Playstation 5 Pro: Sony’s most expensive gaming console ever is coming in November

The rumor mill has been bubbling for a long time, now it’s official: Sony is announcing the Playstation 5 Pro for November 7, 2024 at a price of 799 euros. The company is taking a similar approach to the PS4 Pro: The new PS5 Pro is primarily sprucing up the graphics unit with additional shader cores and new functions. A completely new AI unit for the AI ​​upscaling Playstation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) is – in the best case comparable to Nvidia’s Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS). Sony speaks of “the big three”: larger GPU, advanced ray tracing and AI upscaling.

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Sony does not provide any specific specifications in the announcement. However, the relatively comprehensive information corresponds to previous leaks from reliable sources, which is why we consider them to be credible. Below is a summary of the information so far.

Compared to the old PS5 (Slim), the GPU of the PS5 Pro has grown from 2304 to 3840 shader cores, with an architecture mix of RDNA 3 (Radeon RX 7000) and RDNA 4 (upcoming Radeon RX 8000). This is accompanied by cache increases and optimizations of 3D calculations. In particular, ray tracing graphics effects should run better.

Much more TFlops on paper

If the PS5 Pro can maintain its maximum GPU clock frequency, the graphics unit should achieve 18.1 teraflops. 36 teraflops are sometimes mentioned, but this value is theoretical and can only be achieved under certain conditions: The so-called dual-issue cores of RDNA 3 double their computing throughput when two computing operations occur at the same time.

This is by no means always the case, which is why the frame rate increases by up to 45 percent according to Sony. Hardware-hungry ray tracing graphics effects should run two to three times faster. To ensure that the faster GPU does not starve itself of the memory transfer rate, Sony uses faster GDDR6 components, probably with 18 instead of 14 gigabits per second and pin. The total transfer rate should therefore increase from 448 to 576 GByte/s.

The CPU cores remain on the Zen 2 architecture, i.e. on the technical level of the Ryzen 3000 processors. This is not a big deal, as the GPU is practically always limited on the current consoles. There should be a small boost with up to 350 MHz more clock frequency. It is unknown in which manufacturing process the new PS5 Pro processor will roll off the production line.

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Game patches and Game Boost for thousands of games

Numerous games will receive PS5 Pro patches that are intended to improve the graphics. Sony specifically names: 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.

Games without a PS5 Pro patch should primarily run more smoothly with the faster hardware. Sony calls this “PS5 Pro Game Boost”.

800 euros with 2 TB SSD

Sales of the PS5 Pro begin on November 7th. In Europe, Sony is asking 800 euros for the console – at launch, the PS5 Pro will quickly be twice as expensive as the previous Playstation 5. In addition to the faster processor, there is a 2 TB instead of 825 GB PCI Express SSD. Sony is also including a single Dualsense controller and “Astro’s Playroom”. A UHD Blu-ray drive is not included as standard, but can be added as with the PS5 Slim.

A note on our own behalf: The PS5 was sold out for three years. The Forum app therefore uses an availability bot to check all major German retailers and informs experienced users as soon as shops offer the Playstation 5 Pro. The Forum also draws attention to offers.

(mma)