Sony PlayStation 5 Pro: Performance, Part Analysis, Power Consumption & Noise

Epilogue

The new PS5 Pro has some notable features, including the stronger and newer generation GPU, increased storage space, WiFi7 connectivity, and PSSR (PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution Upscaling) technology, which is not supported by previous generations of PS5 consoles. Once developers start to exploit it, PSSR can make a difference in gaming. But, there is always a but; its price is much higher than the PS5 Slim, so I don’t believe many consumers will prefer it. Moreover, developers must put extra effort into creating enhanced versions of their games to exploit the PS5 Pro’s capabilities fully. Among the games I tried, I cannot say that the difference in graphics quality is noticeable, especially if you are 2-3 meters from the TV/monitor. That said, thanks to PSSR and the beefier GPU, the PS5 Pro can offer higher frames, claiming up to 120 FPS even at 4K, which, in my mind, will mean considerable sacrifices in the graphics quality. I will be satisfied with 60Hz steady at 4K, given that the graphics quality isn’t affected noticeably.

Source: PS5 PRO teardown

During the part analysis process, I noticed that Sony tried to suppress the production cost by using smaller heatsinks (but with more heatpipes), especially compared to the first-generation PS5. Moreover, the cooling fan is smaller now but has around the same power needs as those used in the previous generation PS5 consoles. The only problem is that the new fan has to spin faster because of the smaller diameter, which increases noise. Not that the PS5 Pro is noisy, but compared to the PS5 (not the slim version), it is notably noisier in gaming.

Overall, I find the PS5 Pro a highly capable gaming console. However, the price difference with the base model is too large, so shops have a huge stock of PS5s for Black Friday week and only a few PS5 Pros. Only if Sony phases out the previous PS5 generation consoles could it push the sales of the PS5 Pro, but this would hurt the pocket of users wanting to get a capable console at a price close to 500 dollars. Personally I was forced to buy the PS5 Pro for the needs of this review (no, Sony didn’t send me one), else I would stay with the “plain” PS5 (non-slim) that I have.