The PlayStation 6, or better known as PS6, is still years away from hitting our living rooms, but the rumor mill is already working overtime to uncover Sony’s upcoming console. We have seen a massive wave of leaks recently, painting a surprisingly clear picture of what the company has planned for us. From what I have gathered, the next console generation will be heavily focused on raw storage speed and cutting-edge visual technologies.
Prominent X user Zuby_Tech recently took to his account to share incredibly detailed insights regarding the upcoming hardware. Their findings give us a sneak peek into everything from social features to unannounced horror games. However, the most mind-blowing detail is undoubtedly the storage solution. It looks like Sony is preparing a massive leap forward that will make current load times feel like an absolute eternity.
How is the PS6 SSD faster than that of the PS5?
The secret behind this massive speed boost comes down to the underlying architecture of the storage drive. Our current generation relies heavily on PCIe Gen4 NVMe technology, which is fast but nearing its absolute limit. According to recent leaks, the PS6 SSD will utilize the brand-new PCIe Gen5 NVMe standard.
This makes perfect sense when you look at what Sony is doing behind the scenes. They are already using PCIe Gen4 for their cloud game streaming infrastructure and shifting to PCIe Gen5 for their next-generation cloud gaming. So, it won’t be surprising for them to also use the PCIe Gen5 NVMe system for the rumored PS6, which has also been speculated by Zuby_Tech.
Reports indicate the PS6 will boast a blistering read speed of 14.9 GBps and a write speed of 14 GBps. For context, the base PS5 drive caps out at a read speed of around 5.5 GBps. I wanted to see exactly how big a jump this really is.
When I ran the numbers myself, the results were absolutely staggering. Here is how I got 170% based on the leak:
PS6 SSD Speed: 14.9 GBps
PS5 SSD Speed: 5.5 GBps
Percentage of increment = {(14.9-5.5)/5.5}*100
The math reveals an unbelievable 170% increament in the SSD speed.
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How big of an upgrade is it for the gaming community?
A storage jump of this magnitude is going to be a game-changer for how developers build their titles for the upcoming PS6. We already know Sony is partnering with external studios to create a massive Unreal Engine 5 immersive third-person horror shooter. The new storage speeds will allow those creators to stream massive AAA-quality assets into the game instantaneously.
Gamers are going to see elevated real-time visuals like never before thanks to this hardware. Leaks point to a senior research scientist at PlayStation who is spearheading a brand new frame interpolation pipeline. Interestingly, their research heavily references Nvidia tools like CUDA and TensorRT.
This means we might see incredible AI-driven frame generation working alongside those massive storage speeds. The combination of Gen5 storage and machine learning could completely eliminate loading screens forever. Beyond just playing games, the overall PlayStation 6 experience, expected to release in 2027, will be much more fluid and connected.
The leaks mention completely revamped Next Gen Social Apps built directly into the platform. Multitasking and video streaming will also get major overhauls from the original development team. Ultimately, this massive storage upgrade is shaping up to be an absolute game-changer for the entire community.
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Edited by Ripan Majumdar