Price, release date, design, new features, everything you need to know about the new Sony console

Sony is preparing to launch a brand new portable console, the PS5 Pro, which will be a “mid-gen” update between the PS5 and the future PS6. In this file, we will explain in detail everything we already know about it.

New mid-generation consoles are nothing new for the video game giants. After the launch of the PS4 in late 2013, Sony boosted its machine with the PS4 Pro 3 years later, in late 2016, and the Japanese giant will do it again with the current generation. It’s been a little over 3 years since the PS5 was available, and So it was logical to expect an update soon.

Information about them is currently coming to us from various well-known insiders in the video game industry. So nothing official yet, but the information we already have has been cross-checked by sources like Digital Foundry, and So intended to be very reliable. Unless Sony changes these plans drastically, here’s what we can expect from them PS5 Pro, internally called “Project Trinity”.

When is the PS5 Pro coming out?

Sony still hasn’t officially mentioned the PS5 Pro, but we already know that various video game studios have received development kits as early as 2024. Everything indicates that the PS5 should be released in late 2024But we don’t know the exact launch date yet.

This time it will come 4 years after the release of PS5. Remember that the PS5 had a very difficult launch with stock shortages, scalpers and component shortages, and other consequences linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. So it’s understandable that Sony wants to take its time before launching this “mid-gen” version. The PS5 Slim, a minor update, arrived in 2023 to hopefully revive sales.

What is the price for the PS5 Pro?

It is expected, The PS5 Pro will be more expensive than the PS5 and PS5 Slim. Its “Pro” name suggests surprisingly increased performance and more advanced features, and All this will inevitably push prices upwards.

Considering the various improvements we can expect, which we detail in the rest of the file, we can expect that The PS5 Pro is marketed at a price of around 599 euros. It remains to be seen whether only one version will be available, or if Sony will maintain its current strategy, focusing on a fully digital version and a version with a disc reader.

Which design for PS5 Pro?

The design of the PS5 Pro is still unknown. Various creators have already tried their hand at the exercise, but the official appearance of the console is still a mystery.

Based on Sony’s track record, we can expect the design to take into account user feedback from the current PS5, marrying aesthetics and functionality in a form that is both attractive and practical. The PS4 Pro was essentially a bigger version of the PS4, and so it isn’t It’s not unlikely that Sony will adopt a similar formula with the PS5 Pro.

With its PS5 Slim, Sony has secured a good deal for gamers by using a modular design. The disc drive is now removable, giving customers the choice of ordering a version with or without the drive. And add it posterior too. We hope the PS5 Pro inherits this modularity, which is practical to say the least.

What are the performance boosts for the PS5 Pro?

Who says a Pro model usually means increased performance, and this will likely be the case on the PS5 Pro as well. After the first leak from leaker Moore’s Low Is Dead, which was quickly corroborated by Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson, it was Digital Foundry’s Richard Leadbetter who came to confirm what to expect from the console’s tech sheet. According to Digital Foundry, Most of Sony’s partner video game developers have already received documents detailing the PS5 Pro’s technical sheet.

If we can hope for a new processor for the PS5 Pro, as was the case with the PS4 Pro, the PS5 Pro will eventually use The same chip etched in 6nm as the PS5 Slim. As a reminder, using this is a custom chipAMD Zen 2 architecture.

However, Sony will still take advantage of this new generation Increase processor frequency by about 10%. Should be the latter Clocked at 3.85 GHz, compared to 3.5 GHz on the PS5. This increase may have forced Sony to reduce the speed of the GPU by 1.5%, resulting in a 1% decrease in performance, but fortunately this does not mean that the PS5 Pro will be slower in terms of graphics.

Indeed, Sony is using a brand new GPU offering 60 computing units compared to “only” 36 for the PS5. The graphics chip will allow the PS5 Pro to achieve a computing performance of 33.5 TFLOPS compared to the PS5’s 10.23 TFLOPS (the Xbox Series X is at 12 FLOPS). however, This does not mean that the machine will be 3 times more powerful.

The PS5 Pro GPU this time uses AMD’s RDNA 3 architecture, and the method of calculating teraflops is not the same as the previous RDNA 2 architecture. According to the figures communicated by Sony to the developers, we should indeed expect 45% increase in game throughput. Memory bandwidth may also have been improved to achieve this performance gain. The PS5 will rely on 16 GB of GDDR6 VRAM at 18 Gb/s, compared to the previous 14 Gb/s, an increase of 28%.

The PS5 Pro won’t just benefit from a faster CPU and GPU, as Sony will have equipped the console with these as well.Fast SSD. Inside we will find 1TB of flash storage that can reach a theoretical speed of 576 GB/s, which is much higher than the PS5’s 448 GB/s.

Sony may also have benefited from this new version Improvements to the console’s audio engine. It is said to be 35% faster than the PS5, making it easier to process heavy computing tasks such as convolution reverb and fast Fourier (FFT) and inverse (IFFT) transforms.

Finally, we note The arrival of a technology already present on Microsoft’s Xbox series called VRS for “variable rate shading”.. This variable rate shading in French will be processed directly by the GPU, and will allow developers to better control the rendering of the individual pixels that make up the image. This will allow them to focus on the more important elements of this high-resolution image, which, as Phil Spencer explains, “ Can lead to a more stable refresh rate and higher definition without affecting the final image quality ” In other words, the PS5 Pro will be able to focus its resources on certain parts of the image instead of the entire scene.

The PS5 Pro will feature ray tracing

The PS5 introduced ray-tracing, a rendering technology that simulates the physical behavior of light to produce very realistic visual effects. It calculates the color of a pixel by tracing the path as it passes through the viewer’s eye through a 3D virtual scene. This allows for the creation of complex lighting effects, including soft shadows, reflections, refractions, and ambient occlusion that enhance the player’s immersion.

Sony claims that depending on the workload, the ray tracing performance The new PS5 Pro will be twice as fast as the PS5, but with a multiplier of 3x and 4x in certain situations.

Such a jump in performance is mainly attributed to the increase in the number of computing units, but also the increase in the size of the GPU. However, some leaks report the arrival of special technologies borrowed from the RDNA 4 architecture, which are not yet available on other AMD graphics cards.

What is PSSR, PS5 Pro’s new AI?

If the gains on the CPU and GPU are interesting, this might not be the PS5 Pro’s most important new feature. Sony certainly won’t miss the AI ​​train And equip its PS5 Pro with upscaling technology based on machine learning. It will probably be managed by A new in-house chip integrated into the GPUDedicated to Machine Learning.

Named PlayStation Spectral Resolution (PSSR), this technology will be similar to other solutions already existing in the market such as Nvidia’s DLSS. According to the documentation provided to the developers, A game rendered internally at 1080p can be converted to a believable 4K image in two milliseconds., which is largely equivalent to the same task carried out by AMD’s FSR2. Depending on the performance goal, this 2 ms varies in importance.

Leaks announce that this in-house DLSS will allow certain games to reach 120 FPS at 4K definition, and even An opportunity for developers to offer titles in 8K at 30 FPSBut for the moment this should be taken with a grain of salt.

Sony has told developers a memory footprint of 250 MB and this technology can be backported to any existing PlayStation game. So they may benefit from future upgrades to work at higher definitions or better refresh rates on the PS5 Pro.

Will games look better on PS5 Pro?

With the PS5 Pro’s improved performance, with the advent of PSSR technology, we logically Some games are expected to look better on the new console. Apparently, The PS5 Pro will be backwards compatible with all PS5 gamesSo you don’t have to buy them again.

Digital Foundry announces above all that thanks to increased CPU frequency, Games will be more stable. Framerate drops will therefore be more rare, which will undoubtedly improve the overall experience on the most demanding titles.

We learn that too Developers will now have access to 13.7 GB of the PS5 Pro’s 16 GB of VRAM. That’s 1.2 GB extra memory compared to the PS5. These extra megabytes will be used in part by PSSR and improved ray-tracing calculations, but may also give developers a bit more leeway to improve the rendering of certain games.

Will the PS5 Pro have a new controller?

Unlike the upcoming Xbox series

Sony has already wisely launched a new DualSense V2 in early 2024 with various improvements, especially in terms of autonomy, so We expect this to be included with the PS5 Pro.