PS5 Pro: The Fastest Gaming Console On the Market

Photo by Amanz on Unsplash

The PlayStation 5 Pro has been out for the last few months and it’s generated a lot of attention being the fastest console on the market. It was designed to give you the best of performance and fidelity mode. Games on the PS5 Pro are supposed to target  4K 60 FPS while some games boast 8K resolution (For real this time). The PS5 Pro is just about everything we expect, although at a steeper price than most would like. Now priced at $749.99, not including a disc drive, or a stand, it’s not exactly a bargain for most people.

Overview of the Console:

On paper, the PS5 Pro has 67% more compute units and 28% faster memory. Overall, this should result in a 45% faster rendering time for games. In other words, the GPU of the PS5 Pro should be significantly faster, which will allow for games to run at a higher resolution and smoother framerate. Additionally, the storage of the PS5 Pro has been increased from 1TB to 2TB. A main criticism of the original PS5 was the lack of built-in storage, especially compared to the Xbox Series X, so it’s nice to see a storage increase.

One of the most exciting new features of PS5 Pro is PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution) which is an AI upscaling technique unique to Sony. This technology is similar to Nvidia’s DLSS and AMD’s FSR. PSSR renders the game at a low resolution and then uses AI to upscale that image to 4K without putting as much of a load on the GPU. The result of this is a nearly 4K image while using a fraction of the GPU power.  Another perk to the PS5 Pro is the natural upscaling of 8,500 PS4 games without the need of a developer patch. This is a huge win because there are plenty of games like Bloodborne that do not have a PS5 patch and are stuck running at 1080p 30FPS.

Performance:

Before we get into the performance, it should be noted that to achieve some of these results you will need a display that supports 120HZ and Variable Refresh Rate. The performance of the PS5 Pro can be fantastic in some games like Insomniac’s Spider-Man series. When testing I was getting anywhere from 80 FPS to 100 FPS in both the original Spider-Man and Miles Morales. Anyone sensitive to frame rate will immediately notice how much smoother and immersive both of those games feel compared to the base PS5. In addition to the framerate the visuals of the game looked fantastic as well. The visuals from the Fidelity Mode and more performance than the base Performance Mode was truly a  great experience. When playing Spider-Man 2 the performance gains were still noticeable but I didn’t find it as drastic as the previous games. I thought it was interesting that in the PlayStation 5 Pro launch video, they talked about not having to choose between Fidelity and Performance mode yet I found myself having to choose between the Pro Performance mode and Pro Fidelity Mode in Spider-Man 2. Both modes looked exceptional. I found myself choosing the performance mode because of how much smoother it was and I also felt I wasn’t missing that much visually. An exception to this was Monster Hunter Wilds, where I felt Fidelity Mode combimbed withi VRR allowed for 40+FPS while also keeping such a sharp level of detail.

While I was generally impressed with the performance of the PS5 Pro patched games it left a lot more to be desired from non-patched games. For example, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth looks stunning on PS5 Pro but when you go back to its predecessor Final Fantasy VII Remake it plays the same as it would on base PS5. I think the PS5 Pro would benefit from an FPS Boost  feature similar to the Xbox Series X and S.

Pricing:

The PS5 Pro does not include a disc drive or a stand to rest the console vertically. If you have a physical collection of games you won’t be able to use them unless you shell out $79.99 for the modular disc drive, assuming you can even find one. Since the announcement of the Pro the disc drive has been very difficult to find. If you want to have a disc drive and a stand you are paying at least another $110. For something marketed as a “Pro” product, I would have liked to see them include this in the box. I understand this product is not mandatory for gamers to buy but it’s disappointing to see Sony nickel and dime gamers for things like a vertical stand (priced at $29.99). I ended up purchasing just the console and the disc drive for about $850. (Before the price increase) Consoles have been known to be a good value for gamers but now it doesn’t seem like such a good value, especially when you compare it to previous mid-gen refreshes. The PS4 Pro was only $100 more compared to $200. However, due to the recent price increases of all the current gen consoles the PS5 Pro doesn’t sound as unreasonable compared to the 2TB Xbox Series X which now costs $729.99. The PS5 Pro gives you better performance and the same amount of storage for only $20 more which makes it the clear winner here unless you rely on physical 

Conclusion:

Based on the last gen PS4 Pro launched at $499, which is what the disc edition of the PS5 launched at. My concern is that the PS6 will launch at the same $749.99 that the PS5 Pro now costs. One of the main reasons the PS3 and Xbox One failed in the beginning was because of how much higher it was priced than the competition. Both companies are showing signs of making the same mistake again. I will reiterate that the PS5 Pro is not designed to be mass-consumed like the original but it seems like this could be a test for the inevitable PS6. While I do think this is a cool product I can only recommend it to PlayStation or console enthusiasts, which is exactly who it was designed for. I think gamers wanting better performance than the PlayStation might find better value with a gaming PC because they’re aren’t any membership fees and the plethora of different use cases.