In keeping with traditions established in the last generation, the PlayStation 5 is due for a mid-cycle refresh, and details on the new console, the PlayStation 5 Pro have surfaced recently. While there is a certain debate to be had when talking about the actual utility of the console itself, there’s always an interesting prospect in the technical department – and we can’t help but wonder what it would cost to build a similarly specced-out PC using off-the-shelf parts and retail prices.

Before starting out with the feature, it’s important to mention that we have only used off-the-shelf prices for brand-new components – and building out a comparable PC with used components will undoubtedly come at a much cheaper cost. Also, we have tried to include components that were close to the PS5’s hardware as it’s not feasible to have a 1:1 component list. And finally, the prices for these parts may change in the future. With that out of the way, let’s begin!

The CPU

The PS5 features a Zen 2-based custom chip with 8 cores and 16 threads along with support for boost clocks for increased performance, and that bump in single-core performance has opened new avenues for developers ranging from more sophisticated physics engines to better-simulated environments and much more. For the Pro variant, Sony is keeping the same chip though some reports have indicated that some overclocking and tuning (dubbed as a “High Frequency mode”) might be at play which in turn would increase performance by 10% on the updated chip.

For our PC, we are going with the Ryzen 5 5600 which comes in at around $115 on Amazon. It’s the same chipset that we utilized for our PS5 comparison build, and it doesn’t make much sense to spring out extra cash if we are going to build out a similarly specced machine as the base variant. Sporting 6 high-speed cores with support for multithreading, the CPU should be able to handle a buffet of both single-core driven and multi-core driven workloads without leaving graphics performance on the cutting floor.

The GPU 

The GPU is the beating heart of any gaming machine, and it makes total sense for Sony to put the majority of hardware upgrades in this department. The PS5 Pro uses the same RDNA2 architecture as its younger brother, but an increase in number of cores and memory results in a significant performance boost over the base variant according to Sony’s claims. In terms of the raw TFLOPs, the GPU is reported to be around 33.5 TFLOPs strong and will feature around 60 compute units, 24 more than the base PS5 Pro. In addition to this, there are also improved RT features and AI-based upscaling courtesy of PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution which should help games run faster and look better at high resolutions in a more efficient manner.

To match that level of performance, the RTX 4060 seems like a good bet. Between its 8 GB of GDDR6 memory and the latest Nvidia Ada Lovelace architecture, we can ensure that our GPU offers the best of features like DLSS and efficient ray tracing cores along with ample memory to handle those effects at comparable resolutions to the PS5. It should also make a good pair with our CPU, allowing both components to reach maximum utilization without bottlenecking one another. The RTX 4060 has a retail price of $299. 

RAM

For the memory, we will be going with our trusty Corsair Vengeance DDR4 3200MHz kit, which costs around $41 on Amazon. The PS5 Pro shares the same 16 GB of system memory across both the CPU and GPU, which technically makes our 16 GB overkill – but some games are not optimized well enough on PC to produce similar performance in the same amount of memory which is why it makes total sense to go for a 16GB memory kit. Running memory in dual channels also yields better results, so that’s another point of consideration. One could also throw in 32 GB instead for future-proofing purposes, but 16 GB should be good for a one-to-one build for now. 

Motherboard

For our motherboard, we will be going with the Asus Prime B550 Plus ATX which should be able to house our other components without any BIOS updates, and it’s affordable enough to not break the bank. It’s a rather basic board that offers basic features and nothing much other than that, but at the asking price of just $99 – it’s a good deal.

Storage

The PS5 Pro bumps the storage from 825GB that was present on the base variant to 2 TB for the Pro variant, which is a pretty smart move considering current-gen games can easily eat up hundreds of gigabytes – and storing anything more than a handful of games is pretty difficult. Our PC will match the same upgrade with the Samsung 990 EVO PCI e 4.0 SSD with 2 TB of available space, which will cost us $129. Of course, load times might not be one-to-one across both machines since PS5’s architecture is a bit different than PC’s and not all games utilize Windows DirectStorage API – but it should be a good match nevertheless. 

PSU

The PSU is always the most important piece of the puzzle when it comes to PC building, and there’s no tangible reason to skimp out on a quality piece from a recognized manufacturer. Ticking those boxes without breaking the bank, we have the NZXT C1000 PSU which provides enough juice to power our system and the 80+ gold-certified rating is also a much appreciated badge of safety. It sells for $129 on Amazon and should serve as a good fit for our purposes.

Cabinet

For the cabinet, we are going with the GAMDIAS ATX Mid Tower Gaming Computer PC Case with Side Tempered Glass. As the name suggests, the case features a tempered glass side panel, minimal RGB lighting, and 4 fans to ensure good airflow. While it’s not the most aesthetically pleasing case on the market, it gets the job done at a good enough price – and you could always spring up more cash for a better-looking case in a more practical scenario. The GAMDIAS ATX Mid Tower comes in at $55 on Amazon.

Conclusion 

Totaling the cost of the above-mentioned components, our proposed PC build comes in at around $867. This obviously does not include the cost of peripherals like a keyboard-mouse combo and a license to a fresh copy of Windows which would bring up the total cost closer to $1000. Going the PlayStation route gives access to a great library of first-party exclusives that you cannot get on the PC while going the other way gives you access to better deals and productivity options that are not possible on a console.

In conclusion, the PC comes at a hefty premium, noticeably over the $700 retail price of the PS5 Pro, but it definitely paints a much more interesting picture when it comes to the comparison itself. The gap between the two builds is a lot slimmer than when the PS5 came out. The PS5 Pro claims significantly superior performance over its younger brother thanks to better AI upscaling features and bigger compute budget on the GPU, and it would be interesting to see how it all pans out in the coming months.

The PS5 Pro 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Bundle includes the console, a DualSense and DualSense Edge, and the DualSense Charging Station. It even has a console cover for the disc drive (still sold separately, unfortunately). Fortunately, it has a Vertical Stand and some collector’s items, including cable ties based on the PlayStation Shapes.

The PS5 Digital Edition 30th Anniversary Limited Edition Bundle includes the same items and Vertical Stand, albeit with only one DualSense and a console cover. You can also pick up 30th Anniversary Limited Edition versions of the PlayStation Portal, DualSense and DualSense Edge.

Of course, quantities are limited – the PS5 Pro 30th Anniversary bundle will only have 12,300 units, each etched with numbers indicating the date of the PS One’s launch. Pre-orders for the bundle alongside the PlayStation Portal and DualSense Edge (standalone) begin on September 26th via PlayStation Direct and retailers.

The same applies to the PS5 Digital Edition bundle from PlayStation Direct, though pre-orders at retailers start on October 10th. Finally, the DualSense Wireless (standalone) is only available to pre-order from retailers on September 26th.

Meanwhile, the “regular” PS5 Pro launches on November 7th, retailing for $699.99. Head here for everything you should know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amdZnHooTkk

However, one of the most back-and-forth discussions is actually something that was debated for months before the PS5 Pro’s official reveal: Will Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto 6 run at 60 frames per second on the console?

Why GTA 6? Not only is it the most anticipated game of next year among fans, but perhaps the industry as a whole. Speaking to GamesIndustry, Circana’s Mat Piscatella said there’s “probably never been a more important thing to ever release in the industry.” Ignore that Grand Theft Auto 5 shipped about 200 million units – the reveal trailer for GTA 6 has a whopping 209 million views in about nine months. To say that the hype is palpable would be an understatement.

However, as with hype, there will also be rampant speculation, good and bad, over how it will look, whether the current generation of consoles can handle it, etc. CNET’s preview of how the Pro’s CPU is the same Ryzen Zen 2 as the base console further feeds into reports that the only difference is a “High CPU Frequency Mode” to boost the clock speed up to 3.85 GHz from 3.5 GHz. A somewhat disappointing 10 percent increase, if true. Sony hasn’t officially confirmed or denied this, even if other aspects of the leaks have been true.

The CPU is a major factor because open-world titles like, say, Grand Theft Auto 5, leverage it in different ways, like its population density and variety. Reducing these, among other things, can help improve PC performance. As such, if the PS5 Pro’s CPU isn’t a tremendous upgrade over the base version, then Grand Theft Auto 6 clearly won’t run at 60 FPS on the console.

Cue comments about how arrogant Sony is back and the PS5 Pro is dead on arrival. Now, the Pro has some issues, like the absurd pricing and demanding additional money for a disc drive and vertical stand. Don’t even get me started on how much Europe and Australia must pay.

The problem with the whole argument about GTA 6 not running at 60 FPS is that it doesn’t make much sense for several reasons.

Firstly, there’s an absolute lack of information for the title. You could argue that the reveal trailer is all real-time and in-game (and it very well may be, given how Rockstar does things), but we haven’t seen how it plays. What improvements have been made to driving? Are the dashboards of the various vehicles realistic enough? How does the movement look? Are the shooting mechanics different? How extensive is the world design? Can we enter all the buildings we’ve seen thus far? What new activities can we look forward to?

Rockstar has been tight-lipped about everything, forget performance. We don’t even know how it’s going to run on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, forget diving into options on the PS5 Pro.

If you want to assume anything, Grand Theft Auto 5 is a good place to start. It has three graphical modes on PS5: Fidelity, Performance and Performance RT. There is a precedent for the developer implementing different modes on more powerful hardware. However, remember that it was originally released for the PS3 and Xbox 360 before coming to PS4, Xbox One and PC, and then the current-gen consoles.

It’s had time to optimize and improve performance for the latest hardware, and while you could argue about how much of that work will translate to GTA 6, it’s the precedent more than anything. Rockstar knows that fans want to experience their games in 60 FPS. How much priority is it over ensuring the game runs well on current-gen hardware? Probably less so, but your guess is as good as mine.

Of course, this isn’t just the developer’s precedent. Console lead architect Mark Cerny talked about how 75 percent of PS5 players opted for Performance mode when playing games. He then outlined how the PS5 Pro would close the divide between Performance and Fidelity modes.

The goal is for the player to have the best of both worlds – image quality and details alongside a higher frame rate. However, he didn’t rule out titles having different graphical modes on PS5 Pro. In fact, CNET’s preview confirmed there will be, with Gran Turismo 7 having an 8K resolution mode and 4K/60 FPS mode with advanced ray tracing.

Whether other open-world titles will follow suit and attempt to hit the coveted 4K/60 FPS standard is unknown because it varies between developers. It ultimately depends on how they optimise their titles for the Pro. The same goes for Grand Theft Auto 6, which uses the PS5 as a base. Regardless, if there’s an opportunity to add a 60 FPS mode, even if it means dialling down some details, then the development team is probably looking into it.

For all we know, Rockstar has been aware for months that the PS5 Pro has been in the works. After all, the initially leaked specs originated from Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Developer Network, which only licensed developers, publishers, and middleware companies can view. Even if it’s not among those companies, you can bet that they’re in the know and have been considering what to do with the hardware, even if there aren’t concrete plans at this stage.

The real question is whether it can have it ready by the game’s launch. Grand Theft Auto 6 is slated for 2025 – over a year off. While this leaves plenty of time for optimization, there are several other aspects it needs to polish and get ready. Once again, we’ve seen nothing beyond the initial reveal trailer. A delay is always possible, but it remains to be seen if the developer or parent company Take-Two Interactive would go to that extent, especially if its main install base is on the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Of course, when it eventually does release, there may likely be other arguments, especially if it doesn’t run at 4K/60 FPS with ray tracing enabled at full Ultra details on the Pro. Thus begins another cycle of discussion as to whether it can achieve that on the PS6 or, failing that, the PS6 Pro. Round and round and round we go.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s a worthwhile discussion to have, and fans should know all of this before dropping $700 minimum on new hardware. However, until we possess all of the facts, like the PS5 Pro’s specs and Rockstar’s plans for the hardware, if any, we can only speculate.

Thankfully, we can all agree on two things: Grand Theft Auto 6 looks amazing even if we need to see more, and the PS5 Pro’s pricing, regardless of specifications, is terrible. And for now, at least in terms of tangible facts, that’s enough.

Recently, a recent Digital Foundry analysis found that, based on the footage that was shown by Sony last week, on the PS5 Pro, the survival horror title is running at an internal resolution of 864p at 60 FPS, or 1260p at 30 FPS, with PSSR being used to upsample to higher resolutions- same as the game’s base PS5 version, which uses AMD’s FSR 2 instead of PSSR.

That, as you might imagine, has sparked some backlash from those questioning whether the upgrade in question is enough to warrant any attention at all, though Remedy Entertainment’s head of communications Thomas Puha has moved to provide some assurances.

In a message on ResetEra, he stated that Alan Wake 2’s PS5 Pro version will be a “pleasant surprise”, adding that image quality will be a more important factor that what resolution the game is being rendered at. He also confirmed that additional details and footage will be shared “in the coming weeks”.

“Image quality matters more than resolution, not that I’m confirming anything,” Puha wrote. “We’ll drop some details on the PS5 Pro version of Alan Wake 2 in the coming weeks with some assets too. I think the version will be a pleasant surprise, but hard to tell these days.”

The PS5 Pro is set to launch on November 7, and will retail for $699. At launch, it will have 40-50 games with dedicated enhancements. To learn more about the console, head on over here.

BLACK MYTH: WUKONG

Black Myth: Wukong is one of the most visually impressive games we’ve seen in recent times, but that it does come with some technical rough edges – especially on PS5 – is undeniable. Of course, the base PS5 is very much capable of running a much smoother version of Game Science’s action RPG, and hopefully, with patches, in the not-too-distant future, it will. That said, we’d also be curious to see what the studio can do with the PS5 Pro’s hardware, because the prospect of a game that already looks so gorgeous looking even better is an intriguing one.

SILENT HILL 2

If there’s one area where Bloober Team never fails to knock it out of the park, its the visuals, and with the upcoming Silent Hill 2 remake, the developer looks to be hitting similarly high standards where production values are concerned. With Silent Hill 2 launching not long before the PS5 Pro and serving as a tentpole console exclusive for PlayStation, we’d be surprised if Sony doesn’t work with Konami and Bloober to use this visual showpiece to highlight the PS5 Pro’s capabilities.

RISE OF THE RONIN

Rise of the Ronin’s launch earlier this year was a mixed one, and though the open world action RPG certainly drew praise from many for its action and combat loop, in other ways, it was more than a little rough. Visually, for instance, Rise of the Ronin can be an inconsistent experience, especially if you’re playing in Performance Mode, which, from a gameplay perspective, is the best mode to play. The PS5 Pro is, of course, being sold on the promise of not having to compromise and have to choose between fidelity and performance any longer, and Rise of the Ronin seems like a perfect game to illustrate how well the console can do that.

REMNANT 2

Gunfire Games delivered one of the most underrated games of the year last year in Soulslike RPG shooter Remnant 2, so of course, it’s still very much on our minds. So much so, in fact, that we’d love to see it properly enhanced for the PS5 Pro. From the gorgeous and morbid environments that it has you explore to the incredibly action it throws you into, Remnant 2 is a deceptively impressive game from a technical perspective, and it could flourish even more with more powerful hardware.

TEKKEN 8

Tekken 8 is one of the finest examples we’ve seen so far of what a current-gen only game built on Unreal Engine 5 can look like- because boy does it look good, and somehow even better in action. Of course, being a fighting game, performance is king in Tekken 8, and though we’d want to see it keep its priorities the same, we’d also love to see what an even better looking version of the game that runs just as well (if not even better) would like like. Thankfully, the PS5 Pro can make that possible (on paper, at least).

UNTIL DAWN

Until Dawn is getting a remake soon, so it won’t be long before we see a significantly better looking version of the classic PS4 horror adventure title, and given the fact that it’s one of PlayStation’s major upcoming first-party releases, we’d be surprised if it didn’t tie into PS5 Pro’s release as well. The console will launch not long after the remake, so we’re definitely expecting a PS5 Pro patch for the game within a few weeks of its release, at most.

ELDEN RING

Elden Ring is no technical stunner, but it’s also one of the best examples of how a game can still look drop dead gorgeous even without the most cutting edge tech. It does, however, have some rough spots here and there, especially in the performance arena, so a PS5 Pro patch would go down pretty nicely. FromSoftware’s open world masterpiece is, after all, one of the most popular and successful PS5 games, so we wouldn’t be surprised if it was one of the first titles to be upgraded for the upcoming Pro.

DRAGON AGE: THE VEILGUARD

It was honestly a little surprising that Dragon Age: The Veilguard wasn’t already included in the first batch of titles officially confirmed to be getting PS5 Pro enhancements, given the fact that it’s a major upcoming release, but we’d still expect to see it upgraded for the console in the very neat future. Hopefully, with the console’s advanced ray tracing and PSSR tech, the action RPG can come close to matching its PC version’s fidelity.

NO MAN’S SKY

Despite the fact that No Man’s Sky is close to a decade old at this point, it still looks incredible, thanks not only to its gorgeous art design, but the technical upgrade that Hello Games has consistently kept applying to the game behind-the-scenes. In fact, the latter is exactly why we’ll be surprised if No Man’s Sky doesn’t receive a PS5 Pro patch at some point in the near future. From being able to stream worlds much faster to rendering everything with much higher fidelity and possibly even ray tracing, No Man’s Sky can benefit from the PS5 Pro in plenty of obvious ways.

LORDS OF THE FALLEN

In a vast sea of Soulslikes, Lords of the Fallen managed to stand out last year, in spite of the many obvious gameplay and design issues that it had, and a large part of that was down to how drop-dead gorgeous it looked. That, of course, has been a running theme in this feature, but the dark fantasy world of Lords of the Fallen in particular is one that we would love to see enhanced with advanced ray tracing implementation, without having to sacrifice performance.

DYING LIGHT 2 STAY HUMAN

Techland will soon be releasing another Dying Light game with Dying Light: The Beast, and we’re sure it will be PS5 Pro Enhanced at least to some degree, but before that, we’d also like to see Dying Light 2 Staying Human receive a facelift of its own. Though a solid looking game in its own right, Dying Light 2 is something of a diamond in the rough, and with the PS5 Pro being billed as a console that can help developers sand out the technical rough edges in their games (at the very least), we feel like it would be a waste if Techland didn’t take this opportunity to polish up its zombie-slaying action RPG.

CYBERPUNK 2077

Cyberpunk 2077 had an awful start to life on consoles, and on a PS4, we still wouldn’t want to touch it with a ten-foot pole. On PS5, however, CDPR’s action RPG is an absolute stunner, bringing Night City to life with some of the most gorgeous, breathtaking visual design in a game this side of Red Dead Redemption 2. Cyberpunk’s PC version has done wonders with its ray tracing implementation, so we’d love to see what the game can do in that arena on the PS5 Pro.

STAR WARS JEDI: SURVIVOR

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor was, unfortunately enough, a prime example of an spectacularly designed game being let down by significant technical issues upon release, especially on consoles, and though it is now a better experience, it’s still not fully fixed. It only makes sense, then, that Respawn Entertainment leverages the PS5 Pro’s greater horsepower to bring the game to the level it was always supposed to be at, right? One where it can look spectacular, boast incredible fidelity and ray tracing, and still have a solid frame rate? We’d be surprised if this doesn’t happen sooner rather than later.

BALDUR’S GATE 3

Baldur’s Gate 3 is a mighty impressive game in more ways than one, but even its most ardent defenders will agree that it can chug a little but on the technical side of things, whether that’s during particularly hectic battles, or when you’re in a dense city environment. Its issues are obviously understandable – there’s a ridiculous amount constantly going on behind-the-scenes in this game – so we’re not sure if even on a PS5 Pro all of that would be totally fixed- but we’d sure like to see Larian Studios take a shot at it.

WARHAMMER 40,000: SPACE MARINE 2

Let’s end with the one of the more recent entries in this feature. Space Marine 2 is already one of the most technically impressive games we’ve played all year, because the way it can have payers fighting against literally hundreds upon hundreds of real-time enemies at once without missing a beat with its performance while also looking as great as it does is nothing short of wizardry. It almost feels greedy to ask for more, but dammit, we can’t help but daydream about how much more impressive Space Marine 2 would look when rendered with the greater fidelity and ray tracing that the PS5 Pro promises. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait too long before we actually get to see that.

However, there’s plenty to discuss regarding the actual differences between the PS5 Pro and the base PS5, and we’re not talking about how it’s the same height or how the width is the same as the PS5 Slim.

The CPU

First off, the CPU. The PS5 rocks an AMD Ryzen Zen 2 with eight cores and 16 threads, clocked at 3.5 GHz. Sony hasn’t officially outlined the Pro’s CPU and specs, but CNET confirmed in its recent preview that it’s the same, corroborating a report from Insider-Gaming in March. The main difference is a reported “High CPU Frequency Mode”, increasing the clock speed from 3.5 GHz to 3.85 GHz for a 10 percent increase. It’s worth noting that since the CPU is receiving more power in this scenario, GPU performance allegedly undergoes a 1.5 percent downclocking, resulting in a one percent performance drop.

Regardless, you would think a higher CPU clock speed means better overall performance, right? The answer is: It depends on the game. Take FromSoftware’s Elden Ring, for example. The PS5 version suffers from some frame rate drops due to the sheer CPU dependence of the title, to the extent that the best way to get a consistent 60 FPS is to run the PS4 version on PS5 (and stomach the drop in fidelity). In this scenario, the PS5 Pro would provide a decent increase. How decent remains to be seen, but one has to wonder about future titles with extensive CPU operations and how they might fare on the console.

Case in point is Grand Theft Auto 6 and whether it will achieve 4K and 60 FPS, let alone offer a Performance Mode capable of the latter. Once again, it all boils down to the design. If its population density and variety, physics, and AI are vastly superior to Grand Theft Auto 5 (and it’s looking very likely), then the Pro’s CPU may not be that impactful. It’s hard to say at this point.

The GPU

The console’s other specs also play a part, though, and it’s here that some of the more significant improvements are visible. Sony touted the GPU as having 45 percent faster rendering and 67 percent more Compute Units, so going by the PS5’s number (36), the result should be 60 CU. In PC GPU terms, the PS5 would be equivalent to an AMD Radeon RX 6700, while the Pro is closer to a Radeon RX 6800. Though it features an AMD Radeon RDNA 2 chipset, Insider-Gaming reports that it offers 33.5 TFLOPS of performance. The most obvious benefit is having graphical modes with higher resolutions or more fidelity.

For example, CNET’s preview noted that Gran Turismo 7 offered 8K and 4K with improved ray tracing. How many people own an 8K TV is another matter entirely. However, some titles will also benefit from significant visual improvements. As lead architect Mark Cerny noted in the technical presentation, Horizon Forbidden West benefits from improved lighting and visual effects during gameplay and better hair and skin in cinematics.

Regarding the memory, it’s 28 percent compared to the PS5. Returning to Insider-Gaming’s report, the difference is a memory bandwidth of 576 GB/s for the Pro over the PS5’s 448 GB/s. Though the most noteworthy benefit is faster loading times and the rendering of complex environments (as noted by Forbidden West receiving an overall boost in detail), it’s another boon for titles targeting 4K and higher resolutions.

The other benefit of the larger GPU and part of the PS5 Pro’s “Big Three” is the advanced ray tracing. It offers double and sometimes triple the cast speeds of the base PS5, along with “more dynamic reflection and refraction of light” with negligible impact on the performance, even at higher resolutions. Gran Turismo 7 shines again, offering real-time reflections between cars during gameplay while maintaining 60 FPS.

Hogwarts Legacy benefits from more realistic shadows, higher-quality reflections and more varied reflective surfaces. Cerny told CNET that the console uses AMD’s advanced ray tracing features that aren’t included in the manufacturer’s current GPUs, which makes the PS5 Pro more impressive in the short to medium term.

PSSR

Finally, there’s PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, an AI-driven upscaling technology for improving image quality. The result means more detail and sharper upscaled images, as seen with Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. On PS5 Pro, distant details are clearer than in Performance RT mode on the base PS5. On the other end, players can maintain the texture quality and environmental details of Fidelity mode in The Last of Part 2 Remastered while still benefiting from the responsiveness of 60 FPS.

It should also reduce the artifacting seen in other upscaling methods while facilitating further graphical modes for developers patching their titles to support the console. Depending on how essential ray tracing is for you, PSSR will let you experience it at 60 FPS, though use cases vary based on the game, as usual.

SSD

As for the solid-state drive, it gets a pretty big boost with 2 TB of space. Some of that will be reserved, but it’s still an improvement over the base PS5 and its 825 GB SSD, of which only 667 GB is available (even if the read speed is still 5.5 GB/s, per CNET’s preview).

More space allows for installing more games, obviously, but it may also be an effort to mitigate the lack of a disc drive while encouraging digital ownership. Another potential benefit is more room for higher-resolution footage, so if you’ve been salivating at the thought of uploading 8K footage of Gran Turismo 7, this is good news. It also segues nicely into the Wi-Fi section.

Wi-Fi

Instead of the PS5’s Wi-Fi 6, the PS5 Pro sports Wi-Fi 7. On top of supporting 2.5, 5 and 6 Hz data bands, it also features 320 MHz bandwidth support, with a potential max speed of 46 GB/s. Downloads and streaming will thus be quicker, perhaps even benefitting those streaming titles from the cloud. This does depend on your internet plan, but it’s one of the more underrated future-facing features of the Pro.

Conclusion

Despite touting it as a means to bridge the gap between Fidelity and Performance modes, Sony is marketing the PS5 Pro as more of a premium option than a simple mid-gen refresh. There’s plenty of debate about its necessity, especially compared to the PS4 Pro, which offered a significant jump over the base PS4 (viewed as outdated from the get-go). Comparatively, there are still plenty of cross-gen titles instead of exclusives for the PS5, with few truly pushing the console’s limits.

Even with the PS4 Pro retailing for $399 – the same price as the base console when it launched – it would sell 14.5 million units in its lifetime, about 12 percent of total PS4 sales. Ampere Analysis research director Piers Harding-Rolls estimates a similar response for the PS5 Pro, with about 1.3 million PS5 Pro sales forecast for this year.

Sony’s external disc drive is currently eighth on Amazon US’s Best Sellers list while being sold out on Best Buy. Assuming that translates into enthusiasm for the console, perhaps there’s decent enough demand (or scalpers are having a field day). Once again, we won’t know until pre-orders for the console go live.

While it’s a better machine than the PS5, the PS5 Pro’s CPU enhancements are incremental at best. Time will tell how developers leverage the hardware for current titles. It’ll be even more interesting to see how future first-party games take advantage of the GPU and ray tracing. Nevertheless, the PS5 Pro is a far cry from a PS6-level jump in terms of technology, forget the pricing or the additional costs.

In a recent episode of Giant Bomb’s Game Mess Mornings podcast, Grubb reiterated that based on what he’s heard, a State of Play presentation is planned for later in September. To be a little more specific, Grubb claims the presentation will happen in “twelvish days”, which would point at the final week of the month. 

What Sony will be showcasing at the event is up in the air, but it’s safe to assume that we will be seeing PS5 Pro gameplay footage for at least some of the titles that will be shown off. As far as upcoming first-party releases are concerned, Sony has LEGO Horizon Adventures and Until Dawn to talk about, so presumably, the presentation will feature third-party games as well. 

If a State of Play show is indeed planned for the final week of the month, that would likely mean we begin hearing more about what it entails in the coming days, so stay tuned for more information.

The new space allows for customizing one’s background on the Home screen alongside widgets for console storage, accessory battery levels, Trophies, and more. You can resize and shift these as necessary. Party Share will also become available for all users over the coming weeks, allowing one to share links to join party voice chat on the console through messaging apps and social media.

As for beta participants, they can currently test out personalized 3D audio profiles for headphones and earbuds, Remote Play settings for individual users’ access, and adaptive charging for DualSense (and other accessories) on the PS5 Slim and upcoming PS5 Pro will be available. Stay tuned for more details on when these will hit live servers in the coming months.

Wario 64 on Twitter noted that the disc drive was ranked eighth on the Best Sellers list for Amazon US while being sold out on Best Buy. It’s since dropped to 16th place on the former and remains unavailable through the latter. The disc drive retails for $79.99 and launched alongside the new PS5 Slim model in November 2023.

The PS5 Pro is available on November 7th. It includes a larger GPU than the base console with 60 Compute Units, advanced ray tracing, and PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, Sony’s AI-driven upscaling solution. Head here for everything you should know, including differences from the original and stay tuned for more updates.

The Purpose of the PS5 Pro

According to Mark Cerny, the lead architect of PlayStation 5, the purpose of the PS5 Pro is to remove the decision the player has to take when selecting between the performance and fidelity modes for a specific game. According to Cerny, 75% of players select the performance mode thereby opting for better frame rates. However, performance mode generally reduces image quality and other graphical parameters by a noticeable margin thereby impacting the overall experience. “Creators have made amazing use of the hardware capabilities, but when I talk to them, I hear about their desire for more graphics performance. The dreams of developers are bigger than can be supported at 60 frames per second, leading to an aspect of modern gaming that we’re all familiar with: graphics modes,” Cerny said. “Removing that decision, or at least narrowing that divide, is one of the key targets for PlayStation 5 Pro. We want to give players the graphics that game creators aspire to, the high frame rates that players typically prefer.” The PS5 Pro aims to remedy this by providing emphasis on its big three features: Larger GPU, Advanced Ray Tracing, and AI-Driven Upscaling.

The GPU

As Hideaki Nishino, CEO, Platform Business Group, Sony Interactive Entertainment revealed in the PlayStation Blog, the PS5 Pro GPU will feature a noticeable amount of improvement over the base console. “With PS5 Pro, we are upgrading to a GPU that has 67% more Compute Units than the current PS5 console and 28% faster memory. Overall, this enables up to 45% faster rendering for gameplay, making the experience much smoother,” he said over at the PlayStation Blog. We will have a more comprehensive spec analysis later on but according to these figures, the PS5 Pro will feature roughly 60 compute units compared to the base version’s 36.

Advanced Ray Tracing

The PS5 is able to support ray tracing in select games but let’s be honest here, the quality of the implementation has been largely mixed, especially when compared to a high-end PC. The PS5 Pro promises more advanced ray tracing techniques, while we don’t have exact specifications about it, expect PS5 Pro games to render ray tracing at a much higher quality compared to its base version. “We made major upgrades to ray tracing by taking a streamlined and accelerated approach, allowing for the calculation of rays at double or even triple the speeds of the PlayStation 5,” Cerny stated.

AI-Driven Upscaling

PS5 Pro will be using something called as “PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution” which is an upscaling algorithm that will help maintain higher resolution at high frame rates. How it differs from other techniques like DLSS or FSR is still unknown at this point but it seems Sony have their proprietary tech in order as far image resolution is concerned. According to Cerny, “PSSR analyzes game images pixel by pixel and can add an extraordinary amount of detail, boosting the effective resolution of the games.”

PS5 Pro Boost

Besides these big three features, the PS5 Pro will also have a boost mode that will allow for improved resolution for select PS4 games. This will apply to more than 8,000 backward compatible PS4 games which will be playable on the PS5 Pro. This feature sounds similar to resolution boost feature that the Xbox has had for a while.

Boost In Memory

The PS5 boasts 16 GB of GDDR6 SDRAM with a peak bandwidth of 448 GB/s. Sony has confirmed that the PS5 Pro will feature a 28 precent increase in memory which means it will likely operate at a bandwidth of around 572 GB/s. According to Cnet, the CPU however is reportedly the same, operating at the same stats as before which is the AMD Ryzen Zen 2 with 8 cores and 16 threads at 3.5GHz).

What else is inside and what is missing?

The PS5 features an 825 GB SSD which honestly gets filled up real fast these days. The PS5 Pro, however, will feature at 2TB SSD which should hopefully be enough for most games out there. According to reports, it will operate at the same speed as the base version which is 5.5 GB/s read.  It will also feature Wi-Fi 7 in locations where this standard is supported. However, the PS5 Pro is a discless console which means you would need a disc drive separately for the device if you are invested in physical media format. Furthermore, you will have to purchase the vertical stand separately since that is not included in the package.

Initial List of Games That Are Receiving PS5 Pro Support

As expected, a number of first and third-party developers are now hard at work updating their games for the PS5 Pro. These include games like Alan Wake 2, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, Demon’s Souls, Dragon’s Dogma 2, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, Gran Turismo 7, Hogwarts Legacy, Horizon Forbidden West, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, The Crew Motorfest, The First Descendant, The Last of Us Part II Remastered, and others. Games like Gran Turismo 7 will now support ray tracing during gameplay whereas Hogwarts Legacy will now feature enhanced ray tracing integration. It will be interesting to see how the PS5 Pro will handle those PS4 and PS5 games that have unlocked frame rates; a significant boost is definitely expected in those cases. According to a hands-on report by Cnet, Gran Turismo 7 on the PS5 Pro supported two modes: 8K and 4K modes. According to the publication’s report, dedicated 120fps mode will come too. Cerny also explained how the PS5 Pro is boosting Horizon Forbidden West’s visuals. “The PSSR library is being used extensively to add pixel detail and boost frame rates, but there are many approaches depending on the game engine. The increase in raw GPU power is particularly effective for Horizon Forbidden West. Beyond the detail boost, the extra graphics power also enables improvements in lighting, visual effects, and enhancements to hair and skin in cinematics,” he stated.

The Form Factor

Although we are waiting for official dimensions to be revealed, the PS5 Pro looks about the same size as the base PS5. At the very least, it doesn’t look like a multi layered console the PS4 Pro looked like. There is no special redesign for the DualSense controller and all other accessories like PlayStation VR2, PlayStation Portal, DualSense Edge, Access controller, Pulse Elite and Pulse Explore will work as intended with the new console.

Price and Release Date

Now, here is the hard part. The PS5 Price will launch on November 7 for a whopping $699.99/£699.99/€799.99/¥119,980. To put things into perspective, the PS4 Pro launched for 399 USD. Honestly, this pricing will likely be on the higher side for many consumers and given that the PS5, four years later since its launch, is still a perfectly fine machine, I don’t see a large segment of the market buying this. For those of who plan to buy this beast of a machine, preorders will begin on September 26, 2024.

Are you planning to buy one? What are your thoughts on the PS5 Pro? Do you think this is a worthy upgrade?