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| (Image credit: Sony) |
It was simple to laugh at Sony's $700 PlayStation 5 Pro when it was first announced, despite the fact that it was still less expensive than the PS3 at launch—which, according the Bureau of Labor Statistics' inflation calculation, would have cost $950 now.
It may be a console, though, and we shouldn't completely discount it. The head architect of Sony, Mark Cerny, asserts in a CNET interview that the PS5 and PS5 Pro will include ray tracing technology that "no other AMD GPUs" employ at this time.
Regarding the AMD GPU in the PS5 Pro, Cerny did not disclose any specifics. He did point out that AMD developed new ray tracing technology as part of a GPU roadmap, and that the RX 9700 XTX models from the firm do not currently include this new technology. Even in the absence of further details, it seems like Sony has something special and exclusive from AMD.
According to Cerny's interview, "we motivated the development" of this new technology. According to what we've read, one major driving force behind the improvements in visuals was also to facilitate the conversion of PS5 titles to the PC. He also states to CNET that Sony hopes to "lead the way" in terms of next gaming trends. This is a controversial allegation that Cerny has made in the past about Sony gaming systems.
Cerny is most likely discussing the as-yet-unreleased RNDA 4 GPUs, which AMD is anticipated to use to target the mid-range GPU market, when it comes to ray tracing. The RDNA 2 architecture used by the PS5 at the moment is far slower than the RDNA 3 design, which has been in use since 2022.
With a 1.67x speed boost over the PS5 standard and maybe RDNA 4, the Pro versions might offer notable performance gains. When the PS5 Pro formally reaches stores on November 7, we'll know more.
The revelation is intriguing and might offer us a sneak peek at AMD's strategy for taking on Nvidia, the market leader in ray tracing at the moment. With the exception of the most tech-savvy players, most individuals might not find the new price point justified. $700 is still a hard pill to take, even in light of inflation and growing production costs.