Sony PS5 Pro arrives with bigger GPU, advanced ray tracing
What's the story
Sony has officially announced the debut of its highly anticipated PS5 Pro gaming console.
The announcement was made during a special technical presentation led by Mark Cerny, the lead architect of the PS5.
According to Cerny, the new model offers significant improvements over its predecessor in three key areas: a larger GPU, advanced ray tracing capabilities, and custom AI-driven upscaling.
Availability
Design and pricing details
The PS5 Pro is set to hit the market on November 7, carrying a price tag of $699.99 (roughly ₹58,780).
The design closely resembles the slim version of the PS5, featuring three stripes down one side but lacks an in-built disk drive.
However, Sony will offer a separate 4K Blu-Ray disk drive and optional console covers for those interested in these additions.
Hardware upgrades
Enhanced performance and gaming experience
The PS5 Pro's hardware upgrades promise a 45% increase in rendering speed, which is expected to enhance game details and frame rates.
Cerny stated that one of the main goals for the PS5 Pro is to eliminate the need for players, to choose between performance modes and fidelity ones.
He revealed that "players are choosing performance about three quarters of the time."
Technical specifications
GPU and memory outperform its predecessor
The PS5 Pro's GPU has been upgraded with 67% more compute units than the current PS5 console, and also boasts a 28% faster memory.
These enhancements contribute to the console's ability to render games 45% faster.
Sony suggests that this additional power will significantly improve ray-traced games, potentially allowing "the rays to be cast at double, and at times triple, the speeds of the current PS5 console."
Innovative features
It introduces AI-powered upscaling feature
The PS5 Pro features Sony's new AI-backed PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), an upscaling technique designed to enhance frame rates and picture quality for PlayStation games.
This custom PSSR upscaling is intended to replace a game's existing temporal anti-aliasing or upsampling implementation.
Additionally, a "Game Boost" option is available for over 8,500 backward compatible PS4 games on the PS5 Pro.
Connectivity
PS5 Pro to support Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, VRR
The new console supports Wi-Fi 7 connectivity, Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), and 8K resolutions. However, games will need patches to utilize some of these features.
Sony has confirmed that developers are preparing free software updates for existing titles that will be labeled as PS5 Pro Enhanced games.
The first batch of these enhanced games includes popular titles like Alan Wake 2, Assassin's Creed: Shadows, and Demon's Souls among others.