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[DeepEnigma]

OP was not saying it's an absolute downgrade from the PS4 Pro, they're saying it's a relative downgrade. As in PS4 to PS4 Pro had a larger difference in power for the same cost, where was PS5 to PS5 Pro was a smaller increase in power for a higher cost.

It's almost as if this is in industry wide phenomenon.

 

[Esquie]

It really is underwhelming. For me personally it's gonna come down to GTA6. If the Pro significantly upgraded GTA6 over the Series X version I'll buy a Pro.

Bro I don't mean to be rude are all your posts just retarded gifs? Just about every single one is a dumb unfunny gif. Every time I see that avatar when scrolling down 9 times outta 10 it's a spam gif. And yeah I know this post is gonna get a gif

 

[Kazekage1981]

Perhaps the Pro alone will be worth it for GTA6? 4k, 60fps, raytracing?!

Skipping PS5, PS5Pro, Xbox Series, will definitely own magnus and ps6, skipped PS4/PS4Pro as well. Still stuck with XboneX

 

[GymWolf]

Mid-gen refreshes need to die in a fire.

Wtf did MidGenRefresh did to you?

 

[corgiix3]

idk i think its great minus konami games

 

[DeepEnigma]

Bro I don't mean to be rude are all your posts just retarded gifs? Just about every single one is a dumb unfunny gif. Every time I see that avatar when scrolling down 9 times outta 10 it's a spam gif. And yeah I know this post is gonna get a gif

I responded to a gif with a gif,

 

[MidGenRefresh]

Wtf did MidGenRefresh did to you?

 

[The_Observer]

I agree and am glad since all that you talked about make me feel good about not having wasted money on one.

 

[AeonGaidenRaiden]

The fact that the whole point of the PRO like it was with PS4 Pro, was to have everything running on max with all bells and whistles without you needing to change anything. Instead you again got a console where you need to chose what graphical settings you want on just like on the base PS5. Dumbest release by a long shot. Not to mention, theres games looking worse on the Pro than on the base console.

 

[Gusy]

the big issue here is that devs just aren't optimizing for it. Look at Avowed that just came out, they bump up the resolution and call it a day.

Sometimes that is enough to make the game look a lot better - Ninja Gaiden 4 is an example of this - but often not

Yes and no. Obviously we will not get the best Pro experiences in titles where PS5 was not the original lead platform for the devs. So you can expect lots of Microsoft owned studio ports to be sub-par on that front with maybe a few exceptions. Sony 1st party studios are doing a pretty good job supporting it, but that's obviously expected. So you have to look at the big 3rd party publishers output to get a better picture.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Space Marine 2, Hellblade 2, The Resident Evil games, Monster Hunter Wilds, Stellar Blade, Forza Horizon 5, Battlefield 6 , Control, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Black Myth Wukong, The Callisto Protocol, FF7 Rebirth, No Mans Sky, Etc... Also there are a few games that made a pretty good comeback after an initial lackluster Pro update, like Jedi Survivor, Star Wars Outlaws and Avatar. Some people may think that the IQ in those games is still lacking but for me given the performance you get..... those games look incredible on Pro.

Also, I give a lot of value to being able to play older games like Uncharted 4 and GOW Ragnarok with great IQ (1440p-ish) at a basically locked 120 fps. It really breathes new life on those games.

I think there is a lot to like there.. but still.. It should be a lot better. I'm super positive with the Pro and I think we will see this year lots of titles that are going to flex those Pro hardware muscles.

 

[diffusionx]

Yes and no. Obviously we will not get the best Pro experiences in titles where PS5 was not the original lead platform for the devs. So you can expect lots of Microsoft owned studio ports to be sub-par on that front with maybe a few exceptions. Sony 1st party studios are doing a pretty good job supporting it, but that's obviously expected. So you have to look at the big 3rd party publishers output to get a better picture.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, Space Marine 2, Hellblade 2, The Resident Evil games, Monster Hunter Wilds, Stellar Blade, Forza Horizon 5, Battlefield 6 , Control, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Black Myth Wukong, The Callisto Protocol, FF7 Rebirth, No Mans Sky, Etc... Also there are a few games that made a pretty good comeback after an initial lackluster Pro update, like Jedi Survivor, Star Wars Outlaws and Avatar. Some people may think that the IQ in those games is still lacking but for me given the performance you get..... those games look incredible on Pro.

Also, I give a lot of value to being able to play older games like Uncharted 4 and GOW Ragnarok with great IQ (1440p-ish) at a basically locked 120 fps. It really breathes new life on those games.

I think there is a lot to like there.. but still.. It should be a lot better. I'm super positive with the Pro and I think we will see this year lots of titles that are going to flex those Pro hardware muscles.

sure, I couldnt believe how good spiderman 2 looked when i loaded it up (shame about the actual game). avatar similarly looks great.

I like the PS5 Pro, just wish other devs supported it better. But as you point out, the list of games that do is pretty long and it tends to be the higher profile ones.

 

[keefged4]

It has been a waste of money so far. Until GTA VI comes out that is.

 

[Bernardougf]

Yeah for me it was a big let down compared to the ps4 pro ... and to make matter worse we have games performing worse in the pro because of the broken pssr ....Im definitely avoiding any Pro console in the future.

 

[Clear]

The fundamental issue is that for the Pro to look good, the regular PS5 version has to seem weak. People make value judgements based on difference.

Generally speaking, that's not common. But that's also a good thing for the majority of gamers.

 

[Tqaulity]

OP was not saying it's an absolute downgrade from the PS4 Pro, they're saying it's a relative downgrade. As in PS4 to PS4 Pro had a larger difference in power for the same cost, where was PS5 to PS5 Pro was a smaller increase in power for a higher cost.

While this is true in a literal sense, it completely misses the point of the PS5 Pro. Anyone still comparing raw HW specs as a measure of power in 2026 is archaic in their thinking and missing the boat. The value and impact of the PS5 Pro is not in any Compute Units and Ghz numbers but in the fact that it is the FIRST gaming console with dedicated machine learning capabilities. That is where it's power lies, that will be it's legacy, and that is where it's impact will come from.

You guys need to understand that we are entering the age of machine learning in gaming where it will be EVERYWHERE and dominate HW and SW for years to come. PS6 and Magnus will be heavy with it, all Nvidia, AMD, and Intel HW will be heavy on it going forward, and nearly every game coming out in the next generation (at least AAA games) will use it in some way. The fact that the PS5 PRO has ML capabilities means that A) it's value will continue to grow over time and B) that it's lifespan can be extended. Come next gen when PS6 is out and games are built around RT and ML, many of those games will simply not be possible to run on a base PS5 or Xbox Series console. But they technically can on a PS5 Pro (albeit with lower resolution and frame rates). Yeah I know machine learning doesn't mean much to the average gamer today but trust, the tidal wave is coming and PS5 Pro is built for the future.

The fact that we can even look forward to a PSSR 2.0 or Redstone integration is a testament to the value of the PS5 Pro and something no other console could deliver on. We're excited because of the possibility of a dramatic improvement in how games can run on this machine over 1 year removed from it's launch WITHOUT ANY CHANGES TO IT's HW. That is the power of machine learning. It will continually improve over time. Sure all we have today is PSSR 1 which is a mixed bag to be sure. But if you can image a world where PS5 PRO is running the full compliment of FSR Redstone technologies including FSR 4 SR, FG, and RR we are talking legitimate transformations in what we can expect from our console games. Improvements to the SR can match or surpass native quality modes in most cases. FG as an option can legitimately take any 60fps perf mode today (which is >98% of all games released this gen) and push them to 120fps with minimal impact to latency (using 60fps as a base). And Ray Regeneration can clean up the noise that is evident in many PS5 games with ray tracing today including the likes of Silent Hill 2, Hogwarts Legacy, GT7, and Alan Wake 2 (and likely Control Resonant coming out soon). I'm not saying this will all be realized this year, but if it comes to fruition, it will add tremendous value and dramatic improvements that cannot be matched on the base PS5 or either Xbox Series machines.

But all of that is talk about the potential right? What about today? Well I still submit that having played well over 50 games on the PRO since launch, the majority of games show meaningful improvements on the PS5 PRO today. In fact, all of the games I'm actively playing today are noticeably better on PRO with little to no drawbacks. Helldivers 2 looks and runs much better on the PRO. Battlefield 6 also looks and runs much better on the PRO. FFVII Rebirth of course is a world of difference on the PRO. AC Shadows is much better on the PRO. Death Stranding 2 looks noticeably better on PRO. Ghosts of Yotei is a remarkable improvement on the PRO. GT7 is a substantial upgrade on PRO (despite having some PSSR IQ issues), Returnal is much improved on PRO. COD BO6 is substantially better on PRO. Elden Ring and Witcher 3 both look and run better on PRO even without a dedicated patch. All of the Insomniac games are huge improvements in every respect on PRO. Hell pretty much all Sony 1st party games are dramatically improved on PRO. I could go on and on but there are plenty of shining examples today with and without PSSR on PRO today. Sure there are a number of lazy ports (pretty much ALL of the Xbox ports are disgraces on PRO which is not the fault of the HW of course) and the Silent Hill games still not receiving any updates is a bad look. But all in all, the PRO is an improvment in many cases and a much better improvement than what the PS4 PRO bought despite higher raw specs. Is it a better value, absolutely not! But the host of improvements the PS5 PRO brings in the best cases (i.e SpiderMan 2 with higher perceived resolution, higher framerates, and additional graphical features/RT effects) is far beyond the best cases on PS4 PRO with checkerboarding and 30fps lock

 

[TGO]

Actually Sony released a System Update today... guess what, nothing!

 

[DeepEnigma]

Actually Sony released a System Update today... guess what, nothing!

Time to dust these off,

 

[Montauk]

Actually Sony released a System Update today... guess what, nothing!

WRONG; all shinies got 0.7% shinier.

 

[saintjules]

I responded to a gif with a gif,

 

[Danjin44]

Here is the issue with Pro, no matter how powerful it is it will always be compromised because all games has to run decently on base systems.

You never see a game exclusively made for Pro system.

 

[Celcius]

Here is the issue with Pro, no matter how powerful it is it will always be compromised because all games has to run decently on base systems.

You never see a game exclusively made for Pro system.

The PS4 Pro was an actual big jump though taking games from 1080p to 4K in many cases. The PS5 Pro just feels like a slight increase with better AI upscaling.

 

[kevboard]

it is among the worst pro consoles for sure. maybe the New 3DS is worse, but only because it got so little support... once you actually softmod it and run games with its full hardware unlocked it's actually amazing. but even Pokemon completely ignored it, which was insane tbh.

 

[Sethbacca]

You never see a game exclusively made for Pro system.

I mean, basically this is the same as saying that there is no reason for high end graphics cards to exist because the mid range ones exist. Nobody makes games exclusively for NVxx90 cards yet people are paying thousands for them at this point.

Some people just like higher fps and (mostly) better visuals.

 

[Haint]

It's kinda beastly actually, especially for $700.

I'm fairly confident the ~$700 5060 desktops you could buy over the holidays have better image quality and performance (thanks to DLSS) than PS5 Pro. Not exactly what I would qualify as beastly for $700.

 

[Danjin44]

I mean, basically this is the same as saying that there is no reason for high end graphics cards to exist because the mid range ones exist. Nobody makes games exclusively for NVxx90 cards yet people are paying thousands for them at this point.

Some people just like higher fps and (mostly) better visuals.

I'm no expert on PC gaming but PCs are open systems and have vast variety of options to customize graphical setting and the diffidence between ultra setting and mid setting on PCs is bigger than between Pro and base on consoles.

 

[RoboFu]

I'm fairly confident the ~$700 5060 desktops you could buy over the holidays have better image quality and performance (thanks to DLSS) than PS5 Pro. Not exactly what I would qualify as beastly for $700.

lol no there were no $700 gaming pcs that came with any decent gpus to match the ps5 pro. not even close.

 

[p_xavier]

The gimped HDMI output is where I'm still mad AF with my purchase.

 

[cafecat]

Because Moore's Law is dead and also PS4 has way weaker CPU, pure hardware power increase speed (GPUs and CPUs performance upgrade per gen now)

• is slower, and
• more expansive (2nm~3nm)
  The price per wafer has skyrocketed as the complexity of the "mask sets" and the cost of machinery increase.
  • 8nm / 7nm: ~$10,000. This is currently considered the "sweet spot" for high-performance cost efficiency.
  • 5nm: ~$16,000. Costs jumped as EUV layers became mandatory.
  • 3nm: ~$20,000. Costs rose further due to increased double/quadruple patterning requirements.
  • 2nm: ~$30,000. According to reports from International Business Strategies (IBS), the shift to GAA transistors and potential High-NA EUV tools pushes the cost nearly 50% higher than 3nm.
    

The problem of PS5 Pro is its PSSR is still DLSS2 level but it needs input of minimal 864p and it works bad with game with Lumen (or other GI). The GPU's power is now considering all the AI graphicial tech, and more and more developers including these stuffs in their game design (like art design under raytracing) and optimizations. I don't think we now can just comparing GPUs by raw power.

All next gen like PS6, Xbox and NS3 will have the current AI tech on PC gaming and new features powering the game developing and desing, for example hardware accelerators dense geometries rendering, universal rendering and e.t.c.

I trade in for a PS5 pro, and I'm not going for the PS6 home console at its launch and waiting for the handheld. The main advantage for me is in most case, I can have a better visuals in performance mode (pro mode/high frame mode and e.t.c.).

 

[Azelover]

It's the best Sony could do with Moore's law dead.. PS6 will be the same story.

 

[Kokoloko85]

This is technically true, but realistically, PS4 Pro was a more valuable upgrade:

- Going from HD to 4K + HDR. For 4K TV owners, this was a must.
- Enhanced VR
- Affordable price

PS5 Pro is a lesser jump at a much higher price.

Maybe, and you're probably right.

I liked both.
PS4 Pro was a jet engine though and only got Horizon, Death Starnding, GOT, and Gow to 40-45fps.
And did get Dark Souls 3 and Sekiro to 60fps without patches. I think Kingdom Hearts 3 to 60fps with a patch, compared to PS4.
Im glad they made it, because it opened the doors for developers to make performance and quality mode. Before that, games were mostly 1 choice.

Whereas with PS5 Pro, now Im playing 60fps games on Quality mode and some with RT.

It also saved games like FF7 Rebirth, Alan Wake 2, Dragons Dogma 2 for me. Its been a treat and gives a better experience than PS4 Pro did. But I wish the UI was made faster and there was quick loading.

PS5 Pro also enhances VR games like GT7, and its probably the best use of VR2.

 

[Topher]

It's not better than guerrilla homemade solution if memory doesn't trick me.

Definitely. Wish all PS games were made with Decima.

 

[Topher]

It's the best Sony could do with Moore's law dead.. PS6 will be the same story.

Yep. Consoles are incremental upgrades. Generational leaps are long gone.

 

[DeepEnigma]

PS5 Pro also enhances VR games like GT7, and its probably the best use of VR2.

That alone was worth it for me in spades.

Also, Helldivers 2 finally looks better and has the PC-level graphics now and is a major jump over the base version. I'd play on PC, but sadly there is no cross-progression and I refuse to start over. So it satisfies me for now in that regards.

 

[Radical_3d]

It's not better than guerrilla homemade solution if memory doesn't trick me.

Actually that thing looks like a million bucks. I wish I'd like the Horizon games.

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

 

[DeepEnigma]

It's not better than guerrilla homemade solution if memory doesn't trick me.

It's not, but that is also development time dependent and a built into a game-per-game basis even if an engine tool. Not like the ML solutions of DLL enabling, etc..

Hopefully PSSR2.0 is the FRS4 that's been hinted as.

 

[Sticks]

Xbox One X was a beast

 

[ByWatterson]

I'm fairly confident the ~$700 5060 desktops you could buy over the holidays have better image quality and performance (thanks to DLSS) than PS5 Pro. Not exactly what I would qualify as beastly for $700.

 

[HeisenbergFX4]

Why? It's not yet day and date like Xbox but the games still seem to be coming to PC.

At least for me there are still enough PS exclusives to make a PS6 worth it (even at $1000, sorry team)

 

[V2Tommy]

I'm quite disappointed. All I wanted was "Quality Mode graphics at Performance Mode framerates" and that is certainly not what we got. I'd even settle for a hacky system-wide "force higher performance" so it could apply to all games.

 

[Hawk The Slayer]

Never worth it even at that time since it was 700 dollars for a midgen upgrade and doesn't even include a disk drive.

 

[Kilau]

At least for me there are still enough PS exclusives to make a PS6 worth it (even at $1000, sorry team)

I guess if they continue to fund the 3rd party timed exclusives because first party releases are so sparse.

 

[GymWolf]

Actually that thing looks like a million bucks. I wish I'd like the Horizon games.

A million bucks?

 

[DeepEnigma]

A million bucks?

 

[Karim]

Slightly a year after the PS5 Pro launched, I think it's safe to say that it has failed to meet the expectations people have as a pro device. To break it down, let's look at the chart below:

	PS4	PS4 Pro	Improvement vs PS4	Xbox One	Xbox One X	Improvement vs Xbox One	PS5	PS5 Pro	Improvement vs PS5
Bandwidth	176 GB/s	217.6 GB/s	24% Greater	68.3 GB/s	326 GB/s	4.7x Greater	448 GB/s	576 GB/s	29% Greater
CPU Clocks	1.6 GHz	2.13 GHz	33% Greater	1.75 GHz	2.3 GHz	31% Greater	3.5 GHz	3.85 GHz	10% Greater
CPU Cores	8	8	-	8	8	-	8	8	-
Compute Units	18 CUs	36 CUs	2X Greater	12	40	3.3X Greater	36 CUs	60 CUs	67% Greater
GPU Clock Speed	800mhz	911mhz	14% Greater	853 mhz	1172 mhz	37% Greater	2.23 GHz	2.175 GHz	5% Less
TeraFlops	1.8 TFs	4.2 TFs	2.3X Greater	1.3 TFs	6 TFs	4.6x Greater	10.28 TFs	16.7 TFs	62% Greater
Raytracing	-	-	-	-	-	-	?	?	Rumored 2-4x Faster
Ram	8GB	8GB + 1GB DDR3	13% Greater	8 GB	12 GB	50% Greater	16GB	16GB + 2GB DDR5	13% Greater
Storage	500GB	1TB	2x Greater	500GB	1TB	2x Greater	825 GB	2TB	2.4X Greater
Price	$399	$399	No Difference	$500	$500	No Difference	$500	$700	40% Greater

Before we delve into the chart, let's discuss the PS4 Pro. The ps4 was favorably received due to it's increase in performance and it's price. It offered a notable jump from the PS4 at the same price.

The ps4 pro boosted the resolution from 900p-1080p on the base ps4 to 1440p-2160p on the ps4 pro. There wasn't too much attention paid to increasing the individual graphics settings but that did occur in some games.

The main complaint about the ps4 pro was that it primarily boosted resolution and did very little for frame rates. While valid, that complaint was due primarily to the anemic Jaguar cpus. A higher frequency didn't yield significantly more performance.

Looking at the Xbox One X, it was even better received than the PS4 Pro. It boosted resolutions from 720p-1080p on the Xbox One to 1800p-2160p on the Xbox One X.


When we compare the PS5 pro to the previous pro consoles, in all but Raytracing and Storage, it's basically a worse hardware improvement than previous pro consoles. The GPU fails to hit the 2x compute unit mark provided by the PS4 pro talk less of the Xbox One X.

The CPU frequency increase is worse than previous pro consoles as is the TFs, GPU clock speed, etc. So far, we have not seen large increases in resolution similar the PS4 Pro or Xbox One X. We have seen some frame rate improvements in cpu limited games however, we're seeing no more than a 10% improvement there.

Technologies like PSSR and Improved RT were supposed to increase the value proposition. However, outside of a handful of games, both of these features have failed to deliver.

Price is the biggest issue with the ps5 pro. a 40% increase in price over the base ps5 while being a complete downgrade from the PS4 Pro. To make matters worse, it doesn't even come with a disk drive.


What is a point of a pro console if you can't learn from the previous pro iteration? Charging a price premium for such a downgrade is a real head scratcher. Unfortunately for those looking forward to the PS6, it appears that Playstation is on track to offer a worse value proposition once again.

The rumored PS6 is supposed to have a marginal improvement in memory bandwidth, compute units, smaller chip, smaller tdp, while boasting a nice increase in price. Rumors do suggest that improved RT, ML capabilities and architectural improvements will make the PS6 a significant boost over the ps5 pro.

However, we have heard these exact rumors before in the lead up to the ps5 pro and we can see the results. AMD often misses their GPU performance targets so it would not be surprising to see that happen again with RDNA 5.

I'm on Team PS5 pro is a failure right now. Maybe that will change as the gen progresses but I don't see it. How does Gaf feel about the PS5 Pro so far?

Are you trolling or what? Because this whole post seems merely a bad attempt to flame a console war than a concrete argumentations about define it a safe failure.

 

[Radical_3d]

A million bucks?

Yes! Look:

This is exactly how I see Horizon games!!!

 

[Karim]

The fact that the whole point of the PRO like it was with PS4 Pro, was to have everything running on max with all bells and whistles without you needing to change anything. Instead you again got a console where you need to chose what graphical settings you want on just like on the base PS5. Dumbest release by a long shot. Not to mention, theres games looking worse on the Pro than on the base console.

Names please. I already knew this thread would ended with idiotic overdrammatic assertions.

 

[cafecat]

Because Moore's Law is dead and also PS4 has way weaker CPU, pure hardware power increase speed (GPUs and CPUs performance upgrade per gen now)

• is slower, and
• more expansive (2nm~3nm)
  The price per wafer has skyrocketed as the complexity of the "mask sets" and the cost of machinery increase.
  • 8nm / 7nm: ~$10,000. This is currently considered the "sweet spot" for high-performance cost efficiency.
  • 5nm: ~$16,000. Costs jumped as EUV layers became mandatory.
  • 3nm: ~$20,000. Costs rose further due to increased double/quadruple patterning requirements.
  • 2nm: ~$30,000. According to reports from International Business Strategies (IBS), the shift to GAA transistors and potential High-NA EUV tools pushes the cost nearly 50% higher than 3nm.

The problem of PS5 Pro is its PSSR is still DLSS2 level but it needs input of minimal 864p and it works bad with game with Lumen (or other GI). The GPU's power is now considering all the AI graphicial tech, and more and more developers including these stuffs in their game design (like art design under raytracing) and optimizations. I don't think we now can just comparing GPUs by raw power.

All next gen like PS6, Xbox and NS3 will have the current AI tech on PC gaming and new features powering the game developing and desing, for example hardware accelerators dense geometries rendering, universal rendering and e.t.c.

I trade in for a PS5 pro, and I'm not going for the PS6 home console at its launch and waiting for the handheld. The main advantage for me is in most case, I can have a better visuals in performance mode (pro mode/high frame mode and e.t.c.).

Add some photos
raw performance per gen:

cpu and gpu raw stats:

patents from sony, amd and nvidia

 

[LavitzSlambert]

While this is true in a literal sense, it completely misses the point of the PS5 Pro. Anyone still comparing raw HW specs as a measure of power in 2026 is archaic in their thinking and missing the boat. The value and impact of the PS5 Pro is not in any Compute Units and Ghz numbers but in the fact that it is the FIRST (and only) gaming console with dedicated machine learning capabilities. That is where it's power lies, that will be it's legacy, and that is where it's impact will come from.

First, yes. Only, no. Switch 2 has Tensor cores in the T239. Switch 1's Tegra X1 predated tensor cores because it was based on Maxwell. AMD had a stranglehold on console GPUs prior, and their lack of investment in ML tech is why they didn't have had tensor cores or any dedicated ML before PS5 Pro.

Agreed that is the impact and legacy, and that's basically what Cerny summarized in the debut. This was also corroborated by sources on this very forum, that PS5 Pro is really Sony test driving ML tech to give them experience before launching PS6.

You guys need to understand that we are entering the age of machine learning in gaming where it will be EVERYWHERE and dominate HW and SW for years to come. PS6 and Magnus will be heavy with it, all Nvidia, AMD, and Intel HW will be heavy on it going forward, and nearly every game coming out in the next generation (at least AAA games) will use it in some way. The fact that the PS5 PRO has ML capabilities means that A) it's value will continue to grow over time and B) that it's lifespan can be extended. Come next gen when PS6 is out and games are built around RT and ML, many of those games will simply not be possible to run on a base PS5 or Xbox Series console. But they technically can on a PS5 Pro (albeit with lower resolution and frame rates). Yeah I know machine learning doesn't mean much to the average gamer today but trust, the tidal wave is coming and PS5 Pro is built for the future.

We are seeing this with ray tracing tech as well. Newer games are being built with this in mind, which simply won't run on old hardware. Ask old PC hardware holdouts how they're enjoying Doom: The Dark Ages.

The fact that we can even look forward to a PSSR 2.0 or Redstone integration is a testament to the value of the PS5 Pro and something no other console could deliver on. We're excited because of the possibility of a dramatic improvement in how games can run on this machine over 1 year removed from it's launch WITHOUT ANY CHANGES TO IT's HW. That is the power of machine learning. It will continually improve over time. Sure all we have today is PSSR 1 which is a mixed bag to be sure. But if you can image a world where PS5 PRO is running the full compliment of FSR Redstone technologies including FSR 4 SR, FG, and RR we are talking legitimate transformations in what we can expect from our console games. Improvements to the SR can match or surpass native quality modes in most cases. FG as an option can legitimately take any 60fps perf mode today (which is >98% of all games released this gen) and push them to 120fps with minimal impact to latency (using 60fps as a base). And Ray Regeneration can clean up the noise that is evident in many PS5 games with ray tracing today including the likes of Silent Hill 2, Hogwarts Legacy, GT7, and Alan Wake 2 (and likely Control Resonant coming out soon). I'm not saying this will all be realized this year, but if it comes to fruition, it will add tremendous value and dramatic improvements that cannot be matched on the base PS5 or either Xbox Series machines.

Improvement in how games run without changes to hardware is exactly like every generation in history - devs optimize over time. Look at early PS2 games compared to Shadow of the Colossus and Final Fantasy XII. What I think you're really getting it and just not saying explicitly is that ML allows devs to get the same quality improvements through updated training models. There's definitely potential here, but we'll only see the results as the console continues to age.

But all of that is talk about the potential right? What about today? Well I still submit that having played well over 50 games on the PRO since launch, the majority of games show meaningful improvements on the PS5 PRO today. In fact, all of the games I'm actively playing today are noticeably better on PRO with little to no drawbacks. Helldivers 2 looks and runs much better on the PRO. Battlefield 6 also looks and runs much better on the PRO. FFVII Rebirth of course is a world of difference on the PRO. AC Shadows is much better on the PRO. Death Stranding 2 looks noticeably better on PRO. Ghosts of Yotei is a remarkable improvement on the PRO. GT7 is a substantial upgrade on PRO (despite having some PSSR IQ issues), Returnal is much improved on PRO. COD BO6 is substantially better on PRO. Elden Ring and Witcher 3 both look and run better on PRO even without a dedicated patch. All of the Insomniac games are huge improvements in every respect on PRO. Hell pretty much all Sony 1st party games are dramatically improved on PRO. I could go on and on but there are plenty of shining examples today with and without PSSR on PRO today. Sure there are a number of lazy ports (pretty much ALL of the Xbox ports are disgraces on PRO which is not the fault of the HW of course) and the Silent Hill games still not receiving any updates is a bad look. But all in all, the PRO is an improvment in many cases and a much better improvement than what the PS4 PRO bought despite higher raw specs. Is it a better value, absolutely not! But the host of improvements the PS5 PRO brings in the best cases (i.e SpiderMan 2 with higher perceived resolution, higher framerates, and additional graphical features/RT effects) is far beyond the best cases on PS4 PRO with checkerboarding and 30fps lock

Many games are quantifiably better on the PS5 Pro, yes, but a lot of the criticisms are they aren't as large a leap over what we're used to from PS4 Pro, and if they are, it's at a much higher cost which for many is difficult to justify. As a PS4 Pro and PS5 Pro owner, so far the PS5 Pro has not been as impressive and transformative an upgrade compared to the PS4 Pro. I think part of that is how groundbreaking the PS4 Pro turned out to be, in that it cemented the expectation of 60fps for console releases due to the performance mode. It also debuted 4K clarity in 2016 (even though the majority were upscaled). For games that did not specifically take advantage of a PS4 Pro enhancement patch, the added horsepower was enough of a bump to make a noticeable difference provided their framerates were unlocked. Dark Souls 2 is a great example of this.


The PS4 Pro at this point of its life cycle would have only started to impress, just like the PS5 Pro is beginning to with new releases. People are being asked to pay nearly twice the price for a PS5 Pro when the PS4 Pro launched at the exact same MSRP the PS4 launched at. The launch was a joke, and even until very recently I would say I'm not fully satisfied with the PS5 Pro - even the games that look noticeably better are not necessarily significant an improvement as people would expect from a Pro model.

However - I do think the PS5 Pro is going to age extremely well if we have another extended cross-gen period like the last one (very likely). So while it may not be succeeding in its Pro mission right now, I think in time it will prove itself and we'll look back on it as one of the best Playstation models.

 

[SpokkX]

yes, they skimped on the CPU making the "upgrade" pretty much worthless imo