PS5 Pro gets sharper visuals as Sony makes Enhanced PSSR the default – Automated Home

The PS5 Pro has just made one of its most important graphics features easier to use. Sony’s latest system software update now enables Enhanced PSSR Image Quality automatically.

PS5 system software version 26.06-14.00.00 rolled out on September 16, 2026. Sony says the Enhanced PSSR setting turns on automatically after the update, although PS5 Pro owners can disable it through the console’s video settings.

For PS5 Pro owners, the difference is mainly about access. Games that support the previous version of PSSR can now use the enhanced reconstruction mode by default, removing the need to find and enable the system setting manually.

PSSR gives PS5 Pro extra detail

PSSR stands for PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution. It is Sony’s machine-learning image reconstruction technology for PS5 Pro, designed to build a sharper final image from a lower internal rendering resolution.

A compatible game can render below the final output resolution and use PSSR to reconstruct additional visual detail. Sony describes PSSR as an AI library that analyzes each frame pixel by pixel as it upscales game visuals.

The technology is intended to help developers improve image quality while balancing resolution, visual effects and frame rate on PS5 Pro.

Enhanced PSSR targets difficult visual problems

Sony’s upgraded PSSR focuses on fine-detail reconstruction, image stability during motion, reduced flickering and shimmering, and more consistent performance while preserving visual quality. Those improvements are especially useful in scenes packed with foliage, hair, particles, wires, and detailed textures.

The original PSSR could produce unstable vegetation, flickering geometry, and temporal artifacts in some games. Independent testing found that the upgraded version reduced several of those problems in demanding titles.

Digital Foundry tested Silent Hill f, Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard. In Silent Hill f, the newer version produced cleaner vegetation, steadier lighting, and improved detail.

Several games show meaningful improvements

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth already had a strong original PSSR implementation, yet the newer version improved edge clarity, foliage, motion aliasing, and temporal stability. Testing also found fewer noise patterns and more stable fine detail during movement.

Monster Hunter Wilds showed a less dramatic improvement, but upgraded PSSR still improved anti-aliasing, sub-pixel detail, specular highlights, and screen-space reflections. These changes were particularly visible in lower-resolution performance modes designed to target 60 frames per second.

Developer feedback points in the same direction. Remedy said upgraded PSSR improved stability and motion clarity in Control and Alan Wake 2, while Square Enix reported more natural hair detail and fewer flickering effects.

Little-known fact: Sony and AMD’s joint upscaling effort, Project Amethyst, was announced back in December 2024, over a year before Enhanced PSSR shipped.

Why making Enhanced PSSR automatic matters

Before the latest change, PS5 Pro owners could manually enable the enhanced image-quality setting through system menus. Sony’s March 2026 software update introduced broad support for upgraded PSSR while keeping the system-level enhancement optional because results could vary between games.

System software version 26.06-14.00.00 now turns Enhance PSSR Image Quality on automatically. That removes an extra setup step for PS5 Pro owners who may not have known the option existed.

The setting is best understood as an enhancement for existing PSSR-compatible games rather than a universal graphics upgrade. A game still needs PSSR support, while titles specifically updated for upgraded PSSR can receive developer-tested implementations designed around their own rendering pipelines.

Developer patches can still deliver more

The system-level Enhance PSSR setting can produce different results from one game to another. Sony says some compatible titles may show clearer, more stable visuals, while others can produce unexpected visual effects.

Players can turn the setting off if a particular game does not benefit from it. Developers can also integrate upgraded PSSR directly into their games and tune rendering settings around the newer technology.

That means the automatic system option does not replace title-specific optimization. Dedicated patches can still allow developers to refine how upgraded PSSR works within an individual game.

PS5 Pro hardware makes PSSR important

The software change matters because PS5 Pro was designed with substantially more graphics and machine-learning capability than the standard PS5. Sony says its GPU has 67% more compute units and its memory is 28% faster.

Sony says PS5 Pro can deliver up to 45% faster rendering, along with substantially faster ray tracing. Independent specifications also place its memory bandwidth at about 576 GB/s, compared with 448 GB/s on the standard PS5.

PSSR lets developers use that extra hardware efficiently by reconstructing a higher-quality image from a lower internal resolution, leaving more rendering capacity available for frame rate, lighting, ray tracing and other effects.

Little-known fact: PS5 Pro’s machine-learning hardware is rated at roughly 300 TOPS (Tera Operations Per Second), running alongside 16.7 teraflops of GPU compute.

PSSR follows the DLSS and FSR model

PSSR belongs to the same broad category as Nvidia DLSS and AMD FSR, although its deployment is narrower because Sony designed it for PS5 Pro hardware.

DLSS uses Nvidia’s machine-learning hardware and is widely deployed across compatible PC graphics cards. FSR supports broader hardware compatibility and appears across PCs and consoles, while PSSR remains Sony’s PlayStation-focused reconstruction solution.

Sony and AMD are also collaborating through Project Amethyst. Sony says the upgraded PSSR algorithm and neural network draw on that partnership, but Digital Foundry cautions against describing upgraded PSSR as simply a console version of AMD’s FSR 4.

More games are adopting upgraded PSSR

Sony’s March 2026 announcement introduced upgraded PSSR support across a growing group of games. The list included Silent Hill 2, Silent Hill f, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Control, Alan Wake 2 and Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II.

Other supported titles include Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Nioh 3, Rise of the Ronin, Monster Hunter Wilds, Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Crimson Desert. Assassin’s Creed Shadows received upgraded PSSR support on April 7, followed by a PS5 Pro update for Cyberpunk 2077 on April 8.

007 First Light launched May 27 with upgraded PSSR enabled by default on PS5 Pro. IO Interactive described it as a machine-learning upscaler, while identifying AMD FSR 3.1.5 as its upscaling choice on other platforms.

What PS5 Pro owners should expect

Making the setting automatic should make upgraded image reconstruction easier to access, especially in games where fine foliage, thin geometry and other small details previously showed visible instability.

Results still vary by game. Internal rendering resolution, graphics mode, engine design and the quality of each implementation can affect how much improvement players see. Sony also warns that some titles may show unexpected visual effects.

The practical benefit is convenience: compatible games can now use upgraded PSSR without players first enabling the system option manually.

Sony is making its Pro graphics easier

Enhanced PSSR is now enabled by default as a usability improvement, not a new graphics processor or universal graphics upgrade. Compatible games can gain sharper detail and improved image stability without requiring players to find and activate the system setting.

Dedicated game updates remain important because developers can adopt newer PSSR parameters and validate the technology specifically for their rendering pipelines. The system-level setting gives PS5 Pro owners an easier baseline while game-specific integrations can continue refining individual titles.

TL;DR

• Sony released PS5 system software version 26.06-14.00.00 on September 16, making Enhance PSSR Image Quality the default setting on PS5 Pro.
• Upgraded PSSR improves fine detail, motion stability, shimmering, and temporal artifacts while maintaining similar performance in tested scenes.
• Dedicated game updates remain useful because developers can tune and test upgraded PSSR specifically for their own rendering systems.
• PS5 Pro’s stronger GPU, memory bandwidth, and machine-learning capabilities give PSSR its hardware foundation for high-quality reconstruction.
• The default setting improves convenience, but unsupported games will not gain PSSR automatically, and results can vary between titles.

This article was made with AI assistance and human editing.

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