The PS5 consoles have finally been revealed and we have all the official details ahead of the launch later this year.
The PlayStation has always offered more to the AV world than just games. It has scored well with DVD playback, Blu-rays and 4K streaming over the years. So what will the PlayStation 5 have to offer at launch? Will it be an 8K machine? Will it still support optical media? When is the PS5 release date? How much will the PS5 cost and when will PS5 pre-orders be open to all?
We’ve been reporting all of the PS5 news as it’s been released and now have more concrete information than ever after the very latest official PS5 Showcase event, which gave us a longer look at forthcoming games and the all-important PS5 price and pre-order information.
- PS5 release date:12th November in the US, Japan, Canada, Mexico, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea; 19th November in the UK and rest of the world
- PS5 price:the PS5 Digital Edition price is £360 (€400, $400, AU$599) and the full-fat PS5 with disc drive will cost £450 (€500, $500, AU$750)
But what’s inside? The orginal set of specs for the PS5 were confirmed Digital Foundry expert Rich Leadbetter’s analysis and later elaborated now thanks to a press release after the PlayStation 5 Showcase on Wednesday 16th September.
Below you’ll find the specs for the PS5, with details copied verbatim from the PS5 launch press release:
| Component | Specification |
| CPU | x86-64-AMD Ryzen Zen 8 Cores / 16 Threads at 3.5GHz (variable frequency) |
| GPU | Ray Tracing Acceleration Up to 2.23 GHz (10.3 TFLOPS) |
| GPU Architecture | AMD Radeon RDNA 2-based graphics engine |
| Memory/Interface | 16GB GDDR6/256-bit |
| Memory Bandwidth | 448GB/s |
| Internal Storage | Custom 825GB SSD |
| IO Throughput | 5.5GB/s (Raw), Typical 8-9GB/s (Compressed) |
| Expandable Storage | NVMe SSD Slot |
| External Storage | USB HDD Support |
| Optical Drive (optional) | Ultra HD Blu-ray (66G/100G) ~10xCAV BD-ROM (25G/50G) ~8xCAV BD-R/RE (25G/50G) ~8x CAV DVD ~3.2xCLV |
| PS5 Game Disc | Ultra HD Blu-ray, up to 100GB/disc |
| Audio | “Tempest” 3D AudioTech |
| Video Out | HDMI Out port Support of 4K 120Hz TVs, VRR (specified by HDMI ver 2.1) |
| Dimensions | PS5 – 390mm x 104mm x 260mm (width x height x depth) PS5 Digital Edition – 390mm x 92mm x 260mm (width x height x depth) |
| Weight | PS5 – 4.5kg PS5 Digital Edition – 3.9kg |
| Power | PS5 – 350W PS5 Digital Edition – 340W |
| Input / Output | USB Type-A port (Hi-Speed USB) USB Type-A port (Super Speed USB 10Gbps) x2 USB Type-C port (Super Speed USB 10Gbps) |
| Networking | Ethernet (10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, 1000BASE-T) IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax Bluetooth 5.1 |
All confirmed PS5 features so far
PS5 supports expandable storage, but don’t buy an NVME drive without Sony validation if you want to use it with the console.
PS5 will support backwards compatibility with seemingly all PS4 games, due to it being “based in part on the PS4’s architecture.”
At first some games may be released on both the PS4 and PS5 at the same time. We’ll find out whether or not any games, especially release titles, will be cross-gen closer to the PS5’s release date.
PS5 offers a digital-only version and one which can support physical media. Both options will be available at launch.
Game installations will be more configurable thanks to the way the SSD works players will be able to delete a single-player campaign for example, without removing the multiplayer, if the developers provide this support.
PS5 PSVR support, at least with the current headset, has been confirmed.
The PS5 home screen will be more dynamic. This includes being better off at showing live elements, such as displaying available missions or allowing players to select their activity in real time.
The Geometry Engine is a new block that will give developers more control over triangles, primitives and geometry culling.
The Tempest Engine uses the key tenets of presence and locality to help create more realistic audio.
Confirmed PS5 accessories include a Charging Station (for up to two DualSense controllers), a Pulse 3D Wireless Headset, a Media Remote and HD Camera with “dual 1080p lenses”.
