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The PlayStation 5 Pro is a major upgrade over the five-year-old PS5, thanks to its faster processor, additional storage, and graphics upscaling features. Sony took a similar route with the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro, so it isn’t a surprising move. That said, the now-$749.99 PS5 Pro is the priciest PlayStation to date, which raises the question: If you already own a PS5, is it worth upgrading? And if you don’t, which one should you buy? I reviewed both consoles and am here to break down what to expect from each system.
PlayStation 5 Pro (Credit: Will Greenwald)
Price: The $200 Difference
Neither PlayStation 5 console was cheap to begin with, and they’ve each gotten $50 more expensive due to tariffs. At $749.99, the PS5 Pro is currently the priciest console available. Meanwhile, the standard PS5 with an optical drive is priced at $549.99, while the digital-only version costs $499.99. This means the PS5 Pro is now at least $200 more expensive than the base PS5. That’s a good chunk of money that could otherwise let you buy several PS5 games.
Winner: PS5
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 (Credit: Sony/PCMag)
Ray Tracing: Which System Does It Better?
The PS5 has the necessary muscle to bring ray tracing to its game library, but the PS5 Pro is even better at it—with optimized titles. Ray tracing is a 3D rendering technology that simulates the behavior of light to produce realistic reflections and lighting effects. The PS5 Pro features a more advanced version of the PS5’s ray tracing tech, which translates into more realistic light and reflections (Alan Wake II and Doom: The Dark Ages are standout titles). However, the effects only appear in select titles specifically enhanced for the PS5 Pro, and not every game on that limited list uses it.
Winner: PS5 Pro
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart (Credit: Sony/PCMag)
AI Upscaling: Giving Games a 4K Boost
The PS5 Pro introduces PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR). Sony refers to it as “AI-enhanced resolution,” which enhances games to 4K while maintaining a high frame rate. It wasn’t entirely clear when PSSR was active during testing, but the PS5 Pro consistently produced higher frame rates and a sharper 4K picture than the PS5 under the same conditions. Similar to the ray tracing situation, games must be PS5 Pro Enhanced to use PSSR.
Winner: PS5 Pro
Game Performance: Will Your Favorite Titles Run Faster?
Games on the PS5 Pro Enhanced list see better performance and visual fidelity. The problem? Of the hundreds of titles in the PS5’s library, only 50+ releases benefit from the extra power. If the game you want to play isn’t one of them, it won’t receive much, if any, frame rate or graphics improvements. So, most games will play roughly the same on both systems.
Winner: Tie
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PlayStation 5 Pro and More: We Preview the Fall Gaming Lineup
Wi-Fi: Version 6 vs. Version 7
The PS5 Pro has an upgrade worth highlighting: support for the newer Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) wireless standard. The PS5 only supports Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), which is very fast but not exactly future-proof.
Winner: PS5 Pro
Recommended by Our Editors
Storage: Which Console Has the Space to Hold Your Games?
The PS5 Pro features a 2TB SSD, which offers significantly more storage capacity than the PS5 Slim (1TB SSD) and the original PS5 (825GB). More storage is better, especially if you plan to go digital-only or play incredibly large games, such as Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, which weighs in at over 300GB with all its content installed.
Winner: PS5 Pro
The standard PS5 has an optical drive (Credit: Will Greenwald)
Optical Drive: Do You Need One?
This is where the PS5 Pro represents a step down from the base model. The $550 PS5 Slim features an optical drive, whereas the $750 PS5 Pro does not. Instead, you must pony up an extra $80 for the Sony Disc Drive if you want physical game support with the Pro. That’s more than $800 in total!
Winner: PS5
And The Winner Is…
The PS5 Pro is unquestionably the more powerful of the two consoles, which is why it wins many categories in this head-to-head comparison. However, it isn’t the system we recommend to most people. The standard PS5 still packs a punch, with strong 4K performance and ray tracing effects, for $200 less. It would be a more difficult decision if the PS5 Pro had an optical drive, but its exclusion means paying an additional $80 for the external disc drive if you’re already invested in physical media. Plus, there’s no guarantee that the PS5 Pro will improve the visual quality of your games, as only over 50 titles currently support Pro-based enhancements. That’s a lot of ifs to justify a hefty premium. With that in mind, most PlayStation buyers will be plenty happy with the regular PS5, and with an extra $200 in their pocket to buy games.
