Topic: The 'PS5 Pro is technically for me' Thread

@breakneck I wouldn't expect more boosts to PS4 games - unless there are still some that struggle to maintain 60fps on the PS5 (while not capped to 30). I do agree that the choice of focus and examples was not good but on the other hand...
It would make a bigger impact to show games that kind of struggle on PS5 (either running at very low resolutions, exhibiting severe upscaling artifacts or not maintaining target frame rates - such as Jedi Survivor) and make it clear that they run much better on the Pro, instead of showing games that run perfectly fine - but that would be a bad look for the og PS5, so I understand why they decided not to do that.

I think the machine looks great. It’s obviously not the step forward the PS4 Pro was but as someone who regularly wrestles with which graphics option to commit to, I would of course welcome higher fidelity with faster performance.

I just so happen to be playing through Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. I’m not a graphics snob but the trade off between image quality and performance is plain to see. Jarring, even. The opportunity to eliminate this divide is, without touching on price, enticing enough to me to justify the upgrade.

As for the issue of the disk drive, I’m actually in favour of this approach, and I’m a big proponent of physical media. It just makes sense to me. I only have to buy a drive once, keeping the cost of future machines down and if it does fail, I’m not replacing an entire console. In a way, with the market skewing towards digital media, I see it as security for what is a growing niche market.

Everything I hear about it pleases me, no end. To be honest. (Except the price, which intially shocked me, but it is what it is and as it is for enthusiasts replacing 4 year old consoles, and its not actually sticking point)

I think they are masking it as "players want frames" but they know 100% that devs are going to use PSSR as a way to add more graphics without tanking the frame rate completely 😁 and I fully welcome a new era of 30/40/60 with higher settings piled on to the lower fps modes.

When I was thinking of getting a high end PC, I knew for a fact I'd slap everything on ultra and just lock it to a decent enough frame rate, as long as the fps is stable, I'm happy. Especially with a controller not mouse and keyboard. So this console will hopefully just be a nice middle ground of improved settings, and ease of use. And even though I'll still pine for going nuts with a PC I just don't have the workable space or patience, and spending a bunch to start with a catalogue of zero games and no pc gaming experience is just daunting 😅

Maybe when they make PC's that are basically just consoles with pre loaded gaming OS and no faffing about I will get round to reworking some space for one.

I'm of a similar mind to this.
I want that high end quality but I don't want to invest in another ecosystem at this point. And honestly I think that's the target for this system anyway - If you have a PS5 currently and you're happy with it, you don't need the PRO. But if you're invested in the PlayStation platform and you want the best possible performance, this is the system to consider.

I'm also a console hardware enthusiast so all of the new systems excite me when they're announced anyway.

@Yagami I know, but then there's the operating system, drivers and updates and all that. With a console I know for a fact I just turn it on and everything is good to go 😅 I have seriously researched it a few times, including pre built and built by specialists from a store, and I am a lot more clued in on the technical side than I was. But still wary of actual potential to f*** it all up by not being very hands on technical haha. Another one of the factors is that I've built my gaming set up for consoles paired with a large tv, and there isn't really any workable area for a massive PC unit, unless I basically start again, or have it located at distance from the TV, which brings in problems with cable quality and length, and I just can't bring myself to do it 😅 If I ever do switch to/get a PC, I will still have some form of console, and it will most likely be the best available version of that PlayStation because of my library anyway, and therefore I'd still have it as part of my gaming set up. And then of course I do quite like to have a spare console in the living room too 😅

I think there are rumours of more 'console like' PC's with easy to navigate OS etc. So I will keep my eye out. But if I do it it will be replacing the Xbox that I decided to try this year, right before they imploded their console strategy 😅 and space wise a PC is, what, 6 times bigger than an Xbox, minimum.

Still in my mind I'm thinking "but what if there's a way to set up a ps5 pro AND a gaming PC" and if I could see an easy design solution to do that, maybe I'd be silly enough to go ahead and do it 😅

@Shepherd_Tallon it is always an endless cycle, much like PC upgrades for us, isn't it 😅 but it is incredibly low maintenance and the library will continue to grow anyway.

But replacing a 4 year old digital PS5 seems a pretty rational decision anyway, and the upgrade is a nice bonus on top of that.

For me this latest cycle has gone: PS4 Pro to go in my gaming set up that I was making as I was waiting for a PS5... get a PS5 as soon as the scalpers had f***ed off and stock was available... a second PS5 to replace the pro that got moved out of gaming set up and into the living room, that probably gets used a little less than I expected... A switch (that was a silly idea) good intially, but now I don't even have the dock plugged in anywhere, and I didn't fall in love with handheld gaming. A series X to try out gamepass and see if they can finally win me over (they still can't) the console gets use, but they are doing everything possible to turn people away from their consoles since I got it 😅 and the PS5 Pro will probably be what I want to play everything on anyway.

So the next stage is a PS5 Pro to replace my first PS5. It makes the most sense to me and my needs, as I'd have to buy a lot of PC games to make the initial outlay worth while.

@Ravix That's the key for me - Low maintenance and the library just keeps growing every year. About half way through the PS4 gen I knew because of the monthly games being added to my library that I'd stay with the platform long term.

I've had a similar journey as you this gen actually.

• Started out with the PS4 Pro and the Switch. (I play Switch docked. I'll buy every Nintendo for Zelda and Mario Kart. If they only released those two games each gen I'd still be happy.)
• Then upgraded PS4 Pro to PS5.
• I'll get PS5 Pro next and keep the base PS5 for 4K movie discs in the TV room. I'll probably play VR in there too actually because there's more space.

I was considering Steam Deck for playing outside in the garden during the summer, but with the Portal now giving me access to my PS library I don't need anything else.

@Shepherd_Tallon ah, I enjoyed TotK, but then was like "now what?" 😅 so it was basically a failed experiment. I do wish I had the desire to use it handheld just to make it worthwhile, but I very rarely do.

It's got to all circle back to the games, and I know for certain KCDII, AC Shadows, Crimson Desert, GTA 6 etc are all going to benefit from a console with more power to handle them. I'd love to play KCDII on a PC, as that is where Warhorse are most comfortable developing games. They have explicitly panned the series S already, so you know any bit of help it can get on console will be handy. But to get a PC just so I can run one game absolutely perfectly, oh my no, I'd need to fully plan 2 years worth of games to make it worthwhile, especially since it would require a room refit 😅

@Ravix KCDII, Crimson Desert, GTA 6, these are three games I've got an eye on for this too.
Plus I'll be saving my platinum run of FF VII Rebirth for the Pro now too.
I don't really like or have much time for digital foundry, but they seemed to have nice things to say about Rebirth running on Pro.

I want a PS5 Pro.
My PS5 LAN port has failed.
My PS5 Wi-Fi card has recently started dropping out.
PS5 Pro improves PSVR2 games image quality.
It's just too damn expensive.

Great topic. Well, I would say it's for me for various reasons. After a period of time of having all consoles and since I became a dad of two with less time to play I decided to invest only in 1 ecosystem and get the best out of it. So I'm playing like 2 hours per day nowadays and only on my PS5 and sold everything else. If PS5 Pro will mean that I'll play the best version of any game on PS ecosystem then I'll go for it as long as my budget (Personal one) can afford it. I'm having something like monthly personal expense out of my salary which I use to buy games, devices, subscribe to my favorite subscription services... etc. so I guess I can save some money in the next few weeks towards getting the PS5 Pro while trading in my Fat PS5.

I hope it makes sense. That being said I'm still waiting for more details and maybe a digital foundry video to demonstrate the device better.

Awesome topic. There was something I saw today which is for here and also kind of justifies the pricing thing. Here is a quote:

How Sony achieved this is pretty simple: the RT hardware inside the PlayStation 5 Pro comes from AMD's next-generation Radeon graphics hardware, or RDNA 4

So, we will have the RDNA 4 in PS5 Pro first. It is not out yet from AMD on any new hardware. Even the latest great APUs are with RDNA3. So this makes the difference and makes PSSR so good. And it will be getting better. (just touching the other topic - well we want the latest hardware, even this is not released yet, and pay the same... )

I think that with real proper coding and optimization, some great visuals can be achieved. I am very excited to get RDNA4.

@Khwarezm89 well done on still being able to get a good 2 hours in then 😅 sometimes that is the best way to play, anyway, especially in a really good game worth taking time over.

Oh yes, definitely want to see what PSSR means in action with third party games specifically. If it is something that is easy to implement and makes it easier for devs (or the console itself) to get the most out of the console version of games (FSR clearly hasn't been) then that can only be good for the future of gaming as a whole.

@Sergo yes, I agree. It is quite exciting to see what it can do for games. This will probably go a huge way to defining how the PS6 will be built too, if this works well then they can really start to push the tech forward into the future, and maybe bridge the gap, to some extent, between PC and PS, and the more demanding games that have struggled this generation on consoles.

We can't just accept a future where graphics settings on consoles have peaked to be playable on consoles, because otherwise devs designing for consoles will have to keep choosing between fidelity, physics and performance to make sure games actually function 😅 this will hopefully salvage performance and allow graphics settings to be boosted.

I do wonder if by PS6 whether they will have games with graphics settings included in the game menus, so people can tailor the experience a little more. So anyone who wants 120fps in the future can lower a bunch of graphics settings, lower the resolution and enjoy their fast response times 👀 and others can tune the game to look superb in 30, 40, or 60fps depending on the game and their tastes.

@Ravix I absolutely love the idea of ps6 (or any tenth gen console) to have graphic settings. Sounds like it’d really rock my world.

@Ravix I , for one, will be happy to have this options for settings. For example, if no 60 fps struggles, what if I push it to 1440p, will that improve? It should as it does on PCs, but the games for PS are not built that way.
But the biggest issue here I think would be the whole idea. You buy a game, you install and play. Thats it. Now, things will get a bit more techy for the average player. To be honest, evben I, whi was a PC gamer for 15 years, enjoy that hassle free.

@Sergo yes, perhaps it would actually make the whole experience more frustrating as we try to tweak every little setting instead of just playing 😁

It'd still be nice for a few extra options moving forwards, maybe hidden away in a "pro settings" menu, as not everyone likes the same things, I, for one would sacrifice some things for better Ray Tracing because it adds to my immersion in the worlds, as long as it doesn't make the game run badly.

Excited to see the tech in person to see what can be achieved on our little game boxes 😁

@Ravix yes, yes , i totally agree. I was just thinking from their point of view.

@Sergo yeah, I get you. No worries 😁

@NeonMullet I don't think it will hit native 4k at 60fps unless it's a game like Astro Bot, right? That is the point of PSSR though, isnt it? 😬 although, I don't even know any more, it says spider Man 2 is native 4k on ps5, but then says it uses techniques to enhance it to 4k, which seems like that means it is not native. It won't need to be native in games to look like it is though, and so it will perform better and look nicer because of these things regardless. I suppose it might hit 4k if the graphics settings are lowered, but I don't think devs want to lower graphics settings in games just to get native 4K lol. If they can get a good looking replica but with higher graphic settings and/or better performance it will satisfy everyone's needs.

The words have lost all meaning to me, and maybe I'm just wrong anyway haha.

@Yagami I'm now of the mind that I've kind of built a PC in my mind that I can maybe pull the trigger on if I miss out on the PS5 Pro. I've potentially solved the space issue that I'd have, and my last sticking point was how well it would perform in terms of heat as I don't want to mess around with any liquid cooling, but I'm pretty sure the case I found that I could fit on the other side of the room from the TV has pretty good air flow.

The final sticking point is still whether I'd want to bother with being stuck with windows OS and all the many annoyances PC's have, when i just want something that works for gaming 😪😪😪

@Ravix Regarding the DF topic. I used to like them a lot but they kind of started talking only the bad points of most of the things. Like critics only. This pushed me away from them.
But still I dont get this whole hype arround the ps5 pro. Every tech has higher tier specs products, but here, like Sony have to make something great but cheap. Even free if possible. I want Lambo, but ... I do not hate them.
On the topic, for me PS5 pro is awesome, but I am not so confident in 2 things:

• devs - if the will utilize it at maximum as I dont thik they did PS5 yet. (latest example. TDU Solar crown - to get 60fps it is rendered at 1080p. Check the game ... there is 0 fancy stuff, so total incompetence)
• business side - devs will continue making games focused on PS5 specs. Maybe still even PS4 which is total crap. And this is a huge problem.