The PS5 Pro may have enough horsepower to run Cyberpunk 2077 with Path Tracing at upscaled 1080p, based on base hardware performance on Linux.
During a recent episode of DF Direct podcast, the team at Digital Foundry demonstrated that the base PS5 can actually run games with fully Path Tracing, including Cyberpunk 2077 with RT Overdrive enabled, though not without major compromises. Using Linux installed on a jailbroken console, the they were able to run PC workloads directly through Steam, effectively transforming it into a Steam Machine-like device. The test focused on three Path Traced titles representing different stages of the technology’s evolution, namely Quake II RTX, Portal with RTX, and Cyberpunk 2077’s demanding RT Overdrive mode.
The most impressive results came from Quake II RTX. Running at native 4K with Path Tracing enabled, the base PS5 averaged only around 11 fps. However, reducing the internal resolution to 1080p and reconstructing to 4K with temporal upscaling boosted performance dramatically to roughly 40 fps. With dynamic resolution scaling enabled, the game managed a near-locked 60 fps, occasionally dropping as low as a 540p internal resolution.
The test highlighted that Path Tracing itself isn’t impossible on current-gen console-class hardware, at least for less demanding games. However, things became significantly more difficult with Portal RTX, which managed playable frame rates, but image quality suffered heavily due to low rendering resolutions and the lack of advanced upscaling and denoising solutions.
The real stress test was Cyberpunk 2077 RT Overdrive, however. At 1080p output using Intel XeSS Performance Mode, the base PS5 averaged approximately 22.6 fps. By switching to 1920×800 output and applying an optimization mod that reduced ray bounce counts, performance climbed to roughly 35 fps on average. These gains came at a severe visual cost, as internal rendering resolution dropped as low as 348p, while denoising artifacts and unstable frame generation made the experience visibly rough.
Despite these limitations on the base console, the team at Digital Foundry believes the results may hint at what could be possible on the PS5 Pro. Because the PS5 Pro features significantly stronger ray tracing hardware and Sony’s PSSR AI upscaling technology, a Path Traced mode targeting 30 fps could be possible. They discussed that PS5 Pro-level hardware may realistically handle RT Overdrive at 1080p output with internal resolutions near 540p when paired with PSSR upscaling.
