Sony has released a new beta update for the PS5 that finally brings variable refresh rate up to 1440p resolution to the console. And you can even apply it to “unsupported games”.
Although some of the PS5’s best games can hit 120 fps at 4K resolutions, they’re in the minority. After this update, many other titles will be able to achieve this framerate while playing at 1440p. VRR, which dynamically scales render resolution to prioritize framerate in target resolution, was previously only available in 4K on console.
The official PlayStation Blog post (opens in a new tab) details what the new PS5 beta firmware is capable of.
In addition to bringing VRR to 1440p displays, the beta enables Auto Low Latency mode, which was previously only available in 4K. Modern displays often have built-in image processing capabilities that allow movies and TV shows to look as good as possible. However, these processes can add lag to your screen, which is not what you want when gaming. Auto Low Latency Mode disables this image processing when gaming. Now, 1440p displays, too, will keep gameplay as fast and smooth as possible with minimal sacrifice in image quality.
This is great news, especially for those who own one of the best monitors for PS5 instead of one of the best gaming TVs. Indeed, high refresh rate 1440p displays are considerably cheaper than high prices associated with 4K 120Hz panels. This firmware update means more people will have the ability to see their games run much faster, so competitive games like Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2 might become much more enjoyable to play.
We first saw 1440p coming to the PS5 in September 2022, albeit with the noticeable absence of VRR and ALLM. By comparison, the Xbox Series X launched with 1440p support out of the box, at higher framerates. So it’s good to see that Sony has now caught up by offering more choice for its platform. Time will tell how many PS5 games will benefit from this new update. Hopefully this will open the doors to more dedicated 1440p performance modes.
Some recently released games, such as the remake de Dead Space, switch from 4K to 1440p when Performance mode is activated. Checking this box disables ray tracing and more advanced visual effects while maintaining 60 fps. Now, this update might mean higher frame rates for those with monitors capable of exceeding the previous cap. Time will tell how developers will get the most out of this technology coming to the platform.
