The PS5 Pro Impresses with 30% More Performance at Nearly the Same Power Consumption as the Base Model

Digital Foundry recently delved into the power consumption of the PlayStation 5 Pro, and the findings were quite unexpected. In a YouTube discussion between Richard Leadbetter, John Linneman, and Oliver Mackenzie, the team highlighted that the PS5 Pro uses barely more power than the standard PS5, even though it boasts a much more powerful GPU.

To conduct their tests, Digital Foundry compared the PS5 Pro’s performance with Elden Ring, Spider-Man 2, and F1 24 against both the original PS5 model and the newer PS5 Slim. Each game was tested in its exclusive Pro-enhanced version to assess the graphical improvements.

During the tests, especially noticeable in Elden Ring, the power usage of the PS5 Pro closely matched that of the PS5 Slim. At one point, the PS5 Pro was drawing 214.1 watts, the PS5 Slim 216.2 watts, and the original PS5 just 201.3 watts. Notably, the frame rates were significantly better on the Pro, reaching 52 FPS compared to the Slim’s 40 FPS and the launch model’s 37 FPS. This substantial frame rate gain, about 30% higher on the Pro, came without additional power consumption compared to the PS5 Slim.

Spider-Man 2 revealed a slight difference due to its consistent frame rate of 60 FPS on all models. Here, the PS5 Pro showed a power usage of 232 watts, outperforming the Slim at 218.2 watts and the launch model at 208.1 watts. Although, the Pro only used about 6% more power than the Slim and 11% more than the launch PS5. Unfortunately, there were no specific comparisons for power usage in F1 24, but Digital Foundry indicated the PS5 Pro consumed around 235 watts while maintaining a stable 60 FPS.

It’s important to consider that the difference in power consumption between the launch model and the Slim can vary due to silicon quality. This variance means some units may operate efficiently at lower voltages than others.

Overall, Digital Foundry’s analysis confirmed that the PS5 Pro operates with power consumption very similar to the standard PS5 models, despite having a notably stronger GPU. This was surprising, as initial expectations estimated the Pro might exceed 300 watts in usage.

The PS5 Pro is equipped with an 8-core Zen 2 CPU and a groundbreaking 16.7 TFLOP RDNA-based GPU, along with 576 GB/s of memory bandwidth. In contrast, the regular PS5 units feature a less powerful 10.28 TFLOP RDNA GPU and 448 GB/s memory bandwidth, although they share the same CPU with potential variations in clock speeds.

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