PlayStation 6 is said to be up to eight times faster than PS5. But Xbox is preparing an even bigger bombshell

While the PlayStation 5 Pro hasn’t even properly warmed store shelves yet, detailed specifications for PlayStation 6 have leaked online. The well-known leaker Moore’s Law Is Dead came out with a complete list of hardware, including CPU, GPU, and memory performance. If the information is true, Sony is preparing a truly massive generational leap – and yet it might not be enough to beat the competition.

AMD Orion as the heart of the new console

According to the leak, PS6 will be powered by an AMD Orion APU manufactured using a 3nm process at TSMC. It is a monolithic chip with an area of around 280 mm², combining Zen 6 processors with RDNA 5 graphics. Specifically, it is expected to feature 7-8 Zen 6c cores for games plus 2 Zen 6 LP cores reserved for the system. This trick is intended to free up to 20% of CPU performance specifically for gaming.

The graphics part includes 50-52 RDNA 5 compute units clocked at 2.6 – 3 GHz. This should translate to a performance of 34 – 40 TFLOPS – for comparison, the current PS5 has 10.28 TFLOPS and Xbox Series X manages 12 TFLOPS. This represents a three to fourfold increase in raw computational power.

Ray tracing out of this world

While in classic rasterization, PS6 is expected to offer 2.5 – 3× higher performance than PS5, the leap in ray tracing will be even more dramatic. Moore’s Law Is Dead talks about 6 – 12× faster ray processing, which would bring the console to the level of current high-end Nvidia graphics cards. With the help of FSR4 (DLSS competitor), the overall performance could then be 4 – 8× higher than the current generation.

In practice, this would mean that most games will run in 4K resolution at 120 FPS. Something that is currently the privilege of only the most expensive PC builds. Developers would thus finally not have to choose between image quality and fluidity – they could have both.

Significant memory increase

PS6 will get 30-40 GB of GDDR7 memory with 640 GB/s bandwidth. This is a huge leap compared to 16 GB in PS5. Developers have long complained about the lack of memory in current consoles, which limits texture size and world complexity. With 40 GB, this problem should disappear – at least for a few years.

Interestingly, Sony reportedly plans a 160-bit bus instead of the usual 256 bits. This suggests an effort to save costs, as a narrower bus means a simpler and cheaper printed circuit board. However, the high bandwidth of GDDR7 memory should compensate for this compromise.

Xbox Magnus is expected to be even more powerful

Even though PS6 looks impressive on paper, the next Xbox, codenamed Magnus, is expected to be 25% more powerful. However, Microsoft seems to be heading in a different direction – its console is essentially a pre-configured gaming PC with access to Steam and Epic Games Store. This would mean an end to exclusives, but also a higher price.

While PS6 will remain a classic console with a closed ecosystem and a price around 500 dollars, Xbox Magnus could easily cost twice as much. Microsoft may thus be abandoning direct competition and targeting the premium segment, where it will compete more with PC builds.

Backward compatibility – good and bad news

Thanks to the x86 architecture, PS6 will be fully backward compatible with PS5 and PS4. Your current game library will thus not go to waste. Unfortunately, anyone hoping for PS3 support will be disappointed. The infamous Cell processor is simply too different to be effectively emulated.

However, Sony is working on a handheld version of PS6, which should share a game library with the main console. A similar approach to the Nintendo Switch, but with significantly greater performance. This could be interesting for players who want to play AAA titles on the go.

When will all this arrive?

Moore’s Law Is Dead claims that Sony plans to start production in mid-2027 with a market launch in the autumn of the same year. This makes sense – PS5 was released in November 2020, so seven years is a reasonable lifecycle for a console.

Of course, all of this is just leaks and speculation for now. Sony may still change the specifications, especially if Xbox Magnus turns out to be truly that much more powerful. On the other hand, if Microsoft targets the premium segment, Sony could easily dominate the mainstream with a “slower” but more affordable console. We’ll see how the situation develops – 2027 is still a long way off.

What do you think of the leaked specifications for PlayStation 6?

Source: Moore’s Law Is Dead