PS5 Pro Delivers 30% Performance Boost with Minimal Power Increase

The team at Digital Foundry recently delved into an intriguing analysis of the PlayStation 5 Pro’s power consumption, and the results turned out to be quite the revelation. Hosted in a YouTube discussion, Richard Leadbetter, John Linneman, and Oliver Mackenzie shared their findings. They unveiled that despite the PlayStation 5 Pro’s beefed-up GPU, it doesn’t gulp down more power than the standard PS5.

During their tests, they ran the PS5 Pro through its paces with popular games like Elden Ring, Spider-Man 2, and F1 24. They pitched these results against the original PS5, the newer PS5 Slim, and the Pro’s own exclusive versions with their graphical enhancements.

When it came to Elden Ring, they noted that the PS5 Pro’s power draw was almost neck and neck with that of the PS5 Slim. One video clip highlighted the Pro consuming about 214.1 watts, while the Slim clocked in at 216.2 watts, and the original PS5 at 201.3 watts. The kicker? Despite this power similarity, the Pro boasted a notable jump in performance, running at 52 FPS compared to the Slim’s 40 FPS and the launch PS5’s 37 FPS. It’s crucial to keep in mind that the performance data for the Slim and the original model comes from a specific benchmark snapshot, so variations might occur, although generally, they perform similarly. Thus, the PS5 Pro delivered a 30% frame rate boost without additional power consumption.

Switching gears to Spider-Man 2, the narrative shifted a little since the game maxed out at 60 FPS across all systems. Here, the PS5 Pro registered the highest power use with 232 watts, overshadowing the Slim at 218.2 watts and the launch model at 208.1 watts. In this case, the Pro consumed about 6% more power than the Slim and 11% more than the original model. As for F1 24, while detailed comparisons weren’t made, Digital Foundry showed the Pro comfortably operating around 235 watts while maintaining a 60 FPS rate.

A noteworthy aspect is the honest competition between the launch and Slim models. Power consumption can be swayed by the silicon quality of the consoles. This factor might explain why the Slim sometimes trails behind the original model. Variability in silicon quality means some consoles achieve their target CPU speeds at lower power levels.

In wrapping up their exploration, Digital Foundry highlighted the unexpected nature of their findings—the PS5 Pro’s power needs nearly match those of the standard PS5, despite its superior GPU. Initially, they speculated that the Pro might demand upwards of 300 watts.

Looking closer at the specifications, the PS5 Pro packs an 8-core Zen 2 CPU paired with an RDNA-based GPU hitting 16.7 TFLOPs, alongside 576 GB/s of memory bandwidth. In contrast, the regular PS5 models come with the same CPU, albeit potentially different clock speeds, and a less powerful 10.28 TFLOP GPU with 448 GB/s memory bandwidth.

Stay tuned for more such insights and reviews as we continue to explore the ever-evolving world of gaming tech.