PS5 Pro Delivers 30% Performance Boost with Minimal Increase in Power Consumption Compared to Base Model

Digital Foundry decided to dive into the power consumption comparisons of the PlayStation 5 Pro, and what they found was definitely unexpected. In an engaging discussion on YouTube featuring Richard Leadbetter, John Linneman, and Oliver Mackenzie, they revealed that the PS5 Pro manages to use almost the same amount of power as the standard PS5, even though it comes packed with a much more formidable GPU.

To thoroughly test this, they ran the PS5 Pro through its paces with Elden Ring, Spider-Man 2, and F1 24, comparing its performance against the original PS5, the updated PS5 Slim, and naturally, the Pro version in its enhanced graphical glory.

In the case of Elden Ring, the PS5 Pro’s power usage was remarkably similar to that of the PS5 Slim. During one segment of their video, the Pro was drawing about 214.1 watts, the Slim was at 216.2 watts, and the original PS5 was using 201.3 watts. When it came to frame rates, the Pro clearly outpaced the others with 52 FPS compared to the Slim’s 40 FPS and the original’s 37 FPS. It’s worth noting that the frame rate differences between the Slim and original models could be considered negligible, as the data comes from just a single snapshot. Essentially, the Pro managed to push the frame rates up by 30% without demanding more power than the Slim.

The scenario shifted slightly with Spider-Man 2. Each console was capped at 60 FPS, yet the Pro still pulled the most power—232 watts—compared to the Slim’s 218.2 watts and the launch model’s 208.1 watts. This meant that while the Pro consumed about 6% more power than the Slim and 11% more than the launch version, it maintained its frame rate advantage. Even though there wasn’t a comparison specifically for F1 24, Digital Foundry showed the PS5 Pro operating at roughly 235 watts in that game, maintaining a steady 60 FPS.

It’s important to remember that the performance of the launch model and Slim can vary because of differences in silicon quality. This influences why the Slim occasionally lags behind the launch model. Essentially, some units might reach their rated CPU clock speeds at lower voltages than others.

The findings verified that the PS5 Pro’s power needs are quite similar to those of the base PS5 models, a fact that took Digital Foundry by surprise; they anticipated that the Pro might demand power in the ballpark of 300 watts.

Equipped with an 8-core Zen 2 CPU and a robust 16.7 TFLOP RDNA-based GPU with 576 GB/s of memory bandwidth, the PS5 Pro certainly showcases its hardware prowess. On the other hand, while the standard PS5 models have the same CPU, their GPU is notably less powerful at 10.28 TFLOPs, accompanied by 448 GB/s of memory bandwidth.