PS5 Teardown Provides A Look Inside the New Console

This morning, Sony released a video that gives us our first look inside the next generation gaming console. While the company is still not fully detailing the software yet, we now know what the inside of the console contains and how the built-in stand functions.

If you are a fan of consoles, or gaming in general, the video posted above is worth a watch as it shows you the challenges of building a high-end next-generation console. Namely, pay close attention to the massive heat-sink that Sony is using to keep the insides of the console cool.

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There are a few notable items including how easy it is to take off the sides of the console. Based on the fact that they appear to slide/snap into place, I would expect that we see customized shells being offered at some point during the console’s lifecycle.

The other interesting tidbit is the stand that is included with the console requires you to unscrew and move it to transition from horizontal to vertical orientations. While not that big of a deal, as most users will likely set the console up once, for those that plan on changing its orientation frequently, this could be a challenge.

Overall, the PlayStation 5 should sell well this generation as Sony has long-understood the wants and needs of its gaming fans but that doesn’t mean that Xbox won’t put up a bigger fight this generaiton.

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Conversation 23 comments

  • Travis

    07 October, 2020 - 10:17 am

    <p>It's yuge. </p>

    • kd5hiy

      07 October, 2020 - 12:07 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#584570">In reply to Travis:</a></em></blockquote><p>I was gonna say either that is a little feller or monster of a machine.</p>

  • remc86007

    07 October, 2020 - 10:38 am

    <p>It's a beautiful design, but not something I want in my entertainment center. If they release a black version I'd consider it; but I really like my boring black symmetrical boxes.</p><p><br></p><p>Also, that thing looks a lot more expensive for Sony to manufacture than the XBSX.</p>

  • ghostrider

    07 October, 2020 - 10:51 am

    <p>Gotta say, against the dull and plain cubes of the new Xbox's, this design looks positively futuristic. Not saying it will be the easiest to accomodate, but it actually looks like Sony put some thought into it, while Microsoft probably had one 10 minute meeting by the coffee machine to decide on their design.</p>

    • darkgrayknight

      Premium Member
      07 October, 2020 - 11:17 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#584587">In reply to ghostrider:</a></em></blockquote><p>Looks more like two very different design ideas to handle heat and airflow. The Xbox design is make it small and split the board to cool it through the center. The PS5 design is make it tall so it will cool with more surface area spread out.</p>

    • rkpatrick

      07 October, 2020 - 12:28 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#584587">In reply to ghostrider:</a></em></blockquote><p>It looks kinda retro to me, in that it looks like more of what I expected Xbox One to look like, like the exhaling 360 split open.</p>

    • thretosix

      07 October, 2020 - 1:12 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#584587">In reply to ghostrider:</a></em></blockquote><p>I've gone through this with PC builds and have come to the realization how flashy it looks means absolutely nothing. It's about how it performs. That plain cube design of the Series X is amazing how they've fit everything in that cube that looks small next to the PS5. It's not just how tall the PS5 is it's the depth of it as well. Personally it's almost like they made it white to make you want to change the case. At least it will be easy enough to paint over. It does look futuristic, I don't think it looks bad, it sure does stick out.</p>

  • StevenLayton

    07 October, 2020 - 10:54 am

    <p>Everyone is going to have a different view and aesthetic preference, but I don't really like the look or style of the PS5, and yeah, its massive!</p>

  • ben55124

    Premium Member
    07 October, 2020 - 11:58 am

    <p>Shaq would have been a better fit for the console technician.</p>

  • waethorn

    07 October, 2020 - 12:34 pm

    <p>I don't like that the bundled SSD is soldered chips. This is, however, the world we live in now, where modularity of electronics is dead.</p>

  • Patrick3D

    07 October, 2020 - 12:44 pm

    <p>That looks absolutely massive next to him.</p>

  • sykeward

    07 October, 2020 - 1:02 pm

    <p>That thing sure has, uh, presence. It really does seem pretty thoughtfully designed, and I like that they paid attention to things like the quietness of the drive and heat sink/fan performance – my PS4 sometimes sounds like a running hair dryer inside a trash can.</p><p><br></p><p>Sony itself has said that the console "will be customizable in ways previous generations weren't" so I think replacement shells are a near-certainty. It'll be interesting if they are more popular than the X365's faceplates were.</p>

  • scotttech1

    07 October, 2020 - 3:15 pm

    <p>You'd think Sony could afford a decent mic for their video recording…</p><p><br></p><p>also I think its funny the PS5 has an X inside under the CPU https://youtu.be/CaAY-jAjm0w?t=282</p&gt;

  • dfeifer

    Premium Member
    07 October, 2020 - 3:25 pm

    <p>looking at the size of the fan and heat sink in the ps5 i have to wonder how much heat the system is generating.</p>

    • Usman

      Premium Member
      08 October, 2020 - 4:06 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#584755">In reply to dfeifer:</a></em></blockquote><p>The surprising thing is liquid metal. There's possibly two reasons for this</p><p><br></p><p>Thermal compound as used in PS4 and Xbox One consoles dries up very quickly and it's thermal conductivity performance isn't that great as when it was first applied. Liquid metal can ensure the product stays on shelves and warehouses for a while and the thermal material not to dry up.</p><p><br></p><p>The second reasoning could be that the chip gets pretty hot, and in order to inch out as much performance from boost clocks, they needed every advantage they can get. The massive heatsink is also a sign that this thing will get hot like a PC CPU/GPU would, that's expected from both these consoles.</p><p><br></p><p>There is another third option, and that is to maintain as much heat dissipation with a lower slow fan speed. Using a large surface area heatsink with heat pipes helps distribute that heat over a larger surface area. It could just mean that they want the console to be as quiet as they can get it.</p><p><br></p><p>Difficult to tell until it's properly tested.</p><p><br></p>

  • cfxram

    07 October, 2020 - 4:02 pm

    <p>I like that Sony did the teardown itself. It's refreshing for the original manufacturer to do their own teardown as a way to show off their engineering prowess. I hope more companies would do this. Come on Phil Spencer, let's see a Microsoft teardown of the Xbox Series S/X! </p>

    • SWCetacean

      Premium Member
      07 October, 2020 - 5:28 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#584778">In reply to cfxram:</a></em></blockquote><p>It's already been done by a third-party. Digital Foundry did a teardown of the Series X months ago during a visit to Microsoft offices.</p>

  • brettscoast

    Premium Member
    07 October, 2020 - 8:39 pm

    <p>Thanks for posting this Brad it was indeed well worth a look, fascinating tear down there.</p>

  • saint4eva

    08 October, 2020 - 4:50 am

    <p>What a disappointment from Sony.</p>

  • malcolmh

    08 October, 2020 - 5:03 am

    <p>I do prefer the X-Box's way to add a second SSD, just slot in and no screw driver required. So i would think that the PS5's SSD is not hot swappable.</p>

  • whistlerpro

    08 October, 2020 - 9:01 am

    <p>At least you can move the stand. My understanding of the series X is that the stand has a fixed position, whether you want it sat vertical or not.</p>

  • codymesh

    08 October, 2020 - 11:11 am

    <p>very surprised at the use of liquid metal for the TIM. I think this is unprecedented? No other consumer product before this has used liquid metal in such a broadly distributed device.</p>

  • Greg Green

    09 October, 2020 - 10:20 am

    <p>Funny when it’s in the vertical mode. They tried to give it such a small footprint that they have to balance it with a stand, giving it a much large footprint and undoing the original small footprint. Why not just make it stable in the first place? It’s apple’s desktop unfriendliness without apple’s style.</p>

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