given their sales prices that trying to replicate what they can pump out won't be cost effectively replicated by PCs.

The bottom line for any sort of gaming is - how good does it look @ what framerate?

Both console have said that can do 4K at 120 Hz; if that means 60 fps at 120Hz OR 120 fps at 120 Hz - we don't know. I think either way both console are saying that their console will be exchanging information with the UHDTV via HDMI 2.1 to "negotiate" the smoothest frame rate at the best resolution all in HDR. And they will do this with better textures, more grass/tree/shrub clutter, more realistic shadows & light sources, and what seems to be ray traced or ray cast elements.

That games are going to look fantastic still framed and jaw dropping in motion. No complaints from me in front of my 55" 4K display that is great, but that si old enough to replace in 2021 with something that matches what PS5 or Series X can dish out completely.

This was VERY dry, but pretty informative, so I'm glad I had the Duders to liven up the proceedings. We live in interesting times.

Nethlek-Mag'mor-Ulyath

I literally used this to fall asleep at night and it worked, so I didn't mind how dry it was.

I enjoyed this. I don't think game trailers would actually show how games will be better or different on PS5 compared to previous generations, whereas this presentation told me exactly what the PS5 hardware will enable for game design and player experience.

PCayeEEE

Color me impressed. This is just what I wanted out of a Mark Cerny talk.