Monday, August 30th 2021
Sony Takes a Step Backwards with PlayStation 5, Cuts on Cooling Capacity in the new Revision
Sony's latest gaming console, PlayStation 5, has been selling at loss up until August 4th, when the company announced that the new console is now profitable. However, it seems like Sony is trying to extend those profits even further with the latest revision of PlayStation 5 that is seemingly taking a step backward. According to the latest report, Sony has updated its PlayStation 5 internal design and the console is now featuring a smaller heatsink, which you can see below. The new revision is featuring a significantly smaller heatsink and an absence of the large copper cold plate. The fan that cools the heatsink is also reduced, resulting in a complete thermal downgrade.
While there was no in-depth testing of the cooling performance, the exhaust system of the new PS5 revision is spitting out 3-5 degrees Celsius higher temperatures. That is just measuring the air coming out, where the actual SoC could run hotter by an even larger margin. As we wait for more testing of the new PS5 revisions, we have to wonder why Sony opted to cut corners on such an important piece, that ultimately provides the console with longevity, due to cooler silicon.
Sources:
Austin Evans, via TechSpot
While there was no in-depth testing of the cooling performance, the exhaust system of the new PS5 revision is spitting out 3-5 degrees Celsius higher temperatures. That is just measuring the air coming out, where the actual SoC could run hotter by an even larger margin. As we wait for more testing of the new PS5 revisions, we have to wonder why Sony opted to cut corners on such an important piece, that ultimately provides the console with longevity, due to cooler silicon.
151 Comments on Sony Takes a Step Backwards with PlayStation 5, Cuts on Cooling Capacity in the new Revision
The weight reduction is 300g, so if we assume that's split 50/50 between copper and aluminium (and assuming the copper prices are pr Kg and aluminium prices are per metric ton), that's a $1 savings per console - not much on the overall BOM cost, but make a million consoles and that's a million dollars. Assuming production costs also sink due to the smaller heatsinks, and you're probably looking at multiplying that BOM savings by anything from 2x-10x. This is how mass production ekes out profits, by taking something that works and cutting it down until it barely keeps working. This is probably relatively minor overall, and I bet we'll see more in the future.
Here, they make the console less quality in order to save a penny or two from the BoM.
But of course, that will result in fewer and fewer sales.
Their religion is - the greed will save us all :D
Actually lower cooling capacity means that the chip will boost much worse, so the overall performance will be worse, too.
"But that's not the most surprising feature of the PlayStation 5 hardware. When the full specifications of the gaming system were revealed, we learned that the CPU and GPU both featured a 'boost clock' design based on AMD's SmartShift technology. That means the frequencies are variable, though they are capped at 3.5 GHz for the CPU and 2.23 GHz for the GPU."
PlayStation 5's Boost Clock Design Opens Up a Lot of Opportunities, Says Developer (wccftech.com)
Yes, they removed the copper based plate the cooler was sitting one, but they also implemented much longer heatpipes than in the old design, although it also looks like they got rid of a couple of of shorter heatpipes at the same time. It's hard to judge a cooling solution based on looks alone.
I very much doubt Sony would risk getting a bunch of RMA's just to save a buck or two per console, as that would be a lot more costly to the company.
Instead of drawing hastily conclusions, it might be better to wait for someone to test them side by side and compare internal temperatures.
It might be worth noting that Sony has three different fan suppliers for the PS5 as well, so that might make a difference, since the two consoles clearly have different fans.
The point about the fans was that different fans might result in different exhaust temperatures. As such, it's a poor means of comparing temperature.