After the release of the PS5 Slim, rumors about the upcoming PS5 Pro started sweeping the internet. While the PS5 Slim has seen some modest improvements with a new removable drive and additional storage space, the (currently unconfirmed) PS5 Pro appears to be the upgrade PlayStation gamers have been waiting for.
As PCGamer reports, Sony’s upcoming PS5 version will feature an all-in-one AMD chip that will still use the Zen 2 design with eight cores and 16 threads. However, the boost speed will rise to 4.4GHz. Although the processor won’t be much better than the standard PS5 processor, it’s said that big changes will come to the PS5 Pro’s GPU.
The PS5 Pro’s GPU could end up being based on AMD’s RDNA 3 architecture, though it could also include some elements of RDNA 4. To put things in perspective, the PS5’s standard GPU is based on its own RDNA 2 architecture With the chip maker. There’s also a rumor that the PS5 Pro’s new GPU design will use RDNA 4 ray tracing modules.
Improved ray tracing would be a welcome addition to the PS5 Pro, but Sony’s upgraded PS5 could also feature an AI chip inside the console’s APU. Just as AMD does with Ryzen mobile chips, the chip that will power the PS5 Pro could also contain an XDNA 2 NPU, or neural processing unit.
Based on a post from ResetEra user RandomlyRandom67, this NPU will be used to accelerate Sony’s machine learning upscaling technology, which will be “one of the main focus points of the PS5 Pro,” in the same way the PS4 Pro used a checkerboard. call up. If this turns out to be true, we could see some of the best PS5 games upscaled to 4K resolution with frame rates higher than 30fps.
NPUs aren’t just for AI laptops anymore
Earlier this week, Intel unveiled its new Meteor Lake chips, which feature their own NPUs designed to better handle AI workloads. AMD is doing something similar with its new Ryzen 8040 series mobile processors, which can run AI workloads locally instead of in the cloud.
While AI-enabled laptops are being touted as the next big thing from Intel, the PS5 Pro may be the first time we see this technology make its way to a home console. However, since Microsoft’s Xbox consoles also use AMD chips, we could see something similar happen with the company’s Xbox Series
The PS5 Pro is rumored to be released around the same time, and if Sony wants to use the power of AI to improve the gameplay and visuals of its current-gen console, I see no reason why Microsoft can’t follow suit.
We’ll just have to wait and see what the two companies decide to do with AI in the future and who knows, the Nintendo Switch 2 may also feature AI technology for improved scaling when connected. That’s if Nintendo decides to stick with the hybrid design for its next console.
