PS5 Pro Faces CPU Bottlenecks Impacting 60fps Gameplay

PS5 Pro Will Have 30fps Games

PlayStation’s upcoming mid-gen refresh is coming in the form of the PS5 Pro. Pitched as a way to play the latest games’ fidelity modes at performance mode framerates, Sony’s newest machine may still struggle to hit higher framerates due to one key component: the CPU.

Why Performance Will Be Limited

Despite the marketing, PS5 Pro will not run all games at 60fps or above, not for lack of trying. While the new PlayStation 5 Pro specs reveal a huge bump in compute units and memory bandwidth, the CPU only has a minor bump in clock speed.

This means that the new system is capable of brilliant things, including an 8K mode in Gran Turismo 7. However, when it comes to CPU intensive games, such as the upcoming GTA 6, 60fps may still be off the table.

Games analysis experts at Digital Foundry explain that the slight boost in CPU performance won’t be enough to hit 60fps in the next GTA game.

“Grand Theft Auto games have always run complex simulations that push the CPU hard, which is why every GTA game has initially launched on their target platforms at 30fps,” said Digital Foundry creator Richard Leadbetter.

“The PS5 Pro uses the same CPU as the PS5 and it would be extremely challenging to hit 60fps if the base PS5 version is targeting 30fps. This isn’t a GPU problem, it’s a CPU problem.”

What Else Will Struggle?

• Just like GTA 6, other games that rely heavily on CPU calculations will still struggle to hit 60fps on the PlayStation 5 Pro.
• Games like Dragon’s Dogma 2 which simulates physics and NPCs constantly or full simulation titles like Cities Skylines 2 will not be able to double their framerates.
• Furthermore, as the generation continues to push hardware further with better ray-tracing effects and more simulations, the PS5 Pro will fall under its advertised 60fps target.
• At the end of the day, it’s up to developers how they want to make use of the console’s hardware, and some will absolutely make 30fps games on the system.