Following previous assertions that the PS6 GPU would not be entirely based on AMD’s RDNA 5 architecture, notable leaker KeplerL2 has taken to social media to offer more clarification on the matter. Responding to Moore’s Law is Dead, KeplerL2 has clarified that they “didn’t say it wasn’t RDNA 5”.
In a further post, KeplerL2 noted that the GPU in Sony’s next-generation console will still end up supporting 99 percent of the feature set of RDNA 5. However, they did note that “it’s fair to call it RDNA 5 but not ‘full RDNA 5’.” In another post, the leaker also noted that the PS6 GPU would be closer to RDNA 5 architecture than the PS5 was to RDNA 2.
On the flip side, Moore’s Law is Dead has claimed to have pictures of documentation for the PlayStation 6 describing the console’s GPU as being based on RDNA 5.
As for the RDNA 5 features that might be missing from the PS6 GPU, the omissions likely revolve around DirectX-specific features that are available on AMD’s current-generation graphics cards. Since Sony isn’t building a console that would support PC gaming, the company wouldn’t need compatibility with the Windows graphics API, so the omission would be an easy one to make.
While KeplerL2 had previously referred to the PS6 GPU not being “full RDNA 5”, the discussion surrounding this also involved the PS5’s RDNA 1-based GPU. Forum users even posted screenshots comparing frame rates for various games that would support RDNA 2 features that are missing from the PS5, and how the respective game tends to offer better performance on Xbox Series X/S.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 was among the games discussed for this, since it makes use of mesh shaders. Microsoft’s console, being more capable of handling the technology, was able to maintain steady and high frame rates. The PS5, on the other hand, saw several frame rate dips, since it could only handle primitive shaders.
Recent reports have also indicated that the PS6 will feature 30 GB of GDDR7 RAM split across 10 discreet 3 GB modules throughout the motherboard. The handheld PS6, on the other hand, will have 24 GB split across 8 of the same memory modules. Since each of the RAM chips is slated to offer transfer speeds of up to 32 GB/S, thanks to the 160-bit bus, the PS6 is slated to offer 640 GB/s of memory bandwidth. This is a notable jump in memory capacity and speed when compared to the 16 GB on PS5 and PS5 Pro. Check out our thoughts on why this might be game-changer.
However, the industry is in a strange state these days owing to a severe shortage of memory modules, which in turn has led to skyrocketing RAM prices. A recent report has indicated that Sony might decide to push the launch of its next-gen console to 2028 or 2029 in the hopes that the market stabilizes by then. “People familiar with the company’s thinking,” have noted that this would also throw a wrench in Sony’s plans to retain user engagement over the course of console hardware cycles.