Report: New PlayStation 4 Codenamed ‘NEO’ — Has Upgraded CPU, GPU, And RAM In New PlayStation Console

More reports released today showcasing the existence of the rumored “PlayStation 4.5,” or “PS4K.” According to sources speaking to gaming news site Giant Bomb, PlayStation will indeed be getting an upgrade over its original model, codenamed “NEO.” The PlayStation NEO would be a definite upgrade over the base model of PlayStation 4, giving Sony a closer system spec to that of a mid-range to lower-high end gaming PC.

Consoles have long had the distinction of being more powerful than most gaming PCs in the wild when they launched, but this is something that wasn’t the case when the original PlayStation 4 launched in 2013. The system since its launch has struggled to keep up consistent in-game performance with even mid-range level PC hardware, making the PlayStation NEO a much anticipated — and needed — upgrade for gaming enthusiasts.

According to the specifications detailed in the Giant Bomb report, the PlayStation NEO is a marked upgrade over its predecessor in terms of CPU, GPU and RAM.

While the specifications aren’t such that it would possibly give PlayStation NEO players the ability to play in true native 4K, though the document obtained by Giant Bomb says Sony lists suggestions for developers to reach 4k/UltraHD resolutions, 60-frames-per-second; they are definitely within the realm of modern gaming specifications of what is needed to achieve 1080p, 60fps — something the base PlayStation 4 cannot do on a consistent basis. However, if these specifications are indeed proven true, which Sony has yet to comment on the veracity of the report, this is great news for all gamers, not just console gamers looking to get better performance out of their PlayStation 4 games.

The graphics unit of the PlayStation NEO, when you look at the original specs of the PlayStation 4, doesn’t seem like much of an upgrade at first glance. However, when calculating the core count and throughput using this AnandTech article, (thanks to tech YouTuber ShanktheTank for helping to confirm the estimations) we can determine, assuming the core per CU remains the same from the original PS4 and the PlayStation NEO, that the latter will contain 2304 cores, exactly double the original PS4. Using that number, we can determine, again assuming the end console is consistent with the Giant Bomb report, the “Floating Point Operations per Second,” or FLOPS of the PlayStation NEO. Since all modern GPUs today are measured using tera-FLOPS, or trillion floating operating points per second, the assumed number of TFLOPS of the PlayStation NEOo is around 4.2 TFLOPS, right in between two of PC gamings best graphics cards: the Nvidia GTX 970 and GTX 980 – both cards capable to performing pretty much all modern games at a full 1080p, 60 frames per second with ease.

Owners of a PlayStation 4 won’t need to feel as though they are being disenfranchised by Sony, however, as the report goes on to detail the plans the console maker has in place to be sure that the PlayStation NEO and the base PlayStation 4 both operate concurrently. This means that no NEO exclusives can be made, nor can they boast features that cannot be replicated on the original PlayStation 4. However, NEO games are meant to “meet or exceed the frame rate of the game on the original PS4 system,” meaning that games that may only be obtainable at 1080p, 30fps on the base PlayStation 4 could see a bump to 60fps on the NEO. Additionally, games like Star Wars: Battlefront, which is 900p on PlayStation 4, may see a full resolution bump to 1080p, 60fps on the PlayStation NEO.

You can read the full report here about the PlayStation NEO. While this report has yet to be confirmed by Sony themselves, it is uplifting to see the reported specifications of the PlayStation NEO be an actual upgrade, and something that those looking for better quality visuals and performance out of their games, but don’t want to build a PC, can look forward to.

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[Images via Sony, Giant Bomb]