Test Conditions
The ambient temperature in the lab was kept at 25 degrees Celsius during testing, and we used two Picoscope TC-08 temperature loggers to monitor the temperatures in the following places:
- APU Low (on the PCB, backside of the APU)
- APU Mid (between the back APU bracket and the mainboard’s metallic plate)
- APU high (on top of the mainboard metallic plate)
- Three different RAM modules
- Two flash memory modules
- VRM FET
- VRM Choke
- Fan inlet
- PS5 exhaust
- CWT Power Adapter (in the middle, top side)
Test Results
The photos above show in detail the parts and the corresponding temperatures.
Here's the complete graph of all sensors during the one hour of gaming, with CWT's power adapter installed in the PS5.
The charts help you see, easier, the differences between the original PSU and the CWT power adapter. To our surprise, not only did the temperatures not drop, but they were notably higher, especially in the APU. One of the RAM modules was also hotter, and the same goes for both flash memory modules that we measured. Finally, the difference in the VRMs is slight, but still, the CWT power adapter scenario performs worse.
Does it worth it? To replace the PS5's PSU?
It is clear that by removing the PS5’s PSU, we altered the internal airflow. Hence the operating temperatures got worse. On the other hand, the CWT power adapter outputs a higher voltage level than the ADP-400DR (12.335V vs. 12.078V), which can play a huge role.
Unfortunately, we don’t have the option to adjust the adapter’s voltage and lower it. Finally, we cannot know if the new adapter affected the APU’s frequencies, offering better performance. There is no benchmark for the PS5 available, and this would help find any performance differences between the original PS5 PSU and the power adapter that we tried.
Even though the operating temperatures increased, this is not worrisome since the PS5’s fan is working at very low speeds. An external power adapter has many advantages. The most important is that you can easily replace it if it fails without breaking apart the system.
Moreover, currently, the PS5’s PSU is maxed out at 200-210W DC load. We cannot know if Sony will increase the APU's speeds with future firmware upgrades, affecting power consumption. The thermal load will be raised at higher loads so that the power adapter might have an advantage there. If and when this happens, we will be here to conduct the exact thermal measurements, again, to find out the winner. Till then, we hope to see this CWT power adapter in the market since it will provide an alternative option to users that have a failed PS5 PSU and are out of warranty.
