PS4.5 is codenamed NEO and has upgraded RAM, CPU and GPU claims latest report

Sony

Sony's not-yet-confirmed but almost-certainly-real PlayStation 4 hardware upgrade, which many are calling the PS4.5 or PS4K, has been given the codename NEO according to the latest in a series of reports about the rumoured console.

A report from Giant Bomb cites multiple sources which confirmed the NEO moniker and details regarding the console's upgraded CPU, GPU and RAM.

	PS4	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	Improved AMD GCN, 36 CUs at 911 MHz
Memory	8 GB GDDR5, 176 GB/s	8 GB GDDR5, 218 GB/s

Prior reports from Kotaku, Digital Foundry and The Wall Street Journal each revealed more about the system, which is reportedly being developed with a view to support 4K media (Ultra-HD Blu-Rays and 4K streaming) as well as housing enough processing power to support the PlayStation VR virtual reality headset without the need for the external processor required when used with original PS4 consoles.

Initially it was suggested that the console might support gaming in 4K but that is unlikely to be the case. It will however, reportedly upscale games for 4K televisions. It will utilise the same PS4 ecosystem, work with the same apps and work with all existing PS4 games – this isn't the PS5, it's a hardware upgrade offering a more powerful PS4.

Giant Bomb's report specifically states that there will be no PS4 games that are only playable on NEO consoles and developers will not be allowed to separate players with a NEO from those without while playing online. Nothing in this report discredits or clashes with existing reports – lending further credibility to the idea that this thing exists and will be announced later this year.

The natural place for an announcement would be during Sony's press conference at June's E3 trade show in Los Angeles, however Sony has remained tight-lipped about the hardware.