The PS5 Pro: A New Era in Gaming Consoles

And there, my friends, is the brand new PS5 Pro. Well, pretty much at least. So the PS5 Pro is finally official and it is an interesting upgrade. Sony just wrapped up a very brief announcement of the PS5 Pro, and they literally got into it within like the first five seconds and there are some interesting things to get into.

So, essentially what you're getting here is the PS5 at $699. This move by Sony is clear: they don't want to make the Pro so good that the regular PS5 is obsolete. However, it's evident that they're setting this up as a console that is going to be best for games such as GTA 6, which you've gotta assume will be the most powerful console to play that with.

The PS5, of course, is sticking around. Developers were beating down Mark Cerny's door begging for more graphical horsepower, and it was not necessarily because they wanted to sell you a $699 PlayStation 5 or anything. No, it was just because the developers were asking Sony for it, not Microsoft. This sentiment is further emphasized when we consider that there wasn't even an announcement from Microsoft regarding their own console.

So, what we're getting here is essentially, really the sales pitch is PS5 Pro will be able to play PS5 games on high settings at 60 FPS. That's really, if we could boil everything down, that is what the main target is. So, they talked a lot about the big three, which includes the GPU.

Now, interestingly, even though Mark Cerny typically goes into a lot of depth on these kinds of presentations, he didn't give us a teraflop number. He didn't give us even like the RDNA 3 or whatever they're actually using. He just talked about how it is much more powerful, specifically with 67% more compute which if I could do some math, would probably put it at like 30 teraflops or something. I think, maybe, no. 13, 11, 12, 16, 20 tera, ah, a lot.

Combined with a little bit more memory bandwidth, the overall result is 45% faster rendering performance. So that is without ray tracing. That is just pure raw GPU horsepower and if you think about it, that does make sense. If you're playing a game that is running the quality mode at 30 FPS, 45% more GPU is probably close enough to get you to running at 60 FPS.

They were showing games such as The Last of Us II running with their Performance Mode at 60 FPS. Same thing with Spider-Man. There are a lot of the games, the first party titles that they're really showing off at how they're able to push those higher frame rates without sacrificing quality.

Now, I will say reading between the lines a little bit, he never said it was exactly the same. There were a lot of comparisons, a lot of like, "Oh, this is how much better it is compared to that." But let's be honest, we all know that the big three – CPU, GPU, and memory bandwidth – make up most of the power in any console.

So, what can we expect from the PS5 Pro? Essentially, we're looking at a console that will allow for smoother gameplay, with higher frame rates and better graphics. And with the PS5 Pro, it seems like Sony is taking steps to ensure that their latest console meets the demands of the gaming industry.

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- And there, my friends,is the brand new PS5 Pro.Well, pretty much at least.So the PS5 Pro is finally officialand it is an interesting upgrade.So essentially what you'regetting here is the PS5 at $699.So Sony just wrapped upa very brief announcementof the PS5 Pro.They literally got into itwithin like the first five secondsand there are some interestingthings to get into.So they begin by talkinga little bit about the PS5which of course is sticking around.They don't wanna make the Pro so goodthat the regular PS5 is obsoletebut it's clear they'resetting this up as a consolethat is going to be bestfor games such as GTA 6which you've gotta assumeit will be the most powerfulconsole to play that with.So going through the whole list,they recap some of the PS5 specs.So its Zen 2 CPU cores, its GPU,the fact that it's got theTempest 3D Audio, DualSense.They really just kindareiterate like hey, guess what?The existing PS5 is stillreally good, dot, dot dotbut developers were beatingdown Mark Cerny's doorbegging for more graphical horsepower.It was not certainly the factthat they wanted to sell youa $699 PlayStation 5 or anything.No, it was, it was justbecause the developerswere asking Sony for it, not Microsoft.So what we're getting here is essentially,really the sales pitch is PS5 Prowill be able to play PS5 gameson high settings at 60 FPS.That's really, if we couldboil everything down,that is what the main target is.So they talked a lot about the big three,so the first of which is the GPU.Now, interestingly, even though Mark Cernytypically goes into a lot of depthon these kind of presentations,he didn't give us a teraflop number.He didn't give us even like the RDNA 3or whatever they're actually using.He just talked about howit is much more powerful,specifically with 67% more computewhich if I could do some math,would probably put it at like30 teraflops or something.I think, maybe, no.20.Uh.13, 11, 12, 16, 20 tera, ah, a lot.Combined with a littlebit more memory bandwidth,the overall result is 45%faster rendering performance.So that is without ray tracing.That is just pure raw GPU horsepowerand if you think aboutthat, that does make sense.If you're playing a gamethat is running thequality mode at 30 FPS,45% more GPU is probably close enoughto get you to running at 60 FPS.That was very much the sort of the demosthat they were showing, right?They're showing gamessuch as The Last of Us IIrunning with theirPerformance Mode at 60 FPS.Same thing with Spider-Man.There are a lot of the games,the first party titles thatthey're really showing offat how they're able to pushthose higher frame rateswithout sacrificing quality.Now, I will say readingbetween the lines a little bit,he never said it was exactly the same.There was a lot ofcomparisons, a lot of like,"it's almost the same, it's nearly there."My guess is that you maystill see a very slightsort of downgrade insort of graphic qualitylike maybe you're at 1800pversus 2160p or somethingwhen you're actuallyplaying some of these gamesin Performance Mode.And to be clear, he did not saythat all games are droppingPerformance and the Fidelity Modebut the idea behind the PS5 Prois that with theadditional GPU horsepower,you would not need tochoose between the two.In fact, an interesting stat he pulled up,"2/3 of gamers pick Performance Modeinstead of FidelityMode," which makes sense.That's certainly what I do as wellbecause that 60 FPSmakes a big difference.Now, on top of justthe raw GPU horsepower,they also then talk about the ray tracing.So the ray tracing issomething which is going to bea bigger feature on the PS5 Pro.So as it sits right now,the existing Xbox Series S,Series X and PS5 have,let's be honest, fairly weak ray tracingcompared to somethinglike an NVIDIA GPU, right?It exists but it doesn'treally do that muchbut with the PS5 Pro,they have enhanced theray tracing capabilitieswith two to three times the performancewhich means the games such as GTA 7can actually enable ray tracingnot just in the little camera modebut actually in realgameplay which is nice.This is something that is Ithink a real selling pointfor these next generation consoles.Again, I'm thinking GTA 6 here.I feel like that's gonna be a gamethat they can reallylean into the ray tracingon the PS5 Pro.It is going to be a system seller.This is also combinedwith PlayStation Spectral Super Resolutionwhich is for all intents andpurposes a DLSS competitor.So if you're unfamiliar,DLSS is an NVIDIA techthat essentially uses AI toupscale each frame, right?It actually works very, very welland it's pretty much the standard on PC.Intel, AMD have also kind ofbuilt their own solutions.But it seems like what Sony have doneis likely made a sortof semi-custom thing.So essentially what you'll be able to dois that internally on the PS5 Pro,games will be running atsay 1440p or somethingand then using this PSSR technique,it'll be able to upscale themto a very clean looking 4Kor at least that's the theory.Now, again, based on stuff like DLSS,I can fully believe thatthis would be pulled offin a really sort of strong mannerand that's probablyhow they're pulling offsome of these numbersbecause again, if you lookat it, 45% faster render,by itself is not enoughto get yourself from 30 to 60 FPS, right?You would need 100% morebut if you've got more raw horsepower,more memory bandwidth, more raw computeand a little bit of extraAI sprinkling on top,not useless garbage AIbut actually useful AI,this does make a lot of sense.Now, on top of that, they did talk abouthow some of the otherthings that they have builtare going to help kind ofpush the PS5 Pro forward.So they give a bunch of gameplay examples,mostly first party,although they did show some other titlessuch as Hogwarts Legacy where they showedthat it is going to be engaginga higher level of ray tracingwith things such as reflections, shadowsand I quote "it is themost powerful consolethat we've ever built"and that's certainlytrue and it had better bebecause the PS5 Pro whenit launches on November 7thcomes in at $699.So you're talking about$700 for the PS5 Prothen if you want to buy the disc drive,presumably that will also be$80 like it is on the PS5 Slim.So you're talking aboutalmost an $800 PlayStation.What is this, 2006?I guess the only upside to that $700 priceis that it is with a two terabyte SSDas opposed to the oneterabyte on the PS5 Slim.So that is nice especially consideringthat you know that these PS5 Pro gamesare gonna be freaking 300 gigs, right?How big is GTA 6 gonna be on PS5 Pro?I'm just gonna keep talking about GTA 6'cause honestly, if I wasgonna sum this whole thing up,GTA 6 feels like it'sgoing to be the reasonwhy you buy a PS5 Pro.That just feels like the answerbecause GTA 6 is notcoming to PC any time soon.If you want the absolutebest way to play that game,the PS5 Pro, I will guarantee youis going to be the best spot, right,like there is no Xboxanswer to the PS5 Proand I don't think we will seeone until the next generation.So for the next several years, the PS5 Prois going to be the most powerful console.It's a decent upgrade, right?Now, the price is too much.I really think that they shouldhave tried to go for $600like just the fact thatit is a $200 upgrade over,no, no, sorry, it's a $280 upgradeover the standard PS5 Slimif you wanna get the disc drive, right,or a $250 upgrade if youwanna go from base PS5 Slimto Pro without a disc drive.That's, it's a lot of money.It's a lot of money.I think for someone who wantsthe ultimate in consolegaming, PS5 Pro all dayand of course make sure tosubscribe to the channeland ring a ling that ding a ling buttonbecause as soon as thisthing drops on November 7th,I'm gonna be all over it.But I gotta say like I'mexcited to try this thing.I'm sure it's gonna be avery interesting consolein a lot of directions butit is so expensive, right,like almost $800 if you wantthe fully kitted out versionwith the disc drive.That's a bit of a tough sell, right?And Sony have consistentlyraised the price of the PS5ever since it's been launched.It's like, I mean the PS4 Prowas $100 more than the regular PS4.It was $400, right?That was not that long ago.And now we're talking about a consolewhich is for all intent andpurposes double the price.But let me know what youthink about the PS5 Proin the comments below.Until next time, my friends,I'm gonna go try to play some Concordon my brand new PS5 Pro.That was a joke 'cause Concord's dead now.