As we edge towards the end of this console generation, Microsoft and Sony are beginning to hint about the potential for what comes next. Both are expected to be built on a next-generation CPU and GPU (possibly in APU form) from AMD using its Zen 2 and Navi architectures. But beyond graphical and processing capabilities, Sony is keen to make one big leap with its next PlayStation: read times on its storage. The goal, it claims, is to remove level loading times altogether and it's shown a closed demonstration to show just what they might look like.
During a meeting this week in Japan, Sony showed off a comparison between a PS4's loading times and a next-generation system that was still under development. The results are impressive.
Sony's official video comparing performance of PS4 Pro vs next-gen PlayStation pic.twitter.com/2eUROxKFLq
— Takashi Mochizuki (@mochi_wsj) May 21, 2019
It showed a level loading on the PS4 Pro as taking just over eight seconds, whereas the new-gen system did it in under one. The next demonstration showed the sheer speed that the new-system allows players to move through the levels by leveraging faster render times for scenery. That could mean faster racing and action games in the future, because pop-in won't be an issue.
This is all thanks to an SSD, which Sony claims will be faster than anything on PC. That seems unlikely, but we wouldn't be surprised to see a small SSD, say 120GB PCIExpress drive for huge read rates that acts as a caching drive for a larger hard drive. That would keep costs down and offer the kind of speeds Sony is touting.
