PS5 Pro to Feature RDNA 4 Ray-Tracing Enhancements According to Dataminer Leaks

Despite numerous leaks, Sony has yet to officially confirm the existence of the PS5 Pro, which is anticipated to launch this year. The volume of leaks indicates that a more powerful PlayStation 5 variant is in the works, with leaked specs revealing Sony’s new in-house upscaling technology, PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR).

Claims that the PS5 Pro might be postponed until next year have been disputed, with additional details about the console’s enhanced capabilities coming from multiple dataminers. Dataminer Kepler, who previously leaked details about the PS5 Pro, reported that the system will use ray-tracing enhancements in AMD’s developing RDNA 4 graphics cards.

Kepler shared a list of RDNA 4 upgrades on Twitter, including a double ray-tracing intersect engine and a 64B RT node, noting that most, if not all, of these features should be present in the PS5 Pro. The insider later mentioned that the PS5 Pro will be based on a customized version of AMD’s current RDNA 3 architecture, allowing for significant improvements and supporting certain features from the upcoming RDNA 4.

These features include ray-tracing upgrades, RDNA 4’s Wave Matrix Multiply Accumulate, and a new data prefetcher, all of which enhance performance. The PS5 Pro’s GPU is expected to offer a 2x to 4x improvement in ray-tracing performance compared to the base PS5.

Although Sony has not confirmed any specifics about the PS5 Pro, the original PlayStation 5 uses AMD technology, making it likely that any console improvements will come from AMD’s latest chips. Some potential details about the PS5 Pro’s graphical preset options have emerged from ThatBomberBoi, a dataminer in the No Man’s Sky community. He recently posted files showing graphical presets for “Trinity,” the alleged internal codename for the PS5 Pro.

The upgrades are minor, increasing the dynamic resolution factor from 0.6 to 0.8, and these improvements could still be in progress. It’s important to note that these are specific to No Man’s Sky, so other games may utilize the PS5 Pro differently. 

The information suggests that the PS5 Pro might be announced soon. Sony has confirmed its presence at the Tokyo Game Show in September, which could be an ideal time to announce a mid-generation refresh, although no reliable leaker has suggested this. The console is expected to feature an upgraded RDNA 4 GPU, but it will retain the same eight-core Zen 2 CPU as the original PS5, albeit with a “High CPU Frequency Mode” that increases clock speeds to 3.85GHz.

If the PS5 Pro is released in 2024, the key question might be which game will showcase the console’s improved capabilities. Astro Bot, the only remaining PlayStation 5 exclusive this year, is due out in September.