PS4 4K Upgrade Device May Be Coming Soon From Sony

[dlevere]

By Shawn Knight



Sony is reportedly working on a more powerful version of its PlayStation 4 console. Dubbed the PlayStation 4.5, the new device will feature an upgraded GPU to enable 4K resolution gaming while simultaneously offering more oomph for its virtual reality platform according to multiple developer sources as first reported by Kotaku.

The publication said it wasn't sure whether existing PlayStation 4 owners would be able to upgrade their console with the device or if it's an entirely new console. What's more, it's unclear if PlayStation 4.5 will indeed be the official name of the device or if it's just a temporary internal code name.

Today's PlayStation 4 is capable of outputting 4K resolution pictures and videos but doesn't have the ability to push 4K gaming.

The idea may sound a bit crazy at first, but it's much more plausible than you might think.

Modern hardware is evolving at a rapid pace and with gaming becoming more mainstream than ever and the continued threat from PC gaming, the traditional 7+ year life cycle of a console seems incredibly unlikely. Just think, seven years ago, BlackBerry was still relevant, Palm was launching its Pre and Nokia put out the N97. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One will be turning three later this year and compared to PC hardware, they're already quite dated. Will they last another four years without help?

If the PlayStation 4.5 does arrive as some sort of add-on, it wouldn't set a precedent. Remember the Sega CD and the 32X?

Sure, those devices ultimately failed, but one could argue that they were ahead of their time as gaming wasn't nearly as popular as it is today.

[lee4]

rumor both microsoft and sony wants upgrade current gpu in xbone and ps4 to 4k capable gpu
as current gpu barely output 1080p @ 60fps (xbone 900p@60 and ps4 1080p @ 59.94)

if comes true which makes Nintendo NX dead already before launch

[MathUser]

I'm glad the updates will at least have a purpose. I heard they were gonna upgrade just for upgrading's sake before. Now that they are trying to get them to be 4k I feel better about rebuying a console. Not that I want a PS4 or Xbone right now.

[Skiller]

when they do something like this if its a new system they should do a Factory Side rebate when you triad in your old system..
Pay for the upgrade on top of trading in your old system :P people would probably spend 100$ plus triad in on there old ps4 to get a new one with 4k video output ..

[Pyriel]

Should I look to you for heroin and well-armed, kung fu death-gangs, or is there some other explanation for why whatever you're typing on auto-corrects, "trade", as, "triad"?

[dlevere]

PS4.5 could cost $499 and be announced in October

[lee4]

The New PlayStation 4 Codenamed NEO, Contains Faster CPU, GPU, RAM

	Original PS4	NEO
CPU	8 Jaguar Cores at 1.6 GHz	8 Jaguar Cores at 2.1 GHz
GPU	AMD GCN, 18 CUs at 800 MHz	AMD GCN, 36 CUs at 911 MHz
Memory	8 GB GDDR5, 176 GB/s	8 GB GDDR5, 218 GB/s

Source:
http://www.giantbomb.com/articles/so...-ne/1100-5437/

[dlevere]

New PS4 model "neo"; what the PS4 4k rumors amounted to

By FAST6191



With the current consoles being basically a PC it seems Sony went one step further and delivered us one of the first true console upgrades we have seen in many years. It claims backwards compatibility will be a thing but it remains to be seen whether we will see "we highly suggest the PS4k" in the future. No release date but game developers are seemingly required to support it by October and have patches for games released before then.

There have been all sorts of rumors and speculation happening for months now but it is being widely reported now as more concrete information has come to light via Giantbomb.

It is claimed so called 4k output is supported, though games themselves will not be required to do so.

Unknown framerate/frequency but it would be surprising to not see some flavor of 60Hz, especially as Sony is requiring game performance to match or beat the present PS4 model. Alas the VR/headset gaming stuff Sony is working on seems to be a bit absent from the documents obtained, give or take mention of a breakout box, so possibly not 120Hz out of the box.

The specs the furry teeth care about see rather more modest increases (still 8 cores but with a jump from 1.6Ghz to 2.1Ghz, slightly faster memory and more "compute units/CUs" which is somewhat analogous to the older concept of shader cores in the graphics cards) and other than a bigger memory allocation/"budget" for games it does not represent a change in the core underlying architecture. Unlike upgrading your PC though you will apparently not see improvements beyond any firmware driven up-scaling and such unless the devs release a patch.

Whether we will see the return of 4 player split screen co-op now everybody can have their own 1080p space is also unknown, we can but hope. Apparently online games of a competitive nature are being considered in this with a kind of online mode being required so we hopefully will not see the FOV and increased clarity set appear in consoles.

Official word from Sony is not a lot right now but there are many conferences coming up so we might hear more from one of those. No price has been mentioned but apparently the previous leaks reckon $400 USD (£280, 350 Euros, 43,000 yen, $520 Australian, 3250 Sek or 267 Guineas, though users of any of those currencies are probably wary of directly converting like that).

We have not really seen true console upgrades since the days of the Amiga, give or take things like the N64 expansion pack which is hardly in the same league as this. What do you think about all this and what do you hope this leads to?

Thanks to Foxi4 for the sources.