PS5 Pro Delivers 30% Performance Boost with Comparable Power Efficiency to Base Model

Digital Foundry recently put the PlayStation 5 Pro through its paces to analyze its power usage, and the findings were quite unexpected. In a detailed discussion video on YouTube, Richard Leadbetter, John Linneman, and Oliver Mackenzie of Digital Foundry revealed that the PS5 Pro consumes almost the same amount of power as the standard PS5, even though it boasts a more beefed-up GPU.

To test this, they ran the PS5 Pro using games like Elden Ring, Spider-Man 2, and F1 24. These tests compared its performance against the original PS5 model, the newer PS5 Slim, and, of course, the Pro itself, which came with enhanced graphical features exclusive to it.

While playing Elden Ring, the power draw of the PS5 Pro was nearly the same as that of the PS5 Slim. At one point in the analysis, the Pro model used 214.1 watts, whereas the PS5 Slim clocked in at 216.2 watts, and the original launch model at 201.3 watts. When it came to frame rates, though, the Pro was notably ahead, hitting 52 FPS compared to the PS5 Slim’s 40 FPS and the launch model’s 37 FPS. (Do note that this snapshot in frame rate differences between the Slim and the launch models should be considered with a pinch of salt as it comes from a single benchmark run by Digital Foundry, with both consoles actually matching each other in performance overall.) Essentially, the PS5 Pro delivered 30% more frame rates while consuming comparable power to the PS5 Slim.

In Spider-Man 2, the dynamics shifted slightly since all three consoles were capped at 60 FPS. Here, the PS5 Pro drew the most power at 232 watts, the PS5 Slim followed at 218.2 watts, and the original PS5 was at 208.1 watts. This means the Pro used 6% more power than the Slim and 11% more than the launch version. Even though there were no direct comparisons for F1 24, findings indicated the PS5 Pro running at roughly 235 watts in-game, stabilized at 60 FPS.

It’s important to remember that the differences between the launch and Slim models aren’t insignificant. Fluctuations in power consumption can hinge on the quality of the silicon, whereby some consoles can perform at advertised CPU clock speeds at lower voltages.

Digital Foundry’s investigation confirmed that the PS5 Pro operates with power demands similar to the original PS5 models, despite its much more powerful GPU capabilities. This revelation surprised them, as they anticipated the console might exceed 300 watts in power consumption.

The PS5 Pro is equipped with an 8-core Zen 2 CPU alongside a robust 16.7 TFLOP RDNA-based GPU, enabling 576 GB/s memory bandwidth. The regular PS5 models house the same CPU—albeit possibly varied in clock speed—but pack a less powerful 10.28 TFLOP RDNA-based GPU, offering 448 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

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