PS5 Pro Delivers a 30% Performance Boost with Comparable Power Usage to the Base Model

Digital Foundry recently dug into the power consumption of the PlayStation 5 Pro, and the findings were quite unexpected. In a detailed discussion on YouTube featuring tech experts Richard Leadbetter, John Linneman, and Oliver Mackenzie, they revealed that the PS5 Pro uses almost the same amount of power as the standard PS5, even though it boasts a more advanced GPU.

The team put the PS5 Pro to the test with three games: Elden Ring, Spider-Man 2, and F1 24. They compared these on the original PS5, the updated PS5 Slim, and the PS5 Pro, using special versions of each game to leverage the Pro’s enhanced graphics capabilities.

In Elden Ring, Digital Foundry found that the power draw of the PS5 Pro was nearly identical to the PS5 Slim. At one point, the Pro used 214.1 watts, the Slim 216.2 watts, and the original PS5 201.3 watts. Despite these similarities, the PS5 Pro achieved significantly smoother performance, with frame rates hitting 52 FPS, compared to 40 FPS on the Slim and 37 FPS on the launch model. This frame rate difference between the Slim and the original PS5 should be seen as a snapshot rather than a definitive measure, as both consoles usually perform similarly. In essence, the Pro matched the Slim’s energy use while delivering a performance boost of about 30%.

In the case of Spider-Man 2, things were a bit different since the game ran at 60 FPS on all consoles. Here, the PS5 Pro recorded the highest power usage at 232 watts, compared to 218.2 watts on the Slim and 208.1 watts on the original PS5. The Pro used roughly 6% more power than the Slim and about 11% more than the first PS5 model. Although there wasn’t a direct comparison available for F1 24, Digital Foundry noted the PS5 Pro was drawing around 235 watts, maintaining a consistent 60 FPS.

It’s important to remember that variations in silicon quality can impact power consumption. This means that discrepancies like the Slim consuming more power than the original model aren’t anomalies. Different units can run at varying efficiencies, even if their components are technically identical.

What came as a shock to many, including Digital Foundry, was the discovery that the PS5 Pro operates within the same power range as the original PS5 models, despite having a much stronger GPU. Before testing, there was speculation that the Pro might use over 300 watts.

The PS5 Pro is equipped with an 8-core Zen 2 CPU and an impressive 16.7 TFLOP RDNA-based GPU, granting it 576 GB/s of memory bandwidth. On the other hand, the standard PS5 models feature the same CPU—although clock speeds may vary—and a less powerful 10.28 TFLOP RDNA-based GPU with 448 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

For those keen on the latest in gaming tech, these findings highlight the balance Sony has struck between power efficiency and performance in their new PS5 Pro.