Sony PS5 Pro to be announced tomorrow

[dimmerwit]

Unless we are cockblocked by Cerny this should be a Pro reveal.

Personally I have next to zero interest in buying one, but I'm interested to see what Sony says. I think most of the visual uplift will be from Sony's proprietary AI upscaling tech and better ray-tracing.

 

[Banana]

the only reason i would entertain buying one is if my ps5 died and even then i would probably not spend the extra money. i hate this new generation of releasing updated versions of current consoles a few years into the cycle when developers havent even optimized the current games.

 

[Quagmire]

Someone picked out possible design a few days ago in the 30th anniversary logo



I dont have a ps5 at the moment, the only game that really temps is me NCAA football, and sadly I dont find that enough. I think FF16 is coming to PC, but Im not overly crazy about the game, heard it has horrible pacing and really not what Im looking for. I tired to watch the first couple hours on youtube of the story and the characters werent grabbing me. I realize that watching is different than playing, but I really am more interested in the story so not sure I'll give it a shot

 

[dimmerwit]

May as well remove that question mark.

 

[Spiner202]

I'm fairly confident I'm going to buy this. I never bought the PS4 pro, and to be honest, I don't think a pro version of a console is ever necessary, especially given how few games have been released for PS5 so far. But I've been spending a lot of time between two different locations lately and it's getting quite frustrating to drag my PS5 between them. I thought about buying a second PS5, but I may as well wait and get a PS5 Pro. Then, when the PS6 comes out, I have the option of which one I want to trade in for a PS6.

May as well remove that question mark.

I'm finally useful as a mod!

 

[Jon]

I've never brought a pro model of a system. Unlikely to start now. Especially with the 5, there just hasn't been enough PS5 exclusives and DEFINITELY not enough to take advantage of the hardware. I can't tell you how many times I loves the IDEA of the dual sense when playing Astro's playroom, thinking "man games utilizing this are going to be really fun!"m And so far nothing really has.

The PS5, in my opinion, hasn't been readily available long enough. The pandemic plus the inability for people to get it for years after release... just delay this another couple years. Make more games that are fully utilizing the hardware capabilities of the system, THEN release the pro model.

I'm sure it's sales will be fine. The PS5 is a good system...

Maybe they'll finally drop the prices of the side plates and I can get my Volcanic Red plates.

 

[Smacktard]

I've held out on buying a PS5 because I have more than enough games already... but mostly because I was waiting for a pro model to launch.

Rumors are it has no disc drive though.

No disc drive, no buy.

 

[dimmerwit]

I've held out on buying a PS5 because I have more than enough games already... but mostly because I was waiting for a pro model to launch.

Rumors are it has no disc drive though.

No disc drive, no buy.

The rumours say it's using the same idea as the PS5 slim and having an optional detachable disc drive.

We'll find out soon enough anyway.

 

[dimmerwit]

$700 lol.

 

[dimmerwit]

Also for what it's worth Sony have confirmed that whilst discless it does support the existing PS5 add-on disc drive.

Still, that's another $80 on top.

 

[Smacktard]

What's the verdict? Marginal improvement or actual benefits?

 

[Fire Queen]

What's the verdict? Marginal improvement or actual benefits?

marginal improvement IF you own a TV capable of displaying the difference. the load time improvements are negligible if you're not someone who cares about teraflops

 

[dimmerwit]

Hard to say. It seems the only hands-on was given to CNET and they weren't allowed to capture footage.

That said, if their pitch of essentially offering base PS5 fidelity (30fps) modes at 60fps is accurate, then I'm not convinced. I'm a 60fps guy anyway, but flicking between performance and fidelity modes I often struggle to see a meaningful difference, although I accept this can vary a lot from title to title.

I do think applying PSSR system wide (i.e. without needing per-game patches) is smart and the ray-tracing improvements look more interesting since that's something that the base system struggles at.

 

[Spiner202]

I may have to retract my earlier statement. The Canadian price is $960 before tax, or $1,085 after tax. That's totally insane.

 

[Quagmire]

 

[Quagmire]

marginal improvement IF you own a TV capable of displaying the difference. the load time improvements are negligible if you're not someone who cares about teraflops

If worried about load times, I imagine installing an SSD would help vs upgrading to a pro just for that

 

[dimmerwit]

The base PS5 has a SSD. The PS5 Pro has the same spec of SSD, just with 2TB v 825GB.

 

[Quagmire]

The base PS5 has a SSD. The PS5 Pro has the same spec of SSD, just with 2TB v 825GB.

Ah didn't realize it did

 

[dimmerwit]

Yeah, it's the one thing about the PS5 that really is a generational leap like older times. But you can get that with the regular PS5.

 

[Spiner202]

Soon we will all need 2TB of space just to play Warzone.

 

[Fire Queen]

awfully bold of you to assume any of us have touched a call of duty since the original MW2

 

[dimmerwit]

The new MW series is pretty good, aside from MW3 which is a glorified map pack with a minimum effort tacked-on "campaign". Black Ops Cold War was also great.

 

[Spiner202]

awfully bold of you to assume any of us have touched a call of duty since the original MW2

Warzone was the perfect storm though - free, and it launched right when COVID first hit. I'd have no problem playing other games online with my friends, but we all settled on Warzone because it was free. Sadly, we haven't played in a couple of years, but it was fun while it lasted.

 

[Jon]

The base PS5 has a SSD. The PS5 Pro has the same spec of SSD, just with 2TB v 825GB.

THIS is the only good thing. But, also why the price is stupid. I'm fine with my extra M.2 I installed.

 

[dimmerwit]

I don't like the price, but with the way component prices have been going over the past few years I can't say I'm surprised either.

 

[Smacktard]

I'll probably just eventually buy a Slim when there's a price drop because what the fuck is Sony even doing?

Food analogy:
It's like releasing a Double Cheeseburger, then later a McDouble, and finally a McDouble with Extra Cheese and patting themselves on the back for great innovation.

PS5 Marginal wasn't a trendy enough name, I guess.

 

[dimmerwit]

I wouldn't get your hopes up for a major price cut soon. There is just no room to cut prices like there was in previous generations. Not to mention they are dominating this gen anyway.

 

[Spiner202]

I was looking at the pricing and was surprised to see that the Pro is only about $200 Canadian more than the disc-version I paid. I tend to agree - I don't think price cuts are coming. I always thought the Pro would be similar in price to the original disc-version and then they'd cut the price of the other two models.

 

[dimmerwit]

The issue is that die shrinks have slowed down enormously. Historically they were the main drivers behind cost reductions. The PS5 has technically moved from TSMC N7 to N6 but that's a really small change in the grand scheme of things.

That is why I'm not surprised at this Pro price. There's no realistic way yet to add enough performance without greatly increasing silicon costs.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

700 dollars for no disc drive. Most games still easily fit on Blu Ray discs. 2TBs goes away real fast if you install keep installing 50+GB games, you will run out of space...

 

[Quagmire]

 

[Spiner202]

I'm dumb and just ordered one.

 

[dimmerwit]

Given how much I spend on PC parts I can't exactly sit here and criticise!

 

[Spiner202]

Given how much I spend on PC parts I can't exactly sit here and criticise!

The worst part is that I saw Costco had them available on their website before 10AM (when all retailers were supposed to list them), but only in a bundle with the disc drive. I wasn't planning on getting the disc drive originally, but when you're spending that much money, it's way easier to justify spending an extra $100 than if I had to buy it separately, and I figured I'd rather go with the sure thing when it's available than taking my chances later.

Now to find a vertical stand somewhere...

 

[Spectro]

The special edition PS1 grey PS5 Pro looks neat. It's already sold out, of course.

 

[Spiner202]

My Pro arrived today, admittedly with great peril!

My building called me at noon to say I had a delivery and I said I'd come down and get it. They told me the guy was going to come up and deliver it. Both of these options were unusual because my building normally logs all packages into their system and then we can pick them up, but sometimes they don't do that if the package is large enough, so I didn't think anything of it.

After 15 minutes, I called the front desk since nobody showed up and they said they had no idea what was going on. A few calls later and we concluded that we'll just wait for UPS' tracking to update. UPS showed it delivered as of 3PM, but I had no PS5. I called UPS and they were not helpful, so I filed a claim. I called Costco and they said they would investigate it, but they'll only refund me and not ship me another one because they're sold out. I ended up ordering another one for pick up at Best Buy.

Around 5:30PM, I get an email from my building saying I have a package, so I go down to collect it and the person who logs our packages asked me if I found the missing package. I told her that the package I was picking up was the missing one. She told me that both her and the two security people spent a long time looking for it, and they even filed an incident report when they couldn't find it. I didn't want to press the issue on how they missed it, because the box is absolutely massive and it was sitting right next to her when I went to pick it up.

So now I'm downloading the Horizon Zero Dawn Remaster and I'll call everyone tomorrow to cancel all of my claims. I'll report back on how it looks!

 

[Spiner202]

I'm about to 5-6 hours into Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered. It's kind of insane how good this game looks. It's entirely possible that it looks just as good without the Pro and it's a bit of a placebo effect, but I can't imagine games looking much better than this.

I did fire up Dead Space, which is not a pro-enhanced game, and it also looks stupidly good. I think it does look marginally better on the pro, but again, tough to actually say.

I'm not convinced it's necessary or worthwhile to upgrade unless you have a specific reason like I did, but I'm definitely pretty happy with this thing. I haven't played Spider-Man 2 yet (Pro or otherwise), but I have a feeling that will end up being the best-looking game on this system, so I'm gonna prioritize buying that soon.

Edit: I forgot to add that Horizon falls victim to the same thing that almost every video game ever does: terrible sound mixing. I don't understand why the dialogue is so quiet relative to everything else, and even when you play with the sliders, it doesn't work properly because certain parts of the audio get turned down and others don't. Maybe it's because I don't play games with headphones on, but games seem like movies where everything is too quiet, so you turn it up, and then you go deaf from how loud the sound effects are.

 

[Smacktard]

I can't imagine games looking much better than this.

me playing goldeneye for the first time on the Nintendo 64

edit: it quoted Benzine instead of Spiner, weird lel

 

[Benzine]

Doesn’t sound like me

 

[Kat]

Edit: I forgot to add that Horizon falls victim to the same thing that almost every video game ever does: terrible sound mixing. I don't understand why the dialogue is so quiet relative to everything else, and even when you play with the sliders, it doesn't work properly because certain parts of the audio get turned down and others don't. Maybe it's because I don't play games with headphones on, but games seem like movies where everything is too quiet, so you turn it up, and then you go deaf from how loud the sound effects are.

I was able to fix this on my PS5 by changing some settings. I might have had to change some settings on my TV too. I can't remember exactly what, but if you Google it, lots of people have the same issue and have posted solutions.

 

[Spiner202]

me playing goldeneye for the first time on the Nintendo 64

edit: it quoted Benzine instead of Spiner, weird lel

Some N64 games legitimately still look great today because of the art style. I have no problem revisiting the two Zelda games, or Super Mario 64. If anything, the frame rates and awkward controls are the parts that don't hold up (especially Goldeneyes FPS).

I was able to fix this on my PS5 by changing some settings. I might have had to change some settings on my TV too. I can't remember exactly what, but if you Google it, lots of people have the same issue and have posted solutions.

Good to know - I will definitely look into this. It's not a dealbreaker, but I'm just confused because so much care and detail goes into every part of a video game, and then the sound is regularly poor.

 

[Kat]

I'm just confused because so much care and detail goes into every part of a video game, and then the sound is regularly poor.

Especially on the PS5, which claims to have superior audio, I completely agree.

 

[Mark]

Lemme just grab a shovel and bring this thread back from the dead...

I recently got a PS5 Pro. I'm not a spec nerd, but, I needed to finally replace my PS4 Pro. Games like Cyberpunk 2077, Death Stranding, and the Horizon series really made my old console scream bloody murder. At the beginning of the summer, I even got the dreaded "high temperature" warning. I weighed the options... PS5 slim, new external drive or SSD to boost storage, or PS5 Pro with the 2TB storage and mid-cycle hardware improvements. Both would have put me at around the same cost, so, I opted for the Pro.

It's definitely quieter than the OG PS5. I haven't heard a peep out of the console, even while running games on the "quality" settings over "performance". I'm pretty happy with it so far, and I definitely think it'll hold me over well past the release of the PS6 since I'm definitely not one of those people who has to buy a console on day one.

Any games I should look into? Issues I should be aware of?

 

[Kat]

I haven't had any issues with mine. I did upgrade my SSD (both size and speed-wise) and am happy I did so, but the Pro might already have something similar to what I put into my base console.

If there were any PS4 games you got annoyed by the loading times of or the frame rate stuttering on, those would likely play much better on the PS5. If you're just looking for something new to play, then there are lots of great games for the PS5. Astro Bot comes to mind as one that appeals to most people. What sort of other games would you be interested in hearing about?

 

[Mark]

I haven't had any issues with mine. I did upgrade my SSD (both size and speed-wise) and am happy I did so, but the Pro might already have something similar to what I put into my base console.

They bumped up the performance on the major components from what I read, all the way down to the WiFi cars. That was another thing that sold me on it, seeing how I tend to make consoles last. I was perfectly content with my PS4 Pro up until it started to run like shit.

If there were any PS4 games you got annoyed by the loading times of or the frame rate stuttering on, those would likely play much better on the PS5. If you're just looking for something new to play, then there are lots of great games for the PS5. Astro Bot comes to mind as one that appeals to most people. What sort of other games would you be interested in hearing about?

That's the thing I'm hung up on right now, because I haven't tried to play a PS4 game on it yet, but, I remember reading something down the lines of PS4 games only being playable from an external drive, and I don't have one of those yet. I do want to check out the remaster of Days Gone. Her and I are playing through Sackboy after completing It Takes Two again, which looks great on the new console.



As far as other games? I'm pretty open to suggestions. Split Fiction is definitely going to be one that we check out. We've played the latest Life Is Strange that came out last year. Basically.. I'm looking for story-driven single player games that she can watch along with me (TLoU series, Uncharted series, RDR2, and FFVII Remake were some of her favorites) or couch co-op type games.

 

[dimmerwit]

The SSD is the same spec, just bigger. In truth storage speed makes very little difference on the PS5 platform.

You are a little mistaken on external storage. You can run only PS4 games off external storage, not PS5 ones. You can run either off the internal drive, and whilst PS4 games might not benefit to the same degree as PS5 ones it is still better so it makes sense if you have the space to do so. You can store PS5 games on an external drive if you ever run out of space, just not run them off it as they are designed for SSD speed.

 

[Mark]

The SSD is the same spec, just bigger. In truth storage speed makes very little difference on the PS5 platform.

You are a little mistaken on external storage. You can run only PS4 games off external storage, not PS5 ones. You can run either off the internal drive, and whilst PS4 games might not benefit to the same degree as PS5 ones it is still better so it makes sense if you have the space to do so. You can store PS5 games on an external drive if you ever run out of space, just not run them off it as they are designed for SSD speed.

Thanks for clearing that up. I couldn't even remember the exact phrasing since it was just a small blurb on a review while I was comparing models. I figured I'd eventually figure it out for myself whenever I manage to get through the new games I have access to now, as well as the older ones that were given the upscaling treatment. I had just completed a playthrough of Cyberpunk on the PS4 right before I got the PS5, so, it was interesting to see the difference between those two specifically.