We learned a lot from this week's PS5 presentation, which mainly featured Sony's lead system architect, Mark Cerny. And while the use of AMD based platforms was well known and just as expected, some more interesting details came as a surprise:
"If you see a similar discrete GPU available as a PC card at roughly the same time as we release our console, that means our collaboration with AMD succeeded in producing technology useful in both worlds. It doesn't mean that we at Sony simply incorporated the PC part into our console," Cerny said.
While having custom chips for a console is nothing new, there is no doubt that the above quote should be seen as a rephrase, as the chip not only being custom made but rather it has been made from scratch as part of a collaboration between the two companies. The word "collaboration" is the key here.
Also pay close attention to the implication that the fruits of their labours might end up with PC users at a point, which plays perfectly into the AMD developer timeline disclosed earlier this year.
The GPU will have the features needed for games, but more importantly, will yield performance optimisations, and especially the power consumption reduction that is very critical in a small form factor such as a console case.
It is also worth noting that Cerny talked about "new features", "familiarity for developers", and "new features" - which could mean Ray Tracing as this is supported, as well as primitive shaders, without forcing either on the developers.
Are we putting too much emphasis on one phrase? Perhaps, perhaps not. You've got to assume that every single word in such a presentation is chosen carefully.
Thanks, PCGamesN.