PS4 Pro is the most disappointing console of last gen

[vfm]

A hot take. 

 

For the last week I have been using a PS4 Pro, I own an all digital One S as well, also I’ve had a base PS4 for approx. two years prior and a borrowed Xbox One X for a couple of months, before I got my own One S. I got the PS4 Pro to play some exclusives (Spider-Man and Ghosts of Tsushima) and I’m actually quite dissappointed. The difference in quality for the first party game is fairly minimal (on a 43 inch tv at least) and the work culture of the console is just attrocious, until very recently I was seriously considering getting a PS5, but after just a week of using the PS4 Pro I started to highly doubt whether the new consoles will hold long term. And the shop I got it from cleaned the console out for me, so I can only imagine what it was like before. 

 

The console is so loud, it’s almost unplayable on speakers on my normal sound level; living in a small appartment it’s completly unplayable when my SO is in the same room working without ANC headphones, and it’s completly unplayable in night, when one of us is trying to sleep. 

 

For playing first party games it’s not worth the hassle over base PS4 which is quiter and smaller (I had to rearrange my whole cabinet and cable setup, even though all the other consoles fit my space with reasonable breathing room). For playing third party games the One X is in the worst case scenario similar, while being, comparatively ofcourse, barely audible. And the cherry on top is that I didn’t check if PS4 plays 4k blu-ray, so now I have to either side-grade my One S to one with optical or upgrade to One X if I want to watch movies. 

[PAPO1990]

The lack of 4K BD on the PRO was a disappointment, but they just didn't consider noise so much at the time, and wile it bothered me it wasn't usually too bad (especially after I swapped out the thermal paste a few years in ) I don't know how the size is an issue, it's smaller than my cable box, my dedicated BD player, and certainly my amp.

 

The PS5 on the other hand is INCREDIBLY quiet, but look at the size of it to do that. Luckily it DOES have 4K BD (as it uses those same discs for games now) but I can ABSOLUTELY see the size being an issue for people who have limited space.

[jaslion]

Both the xbox one x and the ps4 pro were disappointments as all they really did was just up the gpu power when it really was just the anemic cpu being the issue in basically every game. They existed for the sole purpose of using them on higher resolution tvs by just upping the resolution and that is basically all they did and they did it alright.

 

Still the way to go for now is if you want exclusives get a switch or ps5/used ps4 whatever. If you want a big game library get a used pc or the new xbox series s if you want to do it even cheaper.

 

In the end all that matters is the games if they suck well too bad. Yeah the ps4 slim and pro are very loud which was a design oversight on sony to rush them out whilst microsoft did take that more into consideration and simply have a better airflow system and use standard tried and true way of cooling mini itx systems whilst keeping the noise down whilst sony still does the blow fan even in the ps5. It's far better than any of the ps4 iterations so that is good. They also again went with a more design focused console compromising the cooling performance (it runs a fair bit cooler and more silent with the sides off). Whilst microsoft literally just took a pc case and did a proven way of good cooling and their system remains very quiet due to that.

[vfm]

I

11 minutes ago, PAPO1990 said:

The lack of 4K BD on the PRO was a disappointment, but they just didn't consider noise so much at the time, and wile it bothered me it wasn't usually too bad (especially after I swapped out the thermal paste a few years in ) I don't know how the size is an issue, it's smaller than my cable box, my dedicated BD player, and certainly my amp.

 

The PS5 on the other hand is INCREDIBLY quiet, but look at the size of it to do that. Luckily it DOES have 4K BD (as it uses those same discs for games now) but I can ABSOLUTELY see the size being an issue for people who have limited space.

With PS5 I’m worried for long-term „quality of operation” so to say. I feel like Microsoft went with the simple and tested cooling solution of One S for both consoles, sticking a big fan under a big unobstructed vent. 

 

I love my One S for those noise levels, between my and my SO we have a Lenovo business laptop, a Huawei ultrabook and a Macbook Air and the One S is the quietest of them, which makes it easy for me to believe that Series S and X will be able to maintain the noise levels. 

 

I still haven’t seen a PS5 in person, but it is crazy to me that on one hand to go to the extreme (literally, I guess) of liquid metal on the SOC, but on the other hand they design the thing with a solid plastic shell a couple milimeters of the output vents, it looks like they have teams in Sony actively competing on the same product and that just doesn’t inspire confidence in me.

[And Im Javert]

The Pro is more powerful and should run quieter but you have to remember it’s just a beefier PS4 so it can run VR properly. The CPU is the same and the GPU is just slightly beefed up.

 

No 4K drive was confusing though.

[PAPO1990]

49 minutes ago, vfm said:

I

With PS5 I’m worried for long-term „quality of operation” so to say. I feel like Microsoft went with the simple and tested cooling solution of One S for both consoles, sticking a big fan under a big unobstructed vent. 

 

I still haven’t seen a PS5 in person, but it is crazy to me that on one hand to go to the extreme (literally, I guess) of liquid metal on the SOC, but on the other hand they design the thing with a solid plastic shell a couple milimeters of the output vents, it looks like they have teams in Sony actively competing on the same product and that just doesn’t inspire confidence in me.

The PS5 is pretty tried and tested as well, it's a BIG PHAT heat-sync with some heat pipes, and a big fan. You can run it with a side panel or both off if you REALLY want, but aside from a couple of DRAM chips that have poor contact with the cooling it's fine. The Liquid Metal SHOULD be fine, ASUS did a laptop or something with it a little while back and it seems to have been ok. I'd be pretty surprised it the engineers didn't get the opportunity to test and implement that particular element properly.

[SteveGrabowski0]

3 hours ago, jaslion said:

Both the xbox one x and the ps4 pro were disappointments as all they really did was just up the gpu power when it really was just the anemic cpu being the issue in basically every game. They existed for the sole purpose of using them on higher resolution tvs by just upping the resolution and that is basically all they did and they did it alright.

 

Still the way to go for now is if you want exclusives get a switch or ps5/used ps4 whatever. If you want a big game library get a used pc or the new xbox series s if you want to do it even cheaper.

 

In the end all that matters is the games if they suck well too bad. Yeah the ps4 slim and pro are very loud which was a design oversight on sony to rush them out whilst microsoft did take that more into consideration and simply have a better airflow system and use standard tried and true way of cooling mini itx systems whilst keeping the noise down whilst sony still does the blow fan even in the ps5. It's far better than any of the ps4 iterations so that is good. They also again went with a more design focused console compromising the cooling performance (it runs a fair bit cooler and more silent with the sides off). Whilst microsoft literally just took a pc case and did a proven way of good cooling and their system remains very quiet due to that.

Where are you getting that the PS4 Slim is loud? Mine is really quiet unless I'm playing God of War or installing a game (as the Blu Ray is loud in installation). God of War is the only game I can hear my PS4 Slim.

[jaslion]

20 hours ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

Where are you getting that the PS4 Slim is loud? Mine is really quiet unless I'm playing God of War or installing a game (as the Blu Ray is loud in installation). God of War is the only game I can hear my PS4 Slim.

Must vary most I got in for cleaning and whatnot were moderately to pretty loud

[Ultra_Kaiju]

I've had the original Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One S,.. .all of them broke. 

 

I've had the original Playstation, Playstation 2, Playstation 3 (fat and slim), and now Playstation 4 Pro... none of them broke. 

 

I will be buying a PS5 but will be skipping Xbox this generation. Just tired of them always breaking. I don't like how the controller creaks and feels flimsy for my One S either. My PS4 controller feels solid and doesn't creak or move if you squeeze it. 

 

I've had all the Nintendo Systems too and never really had a problem (knock on wood, I know joy-con drift is a real thing. But so far no issue with my Switch or Switch Lite.) 

 

Xboxes are the only systems that have consistently broken on me every single time. I've thought about getting the new next-gen Xbox but I just can't seem to bring myself to do it. I'll just wait until it's easy to find and buy a PS5. 

 

...heck by then they may be releasing a PS5 Pro with dual GPU's,.. that would be awesome. 

[SteveGrabowski0]

1 hour ago, Ultra_Kaiju said:

I've had the original Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One S,.. .all of them broke. 

 

I've had the original Playstation, Playstation 2, Playstation 3 (fat and slim), and now Playstation 4 Pro... none of them broke. 

 

I will be buying a PS5 but will be skipping Xbox this generation. Just tired of them always breaking. I don't like how the controller creaks and feels flimsy for my One S either. My PS4 controller feels solid and doesn't creak or move if you squeeze it. 

 

I've had all the Nintendo Systems too and never really had a problem (knock on wood, I know joy-con drift is a real thing. But so far no issue with my Switch or Switch Lite.) 

 

Xboxes are the only systems that have consistently broken on me every single time. I've thought about getting the new next-gen Xbox but I just can't seem to bring myself to do it. I'll just wait until it's easy to find and buy a PS5. 

 

...heck by then they may be releasing a PS5 Pro with dual GPU's,.. that would be awesome. 

Of all the consoles and handhelds I have ever had (Game Boy / SNES / N64 / PS2 Fat / PSP / PS3 Fat / XBox 360 / Wii / New 3DS XL / OLED Vita / PlayStation TV / Wii U / PS4 Slim / Switch), only the 360 ever died on me. And I had four die on me until Microsoft replaced the fourth dead Xenon 360 with an Opus board 360 that has worked great for me since 2009. Though I know PS2 Fats are pretty notorious for the laser dying in all but a couple of the US models. 

[Ultra_Kaiju]

I believe it, the 360 Red Ring of Death is an expression for a reason. 

 

Didn't know that about the PS3 fat but I traded it in for a PS3 slim so maybe I dodged that bullet. 

[PlayStation 2]

6 hours ago, Ultra_Kaiju said:

I've had the original Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One S,.. .all of them broke. 

 

I've had the original Playstation, Playstation 2, Playstation 3 (fat and slim), and now Playstation 4 Pro... none of them broke. 

 

I will be buying a PS5 but will be skipping Xbox this generation. Just tired of them always breaking. I don't like how the controller creaks and feels flimsy for my One S either. My PS4 controller feels solid and doesn't creak or move if you squeeze it. 

 

I've had all the Nintendo Systems too and never really had a problem (knock on wood, I know joy-con drift is a real thing. But so far no issue with my Switch or Switch Lite.) 

 

Xboxes are the only systems that have consistently broken on me every single time. I've thought about getting the new next-gen Xbox but I just can't seem to bring myself to do it. I'll just wait until it's easy to find and buy a PS5. 

 

...heck by then they may be releasing a PS5 Pro with dual GPU's,.. that would be awesome. 

Anecdotal experiences are always interesting. I've had a GameCube, a PlayStation 2 and an Xbox 360 fail on me. Glad to say that I haven't ran into issues with my current GameCube, both of my current PS2s and neither of my Xbox 360s... and my original Xbox, but the clock capacitor is always knocking on death's door, probably.

[SteveGrabowski0]

1 hour ago, handymanshandle said:

Anecdotal experiences are always interesting. I've had a GameCube, a PlayStation 2 and an Xbox 360 fail on me. Glad to say that I haven't ran into issues with my current GameCube, both of my current PS2s and neither of my Xbox 360s... and my original Xbox, but the clock capacitor is always knocking on death's door, probably.

I mostly ration the laser on my PS2 Fat by playing the games off roms shared over the network from my PC when optimal (thanks Free McBoot). Though there are a few games, including my favorite game on the system (Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne), which have some skipping in the FMV cutscenes so I play those off my original discs. But most don't. Even the two Persona games on the system that are loaded with cutscenes run perfect loading the rom over the network. 

[SteveGrabowski0]

Gotta say I'm a little worried about the memory temperatures on PS5 after Gamers Nexus tested it. Can't believe they screwed up the cooling for that when everything else in the system seems to be cooled pretty well by that big ass heatsink and fan.

[PlayStation 2]

17 minutes ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

I mostly ration the laser on my PS2 Fat by playing the games off roms shared over the network from my PC when optimal (thanks Free McBoot). Though there are a few games, including my favorite game on the system (Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne), which have some skipping in the FMV cutscenes so I play those off my original discs. But most don't. Even the two Persona games on the system that are loaded with cutscenes run perfect loading the rom over the network. 

I really wanna do a hard drive setup for my PS2, but I just don't have much of the time (and money that I'd like to dedicate) to really go down that route currently, so for now, anything I dick around with resides on a shitty 64GB flash drive I got from Walmart for $8. 

Hey, it's good enough for the SpongeBob Movie game and various Gran Turismo demos!

[Mark Kaine]

On 12/31/2020 at 1:23 PM, vfm said:

A hot take. 

-snip-

That is only fair since the PS4 is the most disappointing console of all times. ~

[SteveGrabowski0]

1 hour ago, Mark Kaine said:

That is only fair since the PS4 is the most disappointing console of all times. ~

Disagree, the system is loaded with top notch single player exclusives like Bloodborne, God of War, Persona 5 Royal, Spiderman, The Last of Us Part 2, Ghost of Tsushima, Shadow of the Colossus Remake, Uncharted 4, Ratchet & Clank, etc. And it had some outstanding games that were PS4 exclusives for years like Horizon Zero Dawn and the Yakuza series. Nioh was a PS4 exclusive for at least a year too. Despite being pretty crap hardware the game library is outstanding. I'd probably rank it third among my favorite consoles all time with my top 5 being

 

1. PS2

2. SNES

3. PS4

4. Switch

5. NES

[SteveGrabowski0]

2 hours ago, handymanshandle said:

I really wanna do a hard drive setup for my PS2, but I just don't have much of the time (and money that I'd like to dedicate) to really go down that route currently, so for now, anything I dick around with resides on a shitty 64GB flash drive I got from Walmart for $8. 

Hey, it's good enough for the SpongeBob Movie game and various Gran Turismo demos!

Hard drive setup isn't necessary, sharing roms over the network from your PC is fine the vast majority of the time. I think I have found 2 or 3 games that skip in FMV cutscenes but gameplay is still perfect. If you have a fat PS2 you can buy the official network adapter cheap. I got mine from this place for $10 but now they have it for $5.

 

https://gameovervideogames.com/products/ps2-network-adapter-used?variant=34290095434

 

Just plug that shit into your router with an ethernet cable and make a shared folder on your PC with your PS2 roms and set everything up in OPL you're golden.

 

The hard drive route is a pain in the ass since if you want to use a SATA drive you either buy one of the knockoff hard drive adapters from China that are of questionable quality or you jump through a lot of hoops to make it run with the official adapter. Though some of those hoops will also let you use a microSD flash instead and still get god speeds instead of the gimpy USB-1.0 you'd get plugging a flash into the ports on the front.

[PlayStation 2]

38 minutes ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

Hard drive setup isn't necessary, sharing roms over the network from your PC is fine the vast majority of the time. I think I have found 2 or 3 games that skip in FMV cutscenes but gameplay is still perfect. If you have a fat PS2 you can buy the official network adapter cheap. I got mine from this place for $10 but now they have it for $5.

 

https://gameovervideogames.com/products/ps2-network-adapter-used?variant=34290095434

 

Just plug that shit into your router with an ethernet cable and make a shared folder on your PC with your PS2 roms and set everything up in OPL you're golden.

 

The hard drive route is a pain in the ass since if you want to use a SATA drive you either buy one of the knockoff hard drive adapters from China that are of questionable quality or you jump through a lot of hoops to make it run with the official adapter. Though some of those hoops will also let you use a microSD flash instead and still get god speeds instead of the gimpy USB-1.0 you'd get plugging a flash into the ports on the front.

As of right now, SMB just isn't a practical solution as I really don't wanna run an ethernet cable to my PS2 right now... although I wouldn't be against it once I'm in my own place. 

And yeah, I know how finicky PS2 hard drive adapters can be if you aren't going for an official one with a SATA conversion kit... which is the avenue I'd take.

[Ultra_Kaiju]

10 hours ago, SteveGrabowski0 said:

Disagree, the system is loaded with top notch single player exclusives like Bloodborne, God of War, Persona 5 Royal, Spiderman, The Last of Us Part 2, Ghost of Tsushima, Shadow of the Colossus Remake, Uncharted 4, Ratchet & Clank, etc. And it had some outstanding games that were PS4 exclusives for years like Horizon Zero Dawn and the Yakuza series. Nioh was a PS4 exclusive for at least a year too. Despite being pretty crap hardware the game library is outstanding. I'd probably rank it third among my favorite consoles all time with my top 5 being

 

1. PS2

2. SNES

3. PS4

4. Switch

5. NES

 

Agreed, I've found the ps4 pro to be a fantastic system and has a lot of really great games. 

 

The Switch I just picked up the Lite about a month ago and have since bought the console as well as about 25 games. That little system has really impressed me. I bought the Lite on a whim to play Mario Odyssey and Zelda BotW, but it impressed me so much I bought a bunch more stuff to go with it and bought a console for myself (for the bedroom) and another for my kids in the living room. 

 

unlike my ps4 something about the Switch makes us all game together at least once or twice a week, collecting moons in Mario Odyssey or whatever. Nintendo I guess has a knack for making games that families can play together. 

 

For some reason the kids don't want to help Dad murder people while playing as Bayek of Siwa in Assassins Creed Origins. hahaha

[kaiju_wars]

On 1/4/2021 at 11:41 AM, Ultra_Kaiju said:

I've had the original Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One S,.. .all of them broke. 

 

I've had the original Playstation, Playstation 2, Playstation 3 (fat and slim), and now Playstation 4 Pro... none of them broke. 

 

I will be buying a PS5 but will be skipping Xbox this generation. Just tired of them always breaking. I don't like how the controller creaks and feels flimsy for my One S either. My PS4 controller feels solid and doesn't creak or move if you squeeze it. 

 

I've had all the Nintendo Systems too and never really had a problem (knock on wood, I know joy-con drift is a real thing. But so far no issue with my Switch or Switch Lite.) 

 

Xboxes are the only systems that have consistently broken on me every single time. I've thought about getting the new next-gen Xbox but I just can't seem to bring myself to do it. I'll just wait until it's easy to find and buy a PS5. 

 

...heck by then they may be releasing a PS5 Pro with dual GPU's,.. that would be awesome. 

For Xbox I have a 360 and Xbox One S

For Playstation I have a PS2, PSP, PS3, PS4, Vita.

The 360 and One S work great

I've had to replace both the PS2 and PSP already.

Only Nintendo console ever to give me issues is my NES and Virtual Boy.

 

 

[Jet_ski]

On 1/4/2021 at 12:41 PM, Ultra_Kaiju said:

I will be buying a PS5 but will be skipping Xbox this generation. Just tired of them always breaking. I don't like how the controller creaks and feels flimsy for my One S either. My PS4 controller feels solid and doesn't creak or move if you squeeze it. 

I went with PS5 too. I had the Xbox 360 and then the Xbox One. And I was very disappointed with the hardware and the software. My Xbox One would randomly turn on and it had issues connecting to the controllers! On the software side, they made the UI unusable and convoluted. Typing using the Xbox controller is just torture, specially typing passwords. With PS5 the touchpad makes it as easy as possible on a controller. Also the built in mic works great.

 

On 1/4/2021 at 9:41 PM, SteveGrabowski0 said:

Gotta say I'm a little worried about the memory temperatures on PS5 after Gamers Nexus tested it. Can't believe they screwed up the cooling for that when everything else in the system seems to be cooled pretty well by that big ass heatsink and fan.

On 12/31/2020 at 8:23 AM, vfm said:

I still haven’t seen a PS5 in person, but it is crazy to me that on one hand to go to the extreme (literally, I guess) of liquid metal on the SOC, but on the other hand they design the thing with a solid plastic shell a couple milimeters of the output vents, it looks like they have teams in Sony actively competing on the same product and that just doesn’t inspire confidence in me.

Don’t listen to GN, it’s a great console and runs fine. It never throttled even when I put it inside the tv shelf which only has the front open. It runs almost silently and cooler if it’s setup vertically.

 

The GDDR6 memory in the Nvidia RTX 3080 FE runs as hot as 104 F. So for PS5 to run it at 95 F temps is actually better thermal management than many other devices with that kinda memory.

 

Aesthetics aside, they designed the PS5 to be able to run [almost] silently. I set it up vertically and it runs without any fan noise. Ambient temp of around 68-70 F. But in horizontal setup it does have to run the fan, even then it’s not very noticeable.
 

Both the Xbox Series X and the PS5 will run hot and ramp up their fans if the are put in shelves so the shape doesn’t matter!

[Ertman]

On 1/4/2021 at 12:41 PM, Ultra_Kaiju said:

I've had the original Xbox, Xbox 360, and Xbox One S,.. .all of them broke. 

 

I've had the original Playstation, Playstation 2, Playstation 3 (fat and slim), and now Playstation 4 Pro... none of them broke. 

Can I play the anecdote game too.

 

ok...

 

I have:

Xbox (original)

Xbox 360 (Xenon)

Xbox 360 S

Xbox One S

 

All still work fine and have played and tested out all of the older ones recently. The one I don’t really trust is the Xenon 360 as it feels like those live on borrowed time. It was fine for gaming on for 3 hrs recently.

[SteveGrabowski0]

53 minutes ago, Ertman said:

Can I play the anecdote game too.

 

ok...

 

I have:

Xbox (original)

Xbox 360 (Xenon)

Xbox 360 S

Xbox One S

 

All still work fine and have played and tested out all of the older ones recently. The one I don’t really trust is the Xenon 360 as it feels like those live on borrowed time. It was fine for gaming on for 3 hrs recently.

Funny how there can be a few decent Xenons out there. My original Xenon was good for a year and a half but the disc tray wouldn't open anymore so I sent it in for warranty service begging them to not switch me out with a different console and just to fix the drive tray. Nope, got back a different Xenon that RROD'ed on me within 2 weeks. RROD -> Warranty Service --> RROD cycle never ended until they sent me an Opus board 360 finally. Everyone else I knew who bought a Xenon 360 had RROD though and had to replace it multiple times with Microsoft.

[Ultra_Kaiju]

it may be anecdotal evidence but it's my experience, and my experience is what shapes my buying decisions. 

 

If every single Xbox I've ever owned broke, and I've owned them all,.. should I continue to keep buying them? Why? 

 

I've owned (and still own) almost every gaming console of the last 40 years. The only ones that constantly break (for me) are the Microsoft ones.