PlayStation 5 Pro hardware rumors: 4nm Zen 2 CPU, 56 GPU cores, faster 18Gbps GDDR6 memory

Sony's beefed-up PlayStation 5 Pro is getting some confirmation on rumors from leaker Moore's Law is Dead, who says that we will indeed have an 8-core, 16-thread CPU based on AMD's last-gen Zen 2 architecture... the same as what's used in the regular PS5 non-Pro console.

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In previous rumors from late last year, we heard that the upgraded "Viola" SoC inside of the PlayStation 5 Pro would boost its CPU up to 4.4GHz, with Moore's Law is Dead not confirming that, but said he wouldn't be surprised if we see that. Previously, we heard that the CPU inside of the PS5 Pro has 64KB of L1 cache per core, 512KB of L2 cache per core, and 8MB of L3 shared cache (4MB per CCX) while MLID says it'll be made on TSMC's 4nm process node.

Sony's more powerful PlayStation 5 Pro console is reportedly enjoying a full die of 60 CUs (compute units), with MLID saying that with "current plans" to disable down to 56 CUs in the final PS5 Pro product. The company will be using 16GB of GDDR6 18Gbps on a 256-bit memory bus providing 576GB/sec of memory bandwidth, but could be bumped up to 20Gbps adds MLID, up from the 14Gbps memory used inside of the regular PS5 non-Pro console.

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Remember that the GPU architecture inside of the PlayStation 5 Pro is effectively RDNA 3, it isn't exactly what AMD has pumped into the Radeon RX 7000 series desktop GPUs, but it shares so much of the GPU architecture that it could be considered a Radeon RX 7000-series kinda GPU.

With faster GPU clocks and much more memory bandwidth, we should see some decent improvements in performance across the board... especially for higher-FPS games like ensuring 60FPS minimum or 120FPS average with "PS5 Pro" stickers on game packaging and pictures online notifying you that this is a "PS5 Pro" game capable of running whatever resolution (1080p, 1440p, 4K) at 60FPS, guaranteed.

Not only that, but AI-powered upscaling use and ray-tracing effects will enjoy the beefier GPU inside of the PS5 Pro. AMD is reported to include an NPU (Neural Processing Unit) inside of the PS5 Pro in earlier rumors, but MLID can't confirm anything NPU-related inside of the PS5 Pro just yet but doesn't rule it out. I think we'll see it, and I think Sony will do something interesting with it, hopefully.

The PlayStation 5 Pro silicon itself reportedly taped out around a year ago now and then "put to the side" while Sony decided if they wanted to launch a beefed-up PS5 Pro console. Sony isn't absolutely set on the PlayStation 5 Pro, but the silicon is sitting there waiting from AMD (and made at TSMC).