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CNET hands on with the PS5 Pro

HeisenbergFX4

Gold Member





Sitting in front of an 80-inch TV playing Gran Turismo 7 is an immersive experience. It's even more realistic in 8K resolution. I'm not a good driver, but that's partly because I'm stunned by the clarity of the vistas in front of me. I'm also wowed by a new 4K ray-tracing mode that casts car reflections on other racers. It feels almost like I'm in VR without the headset.
I'm at Sony's San Mateo PlayStation headquarters in a room full of TVs, all running demos of familiar games such as Ratchet and Clank and Spider-Man 2. They're playing on the new PlayStation 5 Pro, arriving Nov. 7 for $700 (£700). Mark Cerny, Sony's lead PlayStation system architect, guides me around the demos, pointing out the Pro upgrades compared to the standard PS5 on a side-by-side monitor.

As I jump back and forth, I can see the difference. Everything is crisper, more fluid or both. I'd prefer to play on the PS5 Pro. But with a non-Pro PS5 available for $500 today, and likely less during upcoming holiday sales, I don't know if the sometimes subtle upgrades will be worth the price for many. The PS5 Pro is not the PlayStation 6, which likely won't be released for another three or four years, and it isn't for everyone. It's a big, graphically boosted piece of hardware that can keep up with ever-changing PCs, and in some ways maybe exceed them.



The PS5 Pro is all about making big TV gaming a happier experience. A souped-up GPU promises more ray-tracing and fluid 4K and 60-frames-per-second gaming across the board for games that get Pro upgraded, and automatic AI upscaling for the rest of the PlayStation library. Oh, and expect a lot more ray-tracing, a fancy graphical technique to simulate light. Expect games to get Pro-upgraded performance extras -- Sony says about 40 to 50 games will get patches when the system launches in November.
I played over half a dozen games on the PS5 Pro, and spoke with Cerny and Hideaki Nishino, CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment's Platform Business Group. We talked about what the upgrade means for PlayStation's gaming future, and what to expect next.
Sony PlayStation 5 Pro gaming console

Compared to the PS5 Slim (left), the PS5 Pro isn't that much bigger.
James Martin/CNET

Similar in size with turbo-style vents​

I was shocked that the PS5 Pro wasn't a hulking beast. The console's contours are nearly the same as the original PS5, and it's actually smaller. Meanwhile the "Slim" PS5, released last year, is definitely smaller than the Pro but the difference in size isn't massive.


The biggest external differences, teased in Sony's 30th anniversary logo, are the diagonal black ribbed vents across the center. (These mean the Pro is incompatible with existing PS5 console covers.) The back also has an extra USB-C port instead of USB-A. But the PS5 Pro should slot into similar shelving to your older PS5, unlike the chunkier PS4 Pro released in 2016, and of course you can mount the Pro vertically on the optional $30 stand if you prefer.
Also an Apple fan? Here's the iPhone 16 pricing, sale date and preorder info you're looking for.
The Pro comes with the same DualSense controller as the PS5 -- no upgrades there. (A step-up DualSense Edge controller already exists.) The Pro doesn't have an optical disc drive, though. Instead, there's a larger 2TB solid state drive, plus the same support for expanded M2 SSDs. You can attach an optical drive separately, though, the same ones that work on the new-design PS5 models. You could detach one of those or buy a new one. Not having an included optical drive standard feels like a statement that downloadable games are now the standard, and the Pro's bumped-up Wi-Fi 7 support should make for faster downloads if your router supports it.

Gaming perks: Bigger GPU, 4K and 60fps, lots of ray tracing​

Everything the PS5 Pro offers is about graphics. The CPU is the same as the PS5, and so is the SSD speed. The GPU, meanwhile, has 67% more computing cores, according to Sony, with 28% faster RAM and 45% faster rendering.
There are three big initial upgrades Sony is specifically pushing on the Pro for what that new GPU is doing: more ray tracing, automatic AI-assisted game upscaling for 4K and a new Pro mode for games that will combine 60fps and 4K together.


An AI-assisted upscaling mode, called PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution, works across the whole game library without any needed patch, adding in details to upscale to 4K. I didn't see this demonstrated, but the feature should help enhance older games if you have a 4K TV. It'll also work on PSVR 2 games in the future, too, Cerny said.
Sony PlayStation 5 Pro gaming console

Getting a look at ray-tracing upgrades with Mark Cerny.
James Martin/CNET

The planned 40 to 50 games that get PS5 Pro upgrades at the hardware's Nov. 7 launch will focus on 4K and 60fps upgrades across the board, but also have a laundry list of other graphics boosts including new volumetric lighting and effects, richer graphics, more on-screen background characters, and modes that can ramp up to 120fps or 8K gaming. I played Gran Turismo 7 in an 8K mode and a 4K mode that added all sorts of extra ray-tracing effects. Much like PC games, Cerny said the Pro could spark a range of extra gaming modes.


TVs with variable refresh rates that can range from 40 to 120 fps are going to work with the PS5 Pro, Cerny adds, because games will automatically get frame rate improvements without an upgrade patch. But dedicated 120 fps modes will come too. Cerny said over 25% of PS5 owners own 120 fps-capable TVs, while around 1 in 10 PS5 players have variable refresh rate TVs. Gaming in 8K is a fun extra, but it's available to an even smaller subset of existing PS5 gamers, since 8K TVs are even less common.

Sony PlayStation 5 Pro gaming console

James Martin/CNET
"I've already seen games with three different PS5 Pro modes," Cerny said of the lineup of games upgraded for the launch. "As time goes by, particularly for the games which are launching after the hardware releases, we'll increasingly see a more nuanced approach, where the focus is less on resolution, and much more about higher image quality through a variety of strategies."


Cerny said the process of porting over PC games is easier than it was on the PlayStation 4 Pro. He sees the PS5 Pro, much like the PS5 with its ultrafast onboard SSD, as leading the way for future gaming trends.

"PS5 Pro uses the new advanced [ray tracing] feature sets that AMD created as the next step in their roadmap architecture," Cerny told me. "But if you look around, there are no other AMD GPUs that use it yet. We motivated the development, and I'm very happy we did so -- the response from the developers has been extraordinarily great."
Cerny also sees the continuing overlap between console and PC gaming, including many of Sony's PlayStation 5 games already being available on PC, as a bonus. "It's specifically helping us with PS5 Pro because the games are on high-end PCs, so they can look at what they did for the several-thousand-dollar PCs and then pick and choose what they want to bring to PS5 Pro."
Sony PlayStation 5 Pro gaming console

I got up close with a few games on an 80-inch screen.
James Martin/CNET



Playing games on the Pro​

I hopped around several TV stations in a single room, trying out snippets of PS5 games with early versions of Pro upgrades. Sony didn't allow CNET's video team to directly capture footage from the Pro to show the advantages, perhaps because the game updates might still change before November release. I got to play PS5 and PS5 Pro versions of six games side by side on two identical 4K TVs, and I also played a couple of games on a much larger 80-inch 8K TV, too.
Many of the games I played, including Horizon: Forbidden West, The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered, Spider-Man 2 and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, focused specifically on how the new, best-of-both-worlds 4K/60fps Pro mode felt to play. Answer: It feels great. Just running through the grass in the The Last of Us, or looking out at waterfalls in Horizon, was lovely. Spider-Man 2 and Ratchet & Clank just felt a lot better to play at smoother, higher frame rates on a big canvas. That said, many of the upgrades were on the subtle side. Sometimes I had to stop and check side by side to appreciate the difference.

More on PlayStation​

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth in particular popped compared to the fuzzier graphics on the existing PS5 version. Everything was sharper, and still 60fps smooth. It felt like putting new glasses on.

My demo of F1 24 showed new ray tracing effects during a rainy race, which made the track and environment feel more photorealistic. Rain on the pavement reflected the car and the sky, and glass walls near me showed the stands across the road.


Gran Turismo 7 was maybe the most stunning demo of all, because it added two new modes. 8K gameplay on an 80-inch screen made me wonder how this could be used for sim racing setups with massive displays. Ray tracing, finally added into GT7's gameplay in another 4K mode, made crowded races with cars feel even more real. I was so hypnotized by looking at car finishes that I kept crashing.
Sony PlayStation 5 Pro gaming console

Playing a few games alongside Hideaki Nishino and Mark Cerny.
James Martin/CNET

What is next-gen, anyway?​

Four years after the PS5 debuted in the middle of a pandemic, time seems to have flown. But right now is actually past time for when Sony tends to release midcycle console upgrades. The PlayStation 4 Pro arrived three years after the PlayStation 4. The PlayStation 5 debuted four years after that. By that math, maybe the PS6 could come four years from now.


Consoles aren't at a "next-gen" point yet, but who knows if they'll ever be. Microsoft is increasingly focused on its subscription library running everywhere, game streaming is continuing to spread, and smaller PC gaming handhelds like the Steam Deck are reinventing ways to play games, and rediscovering what consoles can be. Sony has opened many of its games onto PC, so there are already a bunch of PlayStation gamers who don't have a PlayStation at all.
PC gaming, which Sony is increasingly involved in -- lots of flagship first-party games coming to Steam, and the PlayStation VR 2 now having its own PC adapter -- is a landscape of perpetual change. There are already plenty of games that can optimize to many GPUs and displays: It's expected. To a PC gaming crowd, a PS5 Pro may or may not seem appealing. But for someone who wants to play bleeding-edge games with stepped-up graphics on their own amazing TV, the PS5 Pro looks like exactly the step-up splurge.
I'll admit, I was a little surprised at first that the PS5 Pro demos I saw were all of established PS5 games, with no new and exciting content in sight. But that's part of the point of the Pro: It's a performance upgrade to the same platform, not a whole new console. That should be comforting to existing PS5 owners, because a lot of them probably don't need the upgrade.
And yet, 4K 60 fps gaming is so tempting if you have the display for it. In all the demos I tried, I found myself wondering if I'd just want to play everything in this mode and never look back. It was hard to return to 30 fps gaming on some of the PS5's fastest-paced games like Ratchet & Clank or Spider-Man 2.
I know a lot of multiplatform gamers, and I wonder if the expectations for Sony are that their own gamers will increasingly be that way too. "I think multidevice players are growing, but it's not a significant portion from the PlayStation console community point of view at this moment. But I think more customers want to kind of play on multiple devices, so that will grow," Nishino said.

VR and the future of peripherals like Portal​

As CNET's resident VR expert, I'm curious what the PS5 Pro can do for the PlayStation VR 2, although Sony's support for the headset has been underwhelming lately. Cerny said the Pro will allow higher-resolution games on the PSVR 2 thanks to the GPU boost and eventually a tuning of Sony's AI upscaling that will work with all VR games. But no specific PSVR 2 upgraded games have been announced yet, and I wonder what those improvements would even feel like. (I mentioned to Cerny and Nishino that I'd still love to see original PSVR games like Astro Bot Rescue Mission, which are incompatible with PSVR 2, to get ports that still haven't happened yet. I didn't get a response to that comment.)
I also wonder about other peripherals to come. The PlayStation Portal, released last fall, enables remote PS5 gaming in a handheld form, but it's dependent on Wi-Fi speeds, which can affect performance. Would a PS5 Pro improve future wireless handheld accessories? According to Sony, over 60% of Portal owners are new to remote play, despite existing streaming solutions for remote play being available before on phone and tablet apps. A Portal successor might be in Sony's future, perhaps one with Wi-Fi 7.
Sony PlayStation 5 Pro gaming console

James Martin/CNET

Not everyone will upgrade, but it might attract new owners​

A $700 midcycle upgrade console like the PS5 Pro isn't an expense most people will be up for, especially since the original PS5 is still a perfectly good game console. Sony seems to be ready for this reality, and Cerny and Nishino acknowledged that previous console upgrades have also been big draws for newcomers to PlayStation, too. A significant percentage of PS4 Pro buyers were new customers, according to Sony, and the same is true for PS5. That suggests a new wave of would-be PS5 gamers might come aboard with the Pro.
"Most markets have a pro model, so in that respect, consoles are just the same; it might just be that their addressable market is not as big as that of phones or PCs," Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi said of the PS5 Pro. "According to Sony, there is not much of a lift required for games to run on the Pro, taking advantage of the new specs. Console vs. PC should be more of a question of preference than of priority. The experience is not better. It is just different."
In that sense, the PS5 Pro might be seen as a console alternative to gaming PCs. In 2024, PC gaming expectations are greater than they were four years ago, and the PS5 Pro can keep up with how games are already being upgraded. I wouldn't want to upgrade from a PS5 right now myself, but if I were getting a PS5 for the first time I'd strongly consider the Pro for any TV upgrades I make in the future.

My Exclusive PlayStation 5 Pro Demo: What $700 Gets You, and Why It Matters

ed to Know About the Upcoming $700 PlayStation 5 Pro

The next update of the popular game console is pricey, but it's also more powerful, and it arrives in time for the holidays.

sony-playstation-5-console.png

Compared to the PS5 Slim (left), the PS5 Pro isn't that much bigger.
James Martin/CNET
Finally! On Sept. 10, Sony unveiled the Pro version of its PlayStation 5 console, promising significant boosts in visual graphics and gameplay. CNET editor Scott Stein visited Sony's PlayStation headquarters to play the all-new PS5 Pro and ask Sony executives what makes this midcycle upgrade different.
In short, Stein reports that the upgraded console's graphics look great, but it's not for everyone. While the graphics and play are crisper and more fluid, he's unsure if the subtle upgrades will be worth the price for many gamers.
Read more: Exclusive Hands-On: I Played Sony's All-New PS5 Pro
"It's a big, graphically boosted piece of hardware that can keep up with ever-changing PCs, and in some ways maybe exceed them," Stein says. "It's all about making big TV gaming a happier experience."

My Exclusive PlayStation 5 Pro Demo: What $700 Gets You, and Why It Matters
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My Exclusive PlayStation 5 Pro Demo: What $700 Gets You, and Why It Matters





What's new about the PS5 Pro?​

Sony published a blog post detailing the improvements.
PS5 Pro upgrades the console to a GPU that has 67% more Compute Units than the current PS5 console and 28% faster memory, Sony notes. Expect faster gameplay rendering and an overall smoother play experience.
There's also something called advanced ray tracing, a more powerful way to reflect and refract light, which allows the rays to be cast at double, and at times triple, the speeds of the current PS5 console.
One of the key changes coming with the PS5 Pro is a technology called upscaling, which uses artificial intelligence to create images with more detail and lighting effects without as much need for raw performance.
The new console also includes PS5 Pro Game Boost, which may stabilize or improve the performance of more than 8,500 backward compatible PS4 games playable on PS5 Pro. Enhanced Image Quality for PS4 games is also available to improve the resolution on select PS4 games. The new console will launch with the latest wireless technology, Wi-Fi 7, in territories supporting this standard, and will also support VRR and 8K gaming.

When will the PS5 Pro launch, and for how much?​

As you might expect, the PS5 Pro is coming in time for holiday gift purchases. You can preorder the PS5 Pro for $700 beginning on Sept. 26, and it will be available at stores and directly from PlayStation.com on Nov. 7


It will include a 2TB SSD, a DualSense wireless controller and a copy of Astro's Playroom pre-installed in every PS5 Pro purchase. It's also available as a disc-less console, meaning you have to purchase and download games from Sony or its partners, with the option to purchase the currently available disc drive for PS5 separately.
Read more: Sony's PlayStation 5 Is Entering the 'Latter Stage of Its Life Cycle': What That Means

You can play PS5 games and use its accessories​

The PS5 Pro is compatible with current PS5 accessories, including PlayStation VR2, PlayStation Portal, DualSense Edge, Access controller, Pulse Elite and Pulse Explore.
Several PS5 games will be patched with free software updates to take advantage of PS5 Pro's features. These games will feature a PS5 Pro Enhanced label, and include 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 and The Last of Us Part II Remastered,.
Sony currently sells the PS5 for a starting price of $449 for the model without a disc drive.

What happens to the PS5 now?​

When Sony announced its PS5 was entering the "latter stage of its lifecycle" earlier this year, the company didn't explain how its approach to the device would change, other than the cryptic promise to "put more emphasis on the balance between profitability and sales."
Rumors suggest Sony won't be dropping prices much, but will instead focus on convincing existing PS5 owners to trade up to a PS5 Pro, or get non-PlayStation owners to buy a PS5.
One way Sony will make its case is by offering many years of support for its older consoles. The PS5 can play "an overwhelming majority" of PS4 games, no matter if they were bought on disc or digital, and we now know the same is true for PS5 games on the PS5 Pro. And while we don't yet know if the inevitable PS6 will offer the same capabilities, it's likely Sony will want to keep that feature.


Sony kept making and selling PS4 consoles more than a year past the PS5's launch in the fall of 2020.
 
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HogIsland

Member
It just seems so wrong-headed, such little performance uplift in the games they have available to show. And digital-only boils down to a price increase when you consider the lack of competition in game pricing/distribution.

I've never believed in the "arrogant sony" meme, but they are relentlessly squeezing their most enthusiastic fans for cash this gen. Without the visionary exclusive game output to make up for it.
 

Fake

Gold Member
Weird that Digital Foundry was not invited. Maybe Rich and Alex burned too many bridges with their ridiculous takes on the PS5 back at the reveal.

Make me a little concerned about the PSSR. I mean, Sony invited Digital Foundry for showing CB render of the PS4pro and even let Rich using his tool AT CLOSED DOORS to measure the difference between a native 4k and a cb 4k.
 
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Make me a little concerned about the PSSR. I mean, Sony invited Digital Foundry for showing CB render of the PS4pro and even let Rich using his tool AT CLOSED DOORS to measure the difference between a native 4k and a cb 4k.
Very little info on PSSR in general. Cerny just glossed over it almost. Expected it to be front and center in the marketing drive honestly.
 

Darsxx82

Member
Very little info on PSSR in general. Cerny just glossed over it almost. Expected it to be front and center in the marketing drive honestly.
The presentation has been quite bland. With Cerny there, the least you could expect is a more in-depth technical presentation of how it works, comparisons with other ML scaling methods, its ease of use for developers etc. In the end it has been a rather bland PR presentation.

When you intend to sell something at 800+ euros, it would have been better to have put more effort in my opinion.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
Maybe they did and it's just not been uploaded yet
The video is titled exclusive. Sony gave CNET the exclusive.
Make me a little concerned about the PSSR. I mean, Sony invited Digital Foundry for showing CB render of the PS4pro and even let Rich using his tool AT CLOSED DOORS to measure the difference between a native 4k and a cb 4k.


Yes, the cnet guy said Sony refused to let them do their own capture and do any pixel counts. Not a good look.
 

HogIsland

Member
this is what happens when people are too willing to see any kind of competition disappear. so many happy to see xbox struggle. this is just a taste of things to come if Sony is the only console maker (not including Nintendo).

same on PC... amd has pretty much admitted defeat against Nvidia. new Nvidia gpus are gonna be even more fucking expensive.

competition is good for everyone. stop arguing and defending your favourite box/company. have some respect for yourselves.
PC is the clear path forward.

I don't really agree with you about amd "admitting defeat" vs nvidia. AMD is gonna compete hard at the performance levels that really matter. I don't think the 4090 is a practical or good option for most people. it's really a developer/creator card that rich enthusiasts are buying just to say they have the best. the fact that nvidia is clearly winning on the highest-end doesn't count for everything. Also Intel is making strides with their Arc series, and pricing aggressively for mainstream performance. so there really is more competition than you're describing.
 

Dural

Member
This thing is a beta for Sony to try out PSSR and a huge price before PS6 and the die hards are eating it up. The GPU is actually only 38% faster than the PS5, I guess the 45% is for the system as a whole. This is a bit of a joke compared to the PS4 Pro compared to PS4, especially at that price point.
 

SweetTooth

Gold Member
this is what happens when people are too willing to see any kind of competition disappear. so many happy to see xbox struggle. this is just a taste of things to come if Sony is the only console maker (not including Nintendo).

same on PC... amd has pretty much admitted defeat against Nvidia. new Nvidia gpus are gonna be even more fucking expensive.

competition is good for everyone. stop arguing and defending your favourite box/company. have some respect for yourselves.

Competition is here to stay with or without Xbox. Sony will be fighting against PC and Nintendo.
 
It’s a nice looking console and I’m fortunate I can afford it but to me there’s a limit here considering it’s a mid gen update on four year old hardware. No disc drive or stand included either, sorry but no.

I see the usual folk on twitter are immediately making a case due to the glitter shite $600 Series X coming out.

I wish Microsoft had gotten the Xbox division sorted out instead of the crap they are now.
 
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rodrigolfp

Haptic Gamepads 4 Life
Make me a little concerned about the PSSR. I mean, Sony invited Digital Foundry for showing CB render of the PS4pro and even let Rich using his tool AT CLOSED DOORS to measure the difference between a native 4k and a cb 4k.
Watch them drop the internal resolution for PSSR. The console have the same amount of memory, no? How will they improve IQ and RT with the same amount of RAM without dropping something?
 
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