PS5 Pro Delivers 30% Better Performance with Minimal Increase in Power Consumption

Digital Foundry recently conducted some intriguing tests on the PlayStation 5 Pro, examining its power consumption, and the findings were quite unexpected. In a discussion on YouTube, Richard Leadbetter, John Linneman, and Oliver Mackenzie revealed that the PS5 Pro doesn’t consume much more power than the standard PS5, despite having a notably more robust GPU.

The team ran tests on the PS5 Pro using titles like Elden Ring, Spider-Man 2, and F1 24. They compared these games’ performances on the original PS5, the updated PS5 Slim, and the PS5 Pro. The Pro was tested with versions designed to leverage its enhanced graphics.

In Elden Ring, the Pro’s power consumption closely mirrored that of the PS5 Slim. At one point, the power draw for the Pro was 214.1 watts, compared to the Slim’s 216.2 watts, and the original PS5’s 201.3 watts. However, the frame rates saw a big jump with the Pro achieving 52 FPS, while the Slim managed 40 FPS and the original PS5 37 FPS. Although there’s a slight frame rate difference between the Slim and the original, it’s based on just one snapshot, and both generally perform similarly. Essentially, the Pro offers a 30% better frame rate at comparable power consumption to the Slim.

Turning to Spider-Man 2, the scenario shifted as the game is locked at 60 FPS on all models. The PS5 Pro used up to 232 watts, slightly higher than the Slim’s 218.2 watts and the original’s 208.1 watts, consuming about 6% more power than the Slim and 11% more than the launch model. While there weren’t detailed comparisons for F1 24, Digital Foundry reported the Pro running at around 235 watts, maintaining 60 FPS.

It’s crucial to remember that differences between the PS5 Slim and launch models may arise from variations in silicon quality, which affects power efficiency. Silicon quality can lead different consoles to function at advertised CPU speeds but with varying levels of power consumption.

Ultimately, Digital Foundry’s analysis underscores that the PS5 Pro’s power usage aligns closely with the base models, even with its enhanced GPU capabilities—a surprise given the expectation that it could require up to 300 watts. The PS5 Pro boasts an 8-core Zen 2 CPU, a formidable 16.7 TFLOP RDNA-based GPU, and a memory bandwidth of 576 GB/s. In contrast, the regular models include the same CPU but a less potent 10.28 TFLOP GPU and 448 GB/s bandwidth.