PS4 Pro "Boost Mode"

ConstantineMerus

This has been out for several days now but I didn't have the time to write about it here. As you probably know PS4 Pro has been released few months ago and although it had a decent upgrade but many people remained on the fence on to upgrade or even to spend the extra cash to purchase Pro instead of Slim or even the older one. 

Now this post is for people whom are interested in purchasing. Don't lash out on me about your penis envy which has extended into PC vs console war. I am a PC player since there was a PC and I do own several monster PCs and I am aware of their superiority. But that hadn't stopped me of loving my consoles in the past 3 decades. I do enjoy the exclusives today and sometimes I prefer the freaking coach--with age that changes into most of the times. 

Also please don't launch a console war of PS4 vs XBOX. That's like the lamest war ever. Even the football hooligans would roll their eyes when they see comments like that. 

PS4 Pro launch was indeed a game changer in the console industry. Not because it was such an awesome product, which is not, it has its own flaws. Because Sony finally dared to break the curse! I don't want to talk about that part right now since it is old news.

But ever since release of Pro, it was up to game developers to decide if they want to take advantage of Pro features or not. Games like Witcher 3 or Destiny will not ever get a Pro patch because they are looking into the future and don't care about their current/past products. Many games decided to release a Pro patch and use the new hardware to some extend--not fully though. Newly released games mostly did better, especially PS4 exclusives. The newly released Nioh done it best. It has 2 modes: one 4K resolution with 30FPS, another FHD with 60FPS. Now Dark Souls players out there know what a bless that is. 

This is all new to consoles. Right now you are getting graphical options to choose from when playing a game--an option which was exclusive to PC before this. 

The quality and performance you'd be getting out of your PS4 Pro relied on the developers' mood and your TV/Monitor. Until Sony announced "Boost Mode" which is currently in the hands of beta-testers and will be part of upcoming patch 4.5. This has truly changed the game. With this mode, it doesn't matter you have 4K display or not, or even if there has been a Pro patch for the game. Boost Mode will increase any game's performance. Now there is yet limitations to this feature, but it is a start. 

This, and the new ideas Microsoft is chasing about the fully upgradeable consoles--which I am sure Sony will mirror as well--the next generation of consoles will be very different. I believe they will have upgradeable parts with various options to choose from and which would run games with different performances, and still remain in the cheap and affordable market compared to PC. 

Sony has gotten a lot of criticism in the past several years, and most were valid. But they are bringing 4K gaming and VR with a $400 product, which there are even bundles out there where you can get it for less with even a couple of games. A huge step towards e-inclusion and just plainly awesome. 
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TL:DR: If you torn between getting PS4 Pro or PS4 because you don't have a 4K TV, the upcoming "Boost Mode" justifies the price difference. 

Ridelynn

I have a PS4. I like playing games on my PS4. 

I was interested in the PS4 Pro when it was first announced, my enthusiasm cooled somewhat though. I don't even mind that it's not actually gaming in 4K, most games have dynamic resolution anyway, and that hasn't really bothered me.

I do have an HDR 4k TV, it isn't the one that is in my living room currently with the PS4 though. Had the PS4 Pro supported 4K BluRay, I probably would have got one just for that reason alone for the 4K I have in the bedroom (although, despite having owned both a PS3 and PS4, with the advent of Netflix I have yet to own or even watch a single BluRay at all). I can't stream 4K Netflix, so the 4K streaming thing it has doesn't really do anything for me, and my TV can already do that on it's own.

My biggest gripe with the PS4 is the storage. Right now they don't support external storage (although that may be changing in the next update, along with Boost). They ship with a 500G HD standard, with the ~option~ to go up to 1T. Even the 1T feels tight, because all games, even those on disc, take up a good sized chunk on your HDD. So I end up playing roulette with the games I have installed. I have shitty internet, so for me to re-install a game (even those on disc, with all the subsequent patches and everything), it can take days at home, or I have to take the damn thing into work with me to have it download there.

PS4 Pro also didn't fix the storage issue. It still ships with 1T. I did upgrade my PS4 to 2T, but that shouldn't be on the user to fix that, it ought to come from the factory, at least as an option. Being able to use external storage will go a long way, but only if it performs well enough to be usable, otherwise your just going to be playing the shuffle game, albeit a bit more usable with it at least being on a local drive.

Really, being "Pro", it should have HDD + SSD caching, if not SSD-only options, ideally with PCIe or NVMe, because load times on a lot of games are ~very~ slow off the HDD, which is another gripe. I hear the faster CPU and SATA3 (when used in Boost) on the Pro helps with that somewhat, but there's only so much you can do with a 5400 spindle drive .

Although I've heard even going SSD only doesn't help that much, rumor being that either they are using SATA via USB for some reason, as transfer speeds seem to mimic those from a USB3 device, &/or the OS artificially limits disk access speed in order to preserve bandwidth for system processes such as on-demand recording/streaming.

Boost mode is cool, I am glad to see it coming. It doesn't fix any of the reasons I decided not to get a Pro though.