PS5 Pro Boasts 30% Performance Boost with Similar Energy Consumption to Base PS5

Digital Foundry recently put the PlayStation 5 Pro through its paces to see how much power it uses, and the findings were quite unexpected. During a detailed discussion on YouTube with Richard Leadbetter, John Linneman, and Oliver Mackenzie, they revealed that the PS5 Pro doesn’t really draw more power than the original PS5, despite packing a far stronger GPU.

They ran tests on games like Elden Ring, Spider-Man 2, and F1 24, comparing the PS5 Pro with the original PS5 and the newer PS5 Slim. Each game was pushed to its limits using the Pro’s enhanced graphics.

In Elden Ring, the PS5 Pro’s power consumption was nearly the same as the PS5 Slim. One part of the video showed the Pro using 214.1 watts, the Slim 216.2 watts, and the launch model 201.3 watts. However, the Pro outperformed in frame rates with 52 FPS, while the Slim managed 40 FPS and the original PS5 hit 37 FPS. It’s worth noting that the small FPS difference between the Slim and the launch model isn’t huge—both are similar performance-wise. Essentially, the Pro delivered a 30% better frame rate without using more power than the Slim.

When it came to Spider-Man 2, which ran at a steady 60 FPS on all versions, the Pro drew the most power at 232 watts. Meanwhile, the Slim used 218.2 watts and the early model 208.1 watts. Overall, the Pro used about 6% more power than the Slim and 11% more than the original. Although F1 24 wasn’t directly compared, the Pro was seen using around 235 watts while consistently maintaining 60 FPS.

One important point to consider with the Slim and original models is that power usage can vary due to differences in silicon quality. This might explain why the Slim sometimes lagged behind the early version. Some consoles might just run their CPUs at lower voltages, depending on the silicon quality.

To sum up, Digital Foundry’s experiments showed that the PS5 Pro doesn’t demand much more power than its predecessors, even with its boosted GPU, which was a bit of a shock. They initially expected the Pro to draw over 300 watts.

The PS5 Pro boasts an 8-core Zen 2 CPU and a potent 16.7 TFLOP RDNA-based GPU, capable of churning out 576 GB/s of memory bandwidth. On the flip side, the standard PS5s, although equipped with the same CPU, generally have a less robust 10.28 TFLOP GPU and 448 GB/s of memory bandwidth. If you want more insights and reviews, consider subscribing to Tom’s Hardware newsletter for the latest in gaming news right to your inbox.