There are going to be a lot of cool upgrades coming with the PS4 4.50 Update whenever it launches, custom wall papers, external HDD support, an expanded Social Media system for PSN, but the most interesting out of this is the PS4 Pro’s Boost Mode, which is stating that it will give games which won’t have a Pro Update, a bit more power.
With the 4.50 update in beta, Digital Foundry decided to put this to a test and run Boost Mode on several high profile games such as Assassin’s Creed Unity, Batman Arkham Knight, Project Cars and more.
In some cases, Boost Mode did little to boost the frame rates. In titles like Bloodborne for example, it was found that the game pushed the 30 frames per second, however it did not dip into the mid-20’s as it normally did in certain areas in Yharnam. The same could also be said for the driving sections of Batman Arkham Knight, which was running a steady 30fps.
On the other end, Knack, Tomb Raider Definitive, and Killzone: Shadow Fall had all seen a 14% frame rate increase in demanding sections, while Assassin’s Creed Unity pushed an impressive 31% increase. More impressively, Project Cars saw a 35-38% increase allowing the game to hit the target 60fps more consistently.
While it seems like Boost Mode is doing good so far, it has been advised that it does appear to be on a for game basis with Sony advising that the feature should be disabled if “you experience unexpected behavior during gameplay.”
At this time, Sony has not confirmed Boost mode to be included with the 4.50 patch as it is “still under consideration” according to Sony.