PS5 “Power Saver” Mode Tested - Digital Foundry

There is nothing magical about ARM that you can't get with X86.

Nothing magical, it's just physics. ARM is a more power efficient architecture. There's a reason why you never see phones or tablets using x86.
You can educate yourself on the topic if you want, resources are easily accessible.


What does that even mean?

What was the Wii? Nintendo giving up the POWERFUL console race?

What is the Switch? Gaming Console?

Last time i checked it was Only Nintendo still holding Exclusives. You know The things that sells ur Game Consoles.

Sony is Not doing Exclusives anymore. alas releasing on PC yr later and sometimes competitors systems Helldrivers 2/ Lego Horizon.

Microsoft Not doing Exclusive anymore releasing on PC and competitors systems.

So pls educate me on how Nintendo has giving UP?

Take a deep breath.

Nintendo gave up on making traditional, tethered consoles, and went the hybrid way. Best of both world, they are now the market leader and they have never made so much money.
 
Nothing magical, it's just physics. ARM is a more power efficient architecture. There's a reason why you never see phones or tablets using x86.
You can educate yourself on the topic if you want, resources are easily accessible.
x86 can match (or come very close to) ARM in power efficiency, but it requires extensive work from AMD and Intel in order to do so, just look at how much more efficient Lunar Lake and Zen 5c are vs previous generations. ARM still leads in power efficiency, but the gap is far smaller than it was just 3-4 years ago. Zen 6c looks to bring another remarkably leap forward in efficiency for x86 as well.
 
Switch 2 is barely better than the Steamdeck, ie three years old AMD tech. An up to date variant will naturally go past what Steamdeck and Switch 2 offers. ARM and Nvidia is in theory great (Vita was much better than 3DS, and I believe every high end phone too, with ARM stuff, just the GPU being very advanced), but Nvidia cares about dollarz, and Nintendo was pushing more expensive tech the last time with the Gamecube. So the result is okay, but cheaper than it could be. Maybe ARM and Nvidia would also be nice when pushed to the limits for Sony, at an higher price, but for compatibility reasons and probably also cheaper AMD prices, it's a route that would complicate things a lot for Sony, despite having done some impressive porting work with sometimes doing all three platforms; PS3, PS4 and Vita.
Steamdeck is a crap in comparison to Switch 2 despite being similar in price.
 
I don't think Canis/Orion can run PSSR 1.0

Why not? It would be required for backwards compatibility with PS5 Pro as console software has these upscaling methods "baked in" to the game's shader binaries. PS5/PS5 Pro still have Sony's custom hardware for checkerboard rendering for exactly this reason.

I also don't think Canis/Orion will run stock RDNA5.
 
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x86 can match (or come very close to) ARM in power efficiency, but it requires extensive work from AMD and Intel in order to do so, just look at how much more efficient Lunar Lake and Zen 5c are vs previous generations. ARM still leads in power efficiency, but the gap is far smaller than it was just 3-4 years ago. Zen 6c looks to bring another remarkably leap forward in efficiency for x86 as well.
And yet, Intel had to make such compromises that they are even abandoning lunar lake, while STILL being quite behind the snapdragon equivalent on battery life by at least 30%.

But well, now that we've established that ARM is just more suited for low powered devices, as illustrated by the thousands of phones, tablets, and now low power laptops around (there's a reason why Microsoft is pushing hard windows on arm), let's talk features: Nvidia, with DLSS and rtx cores, is quite ahead of the competition in that regard, and it's a big deal for low power devices especially as we can see with the switch 2.
 
I still don't even know what this feature is supposed to accomplish......is this in to appease the climate change crackpots?
Would those crackpots even know to be appeased though? If not for being on GAF, I honestly wouldn't have heard anything about this feature. For a mainstream gamer that's not so plugged in, this is practically being shadow dropped.
 
And yet, Intel had to make such compromises that they are even abandoning lunar lake, while STILL being quite behind the snapdragon equivalent on battery life by at least 30%.

But well, now that we've established that ARM is just more suited for low powered devices, as illustrated by the thousands of phones, tablets, and now low power laptops around (there's a reason why Microsoft is pushing hard windows on arm), let's talk features: Nvidia, with DLSS and rtx cores, is quite ahead of the competition in that regard, and it's a big deal for low power devices especially as we can see with the switch 2.
ARM is a bit more efficient now but consider that a mere 5 years ago the difference in power consumption was staggering, now Lunar Lake is closing in on Apple Silicon, and Zen 6c Zen 6 LP will close that gap even further. True, ARM will also improve, but the low hanging optimisations have already been plucked, as ARM has been targeting that market for decades, while both AMD and Intel never took it that seriously until recently. I don't think that x86 will ever fully march ARM, but it is miles ahead of where Zen 2 was.

As for Nvidia, absolutely they have had a commanding lead in RT, upscaling, and efficiency for ages now, but if the discussion is about the Sony handheld that is all moot, RDNA5 matches or exceeds Blackwell in those specific metrics.
 
For the hundreth time, it's for the handheld.

For the asdasdasdbb th time, what handheld? Oh you mean the hypothetical, and not announced PS6 Jr extreme handheld....ok

Yea Right GIF
 
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For the asdasdasdbb th time, what handheld? Oh you mean the hypothetical, and not announced PS6 Jr extreme handheld....ok

Yea Right GIF
Well it could be for Eco reasons, but the power usage difference isn't exactly enough to significantly change anything. Maybe Sony is using it to meet some sort of internal or investment goal? But there are no regulatory requirements for this.

As of the moment this new mode does offer one minor benefit, allowing for gaming where you might be constrained in power draw, on a generator or battery, but something like that is extremely niche.

Frankly the handheld is the only thing that makes sense, and the existence of it has been confirmed by multiple, independent sources. The CPU reduction is roughly in line with the rumoured handheld, and the memory bandwidth is as well.
 
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Well it could be for Eco reasons, but the power usage difference isn't exactly enough to significantly change anything.
Neither is it anywhere close to where a Handheld would sit, in any of the metrics.
Also they launched the ECO mode as end-user facing, even on Pro consoles - none of it has any value for a theoretical handheld profile which will target a different TDP, different pixel resolution, on a different CPU, GPU with different performance targets.

The rumor that 'confirms' the Handheld even states "will run PS5 games similarly to PS5 console with 'special support' and lower performance when not". That's the opposite of what the ECO mode does.

Frankly the handheld is the only thing that makes sense, and the existence of it has been confirmed by multiple, independent sources. The CPU reduction is roughly in line with the rumoured handheld, and the memory bandwidth is as well.
The only thing that is similar to what a handheld might do is the bandwidth, which roughly matches high-end handhelds today. But that's just as likely to be coincidental (the broken clock thing), and could end up low-balling hardware in 2-3 years for all we know.

But sure... If Sony's strategy is to market a new Handheld as the 'green way to play PS5 games, badly', the Vita will be viewed as massive success in comparison.
 
In fairness Steam has about 132M so they are tracking ahead. But yea it's not some monumental gap (and once you add Switch and what's left of XBox, the consoles are still ahead).
not to mention %80 of steam users are basically same as mobile gamers. playing similar garbage on their dying laptops.

they are not the future of gaming lol
thats some pcmrn delusion.
 
Neither is it anywhere close to where a Handheld would sit, in any of the metrics.
Also they launched the ECO mode as end-user facing, even on Pro consoles - none of it has any value for a theoretical handheld profile which will target a different TDP, different pixel resolution, on a different CPU, GPU with different performance targets.

The rumor that 'confirms' the Handheld even states "will run PS5 games similarly to PS5 console with 'special support' and lower performance when not". That's the opposite of what the ECO mode does.


The only thing that is similar to what a handheld might do is the bandwidth, which roughly matches high-end handhelds today. But that's just as likely to be coincidental (the broken clock thing), and could end up low-balling hardware in 2-3 years for all we know.

But sure... If Sony's strategy is to market a new Handheld as the 'green way to play PS5 games, badly', the Vita will be viewed as massive success in comparison.
It's not anywhere close to a handheld in power draw as a PS5 is still fundamentally not designed for lower power consumption. The handheld will use LPDDR instead of GDDR6, a far newer and more efficient GPU and CPU architecture, and 3nm vs 7/6nm. That's just the obvious, the handheld is going to be designed around a 15w APU. I don't think this mode is exclusively for the preparation of a handheld, but as more and more sources confirm the existence and specifications of the handheld, it does stretch the believability of a mere coincidence.

Playing PS5 games badly on a handheld was always going to be the reality for a 2027 handheld, but better than not playing them at all. I'd even argue badly is overstating it a bit, 30fps is perfectly serviceable on a handheld console.

not to mention %80 of steam users are basically same as mobile gamers. playing similar garbage on their dying laptops.

they are not the future of gaming lol
thats some pcmrn delusion.
The Steam Survey data is right there and has been for ages, most PC players on Steam have decent GPUs. Almost half have a PS5 or better equivalent. That 132 million number is also 4 years out of date.
 
I don't think this mode is exclusively for the preparation of a handheld, but as more and more sources confirm the existence and specifications of the handheld, it does stretch the believability of a mere coincidence.
That's just circular reasoning.
By now - most of us are accepting the 'likely' handheld/lower power PS SKU existing given the sources of rumors. But nothing is adding credence to this mode being related - not prior ways of adding hw-profiles/SKUs, by Sony or anyone else, not the targets, not the results. And several things are in direct contradiction (like this being aimed squarely at 4k displays, in every supported game).
It's the type of 'connecting the dots' that online conspiracy theorists engage in all the time - but that only serves to reduce credibility of all of it.

It's not anywhere close to a handheld in power draw as a PS5 is still fundamentally not designed for lower power consumption.
Neither is it in any other metrics - that's the point.

Playing PS5 games badly on a handheld was always going to be the reality for a 2027 handheld, but better than not playing them at all.
Having (tried to)played Jak & Daxter at 20fps on PSVita - I wholly disagree on the latter.
Anyway opinions aside - explain to me how PR angle of linking a new launch hardware to 2-3 year old power-saving mode could in any way be a useable sales point.

Also as a PC handheld user - many modern games today run well using Series S settings, and when adjusted for Handheld resolution targets, they can match or even outperform current gen consoles. And some of the same leakers claim that PS handheld will 'comfortably outperform' these chips.
And again - nothing you see performance wise on PS5 (or PS5 Pro) would apply to the handheld anyway, we just know it will have less watts and completely different hardware.

That 132 million number is also 4 years out of date.
147M now - but the point is home-consoles are still quite a bit larger - even if you assume some overlap between Nintendo and PS/Xbox MAUs.
 
I don't think this mode is exclusively for the preparation of a handheld

I think it's 100% for that purpose only.
Noone will actually use any of these modes, or at the very most, maybe less than 1% of users... probably less than 0.1% even.

but what I also think is that these modes aren't an indication to what the handheld can do. these modes still run on PS5 hardware (Zen2, RDNA2) and dev kits.
I assume these are low effort patches to make the games compatible for launch. BUT the PS Handheld will in the end have features these "quick and dirty" updates can not take advantage of.

the handheld will have FSR4/PSSR2 compatibility, while the current dev kits for this mode do not.
the handheld will have far superior RT hardware, while the current patches can't take that into account.
so once the handheld is out, actually fully optimised PS Handheld profiles for upcoming games will probably look completely different and will use the hardware very differently than these patches do right now.

so these patches are just a way to help devs make easy compatibility updates, so that the Handheld has a large library of games at launch.
while anything post launch will actually take full advantage of the hardware... well, as much as they take full advantage of other systems at least... which isn't always optimal lol
 
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That's just circular reasoning.
By now - most of us are accepting the 'likely' handheld/lower power PS SKU existing given the sources of rumors. But nothing is adding credence to this mode being related - not prior ways of adding hw-profiles/SKUs, by Sony or anyone else, not the targets, not the results. And several things are in direct contradiction (like this being aimed squarely at 4k displays, in every supported game).
It's the type of 'connecting the dots' that online conspiracy theorists engage in all the time - but that only serves to reduce credibility of all of it.


Neither is it in any other metrics - that's the point.


Having (tried to)played Jak & Daxter at 20fps on PSVita - I wholly disagree on the latter.
Anyway opinions aside - explain to me how PR angle of linking a new launch hardware to 2-3 year old power-saving mode could in any way be a useable sales point.

Also as a PC handheld user - many modern games today run well using Series S settings, and when adjusted for Handheld resolution targets, they can match or even outperform current gen consoles. And some of the same leakers claim that PS handheld will 'comfortably outperform' these chips.
And again - nothing you see performance wise on PS5 (or PS5 Pro) would apply to the handheld anyway, we just know it will have less watts and completely different hardware.
I don't think Sony is using this new mode to get data on how games run, or as an advertising point, but I'd imagine it would be extremely useful in that developers can update games right now (and over the next two years) so they will run much better when the handheld does launch. With the rumoured hardware specs it seems games could either run fine, extremely poorly, or might not even run at all. Games that have this support target lower memory bandwidth, GPU, and CPU requirements, pretty useful if you are launching a weaker handheld console in a few years. As I said, probably not a direct match, but certainly closer than the regular mode.

147M now - but the point is home-consoles are still quite a bit larger - even if you assume some overlap between Nintendo and PS/Xbox MAUs.
Not 147 million, all numbers online are from analysts and range from 147 million to over 200 million. Steam hasn't published numbers since 2021. But yes, consoles are likely larger than Steam by itself.
 
But sure... If Sony's strategy is to market a new Handheld as the 'green way to play PS5 games, badly', the Vita will be viewed as massive success in comparison.
Anyway opinions aside - explain to me how PR angle of linking a new launch hardware to 2-3 year old power-saving mode could in any way be a useable sales point.
The power save mode is how those PS5 games will be BC on the PS6 Portable (that's how you're linking it on a PR angle as a sales point), and the PS6 Portable won't obviously rely on PS5 games on Power Saver mode to get support. It's that simple...
 
I don't think Sony is using this new mode to get data on how games run, or as an advertising point, but I'd imagine it would be extremely useful in that developers can update games right now (and over the next two years) so they will run much better when the handheld does launch.
That is directly contradicted by the types of updates developers have done so far.
So even if Sony actually wanted this - the instructions they gave the developers are clearly not leading to it.

As I said, probably not a direct match, but certainly closer than the regular mode.
🤷‍♀️ Demon Souls is literally just capping performance mode at 30. You might as well just run the regular mode and see how it performs, it'll be no different. The minimum for this to be 'closer' to handheld would be mandated resolution spec (whatever the display ends up being).
Anyway that's besides the point - my original post stands - people are bending themselves into pretzel trying to fit this to 'handheld mode' when all the signs are saying 'it really isn't', and especially isn't helpful for one.

I think it's 100% for that purpose only.
Then why release it user-facing, no developer is using it for that purpose so far (clearly), and if handheld was the purpose all this is achieving is putting negative public attention on the eventual hardware launch.
And devs have been doing hw-profiles for (at least)10 years now, on all 3 platforms, none of this is new or learning experience for them, that excuse might have worked in 2016, but not now.
Also, unless Sony is releasing PSSwitch - why are all of these updated games still targeting/compliant with TV specs? If this 'is' a PSSwitch - welp - Playstation had a good run I guess...
 
Then why release it user-facing, no developer is using it for that purpose so far (clearly), and if handheld was the purpose all this is achieving is putting negative public attention on the eventual hardware launch.
And devs have been doing hw-profiles for (at least)10 years now, on all 3 platforms, none of this is new or learning experience for them, that excuse might have worked in 2016, but not now.
Also, unless Sony is releasing PSSwitch - why are all of these updated games still targeting/compliant with TV specs? If this 'is' a PSSwitch - welp - Playstation had a good run I guess...

beta testing, and "we are so eco friendly!" PR.

it is also an easy way to then, once the handheld is announced, clarify which PS5 games will be compatible on launch.
instead of just saying "we will have a list of compatible games" they can just say "Every game that supports the power saving mode will be compatible day 1! and all PS5 games going forward will too!".

I doubt they expected comprehensive leaks of the handheld hardware, when this plan to do handheld profiles that double as power saving modes was originally finalised.
so they probably also wanted to use this "hey, every power saving mode game will be compatible!" to be big announcement, expecting hundreds of games being supported once the handheld announcement is made, and thereby making clear that support is strong.
it's important to not forget that we're not supposed to know about the Handheld right now. the fact that we know it changes how we look at these patches.
 
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Yes that's what I implied. Xbox is out, SOny does not have competition in the home console market. Nintendo gave up and Xbox is about to.

However, they've been dog-walked twice by Nintendo on the handheld segment, and Nintendo has built through the last 8 years a bulletproof brand when it comes to hybrid devices. Seems like a waste of resources to try to compete with Nintendo on that segment, especially as this new Sony console would compete with their own home console arguably more than with the Switch family.
I agree that Sony would have a tough time keeping up with Nintendo's sales figures, but it's not like they still can't have a successful product. I don't see how one could state it's a waste of resources simply due to Sony not moving as many units as the Switch 2. In other words, it's not a zero sum game
 
Looking at the results, honestly, this thing looks like a headscratcher. If it's barely running performance mode settings of the PS5 at 30fps and still dropping frames when pushed, how the hell are they going to support this thing going forward? Let's assume most games in the future run at 60fps on the ps6 with a reduced settings mode at 30fps mode on the ps5. What the hell happens to the handheld version?

Also, how well will it handle 30fps titles on the PS5? From all the discussion that was being had with the leaks, it was pretty much painting a picture of it running the PS5 version of the game at a lower resolution a streamlined and stable profile, but with it targeting performance mode settings at half the framerate and a lower res on top this becomes a much messier scenario.

If they put in 8 CPU cores, even clocked lower like in the current handhelds, this thing could have scaled much better, considering GPU settings are much easier to scale down, but with 4 CPU cores....honestly, this isn't looking good, and if Sony makes support mandatory for PS6 games, this could be a real anchor on the PS6. Hopefully, the actual device performs better because for me this looks like a headache in the making.
 
I agree that Sony would have a tough time keeping up with Nintendo's sales figures, but it's not like they still can't have a successful product. I don't see how one could state it's a waste of resources simply due to Sony not moving as many units as the Switch 2. In other words, it's not a zero sum game

I think it's a waste because it will not expand their customer base, at least not significantly; people will but the PS6 no matter what, whether it's tethered or hybrid. And worse, it could even damage the brand of it feels like it's holding back the PS6.

we also see with the PS5 that Sony is having a hard time delivering a constant stream of high quality first party releases. Part of that was poor planning, but it's also the fact that developing games taking advantage of modern hardware takes a crazy amount of resources. I don't think that adding a new sku is a good idea.
 
Looking at the results, honestly, this thing looks like a headscratcher. If it's barely running performance mode settings of the PS5 at 30fps and still dropping frames when pushed, how the hell are they going to support this thing going forward? Let's assume most games in the future run at 60fps on the ps6 with a reduced settings mode at 30fps mode on the ps5. What the hell happens to the handheld version?

Also, how well will it handle 30fps titles on the PS5? From all the discussion that was being had with the leaks, it was pretty much painting a picture of it running the PS5 version of the game at a lower resolution a streamlined and stable profile, but with it targeting performance mode settings at half the framerate and a lower res on top this becomes a much messier scenario.

If they put in 8 CPU cores, even clocked lower like in the current handhelds, this thing could have scaled much better, considering GPU settings are much easier to scale down, but with 4 CPU cores....honestly, this isn't looking good, and if Sony makes support mandatory for PS6 games, this could be a real anchor on the PS6. Hopefully, the actual device performs better because for me this looks like a headache in the making.
The device will have a smaller screen, the resolutions can be lowered, as well as other visual parameters, this will make it work.

So we'll see.
 
Looking at the results, honestly, this thing looks like a headscratcher. If it's barely running performance mode settings of the PS5 at 30fps and still dropping frames when pushed, how the hell are they going to support this thing going forward? Let's assume most games in the future run at 60fps on the ps6 with a reduced settings mode at 30fps mode on the ps5. What the hell happens to the handheld version?

Also, how well will it handle 30fps titles on the PS5? From all the discussion that was being had with the leaks, it was pretty much painting a picture of it running the PS5 version of the game at a lower resolution a streamlined and stable profile, but with it targeting performance mode settings at half the framerate and a lower res on top this becomes a much messier scenario.

If they put in 8 CPU cores, even clocked lower like in the current handhelds, this thing could have scaled much better, considering GPU settings are much easier to scale down, but with 4 CPU cores....honestly, this isn't looking good, and if Sony makes support mandatory for PS6 games, this could be a real anchor on the PS6. Hopefully, the actual device performs better because for me this looks like a headache in the making.

👇
what I think is that these modes aren't an indication to what the handheld can do. these modes still run on PS5 hardware (Zen2, RDNA2) and dev kits.
I assume these are low effort patches to make the games compatible for launch. BUT the PS Handheld will in the end have features these "quick and dirty" updates can not take advantage of.

the handheld will have FSR4/PSSR2 compatibility, while the current dev kits for this mode do not.
the handheld will have far superior RT hardware, while the current patches can't take that into account.
so once the handheld is out, actually fully optimised PS Handheld profiles for upcoming games will probably look completely different and will use the hardware very differently than these patches do right now.

so these patches are just a way to help devs make easy compatibility updates, so that the Handheld has a large library of games at launch.
while anything post launch will actually take full advantage of the hardware... well, as much as they take full advantage of other systems at least... which isn't always optimal lol
 
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The device will have a smaller screen, the resolutions can be lowered, as well as other visual parameters, this will make it work.

So we'll see.
The resolutions and settings are already being reduced, though, and it's already at 30fps and below when pushed hard how do you scale down cpu workloads down further when already at 30fps? Especially in games that are already struggling to hit 60fps in PS5 performance modes. I am hoping these are the worst-case scenario unpatched simulations because otherwise, this will be rough.
 
Neither is it anywhere close to where a Handheld would sit, in any of the metrics.
Also they launched the ECO mode as end-user facing, even on Pro consoles - none of it has any value for a theoretical handheld profile which will target a different TDP, different pixel resolution, on a different CPU, GPU with different performance targets.

The rumor that 'confirms' the Handheld even states "will run PS5 games similarly to PS5 console with 'special support' and lower performance when not". That's the opposite of what the ECO mode does.


The only thing that is similar to what a handheld might do is the bandwidth, which roughly matches high-end handhelds today. But that's just as likely to be coincidental (the broken clock thing), and could end up low-balling hardware in 2-3 years for all we know.

But sure... If Sony's strategy is to market a new Handheld as the 'green way to play PS5 games, badly', the Vita will be viewed as massive success in comparison.
Although the power draw is hitting about 100watts, on lithography changes a new PS6 handheld would drop figure by all the node on node gains, so likely about 35watts, and then the efficiency changes from RDNA2 to RDNA5 probably allows the RDNA5 silicon execute the same work with 40% less GPU active giving a power use of around 20-25watts, so on that basis I wouldn't rule out it being possibly for a handheld.

But if having to guess, I would say this is for headless PS Portal mode, where the console should be using less power than 100watts if the hdmi out is off - because the TV is off - maybe with a plan for PS6 to ship with a Portal - WiiU style - by default, and obviously running games remotely on PS Portal that can't benefit from the 200watts mode is as claimed a big waste of power.

Alternatively, this could be a mode designed to pair back titles to leave processing headroom for adding PSSR2/FSR4 - Steamdeck style - to PS5 games.

Far less likely - without 100% of PS5 games updated - but it could be that Sony still want PS5 to be mainstream priced for wider market adoption and are considering a PS5 lite that only runs games in power saving mode and runs on a Canis silicon.
 
Fair enough, but then Sony would know the general performance profile to target when PSSR isn't available, and the question becomes how many devs will actually put the effort in to patch their ps5 games for the portable when there is no incentive for new sales. Devs are already doing fk all or the bare minimum to support the PS5 Pro, and a lot of games aren't even using pssr and Sony has put in little effort and isn't willing to throw in funds etc, to help with ports and patches. If they just leave things to devs, there aren't going to be a lot of games targeting the specific strengths of this platform, and will just use the bare minimum patch enforced by Sony, which seems to be this eco profile.

The second problem is that not a lot of games are using comprehensive rt effects on the PS5; most just use rt reflections and basic gi at best. The performance gains games with rudimentary rt effects aren't going to be enough when it barely leverages the full strength of the rt hardware. This isn't like the switch where the games are specifically designed to take advantage of the optimizations of the efficient hardware. This is the PS5 profile being shoehorned on Canis for the majority of the PS5 games out. New games from first-party devs will for sure have decent canis modes, but do you really have confidence in devs going out of their way to support the handheld when even Sony's own first party has been doing the bare minimum in supporting the pro? We still dont have a pro patch for Cyberpunk a clear rt showcase, for e,g and if the majority of ps5 games will have to rely on the eco unpatched build how will that work out since alot of the ue5 releases are struggling like hell hitting 40fps in performance modes on the ps5 at 720-900p res...how do you downscale from that when youre struggling to hit half the framerate at reduced res and settings targeting ps5 perfformance modes.
 
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The device will have a smaller screen, the resolutions can be lowered, as well as other visual parameters, this will make it work.

So we'll see.

the leak says it's dockable. so I think these profiles here might be the docked modes, and we currently don't even see the handheld modes that are already built in now.
 
Fair enough, but then Sony would know the general performance profile to target when pssr isnt available, and thequestion becomes how many devs will actually put the effort in to patch their ps5 games for the portable when there is no incentive of new sales. Devs are already doing fk all or the bare minimum to support the PS5 Pro, and a lot of games aren't even using pssr and Sony has put in little effort and isnt willing to throw in funds etc, to help with ports and patches. If they just leave things to devs, there aren't going to be a lot of games targeting the specific strengths of this platform and will just use the bare minimum patch enforced by Sony, which seems to be this eco profile.

PSSR will not be the only upscaler compatible with the handheld. even if PSSR2 comes out, devs can also just use FSR4, which they already implement on PC anyways.
this is also why these current power saving modes aren't compatible with PSSR, they aren't meant for current PS5 systems.

how much effort devs put into these modes is of course hard to predict. we see that the Series S often gets a barely acceptable version due to the lack of optimisation... but the leaked handheld seems easier to adjust your games for than the Series S at least.

and my guess is also that Sony expects decent versions due to the existence of the Switch 2, and they possibly have insider knowledge about a Series S2 with a similar performance profile as their handheld... they are working directly with AMD after all, and I bet it's hard for either console maker to keep stuff secret from the other at this point.


The second problem becomes not alot of games are using comprehensive rt effects on the ps5; most just use rt reflections and basic gi at best. The performance gains games with rudimentary rt effects isnt going to be enough when it barely leverages the full strength of the rt hardware. This isnt like the switch where teh games are specifically designed to take advantage of the optimizations of the efficient hardware. This is the PS5 profile being shoehorned on canis for the majority of the ps5 games out. New games from first party devs will for sure have decent canis modes but do you really have confidence in devs going out of their way to support the handheld when even Sonys own first party has been doing the bare minimum in supporting the pro?

if Devs are forced to have PS5 game parity, they will have to find a way to support it either way. how well the games will turn out on it is really hard to predict.


We still dont have a pro patch for Cyberpunk, for e,g and if the majority of ps5 games have to rely on the eco unpatched build how will that work out since alot of the ue5 releases are struggling like hell hitting 40fps in performance modes on the ps5 at 720-900p res...how do you downscale from that when youre struggling to hit half the framerate at reduced res and settings targeting ps5 perfformance modes.

well, remember that this handheld is more powerful than the Series S. so, the Series S does run all of these games.
expect Series S performance, minus the texture quality issues, and minus the raytracing issues due to low memory.
it's a Series S, but without the bottlenecks essentially... well... almost... the CPU could be slightly worse maybe
 
Although the power draw is hitting about 100watts, on lithography changes a new PS6 handheld would drop figure by all the node on node gains, so likely about 35watts, and then the efficiency changes from RDNA2 to RDNA5 probably allows the RDNA5 silicon execute the same work with 40% less GPU active giving a power use of around 20-25watts, so on that basis I wouldn't rule out it being possibly for a handheld.
Oh I'd be onboard for a focused handheld with TDP target up to 30W anytime. I use one daily and the cooling keeps up just fine with noise levels comparable to both Switches - and frankly I prefer the larger screens now. A major platform holder producing the hw would get FAR better results, I'm sure.
Just not sure 'Sony' would try going that route - nothing they ever did handheld was power-guzzling before, they were much closer to Nintendo in power usage envelope than not, even in the PSP era. Also leaks claim 15W - though for all we know that's made-up number based on SteamDeck established metrics, rather than any real leak.

But if having to guess, I would say this is for headless PS Portal mode, where the console should be using less power than 100watts if the hdmi out is off - because the TV is off - maybe with a plan for PS6 to ship with a Portal - WiiU style - by default, and obviously running games remotely on PS Portal that can't benefit from the 200watts mode is as claimed a big waste of power.
This one is interesting and not something I've considered before. Though frankly if that was the target why not force resolution target to 1080p. Sure that would inevitably draw handheld comparisons too - but it'd actually logically make sense for both - unlike what we got here which is just - not a fit at all.

Alternatively, this could be a mode designed to pair back titles to leave processing headroom for adding PSSR2/FSR4 - Steamdeck style - to PS5 games.
If you mean system-wide upscaling, that is only spatial, and with AI it just looks godawful (yes the CoPilot upscaler whatever is called is awful too). I know large streaming platforms are employing enshitification of all their video lately this way - but it's genuinely something I would never, ever want to use if I had user control over it.
Frankly I hope youtube crashes and burns over this (and anyone else doing it) - it's the worst thing that's been done to video in entire history of it.
But I digress - this would still be explained as 'user facing feature that is designed to not be the user facing feature it is released as' - it's the antithesis of software development in really really bizarre ways. Not that I'd put it past a giant corporation to do something genuinely stupid - we all know they do stupid things a plenty, but it's just usually not... in plain sight like this/advertised as it.

Far less likely - without 100% of PS5 games updated - but it could be that Sony still want PS5 to be mainstream priced for wider market adoption and are considering a PS5 lite that only runs games in power saving mode and runs on a Canis silicon.
I mean the handheld leak is also based on 'not 100% updates' so that's the default assumption here why 'this' is considered related (neither will ever be 100%). But yes - I've speculated that a PS Lite was more likely than a handheld when Eco mode was initially 'leaked'.
Obviously Sony has done 'lite' console using the handheld chips before - so there's precedent for both being possible. A 99-199 PS5 would reach the markets Sony hasn't reached since the PS2 so... maybe? 🤷‍♀️ I mean they've abandoned a segment of the mass market with current pricing strategies (a 35% segment if we go by PS2 sales).
But then our resident insiders all disagree with this one though...
 
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Oh I'd be onboard for a focused handheld with TDP target up to 30W anytime. I use one daily and the cooling keeps up just fine with noise levels comparable to both Switches - and frankly I prefer the larger screens now. A major platform holder producing the hw would get FAR better results, I'm sure.
Just not sure 'Sony' would try going that route - nothing they ever did handheld was power-guzzling before, they were much closer to Nintendo in power usage envelope than not, even in the PSP era. Also leaks claim 15W - though for all we know that's made-up number based on SteamDeck established metrics, rather than any real leak.
It is possible the 15w figure could be real, depending on what the clocks of the eco mode are on PS5, scaling down by lithography would offer higher efficiency gains node on node the closer the clocks get to 1.2Ghz -1.4Ghz or lower.

Just a back of the packet calc ~200watts -> 100watts. factoring out Fat to digital 10watt TDP difference for disc drive, and another 9watts for the SSD based on NVME M.2 power use. Then factoring the TDP of the CPU part being 65watts and it being scaled by half to 32.5watts because of the half cores usage.

We are then comparing 116watts for the GPU down to 48.5watts for a clock lowering equal to 41.8% of the power, and asking co-pilot, it suggests that a quadratic relationship is typical, projecting that such a TDP drop would be a clock of around .... 1.4Ghz :)
is in the correct ballpark for node gains being bigger savings.
//co-pilot cal Quadratic scaling (P ∝ f^2): f ≈ 2.23 GHz × sqrt(0.418) ≈ 1.44 GHz


This one is interesting and not something I've considered before. Though frankly if that was the target why not force resolution target to 1080p. Sure that would inevitably draw handheld comparisons too - but it'd actually logically make sense for both - unlike what we got here which is just - not a fit at all.
I'm pretty sure it already gets downscaled to 1080p but that isn't saving power at the backend(PS5) by 50%
If you mean system-wide upscaling, that is only spatial, and with AI it just looks godawful (yes the CoPilot upscaler whatever is called is awful too). I know large streaming platforms are employing enshitification of all their video lately this way - but it's genuinely something I would never, ever want to use if I had user control over it.
Frankly I hope youtube crashes and burns over this (and anyone else doing it) - it's the worst thing that's been done to video in entire history of it.
But I digress - this would still be explained as 'user facing feature that is designed to not be the user facing feature it is released as' - it's the antithesis of software development in really really bizarre ways. Not that I'd put it past a giant corporation to do something genuinely stupid - we all know they do stupid things a plenty, but it's just usually not... in plain sight like this/advertised as it.
I'm not so sure. TAA has been used on by itself or as part of a scaler on a lot of PS5 games so I think patching in FSR4/PSSR2 in place of TAA/FSR3 might be easier than expected if eco mode is using half the power and leaving half the performance of the PS5 GPU for FSR4/PSSR2.
I mean the handheld leak is also based on 'not 100% updates' so that's the default assumption here why 'this' is considered related (neither will ever be 100%). But yes - I've speculated that a PS Lite was more likely than a handheld when Eco mode was initially 'leaked'.
Obviously Sony has done 'lite' console using the handheld chips before - so there's precedent for both being possible. A 99-199 PS5 would reach the markets Sony hasn't reached since the PS2 so... maybe? 🤷‍♀️ I mean they've abandoned a segment of the mass market with current pricing strategies (a 35% segment if we go by PS2 sales).
But then our resident insiders all disagree with this one though...
Yeah, I mean a lite mode for 3rd party games would probably just be a switch to use Series S settings and PlayStation updating their own games probably would be an acceptable amount of work for either a PS% lite or a handheld
 
PSSR will not be the only upscaler compatible with the handheld. even if PSSR2 comes out, devs can also just use FSR4, which they already implement on PC anyways.
this is also why these current power saving modes aren't compatible with PSSR, they aren't meant for current PS5 systems.

how much effort devs put into these modes is of course hard to predict. we see that the Series S often gets a barely acceptable version due to the lack of optimisation... but the leaked handheld seems easier to adjust your games for than the Series S at least.

and my guess is also that Sony expects decent versions due to the existence of the Switch 2, and they possibly have insider knowledge about a Series S2 with a similar performance profile as their handheld... they are working directly with AMD after all, and I bet it's hard for either console maker to keep stuff secret from the other at this point.




if Devs are forced to have PS5 game parity, they will have to find a way to support it either way. how well the games will turn out on it is really hard to predict.




well, remember that this handheld is more powerful than the Series S. so, the Series S does run all of these games.
expect Series S performance, minus the texture quality issues, and minus the raytracing issues due to low memory.
it's a Series S, but without the bottlenecks essentially... well... almost... the CPU could be slightly worse maybe
It dosent matter if its fsr4 or pssr2, the problem is that there would be a need for a patch to be released to support said scalars, when playing the games. If the majority of current games dont have pssr patches(worse still this thing might not be compatible with pssr1) and they won't get patches, then the handheld is stuck in the hamstrung, unpatched state. Unless Sony came up with some systemwide auto pssr2 mode then the majority of games will be played without reconstruction since little chance of devs releasing patches outside of a few for old games when there is no dedicated version being made to gain new sales.

The thing with nitendo is sadly completely different, that scenario has devs creating dedicated ported down versions specifically optimized for it, and has nothing to do with it serving as the target platform, which would result in less demanding games that would in theory run on the canis better. I mean the switch, for example had absolutely no say in deciding pipelines and still got dedicated downports requiring a lot of effort.
Yes, this is stronger than the Series S in gpu tech, memory amount but a core difference is the CPU, the series S has the same CPU as the other consoles, which means parity in cpu workloads and framerate targets when gpu workloads are scaled down. The problem here is that the canis has half the CPU cores and is probably clocked lower, the improved architecture will probably make up for the lower clocks and a little more, but it seems to result in target limits of half the performance in cpu bound scenarios. So when you can't scale down CPU performance which is not easy at all with dedicated ports, how do you get this thing to perform at acceptable levels in demanding PS5 games? for e.g dragons dogma, baldurs gate, ue5 games. I have to say the decision to put in the 4core cpu in there is looking pretty shortsighted for a device that has all the makings of a easily scalable system even current handhelds have 8core cpus and would have created a system that could in theory scale well even with the ps6 with decent patches but with the cpu deficit its an unbalanced system especially in the dev enviorment. This reminds me of the bandwidth design on the ps5pro....a baffling decision that hamstrung the system heavily.
 
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It dosent matter if its fsr4 or pssr2, the problem is that there would be a need for a patch to be released to support said scalars, when playing the games. If the majority of current games dont have pssr patches(worse still this thing might not be compatible with pssr1) and they won't get patches, then the handheld is stuck in the hamstrung, unpatched state. Unless Sony came up with some systemwide auto pssr2 mode then the majority of games will be played without reconstruction since little chance of devs releasing patches outside of a few for old games when there is no dedicated version being made to gain new sales.

The thing with nitendo is sadly completely different, that scenario has devs creating dedicated ported down versions specifically optimized for it, and has nothing to do with it serving as the target platform, which would result in less demanding games that would in theory run on the canis better. I mean the switch, for example had absolutely no say in deciding pipelines and still got dedicated downports requiring a lot of effort.
Yes, this is stronger than the Series S in gpu tech, memory amount but a core difference is the CPU, the series S has the same CPU as the other consoles, which means parity in cpu workloads and framerate targets when gpu workloads are scaled down. The problem here is that the canis has half the CPU cores and is probably clocked lower, the improved architecture will probably make up for the lower clocks and a little more, but it seems to result in target limits of half the performance in cpu bound scenarios. So when you can't scale down CPU performance which is not easy at all with dedicated ports, how do you get this thing to perform at acceptable levels in demanding PS5 games? for e.g dragons dogma, baldurs gate, ue5 games. I have to say the decision to put in the 4core cpu in there is looking pretty shortsighted for a device that has all the makings of a easily scalable system even current handhelds have 8core cpus and would have created a system that could in theory scale well even with the ps6 with decent patches but with the cpu deficit its an unbalanced system especially in the dev enviorment. This reminds me of the bandwidth design on the ps5pro....a baffling decision that hamstrung the system heavily.

you have to look at all currently available PS5 games as backwards compatibility for the Handheld. not perfect, just a warmup to have a decent library at launch. only close to, and after its release will it get actual dedicated ports.
I assume they will force PS5 parity, but that doesn't mean it will be handled like a PS5 on the dev-kits. the handheld ports will probably be done on PS6 dev-kits, and on a software side be handled like PS6 games, not like PS5 games. so it will run PS6 software, and PS5 software, but on the consumer facing side they will all present as just the same library, and only PS5 parity is guaranteed. that's my expectation.
and PS6 games will most likely, UNIVERSALLY, use FSR4 or PSSR2, and they will also make full use of the new RT hardware and the better CPU architecture.

I look at these "power saver" games like "Xbox Series X|S Enhanced" games on Xbox. yes they are "adjusted" for the new system, but not actually developed as games for it.
having Handheld compatibility by using a PS5 dev-kit and the power saver mode, will also allow smaller teams that maybe don't have a PS6 dev-kit yet, or don't have the manpower to port their game to the PS6 SDK environment, to still support the handheld with these... lesser... ports/modes. like how many devs didn't bother making Series X|S and PS5 ports, but just patched the games to take advantage of them.

I think Rocket League for example STILL has no PS5 and Series X|S version, just patches for 120fps, because it's a UE3 game, and they would need to port UE3 to the current dev-kits themselves to make a dedicated version. having these "power saver" modes instead is just an easy and quick way to "port" games to the handheld.
 
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Exactly, thats a 1 million increase in 2 years. That is terrible considering the overall gaming TAM and how much the TAM has shrunk for consoles. Look at the data.
PS has been increasing more than that per year. It increased 7M.
Isn't Steam at 140M MAU? An open platform that everyone with a toaster can have a steam account everywhere in the world in every country?

PS alone being 123M seems quite amazing for a closed platform that only truly started its online infrastructure during the PS3/4 eras and isn't available everywhere.

Nintendo doesn't reveal MAU...i think their numbers are annual so it's obviously higher than Sony's and it's at 129 million "Annual Playing Users" in 2024. An increase of 2M. But then again it was a single platform that had been released in 2017.

All of them seem to be really healthy and nothing about this is terrible.

Data from Europe in fact shows consoles are gaining market and PC gaming decreasing actually. In Japan "A breakdown by platform shows that the majority of Japanese gamers were mobile users (42.77 million people), followed by console users (29.51 million) and lastly, PC users (14.52 million)".
 
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