It's one of the worst kept secrets in the video game industry but also one of the most anticipated. While most technology gets an annual update, upgrade or upgrade to a new model, the video game industry has bucked the trend as gaming consoles are supposed to last, some even exceeding a decade if they are powerful and popular enough.
So, following the pattern established in recent years, a console gets a major upgrade around the middle of its life cycle because technology advances and gamers don't necessarily want to invest in a new ecosystem of hardware, software and accessories. This was the case for the previous generation of consoles, with the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One
Someone must have forgotten to tell Xbox that this is happening again. The arrival of the PlayStation 5 Pro It comes nearly 4 years after the original's release, as Sony attempts to push the limits of the console's hardware performance and extend the life of its platform.
Visually, the console looks almost identical to the PS5 Slim, which was first revealed and released in October 2023, with the only major difference being the presence of three stripes along its side, compared to the Slim's single-bar design. The smaller console was already a sight to behold at first, so there are no complaints here about the decision to keep things in line with what works, and is instantly recognizable.
Surprisingly, the improved console still manages to maintain its compact form factor, measuring 388mm x 216mm x 89mm, which is only slightly larger than the PS5 Slim and significantly smaller compared to the bulky original 2020 model. The PS5 Pro only comes in a discless version, but transferring the removable drive from your existing PS5 Slim to the Pro is not only possible, it's an easy process.
Out of the box, the PS5 Pro, like the Slim, doesn't come with a dedicated vertical stand, and instead just includes two clear plastic pieces that attach to the side of the console and enable it to be set up in landscape mode. However, for current PS5 Slim vertical stand owners, don't worry as the stand is compatible with the Pro. The placement and number of ports on offer remain the same, with two USB-C ports on the front and two USB-A ports on the back.
There's a more obvious, if slightly disappointing, resemblance to the included DualSense controller, namely that it's completely identical to the base models. Well, as the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, but still, it would have been nice to at least see a design refresh (similar to the PS4 Pro's additional touchpad LEDs) for what was undoubtedly the most innovative part of the 5th generation From the console from Sony.
Once booted up, players will immediately recognize the console's user interface (UI), which also remains untouched by previous iterations, apart from the all-new animation screen for the first run. All the accessibility and control features that gamers know and love are still here, including the recently added widget tab on the home screen, and a customizable summary of important console information like console battery levels, download progress bars, and available system storage At one glance.
But enough of the superficial, let's get into the nitty-gritty and the main reason to get the console in the first place – the superior hardware. The PS5 Pro has been flaunted with the promise of three major flagship upgrades – an improved GPU featuring 16.7 TFLOPS (Teraflops) compared to the base model's 10 TFLOPS, which will supposedly deliver up to 45% faster display speeds; A built-in AI-based upgrade dubbed PlayStation Spectral Supersolution (PSSR) includes advanced ray tracing.
To test these features, we tried three games: Alan Wake 2 and Dragon's Doctrine 2both of which were notorious for running poorly on the base console, alongside Horizon Zero Dawn RemasteredSony's latest offering that harnesses the power of new hardware for enhanced PS5 Pro features.
Alan Wake 2 It comes with PS5 Pro-specific improvements at launch, such as the addition of Ray Tracing and improved image quality for Quality Mode, higher output resolution and improved graphical details such as better shadows and environmental details for Performance Mode.
In Quality mode, the game shines with the addition of Ray Traced Reflections, providing a more photo-realistic experience, albeit at a maximum of 30fps. The same level of fidelity can't be said for its Performance mode, which although it offers a much higher resolution, with almost the same display quality as the PS5's native quality mode, the game still struggles to maintain its 60fps target during… Any scene with large amounts of plants, of which there are many. A disappointing find for such, considering the obvious power on offer, and one can't help but wonder if the game should have prioritized maintaining a consistent frame rate in performance mode over adding visual bells and whistles.
Fortunately, Dragon's Doctrine 2 The exhibitions are much better in comparison, but still far from perfect. For context, the title has absolutely terrible frame rates, hovering around the 40fps range for most of gameplay, even dropping into the 30s or lower during more intense scenes. The game now supports PS5 Pro optimizations in the form of PSSR, which can be adjusted in-game to prioritize performance, graphics, or the balance between both.
In practice, the new upscaling software allows for crisp resolution when set to graphics mode, although frame rates drop into the 30s. In its performance setting, things start to get interesting, as it offers an improved, slightly blurrier image with much better frame rates as a trade-off. With this new PSSR setting, the game gets very close to the ideal 60fps target, at least during the opening hours, hovering around the mid-50s, which is perfectly playable for those with a VRR-enabled monitor.
It remains to be seen whether the game is able to maintain this level of performance during later, more intense scenes and whether the frame rate will drop below the VRR limit of 48 fps, but given that the game is set to receive more exclusive updates For PS5 Pro, the game's future remains intact. Cautiously optimistic.
And finally to Horizon Zero Dawn Remasteredthe title offers enhanced PS5 Pro-specific modes, with an overall increase in resolution, depth of field rendering, and volumetric quality. The game looks amazingly sharp across all three of its built-in modes – Pro Resolution Mode, Pro Performance Mode, and Pro Balanced Mode, with its Performance mode being the standout, offering the same quality as the PS5's base quality mode at 60fps. .
Improvements seen in Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered It seems to be the console's main selling point, with a large number of currently released titles such as Marvel Spider-Man 2, Forbidden Horizon West, The Last of Us Part I/II and Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Receive PS5 Pro-specific improvements to bring their Performance mode image quality more in line with that of their counterparts in the PS5's 60fps base quality mode.
But with all the focus on PS5 games, where does that leave backward compatible PS4 games? As part of the fight, there's a new toggleable option that also improves the image quality of PS4 games, using PSSR to upscale and increase the resolution of older games to better match the quality of today's standards. It's worth noting that this new feature isn't comprehensive, however, and games can behave unpredictably when used, with the console providing a disclaimer to turn it off if players experience “unexpected behavior during gameplay.”
We tested this with Assassin's Creed Unit and watch dogstwo PS4 games that ran at 900p at 30fps on the previous console. The difference is certainly noticeable, with improved image clarity and fewer jagged edges on object surfaces across the panel, upscaling the image resolution to deliver image quality closer to native 4K resolution. It is also worth noting that this new feature does not affect the game's frame rate in any way.
On the other hand, notable limitations of upscaling techniques rear their ugly head in the form of artifacting (visual noise surrounding the silhouette of objects, especially the player character), and ghosting (objects that present double images when the camera is moved), both of which are commonly found in other upscaling devices as well such as DLSS from Nvidia and FSR from AMD. Players can still choose to disable this feature if they wish, but this is nonetheless a nice added bonus, and it's encouraging to see that Sony is still supporting their older titles.
But while these upgrades are all well and good, the PS5 Pro still can't escape its most glaring limitation – an unchanged CPU. The 8-core, 16-thread AMD Ryzen Zen 2 CPU is quickly approaching obsolescence at this point, and as games continue to push the limits of graphical fidelity, more titles are bound to become increasingly CPU-intensive and have a more powerful GPU It won't be able to do much to avoid CPU bottlenecks.
This can already be seen in the performance mentioned above Dragon's Doctrine 2a CPU-intensive title that the PS5 Pro still had issues running smoothly even with its upgraded GPU, showing that even with the improvements it's made to existing titles, the console still falls short in the way of future-proofing.
That's not to say that the PS5 Pro doesn't offer any other improvements beyond graphical fidelity, as the console benefits from much-improved heat management. After a full day of play, the console ended up feeling a little warm, a far cry from the heat generated by the base 2020 PS5 even after a few hours of play. This is likely due to the beefed-up GPU being able to better handle intensive workloads, and not overburden like its older brothers.
The console also benefits from its support for Wi-Fi 7, which is a great feature for those who own a Wi-Fi 7-capable router. During testing, we achieved nearly double internet download speeds, from 474.1Mbps on the PS5 Slim using Wi-Fi 6, to 886.2Mbps on the PS5 Pro using the same router with Wi-Fi 7. It's a clear upgrade for sure, with the potential to go even higher with future firmware updates.
Now comes the elephant in the room, the asking price for the console. Coming in huge S$1,069the PS5 Pro is a significant premium over the S$889 Slim version. To be fair, the extra cost also includes increasing the storage capacity to 2TB over the PS5 Slim's 1TB, but potential buyers, especially those who already own an existing PS5 model, should be clear about what they're spending their hard-earned money on. to.
There are currently around 50 games in the works to receive the PS5 Pro upgrades, which will focus on 4K 60fps upgrades across the board while throwing minor graphical improvements into the mix, even introducing some additional modes for 120fps or 8K gaming. But as it stands, monitors and TVs that support 120Hz or variable refresh rates aren't popular among the general public, let alone 8K displays.
Ultimately, it all boils down to what buyers are looking for in their games, and whether they have the hardware to support that. For those who have monitors capable of 4K or 8K output, and are comfortable gaming at 30fps, the PS5 Pro is a worthwhile upgrade to fully enjoy the increased resolution and impressive ray tracing it offers. On the other hand, for those who prioritize a smooth 60fps gaming experience over graphical fidelity, or currently own 1080p or 2K monitors, a pricey and expensive mid-gen refresh of the console may be a tougher sell.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race player with a penchant for perks like “Fail”. Darksiders III and Dead space 3. He made it his lifelong mission to play every major release of gaming – lest his wallet die trying.
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