The gap between PS4 Pro and PS4 Slim/Vanilla

[audiopile]

So just to get this straight because I bought a PS4 shortly after launch, the performance and ability is in this order?

Vanilla<Slim<Pro

 

 

[Eyjabria]

You're not missing out on anything special by not getting a PS4 Pro.

I got one hoping for better performance and faster load times. Turns out the Pro version has occasional performance issues in some games even with Boost mode enabled and load times are much slower than on a 5-year-old PC with a regular hard drive (tested with both running digital versions of the same game). I don't know how much better Pro is compared to a regular PS4 as I've never owned one.

[Lorajet]

This is an excellent topic and thanks to @Spaz for posting it.

 

I have the original launch PS4.  It has occasional issues, such as refusing to play a disc or the controllers have to be paired with the console.  Nothing drastic.  I've already upgraded the HD to 2TB, so have the storage.  But, now the fan is getting pretty loud.  I've already cleaned it, elevated it and give it a kiss every day.

 

So if need be, I would probably buy a Pro as the price has dipped a bit in the past year, and Black Friday is coming up. I mean, why get another PS4 and not a Pro?

 

I'm hoping to hold out for the PS5, but knowing how cheap I am, I probably wouldn't get it until it went on sale. 

[AJ_Radio]

14 hours ago, Eyjabria said:

You're not missing out on anything special by not getting a PS4 Pro.

I got one hoping for better performance and faster load times. Turns out the Pro version has occasional performance issues in some games even with Boost mode enabled and load times are much slower than on a 5-year-old PC with a regular hard drive (tested with both running digital versions of the same game). I don't know how much better Pro is compared to a regular PS4 as I've never owned one.

 

Nothing beats the PC when it comes to performance. The problem is how ubiquitous PC game ports are, like how people experienced frame rate issues and massive slow downs with Batman: Arkham Knight. I mostly buy strategy games, Diablo 3 esque games and AAA games that have already been out a long while on Steam. I just find brand new AAA games to have too many problems because you may need a new graphics card, or you need more RAM and a faster processor to run them. It gets old having to update your computer every couple years by buying a new card or whatever you may need to fulfill the requirements to play a game that just came out. 

 

The Pro mostly has 4K and Boost Mode going for it. The PS4 Vanilla and the Slim only go up to 1080p resolution and generally only 30 frames per second for most new AAA games. I play a lot of indie games and older games so the Pro isn't going to benefit me much. But I find it outright silly that someone needs to use Boost mode for games like Uncharted Drakes Fortune Remastered, because quite frankly the remastered version on it's own is already good enough.

 

Sony may iron out the performance issues, but I just don't see enough of an improvement for me to buy a Pro. Plus I don't want to hassle with transferring 1.5 TBs worth of game data to a newer console.

 

12 minutes ago, Lorajet said:

This is an excellent topic and thanks to @Spaz for posting it.

 

I have the original launch PS4.  It has occasional issues, such as refusing to play a disc or the controllers have to be paired with the console.  Nothing drastic.  I've already upgraded the HD to 2TB, so have the storage.  But, now the fan is getting pretty loud.  I've already cleaned it, elevated it and give it a kiss every day.

 

So if need be, I would probably buy a Pro as the price has dipped a bit in the past year, and Black Friday is coming up. I mean, why get another PS4 and not a Pro?

 

I'm hoping to hold out for the PS5, but knowing how cheap I am, I probably wouldn't get it until it went on sale. 

 

I wouldn't just get rid of the launch PS4. Trade it in for money, just make sure you've transferred the data and wiped out everything on that harddrive.

 

I'm going to hold on to mine until the day it breaks.

 

And waiting on the PS5 is a smart decision. The PS4 had a number of problems at launch, all the updates it has had over the past five years have made it a much better system to use.

Edited September 23, 2018 by Spaz

[angelgrievous]

I upgraded because I want the best out of my systems.  I had a OG PS4 and I didn't mind upgrading.  The biggest deal for me was PSVR, the Pro made a big difference in that.  I only bought a 4k set after I got the Pro and again, I couldn't be happier.  

 

To those saying there is not a big difference either don't have 4k sets, or they're not calibrated correctly.  I noticed a huge difference on the home screen alone.  

 

I'm not trying to brag though, people should shop within their budgets and not feel ashamed for doing so.  Conversely, people shouldn't brag about having nicer things but it's 2018 and instagram is a thing so...

[AJ_Radio]

13 minutes ago, angelgrievous said:

I upgraded because I want the best out of my systems.  I had a OG PS4 and I didn't mind upgrading.  The biggest deal for me was PSVR, the Pro made a big difference in that.  I only bought a 4k set after I got the Pro and again, I couldn't be happier.  

 

To those saying there is not a big difference either don't have 4k sets, or they're not calibrated correctly.  I noticed a huge difference on the home screen alone.  

 

I'm not trying to brag though, people should shop within their budgets and not feel ashamed for doing so.  Conversely, people shouldn't brag about having nicer things but it's 2018 and instagram is a thing so...

 

I understand your position. But I honestly feel this is a way for Sony to compete with the PC gaming market, which has been doing upgrades for the past 15 years or so.

 

I care more for performance, not to see something look all shiny. If I ever get the Pro it would be for Boost Mode, to get a better, more smoother experience on the games I play.

[angelgrievous]

57 minutes ago, Spaz said:

 

I understand your position. But I honestly feel this is a way for Sony to compete with the PC gaming market, which has been doing upgrades for the past 15 years or so.

 

I care more for performance, not to see something look all shiny. If I ever get the Pro it would be for Boost Mode, to get a better, more smoother experience on the games I play.

Oh, I agree.  Which is why I got a pro.  I believe the performance boost is also a great upgrade.  

I'm not a PC guy.  I've always been a console gamer and really don't see my self changing anytime soon.  I've also been a mostly Sony/Playstation guy since the PS1 launched, which is why I'm on PS4 and not XBOX One X, If I were an Xbox gamer, I'd have probably bought an X.  While I am looking at getting a new laptop in the near future, I'll never shell out the money for a gaming rig because my consoles fit the bill just fine for my needs and wants.  

 

I just like to play my games the best way possible.  It's the same reason I bought a Super Nt, it's, imo, the best way to play Super Nintendo games.  I also have a modded GBA because it's the best way to play Gameboy and GBA games.  I don't currently have a Gamecube because I don't have the money to spend on modding it to play on my HDTV, which is how I would prefer to play those titles.  One day I hope to.  

 

Anyway, it's all just preference and no one is really right or wrong in how they enjoy their entertainment.  Well, unless you say you enjoy punk and then I hear you blasting Blink 182 from your Jeep Wrangler.  That's just all kinds of wrong.  

[AJ_Radio]

44 minutes ago, angelgrievous said:

Oh, I agree.  Which is why I got a pro.  I believe the performance boost is also a great upgrade.  

I'm not a PC guy.  I've always been a console gamer and really don't see my self changing anytime soon.  I've also been a mostly Sony/Playstation guy since the PS1 launched, which is why I'm on PS4 and not XBOX One X, If I were an Xbox gamer, I'd have probably bought an X.  While I am looking at getting a new laptop in the near future, I'll never shell out the money for a gaming rig because my consoles fit the bill just fine for my needs and wants.  

 

I just like to play my games the best way possible.  It's the same reason I bought a Super Nt, it's, imo, the best way to play Super Nintendo games.  I also have a modded GBA because it's the best way to play Gameboy and GBA games.  I don't currently have a Gamecube because I don't have the money to spend on modding it to play on my HDTV, which is how I would prefer to play those titles.  One day I hope to.  

 

Anyway, it's all just preference and no one is really right or wrong in how they enjoy their entertainment.  Well, unless you say you enjoy punk and then I hear you blasting Blink 182 from your Jeep Wrangler.  That's just all kinds of wrong.  

 

Consoles are much cheaper. PCs can cost you upwards of $1000 or more if you want what today’s technology can handle. 

 

Part of the the reason I made this topic is because I feel some have this attitude of you’re not getting the best you can possibly get. God of War and Spider-Man are good examples. Someone with only a Slim or an original PS4 shouldn’t be discouraged from playing games that are Pro Enhanced. 

 

I could of waited a year later and got the Pro in exactly the same fashion as I did with my PS4 three years ago when it came bundled with Batman: Arkham Knight. But even if I traded in my console for my console I would still have to pay a lot for an Ultra 4K TV and the Pro combined. 

 

Honestly I wish those old games like the Super Nintendo library would come with some sort of achievement system. Beat the game in less than 60 minutes, collect all the stars in Super Mario, a more modern convenience for playing those games. Nintendo I feel is behind the times, missing a basic messaging system, and their multiplayer is nothing compared to Xbox, PlayStation or Steam. 

 

Could be worse. You can say you love Hip Hop but instead you’re blasting country music.

[RadiantFlamberge]

PCs can be expensive.  A really good graphics card can be $600-800 itself. I don't feel any rush to get one of Nvidia's new RTX 2080 Ti cards.  RTX 2080 Ti is expensive, & I didn't think the benchmarks for it showed enough improvement over a GTX 1080 to justify spending $1000+ (Is that not crazy enough?  Well, the Founder's Edition is an insane $1200!). 

 

Shadow of the Tomb Raider's PC version was not able to stay at 60 FPS with a RTX 2080 Ti, even dialed down to 1080p.  The frame rate got totally murdered by the RTX (realtime raytracing) feature- it could go to 70, but it'd often fall to 30.  Disappointing for such a highly expensive card.

 

No one should be discouraged from buying a game because they can't play it with the max possible quality on their console/PC.  Honestly, I'll be skipping the RTX 2080 Ti.

[AJ_Radio]

On 9/26/2018 at 10:33 PM, gameoverDude189 said:

PCs can be expensive.  A really good graphics card can be $600-800 itself. I don't feel any rush to get one of Nvidia's new RTX 2080 Ti cards.  RTX 2080 Ti is expensive, & I didn't think the benchmarks for it showed enough improvement over a GTX 1080 to justify spending $1000+ (Is that not crazy enough?  Well, the Founder's Edition is an insane $1200!). 

 

Shadow of the Tomb Raider's PC version was not able to stay at 60 FPS with a RTX 2080 Ti, even dialed down to 1080p.  The frame rate got totally murdered by the RTX (realtime raytracing) feature- it could go to 70, but it'd often fall to 30.  Disappointing for such a highly expensive card.

 

No one should be discouraged from buying a game because they can't play it with the max possible quality on their console/PC.  Honestly, I'll be skipping the RTX 2080 Ti.

 

I personally don’t care what the PC Master Race says. 

 

My computer can run at 5 GHz or better. I have a 4 TB hard drive. I have a 4K monitor and my system can play games at 60 FPS. 

 

Who freaking cares?

 

For all the crap PC fanboys brag about, those PC ports sure as hell aren’t that impressive considering the capabilities today’s PCs are capable of. 

 

My point is, and part of the reason I made this thread is to enjoy the games you play. 

 

If I’m going to get a Pro, or a Slim if I’m financially strapped for cash, it will probably be sometime at the end of 2019, or 2020. By then Sony will have already announced the PS5, but I’m not going to buy that console at launch knowing it will probably have a lot of issues with it that need to be ironed out. 

 

I just love those million plus subscriber Youtubers who brag about their brand new console that just came out or their PC that’s just so good. They’re already rich cocksuckers that get their money through ad revenue, but they have to be show offs about it. I just want to slap them all in the face.

[kdogg_gamer_]

With me I can't justify a PS4 Pro until I have a 4K TV. I have a 4TB External Hard Drive so storage isn't an issue anymore for my console. The only exception will be me getting a PS4 Pro if they did a special edition for The Last Of Us Part II. I am not a big graphics guy, I don't believe great graphics go hand in hand with a great game. I think games still look great on my 1080p TV and vanilla ps4.

[RadiantFlamberge]

22 minutes ago, Spaz said:

 

I personally don’t care what the PC Master Race says. 

 

My computer can run at 5 GHz or better. I have a 4 TB hard drive. I have a 4K monitor and my system can play games at 60 FPS. 

 

Who freaking cares?

 

For all the crap PC fanboys brag about, those PC ports sure as hell aren’t that impressive considering the capabilities today’s PCs are capable of. 

 

My point is, and part of the reason I made this thread is to enjoy the games you play. 

 

If I’m going to get a Pro, or a Slim if I’m financially strapped for cash, it will probably be sometime at the end of 2019, or 2020. By then Sony will have already announced the PS5, but I’m not going to buy that console at launch knowing it will probably have a lot of issues with it that need to be ironed out. 

 

I just love those million plus subscriber Youtubers who brag about their brand new console that just came out or their PC that’s just so good. They’re already rich cocksuckers that get their money through ad revenue, but they have to be show offs about it. I just want to slap them all in the face.

I don't really care what they say either.  Those PC Master Race people are kidding theirselves, missing out on some good exclusives.  Sometimes the PC version is not too great.

 

Some PC ports have issues not found in the console version.  If a developer bungles the use of DRM software it can hurt performance.  Tekken 7's PC port suffered frame rate drops because of Denuvo Anti-tamper DRM.  That would be caused by moves such as Akuma's Shakunetsu Hadoken, & it had nothing to do with CPU/GPU power.  You couldn't lower graphic settings to get rid of it.  Katsuhiro Harada did promise to sort that out, so maybe it got fixed.  Soul Calibur VI's PC port also is using Denuvo.  Mega Man 11 on PC has it also.  I went with the PS4 version on MM11 & will do the same for SC6.

[AJ_Radio]

40 minutes ago, gameoverDude189 said:

I don't really care what they say either.  Those PC Master Race people are kidding theirselves, missing out on some good exclusives.  Sometimes the PC version is not too great.

 

Some PC ports have issues not found in the console version.  If a developer bungles the use of DRM software it can hurt performance.  Tekken 7's PC port suffered frame rate drops because of Denuvo Anti-tamper DRM.  That would be caused by moves such as Akuma's Shakunetsu Hadoken, & it had nothing to do with CPU/GPU power.  You couldn't lower graphic settings to get rid of it.  Katsuhiro Harada did promise to sort that out, so maybe it got fixed.  Soul Calibur VI's PC port also is using Denuvo.  Mega Man 11 on PC has it also.  I went with the PS4 version on MM11 & will do the same for SC6.

 

I don't understand how a game like Mega Man 11 could have issues on the PC.

 

The game is pretty much a retro themed adventure, if you played any other Mega Man game you know what to expect. Now granted it targets a niche audience so it isn't exactly a blockbuster masterpiece like Red Dead Redemption 2 or a mainstream online game like Call of Duty Black Ops 4.

 

A PC should be more than capable of running Mega Man 11, but because of how shitty PC ports have become in the past few years or so I generally only wait for reviews to come out on Steam before I decide to buy it.

 

Just another reason why I advise people to not preorder games in general, especially on a system that has had a history of problems with new AAA games. Just look what happened with Batman: Arkham Knight.

 

I think Game Stop offers some value for trading in your vanilla PS4, but I will have to wipe out all the data from the harddrive and deactivate my accounts from the console. With a sizable backlog I probably won't be able to do this until next November at the least.

[RadiantFlamberge]

1 hour ago, Spaz said:

A PC should be more than capable of running Mega Man 11, but because of how shitty PC ports have become in the past few years or so I generally only wait for reviews to come out on Steam before I decide to buy it.

Same for me.   Sonic Mania Plus is another game you wouldn't expect a problem with.  With its 2D graphics it'd be even less taxing than MM11. Sadly, Sega did a rush job of Denuvo implementation, & there had been complaints by users of poor performance (game speed slowing down, endless looping at a load screen).

After EA took that DRM out of Mass Effect: Andromeda's PC version, users had their frame rates go up a bit.  When IO Interactive got rid of it in Hitman, there was no change in performance- they probably hadn't messed up with it like Sega did.