Linus apologizes to Epic boss over PlayStation 5 SSD remarks

A bit ago Linus from Linus Tech Tips called Tim Sweeney out and criticized the Epic boss' remarks about the PS5's SSD. Now Linus has apologized and delves deeper into the PlayStation 5's storage tech.

Tim Sweeney is a huge fan of the PS5's SSD, and went so far as to call it 'god-tier.' Sony's next-gen SSD is beyond the highest-level PC SSDs on the market today with best-in-class storage, Sweeney said. Like many PC gamers, Linus Sebastian was skeptical and made some comments about Sweeney shilling for the PS5. But now after actually watching Mark Cerny's presentation, digging through research, and checking out older Sony SSD patents, Linus is apologizing.

The apology video goes into depth about the PS5's SSD, but none of the details will be a surprise to anyone that's read our PlayStation 5 SSD deep dive coverage.

"Bottom line, Mr. Sweeney probably knows things we don't. But even based on what we can see for ourselves, if what Sony is saying is true, he wasn't shilling for the PS5," Linus said.

"I set some of you on a wrong path, it was a breach of our trust, and I can do better. And finally, once more, I'm especially sorry to Mr. Sweeney who might not give a hoot about my blunder, or my apology, and I would understand that."

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Read Also: Understanding the PS5's SSD: A deep dive into next-gen storage tech

The gist of the PS5 SSD's potential isn't just the raw 5.5GB/sec speeds of the PCIe 4.0 NVMe M.2 SSD, but how the console will be able to actually make use of those speeds.

The PS5 has a special 12-channel memory controller that allows for instantaneous data access and streaming right into special dedicated I/O block built right into the SoC, which is then loaded into the 16GB GDDR6 RAM pool and passed to the CPU and GPU for processing. Custom OS software and tools allows Sony to circumvent limitations of environments like Windows 10--instead of being built for a myriad of builds, the PS5's OS is made specifically to synergize with the hardware itself.

Alongside a decompression block that uses Kraken's new compression tech, the PS5 can pull compressed assets at 9GB/sec with up to 20GB/sec speeds, and rapidly decompress them for use within the system.

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Read Also: PlayStation 5 SSD speeds hit 9GB/sec with custom 12-channel controller

So what does this mean? The following is a brief breakdown of what to expect from the PS5's SSD, but bear in mind this is just the beginning. We don't truly know how far devs can push this technology yet.

Decompressed assets will load much faster, leading to instantaneous gaming without loading times.

Since SSDs don't need to seek for data like an HDD, the elimination of seek times will also supercharge loading and streamline gaming--environments will be accessible right away, no textures will pop in like in No Man's Sky on PS4, and the system will be able to access and load data within the blink of an eye. Compressed assets can also be made ready faster than ever before.

Sony says the PS5's SSD is 100x faster than the PS4 and will lead to instantaneous open-world gaming.

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Games can be smaller now that there's no need for asset duplication.

Right now games have to store assets into the RAM memory buffer, which requires lots of data replication. Games like Spider-Man, for instance, have many separate instances of smaller objects like light poles, newspapers, cars, and fire hydrants. With the PS5's SSD, the game can simply load a single asset as its needed instead of having to load hundreds of them from the RAM pool (the PS5's memory buffer can also process speeds at up to 448GB/sec).

Streamlined data will make everything more efficient, including graphical effects.

Now that the PS5 can blast data, textures, and assets through the RAM and to the CPU and GPU for processing at such high speeds, it allows an even more efficient delivery pipeline for said data. This is vital for new enhanced graphical upgrades like ray tracing, which depends on complex lighting rendering techniques made possible by data fed to the Navi RDNA 2.0 GPU.

It will also enable the new Lumen features found in Unreal Engine 5, a new kind of photogrammetry lighting system that lets developers bake in next-gen global illumination into environments.

This pipeline will also allow UE5's new Nanite system, a micro-polygon rendering technique that lets developers render cinematic-quality visuals in real-time with sub-pixel control. Streamlined data pipelines are needed to facilitate this kind of higher-end tech.

The SSD will also be hugely instrumental for other features like 8K visuals, native 4K 60FPS, 1080p 120FPS, etc.

Sony's PlayStation 5 is slated to release Holiday 2020. No pricing or exact launch has been announced, but Sony will reveal PS5 launch exclusives sometime soon.

PlayStation 5 specs and details:

• Custom SoC with second-gen Navi GPU, Zen 2 CPU
• 8-Core, 16-thread Zen 2 CPU at 3.5GHz
• Navi 2X GPU with 36 CUs on RDNA 2 at 2.23GHz
• Ultra-fast 825GB SSD with up to 9GB/sec speeds
• Support for 4K 120 Hz TVs
• Ray-tracing enabled
• 8K output support (for gaming)
• Plays PS4 games, BC is on a title-to-title basis
• Separate games that ship on BD-XL Blu-ray discs
• New controller with extensive haptic and tactile feedback

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