New PS4 Model Codename and Tech Specs Leaked

There have been rumours and speculation about Sony's fabled "PS4.5" console all over the internet for a few weeks now. With the console itself being only two and a half years old at the moment, it seemed like an unusual time to be launching new hardware. Debate raged as to what the new device would be. A PS4 that doesn't need the VR breakout box? A whole new console? Maybe just the "PS4 Slim". And the answer is now revealed. It is none of these things at all. It is in fact a partial upgrade of the existing hardware to bring enhancements to games, dubbed the "NEO" internally.

Gaming website Giant Bomb obtained some leaked details of the system and just how it fits into Sony's current ecosystem. The Neo will have a faster CPU, running at 2.1GHz compared to the regular PS4's 1.6. The new device will also have an improved GPU; it's still an AMD GCN but now it runs at 911MHz instead of 800 and the number of compute units has been doubled to 36. Finally, for good measure, the memory bus speed has been increased from 176GB/s to 218 GB/s. This means that the system will be able to support 4K image output.

The upshot of all of this is that the NEO will be like a PS4, but more powerful. Sony is keen to avoid alienating its customer base so early on in the life of their console however, so they have put a number of safeguards in place to avoid this happening. Firstly, from October, all games developed and released for the console must have a "base mode" and a "NEO mode", meaning that they must run on both consoles, but the NEO version may have enhancements. The NEO version cannot contain any exclusive content, so don't expect special weapons or character skins, but it can have higher framerates, higher res visuals or enhanced versions of existing content such as 4-player co-op instead of 2-player.

Ne-Yo actually has nothing to do with this console, we just really like his suit.

In the leaked documents, Sony was very clear that games in NEO mode must meet of exceed the frame rate of their non-NEO equivalent, suggesting that frame rate is as big a topic for Sony as it is for gamers. This means that we probably won't be seeing too many 4K games this generation, although the door is open for it if developers can squeeze that extra power hard enough.

There's no announced plans for the device yet, but October seems a feasible date, given that games must support it from then. That said, Sony have stated that games can be made NEO compatible before the launch of the device itself, so it may well just be preparation for a later launch. As always, we'll keep you updated as soon as we hear more, here at GameGrin.