In-depth Breakdown of PlayStation 5 Pro Specs: Mark Cerny Addresses ‘FLOPflation’ Concerns

Yesterday, PlayStation shared an insightful video featuring Mark Cerny at Sony Interactive Entertainment’s headquarters, where he delivered a PS5 Pro Technical Seminar. As the system architect, he delved deep into the exciting new features of the PlayStation 5 Pro, while also setting the record straight on a few misconceptions that have been buzzing in the rumor mill. One such topic he tackled was “FLOPflation.” This term arose after an incorrect figure of 33.5 TFLOPs was leaked, stemming from a leaker’s misconception about the use of RDNA 3-inspired architecture.

In truth, the PS5 Pro hits a solid 16.7 TFLOPs, stepping up from the PS5’s 10 TFLOPs. Interestingly, one accurate leak prior to its release highlighted that the PS5 Pro reaches 300 TOPS for 8-bit calculations and 67 TFLOPS for 16-bit ones. Cerny made it clear that the Sony-customized AMD RDNA 2 architecture—dubbed RDNA 2.X—integrates several RDNA 3 features while preserving enough of the original structure to avoid requiring developers to rewrite code for the new system.

In the video, which you can watch on YouTube, Mark Cerny emphasized that one of the standout features of the PS5 Pro is its advanced Ray Acceleration structure, achieved through the integration of BVH8 (Bounding Volume Hierarchy). This innovation significantly enhances how the console manages graphics shader code, resulting in a smoother, more efficient performance.

BVH pertains to the incorporation of bounding boxes that streamline graphics processing, such as rendering reflections. The PS5 used BVH4, grouping bounding boxes in sets of four for ray tracing calculations. Now, the PS5 Pro elevates this with BVH8, handling groups of eight bounding boxes. Likewise, the Ray Intersection Engine has made a leap from assessing rays against four boxes and one triangle on the PS5 to eight boxes and two triangles on the PS5 Pro.

These advancements in ray tracing technology within the PlayStation 5 Pro, realized through a highly customized RDNA 2 GPU architecture, deliver impressive performance boosts particularly when it comes to reflecting light on curved and textured surfaces, although improvements in shadows and flat reflections are more modest.

For those eager to explore the technicalities further, the entire 37-minute video provides an in-depth look into the console market landscape and the sophisticated technologies that are driving competition.

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