sony playstation 5 ps5 teardown

Image: YouTube/PlayStation

PS5 Teardown: This is what it looks like inside Sony’s next-gen console

Don’t try this at home, kids! No really, you’re going to struggle putting your very costly PS5 back together, not to mention the risk of electric shock.

sony playstation 5 ps5 teardown

Image: YouTube/PlayStation

PlayStation on Wednesday gave us an “up-close and personal look” at the PlayStation 5 (PS5) hardware. Don’t try this at home; other than the obvious health risks, it will also void your manufacturer’s guarantee.

The PS5 teardown was hosted by Yasuhiro Ootori, the Vice President of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Hardware Design Division. Let’s take a closer look, shall we?

PS5 Teardown: Here’s what we learned

Ootori starts by giving a quick look at the ports (the Hi-Speed 480Mbps USB Type-A port and the SuperSpeed USB 10Gpbs USB Type-C port) along with the dimensions (width of 104mm, 390mm height, and 260mm depth).

sony playstation 5 ps5 teardown
Image: YouTube/PlayStation

There are also two additional SuperSpeed 10Gbps USB-A ports on the back. It’s clear from the get-go that the PS5 is taller and wider than the PlayStation 4 (PS4). However, it will be significantly easier to mount the PS5 horizontally.

The PS5 also has a Gigabit Ethernet LAN port, as well as a single HDMI Out port to connect the console to your TV. Wireless connectivity includes Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1.

Next, we look at the air vents, and this is where the fun starts: Ootori starts to take the console apart.

Watch: PS5 teardown

Ports, panels and storage

There are two panels mounted on either side of the PS5, and these can be removed quite easily (however, we stress again: Don’t try this at home). Ootori also shows a dust catcher situated within the console.

I’m personally excited about the fact that you’d be able to upgrade the internal storage of the console by adding an NVMe SSD (that’s a Non-Volatile Memory Express Solid State Device).

Anyone who has ever had to delete their capture gallery before starting a new game will understand my pain. I play RPGs and I love photo mode. I always run out of space; it’s a constant fight in our household.

You’d be able to add any PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD to increase the storage. (This is a mouthful, but here goes: Peripheral Component Interconnect Express 4.0 Non-Volatile Memory Express Solid State Device. Ha!)

Ootori showed off two M.2 slots housed underneath the side panels. In the States, a 1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD costs approximately $200 (R3 300); it’s available from Amazon.

Base storage

The PS5 has 825GB SSD of base storage with a custom SSD controller to ensure maximum transfer rates. Goodbye slow loading screens, hello future.

Next, Ootori shows us why the PS5 is so much bigger than the PS4. And it’s because the PS5 houses a very efficient cooling system.

The PS5 is a beast of a machine, with the graphics card running at 10.3TFLOPs (teraflops), which makes it approximately five times more powerful than the measly PS4.

In addition, the PS5 is powered by an eight-core AMD Ryzen CPU clocked at 3.5 GHz, along with 16GNB of GDDR6 video memory (another mouthful: Graphics Double Data Rate 6 Synchronous Dynamic Random-Access Memory).

PS5 cooling system

Sony added air intakes and a large 120mm fan to cool the system, along with a massive heatsink that achieves similar performance to a vapour chamber and takes up almost half the PS5 retail space. The entire rear panel serves as the exhaust.

But if you think that’s impressive, wait until Ootori gets to the liquid metal TIM (thermal interface material). Due to the amount of the heat the PS5 generates, Sony had to come up with an innovative solution.

The heatsink on its own won’t optimally cool the console as contact with the chip will result in thermal resistance. Solution?

Use an interface material to conduct the heat. The TIM (thermal interface material) is more costly than normal thermal paste, but it has better conductivity.

And just like that, overheating isn’t an issue anymore. Are you excited yet?

Also read – How PS5’s SSD and audio technology will enhance the future of gaming