The high price tag of the PS5 Pro may have deterred some, but recent revelations have caught the attention of PC gamers. Mark Cerny, the architect behind the PS5 and PS5 Pro, revealed that the updated console boasts ray tracing technology that is currently exclusive to AMD GPUs.
In an interview with CNET, Cerny hinted at the cutting-edge hardware within the PS5 Pro. He mentioned that these ray tracing features were developed as part of AMD’s future roadmap, setting the console apart from even the powerful RX 7900 XTX GPUs. The specifics of these features are yet to be disclosed, but Sony appears to have a unique hold on AMD’s upcoming ray tracing technology.
Cerny also noted that Sony played a significant role in motivating the development of this technology, underlining the company’s impact on the evolution of gaming technology. While AMD has confirmed the development of RDNA 4 GPUs with ray tracing capabilities, no official release date has been announced.
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The PS5 Pro’s GPU is touted to be 1.67 times faster than the base PS5, with hints at leveraging the next-gen RDNA 3 architecture for improved ray tracing performance. Sony’s emphasis on “new advanced ray tracing feature sets” implies software enhancements rather than new hardware components.
Despite the excitement among gamers, the practicality of ray tracing on consoles remains uncertain, especially with AMD powering both the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Nvidia’s dominance in ray tracing technology poses a challenge, but the upcoming features from AMD could potentially shift the landscape. The true impact will only be known once the PS5 Pro debuts on November 7.