The PS5 Pro is now official! Sony just announced it in a nine-minute technical presentation — detailing all the significant upgrades coming to performance, alongside showing off the design of the console, its price and release date.
On November 7, the $700 machine will launch and it packs three key upgrades that eliminate the need to choose between Fidelity and Performance graphics modes. These are a bigger and beefier GPU, advanced ray tracing and PlayStation's own version of Nvidia's DLSS AI upscaling tech — known as PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR).
That is a big price, so let's get into all the announcements that came out of the show.
Watch the PS5 Pro event
Time to see the PS5 Pro?
Welcome to the live blog. After nearly four years of the stellar PS5, it's time to go pro real soon! But the real question being answered today is simple: what will be the tech powering this pro experience?
We don't anticipate a huge reveal of the box and games. Instead, just like what Cerny did on the run up to PS5, Sony will talk about what hardware and software will be running under the hood to make this stuff happen!
While that's happening, you best believe we'll be breaking down the technical jargon and letting you know what it means for you.
Did Sony just tease the PS5 Pro as part of the 30th anniversary celebrations?
As most of you will know, it's PlayStation's 30th birthday and as part of the celebration, Sony may have hidden the PS5 Pro in plain sight. In the image, you'll see an illustration that looks very similar to the leaks from Dealabs, which shows the console right there in between the PlayStation logo and the 3.
Take a closer look for yourself in our story, and shout-out to X-user Videotechuk for the spot!
Sony accidentally revealed its PS5 Pro that will be talked about today
an unlisted YouTube video confirms it's PS5 Pro (duh) https://t.co/TkuEPocXcW https://t.co/aCh54rS5xP pic.twitter.com/E8R50AZf1NSeptember 9, 2024
So you may have seen the unlisted video Sony posted promoting the PS5 Pro. The title at the moment is "PlayStation 5 Technical Presentation - September 10," but for a short while there, it was just "PS5 Pro."
This was probably a working title, but it basically confirms what we are set to see very soon.
Could PS5 Pro pre-orders begin later today?
With the PlayStation Technical Showcase event mere hours away, the online conversation has already turned to how the PS5 Pro pre-order process will work.
Considering the restock nightmare that plagued the PS5’s first two years on the market, it’s understandable that eager purchasers already want to know how and when they’ll be able to secure their Pro console.
Just to be clear, we don’t have any firm PS5 Pro pre-order details at this point, but looking at Sony’s historical pattern, we expect the console will be made available to reserve this month (assuming the Pro launches in November). However, don’t necessarily expect pre-orders to go live later today following the conclusion of the PlayStation Technical Showcase.
If the rumors of a follow-up showcase dedicated to upcoming PS5 games that take advantage of the PS5 Pro’s improved hardware are true, we’d guess that the PS5 Pro will be made available for pre-order following that event. After all, that’s what happened with the PS5. Again, based on rumors, this would see PS5 Pro pre-orders go live next week.
What is PlayStation Spectral Resolution? How is it similar to DLSS
We've talked a lot about Nvidia's DLSS tech (Deep Learning Super Sampling), which is a technology that uses AI to enhance graphical fideltity and speed up frame rates. In this process, the AI is doing three things:
- It samples multiple lower resolution frames of a game, learns from motion data and previous frames to reconstruct a higher resolution picture
- Analyzes any elements of ray tracing, accurately predicts those light paths and improves the clarity of ray traced elements
- And it analyzes frames and motion of gameplay, and adds more frames inbetween each one to create vastly smoother gameplay
The differences are night and day on your standard gaming laptop — up to 25% improved resolution and up to 2X faster frame rates, and it does all this while with AI to make far smaller demands of your GPU. Sony may be joining this party with PS5 Pro.
It is claimed that Cerny will be launching something called PlayStation Spectral Resolution (PSSR), which will deliver the resolution-increasing part of that DLSS pie. That means games may no longer have to downscale to 1440p or even 1080p to give you fast frame rates — it could legitimately be a 4K picture. This is probably what I'm most excited about!
What other PS5 Pro tech are we expecting to see?
We've been keeping tabs on the deluge of rumors and leaks surrounding the PS5 Pro, and given this is a technical presentation, we could hear more about the specs inside this machine. Here is what you could expect.
- A huge boost in floating point performance (a.k.a gaming performance) from 10.28 teraflops in the PS5 up to a whopping 33.5 teraflops in the Pro.
- The CPU clock speed will be improved by 10%.
- Another key area will be in audio improvements — seeing a 35% uptick in the audio compression manager's speed to pump out a wider sound stage at a faster response time.
Are you actually excited for PS5 Pro?
The team are split on this. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of hype around what the specs will be, and just what Sony can pump out of a games console in comparison to the likes of the best gaming PCs. But will people actually see a reason to buy it?
Dave Meikleham doesn't believe so, as while there was a big selling point for the PS4 Pro — its support for 4K — the PS5 Pro doesn't really have a clear reason to buy (yet).
You see, according to the leaks, the power equivalent of the Pro looks set to be akin to the RTX 4060 Ti GPU — all great, but will that really deliver anything significantly big? He's not sure.
Huge SSD speed increase expected for PS5 Pro
One of the things that has always been impressively mind blowing about the PS5 is its SSD loading speed. Loading into games like Spider-Man 2 in less that five seconds has been huge for someone as impatient as me — especially given how much info the system has to actually load in for a game like that!
Well with PS5 Pro, and the increased demands, that's set to be even higher — leaping from 448 GB/s to a whopping 576 GB/s. For the extra information needed for those extra crispy visuals of PS5 Pro titles, that should keep loading times the same for these titles, and anything not upgraded will load even faster.
Post-event predictions
As we enter the last hour counting down to the main event, I wanted to share what my predictions are for this event and (more importantly) what happens next.
You see, I don't think this is going to be the big, grand reveal of the PS5 Pro. It's just a technical presentation, which would make it a weirdly short moment to just say "oh by the way, here's a brand new console!"
Instead, I think Cerny's going to take the time to talk you through what advancements have been made to the technology inside the box. In fact, he may only say the name "PS5 Pro" and not reveal what the system looks like.
That could be saved for a State of Play later in the month, where you'll get to see how Mark's technical jargon translates into ruddy good games — alongside a launch date, pricing and pre-order info.
So while it is a mega-hype moment for techies, keep those expectations in check.
20 minutes to go
We're getting close to the presentation, and while we don't anticipate that the box will be shown, leaks have shown what it could look like!
The design is going to be similar to anyone with a PS5 — the wing tipped shell — but adorning the sides are some grills to look extra mean. Whether they will form part of the airflow is up in the...well...air at the moment. But we'll just have to wait and see.
The countdown has begun...
Time to get hype! We look set to hear more about PS5 Pro very soon.
And we're live!
Mark Cerny is here and he's got nine minutes to dazzle us! Right off the bat, he's confirmed he will be talking about the PS5 Pro.
Here's the PS5 Pro logo
Literally within 6 seconds, Cerny mentioned its name!
Eliminating graphics modes in 3 ways
PS5 Pro has three significant upgrades to eliminate the need to choose between fidelity and performance graphics modes! Let's break them down.
First, there's a vastly improved GPU with 67% more compute units and 28% faster RAM — helping the system support smoother frame rates and keeping more of the game loaded.
Alongside this, PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution is a reality — the AI-driven upscaling tech similar to DLSS.
And bringing the three together is Advanced Ray Tracing — utilizing the GPU's increased power to deliver more shiny surfaces!
PS5 Pro pricing and design revealed
Well this certainly was NOT expected! Right at the end, we got a reveal of the console, a price tag (get saving now because its $700) and a launch date of November 7. And that's the show!
Wait...that's $699 WITHOUT a disc drive!?
Sony has revealed more details on the PlayStation blog, including revealing that the "PS5 Pro is a disc-less console," and you'll have to buy the drive separately. For the $700 you're already dropping on it, that stings a little. Luckily, theres a 2TB drive to store all your games built-in — a godsend given how big these titles are getting.
Oh, and by the way, it doesn't come with the stand either.
Here's our TikTok breakdown of the big news
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♬ original sound - Tom’s Guide
What games will benefit from PS5 Pro Game Boost?
In short, over 8,500 games (all the PS5 and PS4) will benefit from performance that is stabilized or improved. That means a rock solid frame rate or an even faster one. Meanwhile "select PS4 games" will get a resolution boost. It's good to see that the improved performance is not going to be reserved for games that hold the PS5 Pro Enhanced label (more on that later).
What games will be PS5 Pro Enhanced?
The PS5 Pro Enhanced label will adorn several titles at launch, with more coming down the line. As you saw in the presentation, there's a lot of first and third-party games supporting this, but here's a list!
- Alan Wake 2
- Assassin's Creed: Shadows
- Demon's Souls
- Dragon's Dogma 2
- Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
- Gran Turismo 7
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Horizon Forbidden West
- Marvel's Spider-Man 2
- Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
- The Crew Motorfest
- The First Descendant
- The Last of Us Part II Remastered
These games will benefit from the improvements named in the PS5 Pro presentation — PSSR AI upscaling, advanced ray tracing and a beefier GPU so you don't have to choose between fidelity and performance graphics modes!
