PS5 Pro Delivers 30% Better Performance Without Increased Power Consumption

Digital Foundry recently took a closer look at the PlayStation 5 Pro’s power consumption, and the findings were quite unexpected. In a YouTube video featuring a discussion among Richard Leadbetter, John Linneman, and Oliver Mackenzie, they revealed that the PS5 Pro, equipped with a much more robust GPU, doesn’t actually use more power than the standard PS5.

Their investigation involved running tests on the PS5 Pro with games like Elden Ring, Spider-Man 2, and F1 24. These were compared to both the original PS5 model and the PS5 Slim. For the test, the Pro model was running versions specifically optimized for enhanced graphics.

During the tests, particularly with Elden Ring, the PS5 Pro’s power usage was nearly the same as the PS5 Slim. They documented an instance where the Pro consumed 214.1 watts, the Slim used 216.2 watts, and the original PS5 drew 201.3 watts. Even though the Pro consumed similar power, it delivered significantly better performance, reaching 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 the original should be viewed cautiously since they were gleaned from a specific segment of the benchmark.)

In Spider-Man 2, all systems were locked at 60 FPS, which introduced a slightly different scenario. Here, the PS5 Pro peaked at 232 watts, while the Slim came in at 218.2 watts, and the original model at 208.1 watts. This meant the Pro used 6% more power than the Slim and 11% more than the original PS5. However, the tests for F1 24 weren’t detailed, except for noting that the PS5 Pro ran at about 235 watts during gameplay, also locked at 60 FPS.

It’s important to keep in mind, though, that power consumption variations can occur based on the quality of silicon used in the consoles, which might explain why the Slim occasionally underperforms compared to the launch version. This variability means some consoles can maintain their CPU speeds at lower power levels.

Digital Foundry concluded that the PS5 Pro maintains similar power levels as its predecessors despite the advanced GPU. This was a bit of a surprise, as it was initially expected to draw upwards of 300 watts.

The PS5 Pro comes packed with an 8-core Zen 2 CPU and a GPU boasting 16.7 TFLOPs of RDNA performance, alongside 576 GB/s of memory bandwidth. In contrast, the standard PS5 models feature the same CPU (potentially with different clock speeds) but have a less powerful 10.28 TFLOP GPU with 448 GB/s bandwidth.