PS5 Pro review: The best console graphics yet

The original PlayStation 5 was launched in November 2020 and kickstarts the current generation of gaming consoles. Three years later came the 2023 Slim model, with the same performance but a slight increase in storage space. Now, four years after the original PS5 debuted, we get the first real step forward with the PlayStation 5 Pro.

The PS5 Pro, available November 7 for $700 (£700, AU$1,200), enables higher graphical fidelity and improved ray tracing for much higher and smoother frame rates than the original. It is the most powerful game console on the market, but it is also the most expensive. And that price doesn’t even get you a vertical stand ($30, sold separately). If you want to play physical PS5 games, you’ll need to pick up Sony’s external disc drive (an additional $80).

At $200 to $300 more than a base PS5, getting the Pro today is like choosing a more expensive graphics processor to get better visuals on a desktop PC. But is it worth the money? To find out, I directly compared the PS5 Pro to its older sibling through a number of games, including Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, Spider-Man 2 and Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart. In scene after scene, I saw improved detail without compromising smoothness, a combination that makes the PS5 Pro the highest-performing gaming console I’ve ever tested. Yes, it is expensive, but for players who want the best experience, it may be worth the price.

The PlayStation 5 Pro design is familiar, but with racing stripes

The PS5 Pro takes many design cues from last year’s Slim model, which itself is a smaller console that retained the flared plastic look of the original PS5. It has the same design with four exterior panels, but unfortunately the panels are slightly different in size. This means that if you bought some of PlayStation’s great color panels to customize your device, they won’t fit the new one. It also uses the exact same external disc drive that clips to the side just like the PS5 Slim consoles.

Unlike the last two PS5 models, there is only one version of the PS5 Pro – the digital only option. In previous models, you could spend $50 to $100 more for a console that could read physical discs. Now, if you want your new PS5 Pro to have that functionality, you’ll need the $80 disc drive that was released last year. However, if you have a Slim model and have been using an external drive, the same drive will work in your new machine.

The PlayStation 5 Pro will also be slightly larger in size, sitting between the original and the Slim model in dimensions. And now it has these racing stripe-like fins on the side between the top and bottom plastic panels that vent some of the air. Like the Slim, it has two USB-C ports on the front and two standard USB-A ports on the back. It can also be placed horizontally or vertically. It comes with two small plastic feet to lay it flat, but if you want it to stand upright, you’ll need to purchase the same stand for $30 separately. You can still install your own solid-state drive, but Sony has doubled the internal storage to 2 terabytes this time around. It now also supports Wi-Fi 7, the latest standard.

PS5 Pro has upgraded graphics, ray tracing and AI upscaling

There are three main features that drive the PlayStation 5 Pro’s improved graphics and performance. The first is the upgraded GPU. PlayStation states that it contains 67% more computing units and 28% faster memory compared to a standard PS5. These allow it to render gameplay 45% faster.

The other feature is advanced ray-tracing that allows games to take advantage of more dynamic reflections and realistic lighting. Simply put, if you see parts of the environment accurately reflected in water, windows, or mirrors, that’s ray tracing at work. PlayStation states that it can now throw beams at double, and sometimes triple, the speed of the current PS5.

The final key feature is AI upscaling, which Sony calls PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution. This is a machine learning based technology that provides higher image clarity. It is primarily used to make games look sharper at higher resolutions and it works automatically.

How do games look on PS5 Pro?

On the standard PS5, you usually had two options to choose from when it came to a game’s graphics. Performance mode, which would lower the resolution, often to around 1080p, while increasing the frame rate, usually targeting 60 frames per second. This allowed games to run more smoothly and would often result in less dense environments and textures. The other option is Resolution (sometimes called Fidelity or Graphics), which raises the resolution to around 4K while limiting the frame rate to 30 fps.

Thanks to the Pro’s increased power, games that have received an update can now target a full 4K resolution while still reaching 60 frames per second. Your games will look better, areas will be more detailed, and the game will still run as smoothly as possible without the trade-off.

However, this does not eliminate the two graphics options. In fact, all the games I tested still have a Pro Performance and Pro Resolution setting (some games rename both modes, but it’s mainly between performance and graphics quality). For several of these games, the PS5 Pro was able to boost beyond just 4K 60, with some games, like EA Sports F1 24, advertising 8K or 120 frames per second. A quick caveat is that I don’t have an 8K TV and my capture device caps at 4K 60, so I wasn’t able to test and show these performance capture options. Given the lack of 8K TVs out there, many gamers probably won’t take advantage of this yet either.

In Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, we can easily see the increased resolution in the environments and textures, for example in the denser foliage compared to the standard PS5’s Performance mode. On the PS5 Pro, both Pro modes look very similar, but when slowed down we can see how much smoother the Pro Favors Performance mode is, while having extremely similar graphical details.

In Spider-Man 2, we see a more solid and numerous NPC shader between both Fidelity modes compared to their Performance counterparts. We also see a livelier city with more car traffic and NPCs wandering around on the Pro model compared to the standard model. And of course, the higher frame rate is present, which really makes Spidey’s web-swinging look and feel its best.

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart also has both modes, with the Performance Pro setting targeting 60fps while keeping the resolution high. The Fidelity mode drops the frame rate back to 30, but instead adds various ray tracing effects. The Pro gives a pretty big boost in artifact cleanup and texture density when we look at this close-up of the Rivet. We see this again in this close-up of Ratchet, where the baseline PS5’s face texture looks almost matted compared to the Pro’s. And when we look at scenes with a lot of distance, we see that the areas further away remain in focus, as more particles are introduced, such as the confetti or crowds.

EA Sports F1 24 is another good example of how much more detail we see in the scenes on the new Pro. The texture of the race track is far more detailed, especially in the quality mode on Pro. We also see more text in focus when looking at background elements when comparing both consoles’ quality modes with performance.

While we see modest improvements to a number of games, the downside is that you don’t get this across the board for everything. Simply loading any PS5 game onto the PS5 Pro doesn’t guarantee you’ll see a bump in performance – developers have to go back and patch the improvements. For example, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, a game released early in 2024 I watched a PS5 Pro demo last monthhad a fantastic nice update. Initially, in Performance mode, the game looked almost blurry with how much it had to lower the resolution. However, that patch was not available for me to catch when I put this review together.

At launch, Sony states that it will have around 50 titles upgraded and runs better on PS5 Pro. Of course, there will be more support going forward, but this is just something to keep in mind if you’re considering getting a Pro on day one. I personally hope that both Final Fantasy 16 and Ghost of Tsushima, which aren’t on that list, get updates in the future, as I never got around to their DLC and this would be the perfect excuse to load them again. And it’s a little disappointing that we don’t have any new first-party titles coming out around the new console’s late 2024 launch that we can really get excited about.

However, we can look to even older games for another new feature for the PS5 Pro – Improve image quality for PS4 games. This is found in the console’s display and video settings and must be turned on. Doing so will enable a system-wide picture quality boost for “some games.” I’m unsure what the full list of supported PS4 titles is, but I took a look at 2018’s Spider-Man and saw graphical improvements. This is a great addition for anyone with a backlog of PS4 games. It’s something we saw Xbox do with some of its backwards compatibility efforts, and it’s nice to see PlayStation on board.

Is the PlayStation 5 Pro worth it?

The PlayStation 5 Pro retails for $700. But remember, if you want to stand it upright and have it read discs, you’ll have to pay another $30 and $80. This makes it the most expensive console we’ve seen at retail – but I wouldn’t say it’s overpriced.

When it comes to my purchase recommendation, it really depends on whether you already have a PS5. The baseline console without a disk drive costs $450. Increasing your storage by another 1TB will likely cost around $100, so it really comes down to whether the graphics upgrade is worth $150. With Black Friday right around the corner, there’s a good chance the base PS5 will see some discounts, but I highly doubt the Pro will.

I personally think the upgrade is worth the price, as you also future-proof yourself for the next handful of years. Anyone who buys a PS5 Pro basically guarantees that they’ll be able to play the next decade of PlayStation games comfortably. Even if we saw a PS6 in about four years, the install base of the PS5 is far too high for Sony to abandon it, and we’re still seeing that now, with games like Call of Duty Black Ops 6 still launching on last-gen consoles just like the PS4 last month.

If you already have a PS5, I think you’re better off saving your money and not getting the new machine. Even while putting this review together, I was still surprised at how well the base model kept up with the Pro in many cases. But if you can find a good trade-in, or you’re considering getting your first PS5, I definitely think the Pro is worth it.