PlayStation 5 Pro review: A superpowered $700 console for gamers who won't buy a PC

It's pretty easy to tell if the PlayStation 5 Pro is for you. If you have no problems with the PS5's existing performance, if you balk at the $700 price tag, or if you don't have a modern 4K TV, you can just ignore this console entirely. But if you've been annoyed about losing graphical fidelity in 60 fps performance modes, or just want to avoid 30 fps gaming entirely, it could be the console you've been waiting for.

There's no doubt that the PS5 Pro is a niche product, not an upgrade targeted at all PS5 owners. It's meant for the Sony devotees who want the absolute best PlayStation experience, and who will never upgrade to a gaming PC. After all, those rigs typically run well over $1,000 for similar graphics performance, and they also involve all the complexity of Windows PCs, like driver issues, OS instability and juggling multiple game storefronts.

So sure, if you're eager to see what Spider-Man 2 looks like in 60 fps with extra graphical flourishes, it may be worth stepping up to the PS5 Pro. And if you haven't jumped on the PS5 bandwagon yet, it's a solid option if you just want a no-compromise experience. To echo our preview, you might not need it, but you'll want it.

While the PS5 Pro certainly lives up to the hype, at least based on my week of testing, it's also a bittersweet product. When the PS5 debuted in 2020, Sony touted it as a powerful console that could finally give players a taste of PC gaming with features like ray tracing, while also delivering 4K playback. The reality was far more complicated: While some games ran at 4K, they were typically limited to 30 fps in fidelity modes. If you wanted smoother 60 fps gaming, you typically had to give up ray tracing and/or graphical quality for the performance mode.

But of course, the same was true for the Xbox Series X. Both Sony and Microsoft were limited by hardware constraints and the economics of console gaming. But now, Sony is finally able to deliver on the initial promise of the PS5 by swapping in a more modern GPU and pushing for a higher price. The PS5 Pro is certainly great news for anyone who desires more performance, but I wouldn't blame some PS5 owners for being a bit miffed.

The PS5 Pro's new features: A faster GPU and AI upscaling

So what do you get for a $700 gaming console? Sony threw in a new GPU with 67 percent more compute units, alongside 28 percent faster memory. That leads to 45 percent faster rendering performance, according to Sony, and up to triple the ray tracing power of the launch PS5. All of that new hardware is assisted by PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR), an AI upscaling technology that can make lower-resolution graphics appear as if they're natively 4K.

We've already seen similar AI upscaling in action with NVIDIA's DLSS, which has been around since the RTX 20-series cards debuted in 2018. While DLSS wasn't always perfect early on, NVIDIA steadily improved on it to the point where I prefer it to natively rendering a game in 4K. True 4K gaming is far too resource-demanding for a minor visual upgrade (in my eyes, at least) over 1440p. I'd typically rather play a game that's upscaled from a lower resolution if it leads to smoother gameplay.

The PS5 and Xbox Series consoles already support AMD's FSR upscaling, but in my experience on PCs, it's not as effective as DLSS. FSR upscaling places dead last in comparisons among PC upscalers, and a recent Digital Foundry deep dive had PSSR (which I just love to pronounce phonetically) beating out FSR, since it delivers a more stable and detailed image with better anti-aliasing around edges. When using the PS5 Pro, PSSR essentially replaces FSR upscaling, making it yet another selling point for fidelity obsessives.

The two other big upgrades are 2TB of storage — 1.86TB is available out of the box, though you can claw some back by deleting Astro’s Playroom — and Wi-Fi 7 support. While your best bet will always be a direct, wired connection to your router, Wi-Fi 7 is a meaningful upgrade for those who can’t or don’t want to use a network cable. We didn’t have a Wi-Fi 7 router on hand, but the Pro was slightly faster than a launch edition PS5 when connected to a Wi-Fi 6 Nighthawk router. The standard PS5 had max download speeds of 401 Mbps and upload speeds of 53 Mbps. The Pro (in the same location and time of day), clocked 484 Mbps down and 53 Mbps up.

What you don't get with the PS5 Pro, oddly enough, is a disc drive. You'll have to pay $80 to add on Sony's disc drive, which was released alongside the PS5 Slim last year, or just rely entirely on digital downloads. With its 2TB SSD, plus room for an additional drive, the PS5 Pro certainly has enough room to hold a decent library of games.

But why give up on the disc drive? Sony is likely just reading the tea leaves: A report by the gaming analytics firm NewZoo (via Destructoid) noted that 72 percent of console title sales in 2022 were digital. Still, it's odd to see what's ostensibly the ultimate PS5 missing a feature that was included in the launch model four years ago. Without a bundled disc drive, players will have to pay extra to take advantage of cheaper used games and watch 4K Blu-ray titles.

The PS5 Pro in action: The most powerful gaming console yet

The PlayStation 5 Pro is a beast, simply put. Sony makes that clear the moment you power it on, when you're welcomed by a bombastic opening sequence that'll give your surround sound speakers a workout. (Remember when The Simpson's Milhouse played Bonestorm for the first time? It's basically that.) It's a minor thing, but it's one way to impress someone who just spent $700 on a console.

I jumped right into Spider-Man 2's Performance Pro mode, and I was knocked out by how clear and smooth the game looked. It brings over all of the features from the game's standard Fidelity mode, including ray-traced reflections across windows and water, but it also delivers 60 fps with higher-res textures, thanks to PSSR. It was as if I were playing Spider-Man 2 on a gaming PC. Swinging around the city was silky smooth and the reflections on buildings were simply stunning. I found myself just wandering around the streets of NYC or hanging out on rooftops just to drink in the additional detail.

Spider-Man 2's Performance Pro mode basically delivers everything I wanted from the game on the original PS5, where you had to choose between a less graphically intense, 60 fps Performance mode, or the 30 fps Fidelity setting with ray tracing. But, as if to constantly rub compromise in our face, there's also a new Fidelity Pro mode that once again brings the frame rate down to 30 fps to make room for new graphical features, including ray-traced ambient occlusion, key light shadows, and enhanced reflections and interiors.

Much like a gaming PC, you can tweak the levels of those new ray tracing settings to your liking. The Fidelity Pro mode looked fine when there wasn't much action on the screen, but swinging around NYC was far less thrilling at a sluggish 30 fps. It also made me feel a bit dissatisfied with the graphics of the Performance Pro mode. While some console gamers probably won't mind, I can't see myself playing a modern title at 30 fps when I know the same hardware can deliver a more fulfilling 60 fps experience.

In The Last of Us Part 2, the new 4K/60 fps Pro mode is a striking upgrade over when I originally played it on the PS4. It also looks noticeably more fluid and realistic than the previous PS5 revamp. While the game is being rendered at 1440p and relies on PSSR to hit 4K, textures and skin tones appear sharp, and characters’ hair is far more natural. I wasn't the biggest fan of The Last Of Us Part 2 when it debuted (the revenge narrative felt a bit simplistic), but the visual leap on the PS5 Pro is enough to make me want to replay the entire campaign.

Demon's Souls, a game that already looked great on PS5, also gets an impressive update. The new Pro mode looks sharper than the old Performance option, it still runs at 60 fps and it features a more lifelike contact shadow system. While it's arguably a game that didn't need a huge graphical bump, the improvements are still welcome. Once again, it feels reminiscent of playing Dark Souls 3 and Elden Ring on my gaming PC.

I spent most of this review playing the PS5 Pro on my Formovie UST 4K projector, which was outputting to a 120-inch screen around eight feet away from my seat. So, as you can imagine, I had a pretty close look at graphical details. It's often annoying to play console games on such a large screen, where every imperfection is magnified to an obscene degree. But the PS5 Pro felt similar to projecting from my RTX 4090 gaming PC: Gameplay looked wonderful at 60 fps and it was all delivered in scrumptious detail.

The author of our PS5 Pro preview, Jessica Conditt, tested out the new console on a 55-inch LG OLED C2. Her impressions are as follows:

PSSR certainly isn't without fault, though. Sometimes while playing Spider-Man 2, objects like spinning fans or signs with fine text would get distorted. Some textures would start shimmering for no reason. I remember coming across similar issues in the early days of DLSS, and I still frequently see these issues while using AMD's FSR technology on PS5 and PC titles. There's still room for Sony to improve PSSR down the line, so hopefully obvious problems will get ironed out soon.

The PS5 Pro can enhance the quality of PS4 titles, similar to the PS4 Pro's boost mode. Bloodborne was the only older game I was eager to try out, and I can confirm that it looks a bit more detailed, particularly when it comes to the intricacies of your wardrobe. But while the facelift is nice to see, and it's the best we'll get until Sony listens to fan demands and remakes Bloodborne, it's still not running at 60 fps.

Should you buy the PlayStation 5 Pro?

A $700 game console isn't for everyone — that much is obvious. Most players would be better off with the $450 all-digital PS5, or the standard $500 model if you need disc support. Given how long the console has been around, you can also often find used or refurbished PS5s for $400 or less.

The PS5 Pro clearly isn't meant for anyone who is prioritizing value — unless, of course, you're comparing it to a full-fledged gaming PC. If you want 4K-like graphics with ray tracing at 60 fps, the PS5 Pro is simply your best choice under $1,000.