In the memory of gamers, no Sony console has been as criticized as the PlayStation 5 Pro. Halfway through its life, the PS5 is getting a new facelift after its Slim version tested here. Nothing unusual so far, the previous generation had received the same treatment. Moreover, we still remember this PS4 Pro which ultimately only brought a little more visual comfort and which had not made the PS4 Slim tremble.
So, we are entitled to wonder if we are not at risk of reliving the same pattern with the PS5 Pro. If that's the case, the pill would be all the more enormous since the latter arrives without an optical reader and with a price inflated with hormones. Compared to the PS5 Digital Edition, it observes a price increase of almost 60%!
How does Sony justify this additional cost? Well, we have a new livery and Wi-Fi 7, but we especially note the two technical aspects supposed to be the salt of this PS5 Pro: the Pro mode and the PSSR. Additions that, on paper, promise to transform the visual experience of PS5 games.
At 800 euros per beast, or 930 euros if you add an unobtainable optical drive, the PS5 Pro has a vested interest in being revolutionary and breathtaking.
With Christmas just around the corner, should we jump on this PS5 1.5 or prefer its more sensible, but much less expensive Slim version? Here is our opinion on the PS5 Pro after several days of testing.
Oui, pour le design optimization
Before even turning it on, this is the first contact we have with this PS5 Pro which is pleasant. Out of its box, it reveals its slightly reworked dress. Luckily, it does not take up the shiny parts of the PS5 Slim. Dirty, easily scratched, we had booed them during the test of the PS5 Slim, and the PS4 Fat before it.
As with the PS5 Slim, you can lift the various upper parts to install an additional SSD and expand the storage beyond the included 2TB. On the other side, we find the same space to add an optical drive, like on the PS5 Slim.
We also note that Sony has improved its layout, making the CMOS battery that guards the console's memory accessible with a turn of a screwdriver when it is not plugged in. Another optimization, the fan is now more easily removable, which greatly simplifies its cleaning.
The weight of the whole thing is much lower than that of the PS5 Fat (3.057 kg compared to 4.450 kg). Of course, you don't have to carry your console around all the time, but that also affects the thickness of the machine and it's more interesting. It loses 1.5 cm in height compared to the original machine (9.5 cm against 11 cm). Enough to slide it more easily into narrow TV cabinets.
To lay it flat, we find the plastic pads of the PS5 Slim. Still no vertical base in the box while it was standard with the PS5 Fat. The PS5 Slim’s pettiness is even more glaring at 800 euros.
No, for its overly complex repairability
While we can praise the hardware optimizations made to the PS5 Pro, we cannot ignore our suspicions of its more complex repairability.
This is an aspect that can also be attributed to other PS5s since it is common to them. And this is materialized by two inputs: liquid metal and SSD.
The first was chosen to replace the classic thermal paste on the console's SoC. Used for several years by overclockers, this material conducts heat better and has a better thermal gradient which allows the whole to gain significantly in efficiency.
On the downside, it is less easy to control than thermal paste and can eat away at metal. In fact, since it is liquid, it can flow out of its area and damage other parts. PS5 repairers have reported such experiences. When this happens, it’s off to after-sales service and a hefty bill on top if the console is no longer under warranty.
The other part concerns the SSD. At Sony, they decided to solder the SSD to the motherboard, unlike Microsoft which uses an M.2 SSD simply held by a screw on the Xbox Series X.
In fact, if the PS5 Pro SSD were to die, it would be very complicated to change it. Impossible for the average person to tackle the task. An electronics engineer will have to intervene and the bill will be steep.
With the PS5, the time of the PS3 where you could change everything yourself, even redoing the Cell's thermal paste, is long gone.
Oui, pour le silence et sa consommation
With a more powerful graphics chip, Sony had to review its cooling system. One might fear that it would no longer heat up and therefore emit much more noise, but that is not the case.
We are at the level of a PS5 Slim and therefore less than a PS5 Fat when the machine is charging, in the middle of a game. It is very comfortable. At a reasonable distance when it is plugged into a TV – about two meters – it is inaudible. There are also more widely spaced vents at the back of the console, which helps to better evacuate heat.
In terms of consumption, well, it's not enough to split your PEL in two. Yes, the PS5 Pro consumes a little more than the PS5 Fat, but only a little. We are talking about 10 additional Watts on an average of 200 Watts, or around 5%. This is quite reasonable and will not be reflected in your provider’s annual bill.
Performance test: yes, for game fluidity games
Let's get to what drives us when we start this PS5 Pro, the heart of the beast: its increased performance. Yes, because PlayStation has thoroughly reworked its console to deliver the quintessence of its know-how. For the price asked, we expected nothing less.
If the CPU has not been touched, the GPU is much more efficient on paper. Sony injects a 62% faster graphics processor, with 16.7 teraflops of raw graphics calculation and 2 GB of additional RAM. This recipe is supposed to bring 45% more rendering performance, twice as much ray-tracing and especially the PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR). This equivalent of Nvidia's DLSS should lighten the graphics processing by artificial intelligence and thus boost fluidity without sacrificing visual quality. An enticing menu as we know that some games sometimes struggle to work on PS5.
| Performance | Balanced | Quality/fidelity | Pro | Pro Max | |||||
| Stellar Blade | 59 fps | 59 fps | 59 fps | 59 fps | 59 fps | 59 fps | 80 fps | 52-60 fps | |
| The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered | 105 fps | 77-90 fps | X | X | 119 fps | 119 fps | 87 fps | X | |
| Gran Turismo 7 | 59 fps | 59 fps | X | X | X | 59 fps | 59 fps | X | |
| Elden Ring | 55-59 fps | X | X | 48-59 fps | X | X | |||
| Rise of the Ronin | 59 fps | 59 fps | X | X | 59 fps | 59 fps (48 fps RT) | X | X | |
| Until Dawn | 59 fps | 59 fps | X | 59 fps | 59 fps | X | X | ||
| Horizon Zero Dawn Reamstered | 59 fps (pro) | 63 fps | 119 fps (pro) | 119 fps | 59 fps (pro) | 59 fps | X | X | |
We installed a small bunch of games on the PS5 Pro in order to take note of the benefits of the PS5 Pro. It's true that we've been waiting four years to finally be able to play in 4K at 60 fps. So when we hear about 120 fps, we dream.
There's nothing better than comparing the PS5 and the PS5 Pro to see how far we've come. At the end of our little experiment, we can draw two conclusions.
The first is that there is no difference in fluidity between the classic modes from one console to another. On Stellar Blade, for example, whether you're on one PS5 or the other, the Resolution Priority mode will always present small jerks despite a constant framerate of 59 fps, according to the interface of our test TV, an LG Oled C1.
Compatible with 120 Hz on its HDMI outputs, it activates it on compatible games. We have it in particular on Horizon Zero Down Remastered in balanced Pro mode (PS5 Pro) and balanced (PS5) and Last of Us Part 2 Remastered in fidelity mode.
Interestingly, the framerate isn't everything here since in performance mode, whatever the game, this is where the fluidity of the environment is the clearest. Note that on Elden Ring, in quality mode, we oscillate between 48 and 59 fps with sudden drops on both consoles. From Software's game suffers from a lack of optimization on Sony consoles. A PS5 Pro patch could improve things.
And this is our second conclusion, when you switch to Pro mode on a compatible game, then you get a big slap in the face. Fluidity is there and the PSSR gets down to the task. Here we have all the advantages of performance and quality modes in one. The best of both worlds, and this with ray-tracing enabled. As for seeing if there are more, that’s another matter.
Oui et non, pour le gain de détails
A perfect transition. We are promised twice as much ray-tracing in compatible games. In reality, we have not been able to tell the difference. Our list of games has been there and we have taken screenshots of all the modes on both consoles, PS5 and PS5 Pro, in order to compare the renderings in detail.
Let's not beat around the bush, the visual gain is clearly not glaring. It is far from a graphic slap. Here, we feel that we are on a mid-generation console. It takes care of correcting the frame rate well, but as for the visual quality, it is not obvious. Worse, at times, we have the impression that the rendering is better on a classic PS5. This was particularly the case for Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered in quality mode.
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered / PS5 Pro and PS5
On Stellar Blade, comparing the PS5's quality mode with the PS5 Pro's Pro Max mode, we see that there is a slight difference in sharpness, especially for backgrounds. The details are sharper, a bit less blurry.
Stellar Blade / PS5 Pro (Pro Max) and PS5 (resolution)
Same pattern on The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered in its performance mode and Pro performance on the eponymous console. This is especially visible on the horse's saddle pommel. Yes, you have to look down to see the difference.
The Last of Us Part 2 Remastered / PS5 Pro (Pro Performance) and PS5 (Performance)
Other less convincing examples are Until Dawn and Rise of the Ronin.
Until Dawn / PS5 Pro (Loyalty) and PS5 (Loyalty)
Rise of the Ronin / PS5 Pro (Graphics Priority) and PS5 (Graphics Priority)
Elden Ring / PS5 Pro (quality + RT) and PS5 (quality + RT)
After the PS5, we still wanted to launch a PS4 game. Sony indicates that these also benefit from the power of the PS5 Pro to improve. It uses its PSSR on the brand's former glories. On Uncharted 3, we'll let you be the judge. We're still looking for the difference.
Uncharted – The Nathan Drake Collection PS4 / PS5 Pro and PS5
Yes and no, because of the recession imposed by your television
50 inches, 2 meters, 65 inches 2.6 meters, 75 inches, 3 meters. These obscure data are in fact the recommended distances between a television and the viewer, depending on the diagonal used.
With the PS5 Pro, this is what undermines part of its interest. Indeed, during our tests, we were very close to our 48-inch television. Enough to visually measure the few additions of details. But with hindsight, at a “normal” distance, well everything collapsed. The difference is no longer so palpable. The gain in graphic precision vanishes and only the improved fluidity remains.
But this little or no jerky rendering is obtained just as well with a PS5 in performance mode. It's actually funny, but it's a thought that we often find about the choice between quality and performance on PS5 games: at a classic distance, the variation is little or not visible, so you might as well switch to performance mode to avoid tiring your retina.
For the PS5 Pro, it's pretty much the same pattern except that here we have a graphic gain that we can only enjoy at short distance. Unless you play on a 4K screen and not a TV, the interest of the PS5 Pro is therefore limited by a stupid story of hindsight.
The only exception to date is Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Opinions are unanimous about it. So poorly exploited on the classic PS5, it finds a second youth on the PS5 Pro and even from a great distance we appreciate the work done.
It's simple, by choosing fluidity on the PS5, we end up with an image from another time, a definition that recalls the PS3 era while barely exaggerating. On PS5 Pro, you can access the fluidity and resolution mode, a new versatile choice that allows you to enjoy both a game without stuttering, but also graphics that are finally up to par.
FF7 Rebirth / PS5 (Fluidity) and PS5 Pro (Resolution & Fluidity)
This is an observation made to date. Let us remember that developers must adapt their productions to the PS5 Pro. When games are released natively for it, there will always be time to revise this statement. We are thinking in particular of GTA 6. Expected for the fall of 2025, it should contribute to PS5 Pro sales.
Our opinion on the price
In September 2024, in an interview with the Japanese media Nikkei, the CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, Hideaki Nishino, revealed that the PlayStation 4 Pro had represented 20% of total PlayStation 4 sales.
And this Pro version of the PS4 was priced "only" at 399.99 euros when it was launched in 2016. Eight years later, Sony is releasing a machine displayed in stores at 799.99 euros, without vertical base and without disc player. From 33% increase between PS4, we go to almost 60% on PS5. The pain is particularly voracious.
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