The PlayStation 5 has brought with it a new standard to console gaming, with toggles that have quickly become common to video games released on the current-gen machine. Whereas such options are far more standard and known to PC players, nowadays console gamers have come to expect the ability to choose how games run on the hardware.
From triple-A titles like Horizon Forbidden West to indie-ish fare like Kena: Bridge of Spirits, the option to choose either Performance Mode or Quality Mode is often standard, with PS5 players facing the dilemma to either favour a higher framerate, with Performance, or slightly superior graphics, with Quality. But according to online discussion, it seems like it's not really much of a dilemma at all.
With the greater power of the PlayStation 5 over its predecessor, and even its mid-gen upgrade in the PS4 Pro, there's often the ability to choose such graphical goodies such as ray-tracing and native 4K. However, framerates are often confined to 30fps when these are enabled. This is usually the case when Quality Mode is selected, while Performace Mode usually means 60fps as a trade-off for slightly less sharp resolution. Over on the popular PS5 subreddit, players have been discussing which mode is preferred and it seems the majority prefer Performance Mode over Quality.
Do you use performance mode or quality mode more?
by u/maverick074 in PS5
The OP asked PS5 owners if they prefer Performance or Quality mode, while saying that they themselves side with Performance Mode. "I always notice 60fps way more than I notice ray tracing," they said. But it seems most commentors agree with their assessment. "60fps anytime," said one, with many upvotes. "Performance," said another, also with many upvotes. "Graphics are so good now that games look great even in perf mode." While PS5 gamers do care about graphics, which isn't surprising, many sung the praises of being able to play in higher framerates. "I do care about graphics but not enough to ignore the jerkiness that is 30fps," another comment reads. "Once you've gone 60fps there's no going back."
As commentors made it known, it can be hard to tell apart native 4K from the upscaled 4K that titles employ in Performance Mode, with games using a checkerboard technique that can make upscaled 4K look pretty much indistinguishable from the real thing. It's the case that Sony's first-party titles, such as Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, are often the standard bearers of well-performing Performance Modes, while they can also include even more Modes that can output the best of both worlds. The likes of Rift Apart and Miles Morales, for example, can output in 40fps (for compatible TVs) with ray-tracing or other graphical goodies enabled.
However, there are those who do find it hard having to compromise or even having to choose between the options, and perhaps that'll be who Sony is targeting with the much rumoured PS5 Pro, which could possibly allow for native 4K, ray-traced games running in 60fps — although perhaps then we might also have more games running in 120fps in Performance Mode.