Previously we reported on the rumored PlayStation 4 NEO specs followed by some confirmed PS4 NEO details, and now a recent tweet from ZhugeEX suggests that an allegedly leaked Sony PS4 NEO document (PDF) may have unveiled the 4K console's specifications.
Download: NEO_Overview_3500_v1_e.pdf (2.94 MB)
What is NEO?
CPU: Uses same "Jaguar" cores as the original PlayStation 4, at higher frequency
Base Mode
One strategy for NEO game development is to detect the resolution of the connected TV and:
Feel free to vote in our related PS4 NEO Document Specs Poll below, and thanks to PlayStationHaX Guru GregoryRasputin for the news.
Download: NEO_Overview_3500_v1_e.pdf (2.94 MB)
What is NEO?
- NEO is a high-end version of the PlayStation 4 console
- NEO and "original PlayStation 4" will coexist in the marketplace.
- Same application page
- Same online community
- Same store
- Same system software user experience
- All PlayStation 4 titles released October 2016 or later should support both the original PlayStation 4 system and the NEO system.
- 4K display support for UHDTV owners
- Higher framerate
- More stable framerate
- Improved graphics fidelity
- Additional graphics features
- "Forward compatibility" done by means of patch
- Developer / Publisher decision to patch legacy titles -no SCE mandate.
- Existing titles will run unmodified on NEO systems.
- Applying the patch enables you to implement native support for NEO features
CPU: Uses same "Jaguar" cores as the original PlayStation 4, at higher frequency
- Original PS4: 8 cores at 1.6 GHz-
- NEO: 8 cores at 2.1 GHz (1.3x faster)
- Original PS4: 18 CUs at 800 MHz
- NEO: 36 CUs at 911 MHz (2.3x FLOPs)
- Original PS4: 176 GB / s
- NEO: 218 GB / s (1.24x)
Base Mode
- Mode when title runs on original PlayStation 4 system
- Mode when title without NEO support runs on NEO system (backward-compatibility mode)
- All specs that affect title behavior are same as the original PlayStation 4 system
- Mode when title with NEO support runs on NEO system
- Extended features (higher clock, more SEs, new GPU instructions) enabled are
One strategy for NEO game development is to detect the resolution of the connected TV and:
- Prepare a 1920x1080 display buffer when an HDTV is connected
- Prepare a 3840x2160 display buffer, usually using an efficient rendering technique such as “checkerboard rendering,” when a 4K TV is connected
- Ensure that the NEO frame rate meets or exceeds the frame rate of the game on the original PlayStation 4
- *** 3.500 is designed with this strategy in mind
- We will support other strategies as well; the next few pages describe a and we are happy to engage in conversations about strategies that work
- The NEO version above that of the original PlayStation 4, the resolution of the display buffer must be reduced.
- In “debugmode,” display buffer resolutions of 3680x2070, 3520x1980, and 3200x1800 are also supported. You can use one of these, or use an MRT resolution of your choice (e.g. 3200x2160) and scale the final image to one of the supported resolutions.
- Prepare a 1920x1080 display buffer when an HDTV is connected.
- Prepare a 3520x1980 display buffer when a 4K TV is connected; NEO will then upscale the image in hardware before outputting to the TV.
- As with all strategies, it is important to ensure that the NEO frame rate meets or exceeds the frame rate of the game on the original PlayStation 4.
- Some developers would like to have one mode of NEO support rather
- Though work is just beginning in this area, some developers are reporting success in creating just a single resolution (e.g. 3520x1980)
- ***s will allow it. For *** 3.500, you will need to scale down the display buffer in your game engine.
- Prepare a 3840x2160 (or other) display buffer
- When connected to an HDTV, scale the image to 1080p before outputting (though future ***s will accept the image without scaling)
- When connected to a 4K TV, output the image as normal
- Our experience is that using lower resolutions for 4K TV support (such as 1440p) does not create much differentiation from 1080p on an HDTV.
- Our hope is that titles will use checkerboard rendering (and similar techniques) to allow for resolutions much closer to 2160p.
- We are currently researching lower-cost techniques for increasing resolution (such as the geometry rendering described in the original disclosure meetings.) If you are having difficulties achieving resolutions above 1800p, please do contact your regional Developer Technology Group so we can share our latest learnings.
Feel free to vote in our related PS4 NEO Document Specs Poll below, and thanks to PlayStationHaX Guru GregoryRasputin for the news.