Sony PlayStation 5 Pro rumors confirmed: 45% faster GPU, same Zen 2 CPU but with turbo mode

Sony's rumored PlayStation 5 Pro refresh is indeed real and we can expect a seriously pepped-up GPU with the console, but a tamer upgrade for the CPU, according to the latest from the rumor mill.

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Sony's PS5 Pro is likely to sell up a storm at the end of the year - our fear is price gougers getting in on the act (Image Credit: Sony)

The Verge claims to have got hold of the full details of the PS5 Pro's spec and the upgrades are in line with previous chatter from the grapevine.

The refreshed console is referred to as 'Trinity' rather than the PS5 Pro, and apparently it'll use a GPU which is about 45% faster than the PS5, as previously rumored - so that's a major step forward for rendering

The CPU will be a more modest upgrade, though, with the processor still being a Zen 2 model, albeit one offering a new 'high CPU frequency mode' which aims to run at 3.85GHz rather than the 'standard mode' at 3.5GHz - developers will be able to choose which they run with, we're told.

So, if the high frequency mode is in use the CPU should be around 10% faster than the PS5, with the boost from the GPU weighing in at nearly 50% better as previously mentioned - which, all in all, should make quite a difference.

Although it should be noted the slight catch with ramping up the CPU in the turbo mode is that power is diverted from the GPU to accomplish this - but not much power. The information The Verge has suggests the graphics will be downclocked by 1.5% in this case, which is not going to make any noticeable difference at all.

There'll be performance improvements on the memory front, as well, with the PS5 Pro expected to have RAM that runs 28% faster (at 576GB/s, up from 448GB/s with the base PS5).

The Verge has got wind of Sony communicating with game developers, who are already being asked to get their games ready for the PS5 Pro and ensure compatibility, as well as pushing to improve ray tracing performance.

Back in the PSSR

The Trinity take on the PS5 console will, of course, be better at ray tracing simply due to the beefier components and that GPU in particular, but there's another weapon in Sony's armory here, one we've already heard about - namely PSSR.

PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution is Sony's version of NVIDIA DLSS (or AMD FSR, Intel XeSS) and will employ upscaling tricks to enable more fluid frame rates when ray tracing is in use. Ray tracing performance is expected to be doubled or tripled, based on previous nuggets from the rumor mill (and the hope is to attain 60 fps at 4K with ray tracing on, at least in some less intensive titles).

Games will be labeled as 'enhanced' for the PS5 Pro if they have been significantly tinkered with to provide better graphics and ray tracing for the new console.

The expectation is that Sony's new PlayStation 5 Pro will arrive at the end of 2024, likely for the holiday season to capitalize on the money flowing from the wallets of consumers at that time of the year.

We may well see another unfortunate situation where stock is flying off the shelves not just due to the popularity of the PS5 Pro, but because scalpers are getting in on the act and price gouging those who just want to buy a console to, you know, play games on.