PlayStation’s Mark Cerny took a deep dive into the PS5 Pro and Sony’s new partnership with AMD

PlayStation lead architect Mark Cerny is back again to explain the nitty-gritty details of how the PlayStation achieves its various graphics enhancements. Cerny for the first time in September and in , goes into how the advanced GPU Pro uses technology from AMD and announced a “deep cooperation” between Sony and the chip maker.

The PS5 uses AMD’s RDNA 2 GPU architecture released in 2020, while the PS5 Pro uses what Cerny refers to in the video as RDNA 2.X. The new GPU is a mix of what’s already offered in , with cherry-picked features from the more advanced AMD introduced in 2022. That’s combined with ray tracing techniques that Cerny says are coming from future RDNA technology on AMD’s roadmap, as well as custom machining. learning features designed for PS5 Pro. Those machine learning components are also apparently an important part of AMD and Sony’s future work together.

“AMD has been a great partner for SIE for many years now,” Cerny said. “And I’m honored to announce that we’ve begun a deep collaboration focusing on graphics and gaming technology.”

“Amethyst,” the name the companies chose for their new project together, is focused on creating “the best architecture for machine learning,” according to Cerny. The new hardware architectures the companies are making may benefit future consoles and AMD GPUs, but they are only one part of the plan. Sony and AMD are also working on the “democratization of machine learning,” which sounds like possible software tools to make it easier for developers to use AI in gameplay and graphics.

The whole video is full of information about the thinking and engineering that went into the PS5 Pro and is worth a watch if you want more details on what “Pro” means in this case. It might not let you upgrade to a new $700 console, but it certainly makes the case that Sony didn’t take design lightly.