Sony PS5 Pro review: the most powerful console in the world

Best prices today: Sony Playstation 5 Pro

$699

It’s hard not to start this review without talking about the price of Sony’s upgraded PlayStation 5. That’s a whopping £699/$699, meaning it’s not a simple purchase and many will be wondering “is the PS5 Pro worth it?”

In terms of size, performance, power consumption, and ease of use, however, it’s hard to find a better option. The PlayStation 5 Pro simply offers a lot of performance for the price and is by far the most powerful console around.

But is it enough? Is it worth the price, or will a regular PlayStation 5 do the trick?

PlayStation

Don’t forget the TV!

Before I get into the console itself, I need to address the screen it plugs into.

To get the most out of the PlayStation 5 Pro, a reasonably sized TV (50″ and above) with HDMI 2.1 ports and features like variable refresh rate (VRR) and 120Hz are recommended.

These features help even the standard PlayStation 5 deliver a smoother, higher quality picture.

Design and build

The PlayStation 5 Pro is a surprisingly thin console, relatively speaking. It is slightly longer than the PlayStation 5 Slim, but smaller and significantly lighter than the original PlayStation 5 model. The build quality is good and the noise level is non-existent, except when games are played from a disc.

On the front of the console you will find two USB-C ports, for example for PS VR2 and a charging cable. On the back, there are two USB-A ports, an Ethernet port and an HDMI 2.1 output. Inside, there’s room for an additional M2 SSD for more storage, like other PlayStation 5 models.

The PlayStation 5 Pro is only sold without a disc drive, but it can be purchased separately and is very simple to install. The disc player works and sounds the same as in the original model of the console.

PlayStation

Specifications and Features

On paper, the PlayStation 5 Pro may look like a relatively understated update. The processor is slightly improved, while the graphics circuit has been strengthened with 67% more GPU cores. This can be compared to the difference between PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro.

Another improvement is the addition of 2 GB of DDR5 memory. This memory is slower than standard PlayStation 5 memory, but is used exclusively for the operating system. This frees up the 16GB of GDDR6 memory for gaming, resulting in around 2.5GB more graphics memory than the standard PlayStation 5 has access to.

Additionally, the internal hard drive is now 2TB, which is about 1.2TB larger than the original PlayStation 5.

EA Sports

AI scaling and ray tracing

All games are affected by the above improvements, whether they are suitable for PlayStation 5 Pro or not. But that’s also only half of what makes the Pro more powerful than the original console.

The biggest improvements, generally speaking, are in games marked with a special PS5 Pro Enhanced logo on their PlayStation Store page (and likely on the back of game cases in the future). Indeed, only these can benefit from all the performance of the PlayStation 5 Pro.

If games are developed with a Pro in mind, they have access to a custom AI-powered hardware upscaler called PSSR – PlayStation Super Resolution. This allows relatively low resolution to be adapted to significantly sharper graphics – without the image quality being affected too much.

This way, performance can be used to paint more detailed worlds, better effects and higher image refresh rates – instead of just dropping lots of pixels.

In the PC world this is nothing new and is widely used, mainly in the form of Nvidia’s DLSS, whereas consoles previously had to make do with much more limited upscalers which usually resulted in a blurry, cluttered image. artifacts.

Remedy

In addition to PSSR, the PlayStation 5 Pro also has dedicated ray tracing hardware. This graphic effect allows, for example, reflections and light sources to bounce around the game world and illuminate it realistically. This may not seem like much, but it adds a lot to the experience when implemented correctly.

However, the technology is very performance intensive, with Alan Wake II and Spider-Man 2, for example, only running at 30 frames per second if Ray Tracing is set to maximum.

PlayStation

Alternative graphics options

This is also where the major flaw of the PlayStation 5 Pro lies: it is not entirely obvious to understand how the games are really improved.

Particularly because the differences vary considerably from one game to another. Simply put, the PlayStation 5 Pro offers “graphics mode” in PlayStation 5 games at 60 frames per second instead of 30, which in some games is a big improvement – in others barely noticeable.

Several of the games adapted for the PlayStation 5 Pro also have a handful of more or less obscure graphics options.

These include more detailed environments, more cars on the streets or better effects – at the cost of resolution or image refresh. It’s not as advanced as the customization options in PC games, but still requires a good command of some technical jargon.

Insomniac games

When it comes to games that don’t have specific Pro customization, there can be a big difference in how they are enhanced. For example, games with a predetermined resolution and frame rate on the PlayStation 5 are exactly the same on the upgraded console. This includes, at the time of writing, NHL 25, Destiny 2, and a host of indie games.

Fortunately, dynamic resolution and unlocked frame refresh are widely used this generation and can be found in titles such as Elden Ring, Armored Core VI, RoboCop: Rogue City, and Immortals of Aveum.

These are games that, on a regular PlayStation 5, had major issues with blurry graphics or choppy image refresh, but now run much smoother – without any specific updates to use the full power of the PS5 Pro.

PlayStation

Should you buy the Sony PS5 Pro?

The PlayStation 5 Pro is simply a console that enhances most of your PlayStation 5 games.

However, the improvement varies from game to game, but it also depends on how much you value things like detailed environments, crisp graphics, and stable image refresh.

The graphical improvement in some games is huge, and when games are developed with Pro in mind from the ground up, the differences will be even greater. The fact that some games known for their technical flaws now run without major issues is another huge plus.

Welcome and obvious improvements, but not a giant leap from the original console. Especially not for those who just want to play for fun.

If you don’t care whether a game runs at 25, 30, or 60 frames per second, if you have no problem with relatively blurry images with indistinct details, or if you don’t want to spend a second comparing graphics modes, then the classic PlayStation 5 will do just fine.

If, on the other hand, you play a lot of console gaming, want the best possible gaming experience, don’t want to choose between sharp graphics or good picture refresh – and have a reasonably modern TV with the right features – then the PlayStation 5 Pro is well worth the price.

If so, you can buy it from Amazon, Currys, John Lewis and Argos in the UK and Amazon, BestBuy and Walmart in the US.

Specifications

• Manufacturer: Sony
• Product type: Game console
• Processor: AMD Zen 2
• Graphics: RDNA GPU, up to 16.7 teraflops, additional hardware for scaling and ray tracing
• Memory: 16 GB Gddr6, 2 GB DDR5
• Storage: 2TB NVMe SSD
• Video modes: up to 8k, 120 Hz
• Optical drive: Ultra HD Blu-ray
• Connections: Wi-Fi 7, 2 USB-A, 2 USB-C, Ethernet port, HDMI 2.1 output, M.2 NVMe SSD slot
• Size: 39×8.9×21.6cm
• Weight: 3.1kg