PlayStation 5 Professional console — probably the most modern PlayStation console up to now — elevates gaming experiences to the following degree with options like upgraded GPU, superior ray tracing, and PlayStation Spectral Tremendous Decision (PSSR) – an AI-driven upscaling that delivers tremendous sharp picture readability with excessive framerate gameplay. At this time we’re offering a better have a look at the console’s inside structure, as Sony Interactive Leisure engineers Shinya Tsuchida, PS5 Professional Mechanical Design Lead and Shinya Hiromitsu, PS5 Professional Electrical Design Lead, present a deep-dive into the console’s modern know-how and design philosophy.
*On this article, we confer with the PlayStation 5 mannequin launched in 2020 because the “authentic PS5,” the PS5 launched in 2023 because the “present PS5,” and the PS5 Professional launched in 2024 because the “PS5 Professional.”
*Don’t do that at house. Threat of fires, and publicity to electrical shock or different accidents. Disassembling your console will invalidate your producer’s assure.
Title: Shinya Tsuchida (PS5 Professional Mechanical Design Lead) (Proper of picture)
Title: Shinya Hiromitsu (PS5 Professional Electrical Design Lead) (Left of picture)
An exterior design that includes three distinct horizontal strains
Tsuchida: Earlier than we start the teardown, I’ll begin by going over the PS5 Professional’s exterior design. PS5 Professional is a excessive performing console, so it requires extra air to chill it down. The distinctive three slits are new airflow paths that weren’t current within the authentic PS5, or the present PS5. This design was conceived by way of in depth discussions between the engineers and designers, and we confer with them as ‘blades’ inside the engineering workforce. The slits improve airflow whereas additionally performing as a design component.
Exterior design comparability between the unique PS5 (left), the present PS5 (heart) and PS5 Professional (proper). PS5 Professional is barely smaller in measurement in comparison with the unique PS5.
Whereas the look of the PS5 Professional is in step with the remainder of the PS5 household of merchandise, it options three distinct blades that contribute to improved air flow.
‘Louvers’ between the primary unit and canopy assist to make the console quieter
Tsuchida: Contained in the PS5 Professional, there’s a construction referred to as a “louver” that sits between the primary unit and canopy, which appears to be like like a sequence of slats or fins. Whereas it’s a part of the design, it additionally prevents among the fan noise from escaping the console in the direction of the entrance route. Since most customers will play video games whereas going through the entrance of the console, we deliberately designed the system to make it more durable for gamers to listen to the fan.
Rear adjustments for extra environment friendly airflow
Tsuchida: Subsequent, let’s check out the again of the console. We place significance on the categories and association of the enter/output ports. Because the energy button is one thing everybody makes use of, there’s been a shared understanding amongst our successive design groups that it’s higher to have it positioned on the backside quite than the highest when the console is positioned vertically. Alternatively, the positions of the HDMI, LAN, and USB ports are positioned barely larger in comparison with the present PS5. It is because the PS5 Professional’s mainboard encompasses a high-density circuit design, and the port placement has been adjusted to accommodate the change.
The vent (exhaust vent) floor can be bigger in comparison with different PS5 fashions, and air is taken in and exhausted from the rear and backside surfaces. The dimensions of the consumption and exhaust vents is vital for higher air flow, and we knew from preliminary analysis that they wanted to be bigger than the present PS5, so we selected the dimensions after discussing with the design workforce.
The teardown begins
Tsuchida: Let’s begin the teardown. On the highest aspect, similar to in earlier PS5 fashions, a mud catcher is offered for cleansing functions. On the underside aspect, there’s an M.2 SSD slot, a disc drive connector, and a hatch for inserting a coin cell battery.
Tsuchida:The screw holding the battery is deliberately designed to remain hooked up to the battery cowl, stopping it from being misplaced or by accident swallowed—a considerate security function.
A brand new fan that quietly will increase air circulate
Tsuchida: After disconnecting the fan cables, we will now take away the blades and internal shell. I’m additionally eradicating the fan itself. Like I discussed earlier, the PS5 Professional requires extra air for cooling, and the fan is designed to generate airflow extra effectively. The general measurement of the fan is bigger than the present PS5 mannequin’s as effectively.
Comparability of the PS5 Professional’s fan (left) and the present PS5 mannequin’s fan (proper)
Tsuchida: The 2 followers have the identical variety of blades, however our groups re-designed the blade form for additional optimization. If you happen to look carefully, you possibly can see that there are even smaller blades in between every blade. Typically talking, if a fan has good airflow effectivity, it’s thought-about higher and better performing. Nonetheless, we designed our followers to be greater than that — we needed our followers to supply extra air “quietly.” It might be typically acceptable for followers to be louder so long as it’s creating extra airflow, however this isn’t the case for recreation consoles as it will possibly disrupt the gameplay expertise. I feel this particular design philosophy is exclusive to PlayStation consoles.
Screws to suppress electromagnetic noise
Tsuchida: Now let’s take away the metallic protect positioned additional inside the cupboard. The protect is secured to the mainboard with numerous screws—and there’s a cause for that. Most elements on the mainboard generate electromagnetic noise. Since this noise can intervene with close by digital units, comparable to smartphones, and probably disrupt their operation, we should suppress the quantity of electromagnetic emissions to be saved under a sure threshold. The screws securing the protect are strategically positioned to cut back electromagnetic interference.
An developed motherboard that achieves heightened gameplay
Tsuchida: As soon as we take away the highest and backside shields, you’ll attain the PS5 Professional’s motherboard. One attribute of PS5 consoles is that they leverage liquid metallic with glorious thermal conductivity for the TIM (Thermal Interface Materials) of its predominant processor. Earlier than we get into particulars, I’ll present some clarification utilizing a board earlier than the liquid metallic is utilized.
PS5 Professional’s motherboard is bigger than that of the present PS5. The present PS5 mannequin’s board is curved the place the fan sits, however the PS5 Professional has a bigger board as a result of elevated variety of circuits required to realize PS5 Professional’s enhanced efficiency, which modified the place of the fan. As I discussed earlier, you’ll discover the placement of the enter and output ports on the again of the unit is totally different as effectively.
The highest aspect of PS5 Professional’s motherboard.
The highest aspect of present PS5 mannequin’s motherboard.
Hiromitsu: The SoC (System-on-a-Chip) is the massive chip you see on the middle of the board. This chip handles the rendering of high-resolution, high-frame-rate graphics, together with the PlayStation Spectral Tremendous Decision (PSSR), which makes use of AI-enhanced decision for ultra-high-definition gameplay. To maximise the efficiency of the SoC, the facility supply strains have additionally been enhanced in comparison with the present PS5.
As well as, PS5 Professional’s board has extra layers in comparison with the present PS5. If you happen to look carefully on the floor of the present PS5 mannequin’s motherboard, you possibly can see the traces that join the SoC and RAM. Nonetheless, on the PS5 Professional’s board, the traces are barely seen on the floor. It is because the PS5 Professional’s motherboard was designed with further inside layers, which permits sign traces to be routed extra effectively by way of the internal layers reaching even sooner reminiscence efficiency.
Now let’s examine the again aspect of the motherboards. The principle seen distinction is that the variety of RAMs positioned across the SoC has elevated from eight to 9. All PS5 consoles as much as the present PS5 had been outfitted with eight chips of high-speed GDDR6 reminiscence, which dealt with high-speed rendering for video games in addition to low-speed processing for the remainder of the OS. Within the PS5 Professional, we added a ninth DDR5 reminiscence which is devoted to the slower processing, whereas the remaining eight GDDR6 reminiscences deal with all of the high-speed rendering required for gameplay. The GDDR6 RAMs themselves have additionally been improved and are sooner than these outfitted on the earlier PS5 fashions as effectively.
The again aspect of PS5 Professional’s motherboard. A ninth DDR5 reminiscence chip was added to the higher proper nook (circled in purple within the picture), along with the eight GDDR6 specified by a circle.
The again aspect of the present PS5 mannequin’s motherboard.
The modern use of liquid metallic grew to become an integral piece of know-how that has been carried over to successive PS5 fashions.
Tsuchida: Utilizing liquid metallic because the TIM within the authentic PS5 was fairly difficult on the time. Since liquid metallic has far superior cooling capabilities in comparison with typical TIMs, we adopted it after conducting varied checks to make sure its security.
We spent fairly a while conducting analysis on insulation once we had been designing the unique PS5. The fundamental construction stays the identical within the PS5 Professional, however we made some enhancements by including advantageous grooves the place the liquid metallic is utilized, in order that the cooling impact is extra steady. After we had been doing analysis for the unique PS5, we anticipated that semiconductors would proceed to advance and turn into a lot denser, so we believed liquid metallic know-how would turn into essential. It seems we had been proper, and it was integral when designing the PS5 Professional.
For extra steady cooling, grooves have been added the place the liquid metallic is utilized.
Creating a bigger energy provide unit with larger output
Hiromitsu: That is the facility provide unit. The PS5 Professional outputs about 48W extra in comparison with the present PS5 and can be bigger in measurement. The curved energy provide models are meticulously designed for every PS5 iteration, in order that it matches completely into the chassis. Enjoyable truth, the unit has “Sony Interactive Leisure” engraved close to the underside, so it’s simple to inform which aspect is the highest or backside. This clearly isn’t instantly seen to the patron, however it’s a small element that signifies the right orientation when the console is positioned vertically.
A superbly positioned warmth sink
Tsuchida:The warmth pipes are fabricated from copper. The silver elements of the warmth sink are fabricated from aluminum to dissipate warmth, and the remainder of the grey elements are fabricated from metal.
PS5 Professional’s warmth sink has extra warmth pipes, because the console requires a extra highly effective warmth sink to help its excessive efficiency. The warmth pipes are positioned subsequent to the SoC, and the fins that switch warmth from the warmth pipes are divided into two sections. A warmth sink’s cooling capabilities range tremendously relying on its placement, so we put loads of effort into discovering the right format.
Adopting Wi-Fi 7 for even sooner connectivity
Hiromitsu: On the highest aspect of the mainboard, you’ll discover the Wi-Fi 7 module. Wi-Fi 7 is a brand new normal launched in 2024, and we selected to undertake it for the PS5 Professional based mostly on its excessive efficiency and future potential.
Through the growth of the PS5 Professional, Wi-Fi 7 had not but been formally launched, which made the validation course of fairly difficult. However we had been glad we had been in a position to turn into early adopters for a gaming console once we acquired it licensed in time for launch in areas that supported Wi-Fi 7.
The white part seen on the backside proper of the highest aspect of the board is the Wi-Fi 7 module. An antenna can be positioned simply beneath it.
And that’s a wrap! We hope you loved getting an inside have a look at the interior structure of the PS5 Professional. Every element works collectively in concord to understand the console’s modern options, like beautiful graphics and easy gameplay.
