The PS5 Pro is official. After a series of leaks and rumours, Sony have finally announced that the PlayStation 5 Pro will be releasing this year. This is not the first time that Sony have implemented a mid-generation console refresh. They did one during the PS4 days when they launched the PS4 Pro all the way back in 2016. So, there are a lot of unknowns regarding the PS5 Pro. What does it look like? What are its new features? What is the release date and most importantly, how much will it cost? We will unpack all of that and more in this feature. So, here’s everything you need to know before you buy the PS5 Pro.
The Purpose of the PS5 Pro
According to Mark Cerny, the lead architect of PlayStation 5, the purpose of the PS5 Pro is to remove the decision the player has to take when selecting between the performance and fidelity modes for a specific game. According to Cerny, 75% of players select the performance mode thereby opting for better frame rates. However, performance mode generally reduces image quality and other graphical parameters by a noticeable margin thereby impacting the overall experience. “Creators have made amazing use of the hardware capabilities, but when I talk to them, I hear about their desire for more graphics performance. The dreams of developers are bigger than can be supported at 60 frames per second, leading to an aspect of modern gaming that we’re all familiar with: graphics modes,” Cerny said. “Removing that decision, or at least narrowing that divide, is one of the key targets for PlayStation 5 Pro. We want to give players the graphics that game creators aspire to, the high frame rates that players typically prefer.” The PS5 Pro aims to remedy this by providing emphasis on its big three features: Larger GPU, Advanced Ray Tracing, and AI-Driven Upscaling.
The GPU
As Hideaki Nishino, CEO, Platform Business Group, Sony Interactive Entertainment revealed in the PlayStation Blog, the PS5 Pro GPU will feature a noticeable amount of improvement over the base console. “With PS5 Pro, we are upgrading to a GPU that has 67% more Compute Units than the current PS5 console and 28% faster memory. Overall, this enables up to 45% faster rendering for gameplay, making the experience much smoother,” he said over at the PlayStation Blog. We will have a more comprehensive spec analysis later on but according to these figures, the PS5 Pro will feature roughly 60 compute units compared to the base version’s 36.
Advanced Ray Tracing
The PS5 is able to support ray tracing in select games but let’s be honest here, the quality of the implementation has been largely mixed, especially when compared to a high-end PC. The PS5 Pro promises more advanced ray tracing techniques, while we don’t have exact specifications about it, expect PS5 Pro games to render ray tracing at a much higher quality compared to its base version. “We made major upgrades to ray tracing by taking a streamlined and accelerated approach, allowing for the calculation of rays at double or even triple the speeds of the PlayStation 5,” Cerny stated.
AI-Driven Upscaling
PS5 Pro will be using something called as “PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution” which is an upscaling algorithm that will help maintain higher resolution at high frame rates. How it differs from other techniques like DLSS or FSR is still unknown at this point but it seems Sony have their proprietary tech in order as far image resolution is concerned. According to Cerny, “PSSR analyzes game images pixel by pixel and can add an extraordinary amount of detail, boosting the effective resolution of the games.”
PS5 Pro Boost
Besides these big three features, the PS5 Pro will also have a boost mode that will allow for improved resolution for select PS4 games. This will apply to more than 8,000 backward compatible PS4 games which will be playable on the PS5 Pro. This feature sounds similar to resolution boost feature that the Xbox has had for a while.
Boost In Memory
The PS5 boasts 16 GB of GDDR6 SDRAM with a peak bandwidth of 448 GB/s. Sony has confirmed that the PS5 Pro will feature a 28 precent increase in memory which means it will likely operate at a bandwidth of around 572 GB/s. According to Cnet, the CPU however is reportedly the same, operating at the same stats as before which is the AMD Ryzen Zen 2 with 8 cores and 16 threads at 3.5GHz).
What else is inside and what is missing?
The PS5 features an 825 GB SSD which honestly gets filled up real fast these days. The PS5 Pro, however, will feature at 2TB SSD which should hopefully be enough for most games out there. According to reports, it will operate at the same speed as the base version which is 5.5 GB/s read. It will also feature Wi-Fi 7 in locations where this standard is supported. However, the PS5 Pro is a discless console which means you would need a disc drive separately for the device if you are invested in physical media format. Furthermore, you will have to purchase the vertical stand separately since that is not included in the package.
Initial List of Games That Are Receiving PS5 Pro Support
As expected, a number of first and third-party developers are now hard at work updating their games for the PS5 Pro. These include games like Alan Wake 2, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, Demon’s Souls, Dragon’s Dogma 2, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Gran Turismo 7, Hogwarts Legacy, Horizon Forbidden West, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, The Crew Motorfest, The First Descendant, The Last of Us Part II Remastered, and others. Games like Gran Turismo 7 will now support ray tracing during gameplay whereas Hogwarts Legacy will now feature enhanced ray tracing integration. It will be interesting to see how the PS5 Pro will handle those PS4 and PS5 games that have unlocked frame rates; a significant boost is definitely expected in those cases. According to a hands-on report by Cnet, Gran Turismo 7 on the PS5 Pro supported two modes: 8K and 4K modes. According to the publication’s report, dedicated 120fps mode will come too. Cerny also explained how the PS5 Pro is boosting Horizon Forbidden West’s visuals. “The PSSR library is being used extensively to add pixel detail and boost frame rates, but there are many approaches depending on the game engine. The increase in raw GPU power is particularly effective for Horizon Forbidden West. Beyond the detail boost, the extra graphics power also enables improvements in lighting, visual effects, and enhancements to hair and skin in cinematics,” he stated.
The Form Factor
Although we are waiting for official dimensions to be revealed, the PS5 Pro looks about the same size as the base PS5. At the very least, it doesn’t look like a multi layered console the PS4 Pro looked like. There is no special redesign for the DualSense controller and all other accessories like PlayStation VR2, PlayStation Portal, DualSense Edge, Access controller, Pulse Elite and Pulse Explore will work as intended with the new console.
Price and Release Date
Now, here is the hard part. The PS5 Price will launch on November 7 for a whopping $699.99/£699.99/€799.99/¥119,980. To put things into perspective, the PS4 Pro launched for 399 USD. Honestly, this pricing will likely be on the higher side for many consumers and given that the PS5, four years later since its launch, is still a perfectly fine machine, I don’t see a large segment of the market buying this. For those of who plan to buy this beast of a machine, preorders will begin on September 26, 2024.
Are you planning to buy one? What are your thoughts on the PS5 Pro? Do you think this is a worthy upgrade?
