The launch cycle of PlayStation has always seen a chunkier Playstation launch first, only for a few years to pass down the road and a sleeker, shrinked version to make its way on retail shelves. But this time around the upgrades are rumoured to have come internally just to spice up Sony’s already winning formula, with beefed up spec sheet capable of supporting Ultra HD content aka 4K but there is no mention of radical changes in form factor, at least for now.
According to a snippet from gaming network IGN, the Playstation 4K also known as ‘Neo’ will feature a higher clock speed, an improved GPU and support for higher memory bandwidth. All this makes sense since the Playstation VR launched a few weeks ago but the current gen PS4 is said to struggle supporting the VR headset. The Neo upgrade outright seems a savior to this debacle given the Oculus Rift & HTC Hive are said to give it a run for its money.
Here is a spec comparison between the old Playstation to the new one.
Old Playstation 4
- CPU:8 Jaguar Cores at 1.6GHz
- GPU: AMD GCN, 18 CUs at 800MHz
- Memory: 8GB GDDRS, 176 GB/s
New Playstation 4K
- CPU: 8 Jaguar Cores at 2.1GHz
- GPU: improved AMD GCN, 32 CUs at 911 MHz
- Memory: 8GB GDDRS, 218 GB/s
It goes on to mention that all new PS4 games starting this October will come with support for two modes. The Base mode that supports the current PS4 as well as the Neo mode, for the new Playstation. The Neo mode will however make use of the upgraded hardware to offer stable & increased frame rates and a higher visual fidelity. This is where the 4K rumor comes in since the upgrades allow for 4K & HDR output at least for displays that support it.
It’s said that the Neo and current PS4 will share the same user environment. So expect no kind of exclusivity to the Neo in terms of games, expansions et cetera since they all share the same Playstation Network, the same online communities and the same user experience.
