PS5 Pro And Other Midgenerational Upgrades

[FlyingLemons]

According to most reports, Sony have had a new mid-gen upgrade, codenamed "Trinity" (as spotted in code samples) or more popularly the "PS5 Pro". It's meant to be a console featuring the same CPU (An eight-core AMD Zen 2 processor) but an upgrade in GPU to something that's roughly around the AMD Radeon RX 7900 (an RDNA 3 GPU) in levels of power, along with a form of upscaling called PlayStation Spectral Upscaling using machine-learning trained algorithms to give nicer graphics.

Is anyone tempted by this? I'm asking as I don't see any real excitement online for it apart from hype channels who are doing it for views. I don't really see the point of doing it this time around: the current consoles have enough CPU and GPU grunt to give you a decent experience on a 4K screen, and if you're really concerned with power and the highest graphical fidelity you'll just splash out on a PC, and the money you spent on a PS5 Pro (rumored to be around $700) is better spent on an nVidia Geforce 4080 or something like that.

I'm sure they'll unveil some exciting-looking trailers to justify spending money on this thing, but I'll just look at it and probably wait for the inevitable port to PC. I assume Microsoft might have something waiting in the wings too, but all of this is just leaving me cold.

How do you feel about PS5 Pro, or Xbox Series X^2 or whatever they come out with?

 

[BillJ]

It would have to come in at under $500, for me to be interested.

 

[FlyingLemons]

Yeah, I can't see much of a market for it as if you're hoping for a lower cost it'll probably disappoint, and it will be less powerful than top-line graphics cards in PC if you're looking for power. We'll see if it's a success when it comes out.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I don't really see a PS5 Pro making much of a hit. Unlike the last generation, which had to have a hardware update because 2K HDR came into the picture half into the life of its generation, there's no thing like that this time around, so a hardware update feels completely arbitrary. Maybe more memory and better framerates at most, but... I really wish they would focus their energies more on the next generation instead. And an upgrade right now, at a time when the releases have been a mixed bag really starts to feel unwarranted. So, my feeling is that I wish they would skip it, and just put everything they were working on into the PS6. Also, I notice that while everyone seems to think a PS5 Pro might happen, that Sony hasn't actually come out and confirmed it, and that rumour has been going on for more than a year now, so part of me wouldn't be surprised if that all ended up being the future PS6.

The other thing too is, I'm wondering how big the market is for this thing. If people who have been waiting to get a PS5, the best bet is to get a lower-priced PS5 Slim, as I don't see much to miss out on via a slightly better upgrade PS5 Pro. I kind of feel like they would be cannibalizing their market with the release of a PS5 Pro. Also, how many people would be able to take advantage of the top-of-the-line features? I'm still on a 1080p TV at home, so half of the PS5's features aren't usable to me. There must be many in the same situation as me not able to take advantage of the latest.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

The normal PS5 is still £450 here in the UK, so this pro is going to be £600 plus with ease......ouch!

And if this thing does indeed costs £600 or more, then one might be better off looking at a pc build at that price point, as the Series X and PS5 were at the max price i personally would pay for a console.....but once you get up to the £500 quid mark then they start to lose their bang for bucks, and moreso when you factor in that paywall for using its online features.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, and that's not even counting the games themselves. It's gotten way more costly to be a gamer as of late. In Canada, games were in the $70-$80 CND range before the price hike, whereas now, they're easily in the $90-$100 CND, and those are at their most basic non-collectors edition versions! Ponying up for a collector's edition these days can run you from $120 CND to $200, which sucks all the more because you don't actually get anything physical for it, and then there's a disturbing new trend with some companies not even giving you a copy of the game with a physical CE purchase. Sorry, but that is not great value. And I've noticed on the digital console stores that games don't often have deep cuts. For example, I've been periodically looking at the price for No Man's Sky, and it's only ever gone on sale a few times in its entire lifecycle, with most of the time staying at $79CND. Ironically, as I look now, it is on sale, at $31.99. But that's one of the few times I've seen it dip below $50.

 

[FlyingLemons]

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Looks like Sony are unveiling something tomorrow. 5-6 minutes presentation though... maybe they might do another one?

 

[Owain Taggart]

Doesn't seem nearly enough time for a PS5 Pro reveal. Might be more of an announcement of new features, and there's already been a price update (ie a $5 increase) on the DualSense contollers that will likely be talked about to go along with new themes.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Yeah, and that's not even counting the games themselves. It's gotten way more costly to be a gamer as of late. In Canada, games were in the $70-$80 CND range before the price hike, whereas now, they're easily in the $90-$100 CND, and those are at their most basic non-collectors edition versions! Ponying up for a collector's edition these days can run you from $120 CND to $200, which sucks all the more because you don't actually get anything physical for it, and then there's a disturbing new trend with some companies not even giving you a copy of the game with a physical CE purchase. Sorry, but that is not great value. And I've noticed on the digital console stores that games don't often have deep cuts. For example, I've been periodically looking at the price for No Man's Sky, and it's only ever gone on sale a few times in its entire lifecycle, with most of the time staying at $79CND. Ironically, as I look now, it is on sale, at $31.99. But that's one of the few times I've seen it dip below $50.

I just bought one of those Super 64 carts for my old N64, and a Gamecube cubeode board that replaces the long dead gamecube CD drive in my long dead GC, with just a sd card slot, so it can run the games from a sd card.......because retro gaming seems to be the way to go now if the present gaming hardware and games prices continue on this road.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

£700 for the PS5 pro here in the UK, plus a extra £60 a year for access online, but i knew this was going to be high as they had made no attempt to cut the prices of the PS5, hell they actually raised the prices at the beginning of the year, and of course the icing on the cake, no real competition as MS are basically out of the game at this point hardware wise.

 

[Owain Taggart]

It's just too much for too little. And you're right; with MS having capitulated, there's no real competition, which is why I think we've seen prices not improve this gen. Honestly, I think the best thing that could happen would be if people didn't buy the PS5 Pro, which would send a message to Sony that it's a ridiculous proposition. But that's probably unlikely to happen. But I honestly wonder just how much of a market Sony thinks it has for the PS5 Pro.

Nearly $1000 CND for the PS5 Pro, which it will be after taxes.

 

[Jax]

I don't have a PS5 and was waiting to see what the Pro was going to be because I was looking at getting a new gaming PC. The Pro does seem quite the powerful console and even at £700, it's considerably cheaper than the 1440p PC that I was looking to get. I am very annoyed it's the non disc version meaning I would need to buy the attachment for another £100, which is daylight robbery for a DISK DRIVE!

for 700 quid it should include a disc drive.

If I do buy it then it would have to be with a decent bundle and on 12 month finance.

 

[BillJ]

for 700 quid it should include a disc drive.

That is, almost a deal breaker for me. I don't use disc drives much now, but I like having the option to fire up a movie that I own or purchase a game on discount from a box retailer.

 

[Jax]

The exchange rate is seeing people like me in the UK being screwed by Sony. We are paying 900 dollars for some bizarre reason.

Microsoft needs to announce an aggressive marketing campaign with a price cut to all there hardware (including accessories) and try to grab people who haven't yet got a current gen console. We need real competition in this market.

 

[BillJ]

The exchange rate is seeing people like me in the UK being screwed by Sony. We are paying 900 dollars for some bizarre reason.

Tariffs and exchange rates. I imagine here in the US, it'll come in around $700 with the disc drive.

 

[Jax]

$780 dollars with disc drive add on from what I hear. Even with tariffs and exchange rates the UK consumer is being over priced.

 

[BillJ]

$780 dollars with disc drive add on from what I hear. Even with tariffs and exchange rates the UK consumer is being over priced.

Well, my PS5 is still humming along, so I can afford to wait for it to become more affordable.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

I don't have a PS5 and was waiting to see what the Pro was going to be because I was looking at getting a new gaming PC. The Pro does seem quite the powerful console and even at £700, it's considerably cheaper than the 1440p PC that I was looking to get. I am very annoyed it's the non disc version meaning I would need to buy the attachment for another £100, which is daylight robbery for a DISK DRIVE!

for 700 quid it should include a disc drive.

If I do buy it then it would have to be with a decent bundle and on 12 month finance.

Well i knew it would be high, but not this high, so in all £860 if you want a pro with optical drive and one year of online access.

Well i have my gamecube out and set up for some Pikmen 1 and 2, so no thank you Sony.

 

[Owain Taggart]

On the other hand, if they had announced it for $800 with a disc drive and 1 year of PS+ access, there'd likely still be complaints. And for good reason, as I still don't think that's enough to excuse such an expensive console.

Come to think of it, inflation would probably bring the Atari 2600 up to $1000 today, but the question is, would you even at this point? I think people need to vote with their wallets.

 

[Jax]

The more I think it, the more i'm less likely to opt for a Pro. I was looking at a more powerful gaming PC to enter the 1440p market + 1440p monitor and then I thought maybe get the Pro instead and save A LOT of money. Sony didn't impress at all and they seem like they have no respect of there customer base at all. This should look and feel like a premium device and we get a 10 minute rushed video and the dam thing doesn't even have a stand/disc drive with it.

I may look at a good Black Friday/November deal for the PS5 slim if the reviews over November about the Pro don't turn me around. I could use the spare cash to get a better GPU in my PC (currently have a GeForce GTX 1060 6GB to keep me going on that end for another couple of years.