It’s really astonishing what it can do — I’m especially blown away by the realistic lighting it brings and the textures. On faces, it’s actually almost too good: you go from a face that looks totally unrealistic to a truly realistic face, which makes some people say the face is completely different. They don’t understand what’s really happening: we’re moving from a dead, expressionless face to a living, realistic one — that’s the big difference. On starfield, Faces that looked really bad with dlss off become more realistic with dlss on. In any case, when you see what AI can do for graphical optimizations, it promises incredible things for video games in the future. And Nvidia’s DLSS is really far ahead of FSR or PSSR.
@themightyant Actually, I had bought it and then sold it, and yeah, at the time I really thought it was a scam. I was very disappointed by the technical gap compared to the price. I’m mostly a PC and Xbox user, but since there’s no mid‑gen upgrade on Xbox, I still ended up buying the PS5 Pro out of frustration, but it didn’t meet my expectations
@SonOfFaith I’m not as optimistic as you about the automatic version. And regarding its usefulness, I feel like it’s just another standard developers have to deal with, when what they actually need is more uniformity instead of spreading themselves across each company’s proprietary tech. We already have DLSS and FSR, so this just feels redundant to me. Especially since DLSS and FSR run on far more machines (PCs and consoles) than the ones compatible with PSSR. Honestly, it feels like Sony is wasting developers’ time just for marketing purposes — that’s just my opinion.
Besides, Sony directly assists developers to integrate this kind of tech, which shows it’s not really something that happens naturally. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Sony is outright paying some studios to implement it. That’s why I think this is basically part of their marketing budget, just to highlight a proprietary technology available only on their console, even though the actual benefits are only noticeable in a handful of optimized games.
It’s a shame that to get real results, developers need to implement it specifically, which means this feature will only be used by a handful of games. Don’t expect miracles from the automatic PSSR version, and in the end very few games will bother doing a proper upgrade — which makes sense given the small PS5 Pro install base.
It’s also unfortunate that we had to wait almost two years for a decent version of their AI upscaler. Since version 1 was often catastrophic or had no real effect, I remember that at launch I had to disable PSSR on some games because it caused so many bugs
In the end, I’m not convinced a proprietary AI upscaler is really worth it. It feels more like a marketing argument than a real benefit for players, considering how few games will truly take advantage of it
In theory, yes, PlayStation could do it, but if it means losing money, they won’t. They were the first to charge for updates and to sell simple remakes at the price of a full original game. So based on that, don’t get your hopes up too much.
"Just recently, the firm revealed that it is by far the most popular Remote Play hardware used by PlayStation gamers.” Lol, well of course—it’s the only dedicated device that does remote play.... . This sentence makes no sense at all. A little critical thinking, please!
SteamOS faces more than just one challenge. Games with anti-cheat (call of duty, battlefield, fortnite). There are also many games with issues such as crashes, graphical bugs, and FPS drops, because DirectX calls are not properly translated. And I think this will only get worse over time, especially with the increasing use of specific technologies (ray tracing, DLSS, upcoming Auto SR, …). Studios develop natively for Windows, not for SteamOS, and that’s not going to change anytime soon, for a very simple reason: a PC is not just for gaming, and Linux will never be able to rival Windows in terms of versatility and software compatibility. This is both a strength for Windows and a challenge in terms of performance. So I don’t see the masses switching to Linux just for gaming.
And I’m not even talking about modding, which is very complicated on Linux, while many PC gamers are very attached to it. Or other gaming-related tools like Streamlabs, XSplit (no Linux equivalent), etc.
Many launchers don'y play well: epic, Xbox app, battle.net, EA app, ubsifit connect, rockstar games launcher, GOG, etc.... No native support for Game Pass.
Many recent DirectX 12 games run very poorly on SteamOS: The First Descendant, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Epic version), Forspoken, Starfield, Elden Ring (especially at launch), Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Red Dead Redemption 2 (a game that often crashes on SteamOS), Cyberpunk 2077, etc.
I don’t even want to imagine GTA 6 when it comes out , it’s almost certain it will be nearly unplayable on SteamOS.
And I’m not even mentioning the weak power of the machine or their controller, which I really don’t like at all.
The short answer is no, absolutely not — it’s clearly a dispensable purchase. I’d even say it’s probably one of PlayStation’s biggest scams, to put it bluntly. The price-to-value ratio is simply not worth it, despite the lies pushed with millions of dollars in marketing.
That said, for someone who didn’t already have a standard PS5 and managed to get it at a good price, then why not!
In the same way that we need to take a critical look at Windows, we should do the same with Linux. I see fans who defend Linux at all costs, but we shouldn’t erase the negative points — because they do exist. Someone mentioned Linux Mint above, which tries to get closer to a Windows‑like experience, and that’s quite amusing when the same people criticize the Windows experience.
But that’s not really my point. The issues with software compatibility for games are real, and the problems with graphical bugs, crashes, and missing textures in supposedly compatible games are real too. Beyond outright incompatibility, there are also games that are technically compatible but run very poorly — nearly unplayable and significantly less performant than on a Windows‑based console. And yes, the reverse can happen too. I’m thinking of titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, The Witcher 3, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Cities: Skylines, Football Manager, ARK: Survival Evolved, Ready or Not, etc.
Let’s be honest: SteamOS, thanks to its lightweight nature, does manage to stay slightly ahead in performance in many cases, for now. But the opposite is also true. Proton remains a compatibility layer, and translating DirectX calls isn’t always smooth or bug‑free. This leads to issues in certain games: framerate drops, missing textures, crashes, loading problems, graphical glitches, etc. These are problems that rarely occur on a Windows console, since developers build natively for Windows, not for SteamOS, which merely translates DirectX requests. All recent games using DirectX 12, for example, run very poorly on SteamOS.
I find the premise highly exaggerated. In reality, with Xbox Full Experience and the improvements made to the Xbox app, things are moving in the right direction—quite the opposite, in fact. In terms of performance and user experience, it’s much better than before, and the roadmap promises many more improvements.
The thing with SteamOS and Linux in general is that it remains a layer that translates Windows’ DirectX requests into Linux, bringing its share of bugs, instability, and incompatibility. That’s the reality, I own a Steam Deck and I can clearly see the limitations. Developers develop for Windows, not for Linux. What saves Linux is simply its slight niche appeal compared to big Windows. But at the same time, Linux doesn’t have the same versatility or even the same simplicity as Windows, to put things into perspective.
That said, yes, it would be a good idea to make comparisons, because in many cases we’d be surprised to see some games running better on Windows than on Linux—that’s also a reality. And it allows us to see the evolution of Windows in terms of gaming performance and the gap betwee the 2 OS.
The question is what exactly we’re comparing, because ‘Windows’ is broad. Are we comparing SteamOS versus Xbox Full Experience on Windows? That would make sense in the field of handheld consoles and not just there. As for comparing niche systems only used by tinkerers like Bazzite, I’m not sure of the interest for the general public—but hey, why not?
Comments 9
Re: Nvidia's new DLSS 5 Brings Photo-Realistic Lighting To RTX 50-Series
It’s really astonishing what it can do — I’m especially blown away by the realistic lighting it brings and the textures. On faces, it’s actually almost too good: you go from a face that looks totally unrealistic to a truly realistic face, which makes some people say the face is completely different. They don’t understand what’s really happening: we’re moving from a dead, expressionless face to a living, realistic one — that’s the big difference. On starfield, Faces that looked really bad with dlss off become more realistic with dlss on. In any case, when you see what AI can do for graphical optimizations, it promises incredible things for video games in the future. And Nvidia’s DLSS is really far ahead of FSR or PSSR.
Re: Tested: PS5 Pro's Upgraded PSSR Put Through Its Paces On Four Top-Tier Games
@themightyant Actually, I had bought it and then sold it, and yeah, at the time I really thought it was a scam. I was very disappointed by the technical gap compared to the price. I’m mostly a PC and Xbox user, but since there’s no mid‑gen upgrade on Xbox, I still ended up buying the PS5 Pro out of frustration, but it didn’t meet my expectations
Re: Tested: PS5 Pro's Upgraded PSSR Put Through Its Paces On Four Top-Tier Games
@SonOfFaith I’m not as optimistic as you about the automatic version. And regarding its usefulness, I feel like it’s just another standard developers have to deal with, when what they actually need is more uniformity instead of spreading themselves across each company’s proprietary tech. We already have DLSS and FSR, so this just feels redundant to me. Especially since DLSS and FSR run on far more machines (PCs and consoles) than the ones compatible with PSSR. Honestly, it feels like Sony is wasting developers’ time just for marketing purposes — that’s just my opinion.
Besides, Sony directly assists developers to integrate this kind of tech, which shows it’s not really something that happens naturally. And I wouldn’t be surprised if Sony is outright paying some studios to implement it. That’s why I think this is basically part of their marketing budget, just to highlight a proprietary technology available only on their console, even though the actual benefits are only noticeable in a handful of optimized games.
Re: Tested: PS5 Pro's Upgraded PSSR Put Through Its Paces On Four Top-Tier Games
It’s a shame that to get real results, developers need to implement it specifically, which means this feature will only be used by a handful of games. Don’t expect miracles from the automatic PSSR version, and in the end very few games will bother doing a proper upgrade — which makes sense given the small PS5 Pro install base.
It’s also unfortunate that we had to wait almost two years for a decent version of their AI upscaler. Since version 1 was often catastrophic or had no real effect, I remember that at launch I had to disable PSSR on some games because it caused so many bugs
In the end, I’m not convinced a proprietary AI upscaler is really worth it. It feels more like a marketing argument than a real benefit for players, considering how few games will truly take advantage of it
Re: In Theory: Could Sony's next-gen handheld run PS4, PS5 and even PS6 games?
In theory, yes, PlayStation could do it, but if it means losing money, they won’t. They were the first to charge for updates and to sell simple remakes at the price of a full original game. So based on that, don’t get your hopes up too much.
"Just recently, the firm revealed that it is by far the most popular Remote Play hardware used by PlayStation gamers.” Lol, well of course—it’s the only dedicated device that does remote play.... . This sentence makes no sense at all. A little critical thinking, please!
Re: Feature: Hands-On with Steam Machine: Valve's New PC/Console Hybrid
SteamOS faces more than just one challenge. Games with anti-cheat (call of duty, battlefield, fortnite). There are also many games with issues such as crashes, graphical bugs, and FPS drops, because DirectX calls are not properly translated. And I think this will only get worse over time, especially with the increasing use of specific technologies (ray tracing, DLSS, upcoming Auto SR, …). Studios develop natively for Windows, not for SteamOS, and that’s not going to change anytime soon, for a very simple reason: a PC is not just for gaming, and Linux will never be able to rival Windows in terms of versatility and software compatibility. This is both a strength for Windows and a challenge in terms of performance. So I don’t see the masses switching to Linux just for gaming.
And I’m not even talking about modding, which is very complicated on Linux, while many PC gamers are very attached to it. Or other gaming-related tools like Streamlabs, XSplit (no Linux equivalent), etc.
Many launchers don'y play well: epic, Xbox app, battle.net, EA app, ubsifit connect, rockstar games launcher, GOG, etc.... No native support for Game Pass.
Many recent DirectX 12 games run very poorly on SteamOS: The First Descendant, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (Epic version), Forspoken, Starfield, Elden Ring (especially at launch), Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Red Dead Redemption 2 (a game that often crashes on SteamOS), Cyberpunk 2077, etc.
I don’t even want to imagine GTA 6 when it comes out , it’s almost certain it will be nearly unplayable on SteamOS.
And I’m not even mentioning the weak power of the machine or their controller, which I really don’t like at all.
Re: Feature: PS5 Pro Year One: Was It Worth It?
The short answer is no, absolutely not — it’s clearly a dispensable purchase. I’d even say it’s probably one of PlayStation’s biggest scams, to put it bluntly. The price-to-value ratio is simply not worth it, despite the lies pushed with millions of dollars in marketing.
That said, for someone who didn’t already have a standard PS5 and managed to get it at a good price, then why not!
Re: Should DF introduce PC Linux Benchmarks?
In the same way that we need to take a critical look at Windows, we should do the same with Linux. I see fans who defend Linux at all costs, but we shouldn’t erase the negative points — because they do exist. Someone mentioned Linux Mint above, which tries to get closer to a Windows‑like experience, and that’s quite amusing when the same people criticize the Windows experience.
But that’s not really my point. The issues with software compatibility for games are real, and the problems with graphical bugs, crashes, and missing textures in supposedly compatible games are real too. Beyond outright incompatibility, there are also games that are technically compatible but run very poorly — nearly unplayable and significantly less performant than on a Windows‑based console. And yes, the reverse can happen too. I’m thinking of titles like Cyberpunk 2077, Red Dead Redemption 2, The Witcher 3, Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Cities: Skylines, Football Manager, ARK: Survival Evolved, Ready or Not, etc.
Let’s be honest: SteamOS, thanks to its lightweight nature, does manage to stay slightly ahead in performance in many cases, for now. But the opposite is also true. Proton remains a compatibility layer, and translating DirectX calls isn’t always smooth or bug‑free. This leads to issues in certain games: framerate drops, missing textures, crashes, loading problems, graphical glitches, etc. These are problems that rarely occur on a Windows console, since developers build natively for Windows, not for SteamOS, which merely translates DirectX requests. All recent games using DirectX 12, for example, run very poorly on SteamOS.
Re: Should DF introduce PC Linux Benchmarks?
I find the premise highly exaggerated. In reality, with Xbox Full Experience and the improvements made to the Xbox app, things are moving in the right direction—quite the opposite, in fact. In terms of performance and user experience, it’s much better than before, and the roadmap promises many more improvements.
The thing with SteamOS and Linux in general is that it remains a layer that translates Windows’ DirectX requests into Linux, bringing its share of bugs, instability, and incompatibility. That’s the reality, I own a Steam Deck and I can clearly see the limitations. Developers develop for Windows, not for Linux. What saves Linux is simply its slight niche appeal compared to big Windows. But at the same time, Linux doesn’t have the same versatility or even the same simplicity as Windows, to put things into perspective.
That said, yes, it would be a good idea to make comparisons, because in many cases we’d be surprised to see some games running better on Windows than on Linux—that’s also a reality. And it allows us to see the evolution of Windows in terms of gaming performance and the gap betwee the 2 OS.
The question is what exactly we’re comparing, because ‘Windows’ is broad. Are we comparing SteamOS versus Xbox Full Experience on Windows? That would make sense in the field of handheld consoles and not just there. As for comparing niche systems only used by tinkerers like Bazzite, I’m not sure of the interest for the general public—but hey, why not?