PS5 Pro Boosts Performance by 30% with Similar Power Efficiency to Base PS5

Digital Foundry recently delved into the power consumption of the PlayStation 5 Pro, uncovering some intriguing insights. In their detailed discussion on YouTube, Richard Leadbetter, John Linneman, and Oliver Mackenzie revealed that the PS5 Pro doesn’t demand much more power than the base PS5, despite boasting a significantly strengthened GPU.

Their analysis involved putting the PS5 Pro through its paces with games like Elden Ring, Spider-Man 2, and F1 24. These games were also compared across the original PS5 model, the newly revised PS5 Slim, and the Pro version, with the latter showcasing exclusive enhancements for each title.

During testing, Elden Ring saw the PS5 Pro’s power usage closely mirroring that of the PS5 Slim, with the Pro drawing 214.1 watts, the Slim using 216.2 watts, and the original model at 201.3 watts. Despite the similar power draw, the Pro achieved a noticeably higher frame rate at 52 FPS, compared to 40 FPS on the PS5 Slim and 37 FPS on the launch model. It’s worth noting that the frame rate differences between the Slim and the original should be viewed cautiously, as these figures are from a single snapshot of Digital Foundry’s assessment. Essentially, the PS5 Pro offers a 30% boost in frame rate without drawing more power than the Slim.

Spider-Man 2 presented a different scenario since all three consoles were capped at 60 FPS. Here, the power consumption was slightly higher for the Pro at 232 watts, compared to 218.2 watts for the Slim and 208.1 watts for the launch model. This means the Pro consumed about 6% more power than the Slim and 11% more than the original model. Although F1 24 comparisons weren’t explicitly detailed, Digital Foundry indicated that the Pro operated at roughly 235 watts while maintaining a stable 60 FPS.

It’s important to consider that the different results between the Slim and original model are attributed to variability in silicon quality, affecting power consumption and performance. This variability means some consoles can run at lower voltages even at their rated CPU clock speeds.

Ultimately, Digital Foundry’s tests show that the PS5 Pro manages to maintain similar power consumption levels to the earlier PS5 models, despite its significantly enhanced GPU. This revelation was unexpected, with prior assumptions suggesting it would require over 300 watts.

The PS5 Pro packs an 8-core Zen 2 CPU and a powerful GPU boasting 16.7 TFLOPs with a memory bandwidth of 576 GB/s. Although the regular PS5 models share the same CPU architecture (with potential differences in clock speeds), their GPU is notably less powerful, offering 10.28 TFLOPs and a memory bandwidth of 448 GB/s.

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