Sony: PS5 Pro uses next-gen AMD ray tracing tech (likely RDNA 4)

Something to look forward to: Improved ray tracing performance is one of the key benefits of Sony's newly unveiled PlayStation 5 Pro console. Prior to its debut, rumors had long suggested that the mid-generation refresh would incorporate ray tracing technology based on AMD's upcoming RDNA 4 GPU architecture. Recent comments from PlayStation designer Mark Cerny have all but confirmed these theories.

In a detailed interview with CNET following the reveal of Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro console, designer Mark Cerny confirmed rumors that the device's ray tracing capabilities are built on an architecture not yet available in AMD's PC graphics cards. While Cerny didn't explicitly name RDNA 4, no other viable candidates are known.

Cerny explained that the PS5 Pro leverages new ray tracing feature sets developed by hardware partner AMD for the next stage of its roadmap. Reports earlier this year suggested that RDNA 4 GPUs, expected to launch in 2025, will significantly enhance ray tracing performance compared to RDNA 3, and especially to the RDNA 2 chips that power the original PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series consoles.

Although recent AMD GPUs have kept pace with Nvidia's RTX products in traditional rasterized lighting, they lag significantly behind in ray tracing performance. For instance, in Black Myth: Wukong, which heavily relies on ray tracing, AMD's $900 flagship Radeon RX 7900 XTX performs worse than Nvidia's mainstream GeForce RTX 4060 Ti – a card that costs half as much and has only one-quarter the memory. However, with ray tracing disabled, the 7900 XTX leaps ahead by two Nvidia product tiers, ranking just below the similarly priced RTX 4080.

AMD's shortcomings in ray tracing are evident in numerous console games that use the technology sparingly. Titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Alan Wake 2 on PS5 implement little more than ray-traced shadows, while their PC versions offer far more advanced settings, including path tracing. While the PS5 Pro may not entirely close this gap, it will likely support more ray tracing features or improve frame rates in games utilizing the technology.

A July leak suggested RDNA 4 will feature a technique called "Ray Tracing Tri Pair Optimization," which may either double the number of dedicated RT units or allow RT engines to process twice as many ray-triangle intersection calculations per clock cycle. Further optimizations in Bounding Volume Hierarchy could also enhance performance.

Despite these advancements, AMD has confirmed that its next GPU generation will focus on affordable mid-range and mainstream cards, leaving Nvidia's upcoming RTX 5080 and 5090 unchallenged in the high-end segment. Both GPU lineups, along with Intel's Arc Battlemage, are expected to launch in early 2025.