The GPU of the PS5 Pro has become one of the most popular topics today. Various sources, including the ever-reliable Digital Foundry, have been sharing new information about said GPU in recent weeks, so I think it’s a good time in-depth technical analysis from all the data we have.

Before I get down to business, I want to make this clear why the PS5 Pro GPU is so important. This component will largely determine not only the power of this new console to move games, but also define support for specific technologies and advanced features that can make a difference.

So it will be the GPU of this new console that, depending on its performance and its features and technologies, will determine resolution in which you will be able to move the gamesthe image quality that can be used, the ray tracing performance and the possible use of different technologies that could improve the performance and image quality.

Possible PS5 Pro GPU specs

• RDNA 3 or RDNA 3+ architecture.
• Made on TSMC’s 5nm node.
• 30 WGP (Work Group Processors).
• 60 CU (computing units).
• 3,840 shaders at speeds up to 2.35 GHz.
• 240 texturing units.
• 96 raster units.
• 60 second generation cores to accelerate ray tracing.
• 4MB L2 cache.
• 256 KB L1 cache.
• 32KB L0 cache.

Based on the number of shaders, the PS5 Pro GPU looks like Sony’s Radeon RX 7800 will be less powerful and more powerful. restrictions on thermal and consumption levels.

Overall, we are expecting a very powerful graphics core, which would be a significant leap compared to the current Sony console. It should also be noted that the PS5 Pro GPU will not have 64 MB infinite cache (L3) on which the Radeon RX 7800 XT is mounted and will work at a lower frequency. Ultimately, even in the best cases, its closest equivalent will be the Radeon RX 7700 XT, as I told you then.

Architecture and new technologies

Using the RDNA 3 or RDNA 3+ architecture will result in significant improvements in terms of raw power and power per watt. They also implement these architectures significant improvement in ray tracing performance which could be key to the PS5 Pro being able to really push games with said technology without having to make huge sacrifices in resolution and performance.

With the RDNA 3 team AMD managed to improve ray tracing performance by 80% compared to the previous generation, so it is most likely that the new PS5 Pro GPU will be able to double the performance working with said technology in games. If confirmed, it would be a huge leap and would clearly show how important the architectural change in the GPU is to improve support and performance when working with advanced technologies.

To all this we must add the PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, hardware-accelerated intelligent scaling technology which will work similarly to Intel XeSS and NVIDIA DLSS. It will use algorithms powered by artificial intelligence and specific hardware that will be exclusive to this console, and will be able to scale and reconstruct the image from lower resolutions while maintaining a higher level of graphic quality.

This scaling technology will be key allow more intensive ray tracing to be usedas it reduces the pixel count and ray tracing workload and will also be essential in turning the PS5 Pro into a near 4K 60fps console.

Performance and comparison with the PS5 GPU

• AMD’s own RDNA architecture.
• Made on TSMC’s 6nm node.
• 18 WGP (Work Group Processors).
• 36 CU (computing units).
• 2,304 shaders at speeds up to 2.23 GHz.
• 144 texturing units.
• 64 raster units.
• 36 first generation cores to accelerate ray tracing.
• 4MB L2 cache.
• 128KB L1 cache.
• 16KB L0 cache.

We have important differences between the two GPUs that are evident just by directly comparing the numbers of each. The PS5 Pro will have a GPU more shaders, texturing units, raster units, and kernels to accelerate ray tracing. With these changes alone, we can expect a significant increase in raw performance, but we must also take into account that the mentioned graphics core will use a much more advanced architecture.

The changes at the architectural level will be responsible for a significant increase in performance, and the optimization that the PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution technology will allow will also make a big difference in the smoothness and quality of the image. Finally, the most important improvement They don’t just come from brute force, It is clear. On the other hand, the jump to the 5 nm node should have a positive impact on efficiency and consumption.

We can also appreciate a increasing the lowest level cache, L1 and L0and maintenance of 4 MB of L2 cache. On both GPUs no L3 cache, meaning they have no means of generating bandwidth spikes, which can improve performance by reducing reliance on the memory bus and graphics memory. There is an explanation for this, which is that since this is a GPU integrated into the APU, there is no physical space to introduce such a large cache.

The PS5 GPU is maxed out 10.29 TFLOPs on FP32 and GPU PS5 Pro reaches 36.1 TFLOPs. It’s a huge difference, but you have to keep in mind that this is due to the fact that the latter has dual emission shaders, and that if we didn’t take this into account, the raw performance would be 18.05 TFLOPs. This latter figure does a much better job of explaining why we expect the PS5 Pro to be “only” 45% better at rasterization than the PS5.

In ray tracing, the difference will be much greater, because as I already mentioned, the PS5 Pro is expected to double the performance of the PS5 working with said technology. This should allow ray tracing to be used to improve multiple aspects of games at the same time, which is impossible on the PS5. For example, in Dying Light 2 for PS5, ray tracing is only applied to shadows and ambient occlusion, but thanks to improvements in PS5 Pro, this technology should also be applied to lighting and reflections.

Sony again opts for dynamic frequency on a PS5 Pro GPU that will run on maximum speed of 2.35 GHz. This is not a significant increase over the PS5’s 2.23GHz, and as I said, it is the maximum peak, so in the final it can be expected that the average sustained frequency in games will be lower, and that it will be adjusted according to the graphics load and other important values, such as consumption and temperature.