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00:00I don't quite know how it's been three and a half years since the PS5 came out.
00:05Obviously we've had the PS5 Slim recently, but still, where's the time gone?
00:10Anyway, are we due a PS5 Pro?
00:12Well, all the rumours suggest yes, we're going to get one later this year.
00:16And given the big advances in CPU power, graphics and AI tech, a PS5 Pro could have a ton of
00:22potential.
00:24So what can we expect?
00:25Is it even going to be worth getting a PS5 Pro before a PS6 in a couple of years?
00:29What do we actually know so far?
00:31Well, the answer is, not a lot, but I've been trolling the deep dark web, not that
00:36dark web, but to bring together all the rumours of what we think we know so far, and obviously
00:40nothing is confirmed, Sony hasn't said anything yet, but let's start with the why.
00:44Why do we need a PS5 Pro?
00:45Well, the answer is, as good as the original and this new slimmed down version are, and
00:50they have sold over 50 million of them combined, there's always room for improvement, and
00:54we did get a PS4 Pro.
00:56For starters, since moving away from cross-gen PS4 to PS5 tech, some more visually demanding
01:02games like Star Wars Jedi Survivor are starting to struggle to maintain a solid 60 at 1440p
01:09even in performance modes.
01:10And I think we'd all like to see more AAA 4K60 games, and also more titles using hybrid
01:15modes like Spiderman 2's Fidelity Smooth with VRR, which actually runs at 40fps on
01:21120Hz TVs and it looks amazing.
01:24And this is where AI upscaling and frame generation tech like your Nvidia DLSS or AMD's FSR would
01:30be a really smart way to boost frame rates and image quality without just cranking up
01:34the raw performance.
01:35Oh, and also a quick resume feature like we get on the Xbox would be very nice for the
01:41PlayStation.
01:42I don't love the fact it basically does a cold restart of each game every time you switch
01:44between them.
01:45A refreshed design would be good to see as well.
01:48I definitely appreciate the smaller form factor of this PS5 slim, and if I had to guess, I
01:52reckon the Pro would be a little bit smaller than the original.
01:55I mean, it couldn't be any bigger, could it?
01:58Although when I asked ChatGPT4 what a PS5 Pro might look like, it had other ideas.
02:03I mean, I can't see how any of these would fail, and I'm loving the extra details.
02:07Very nice.
02:08But apparently codenamed Project Trinity, which is a great name and also a Matrix reference
02:12like previous PlayStation consoles have also had, but apparently some developer kits were
02:17actually sent out late last year, and so the alleged specs, the rumoured specs, suggest
02:21up to double the processor performance.
02:24Not too shabby.
02:25And that timing would line up with an expected Q4 2024 release.
02:30Considering we had a PS4 Pro three years after the PS4, and given the PS5 was a much more
02:34capable console at launch, I think a four year wait for the Pro sounds about right.
02:39So this November, perhaps?
02:41Again, nothing confirmed, and actually I would suggest checking out Red Gaming Tech's channel
02:45for a super deep dive, but in terms of the performance, what's almost certain is the
02:49move to AMD's RDNA 3, or 3.5, graphics architecture, which is around 50% faster per watt and includes
02:57extras like dual issue shaders that can compute twice as much per cycle, which is apparently
03:03a big deal.
03:04Although given it's highly customised, it actually might end up being a bit of a hybrid
03:07with RDNA 2 for compatibility.
03:10But it means a ton more graphical punch, meaning devs have the option to push for higher resolutions
03:14and higher, more consistent frame rates, especially at 4K.
03:18There's even talk of an 8K performance mode, although given how few people actually own
03:23an 8K TV and we've all sort of moved on a little bit, I'm not sure how important that
03:26would be.
03:27Although it does still make me laugh that the PS5 box, the original box, has that 8K
03:32logo on it, and after three and a half years, even though it does technically support it,
03:37we've not seen any 8K content or games.
03:39It's kind of ludicrous really, so I'll believe it when I see it.
03:43But there is also talk of accelerated ray tracing, something that base PS5s can manage
03:47at 30fps, but more likely to be added to a new 60fps RT performance mode.
03:53Now of course any PS5 Pro isn't going to compete with a super high-end desktop PC, and Digital
03:58Foundry reckon that a 4080, an NVIDIA RTX 4080, is roughly three times more powerful
04:04than what we get in the current PS5, but obviously consoles are much more constrained by price
04:09and physical size.
04:10But given how much more capable RDNA 3 is, we could see the PS5 Pro close that gap a
04:15little bit.
04:17Now early rumours had the CPU based on AMD's Zen 4 architecture, but now I'm seeing reports
04:22it's actually still going to be based on the original 8-core Zen 2, but instead using a
04:26smaller, much more power-efficient 5 or 4nm process, and a faster 4.2 or 4.3GHz clock
04:33speed up from the current 3.5.
04:36Beyond that, things get very speculative, except to say we'll probably get slightly
04:40faster RAM and also upgraded Tempest 3D audio.
04:44Other reports suggest that we will also get some sort of dedicated MPU or Neural Processing
04:48Unit, because some form of FSR like FSR3 could significantly boost framerate, and while it
04:54would require devs to implement it, it's a pretty simple way to improve the overall experience
04:58before you factor in all the extra power.
05:00That said, I have also seen reports that suggest this FSR-style AI upscaling could just be
05:05handled by the new RDNA 3 architecture, which presently you can't really get on RDNA 2,
05:10or at least nowhere near as efficiently.
05:12We might also see a DualSense 2, or at least that's what a hastily removed Best Buy Canada
05:17listing suggested.
05:18The V2 looks identical to the original, but with double the battery life, up to 12 hours,
05:23and an included charging station.
05:25And last of all, given how much money Sony's poured into making the external 4K Blu-ray
05:30player for the PS5 Slim, I reckon we'll also see it make an appearance on the Pro as well.
05:36Big question though, how much?
05:38Well, currently you can get PS5 for $499 or £479, so I think a £100 or dollar price
05:45premium for the Pro would make sense, so we'd be looking at £579 or $599.
05:52And maybe if we then see the PS5 discounted by another £50 or so when it launches, I
05:56think that would seem reasonable.
05:57And of course, developers would still be optimising all their games for the regular PS5, so it
06:01would only be for Pro users with high-end TVs who really do care about the best performance
06:06possible and have that little bit extra budget, in the same way that you could buy a high-spec
06:10laptop or PC.
06:12As for the Xbox and Team Green, well, Microsoft doesn't really have much to say at the moment.
06:17The big news recently was the fact that some of their games are going multi-platform, which
06:21are rumoured to include Hi-Fi Rush, Pentamont, Grounded and Sea of Thieves.
06:25And not Starfield or Indiana Jones.
06:27But to be honest, that whole Microsoft podcast news event could have just been an email.
06:32And there's been no official mention of new Xbox hardware.
06:35The only thing we have to go on is this pretty official-looking leak of a new cylindrical
06:40slimmed-down Series X, but nothing confirmed yet.
06:43Sony has also said that the PS5 is entering the latter stage of its life cycle.
06:48And after years of massive sales, recently the PS5 has been failing to meet expectations.
06:53To be fair, they have sold over 55 million of them since it launched back in November
06:572020, at the height of the pandemic.
06:59And no doubt there will be a PS6 in a couple of years, especially as Hideo Kojima's teased
07:03his new action-espionage game, which is definitely not Metal Gear Solid, but called Fizzint.
07:09So from everything I've seen, the PS5 Pro is stacking up to be a pretty impressive machine.
07:13And I can't wait to get my hands on one, even though it's not actually been confirmed to
07:16exist yet.
07:18But with a PlayStation 6 expected in 2026, do we really need a Pro?
07:23And what would convince you to actually buy one?
07:25Let me know in the comments below.
07:26But for all the latest news and reviews, hit that subscribe button down below.
07:29Let me know what you're playing at the moment.
07:31I'm about to jump into some Final Fantasy Rebirth, and I'll see you next time right
07:35here on the Tech Chat.