Latest PlayStation 5 Revision Uses 10% Less Power Than Predecessors

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Smaller motherboard, compact cooling while using 10% less power

Three PS5 revisions
(Image credit: Austin Evans on YouTube)

Prominent tech YouTuber Austin Evans pulled apart a revised Sony PlayStation 5 ‘1200’ model and discovered that the new model was “surprisingly different” under the hood. Highlights spotted included; a noticeably smaller motherboard, a smaller AMD processor cooling system, and an integrated SSD heatsink. He also noticed that, when gaming, the new PS5 used 10% less power.

This is the second hardware revision of the PS5, the first revisions in 2021 saw Sony do little more than reduce the size / weight of the heatsink assembly. That resulted in a weight reduction of 300g (both models). A few days ago, it was reported that a revised PlayStation 5 model, new for 2022, had surfaced in Australia. The only difference we knew about at the time, from the updated 2022 spec sheet, was a weight reduction of 300g (ODD model) or 200g (Digital model).

Evans got a brand new 2022 revision PS5 Digital flown to the US from Australia. Thus, in his video, he compared the 1000 model , and 1100 model (2021) to the headlining new 1200 model (2022). After a outer visual comparison and nothing of note to report, Evans ran all three consoles with the same scene in Astro’s Playroom the three consoles from old to new were pulling approximately 218W, 229W, and 201W respectively. However, the noise generated by the running consoles wasn’t noticeably different by ear or measurement.

Thermals, hotspot on 1000 model was about 53 degrees Celsius, this went up to about 63 degrees Celsius on the 1110 model, but the 1200 model was 53 degrees Celsius (but less or a hot spot and more of a large blob). So, it was time to tear down the trio of PS5s, for a side by side comparison, at last.

Immediately after taking off the white outer shell it was noticed that the newest device had less material in the black plastic shroud and it was visible that the SSD slot wasn’t backed by any section of the PCB. Though the fans look the same size, the new model 1200 fan has blades that aren’t attacked to the central spindle.

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Three PS5 revisions
The PS5 '1200' is in the middle(Image credit: Austin Evans on YouTube)

Last but definitely not least we got to see the three different motherboards and different heatsinks in all three models. They looked so different, Evans decided to weigh them and discovered that the 1000 model’s motherboard and heatsink assembly weighed 1.58Kg (3.5lbs), the 1100 model 1.36Kg (3lbs), and the new 1200 model 1.13Kg (2.5lbs). The approximately 225g cut for the 1200 model is more than the generational weight difference, so some other components have got heavier – probably the shielding and metal area behind the SSD. However, that makes the lower power, cooler running AMD custom chip all the more interesting.

Xbox Wants to Help You Reduce Your Electricity Bill

While Sony has optimized the PS5 in some way, to reduce power usage while gaming by about 10%, Xbox users might consider reducing console power consumption in standby by applying the Energy Saver mode. Since March this year this has been the default mode, but owners of earlier produced / sold Xboxes might have the Instant On mode active, consuming between 11 and 15W when in ‘standby’.

Apparently, according to The Verge, this household LED bulb type amount of power usage will cost UK dwellers nearly £5 ($6) per month with electricity costs as they are predicted to be from next month (52p / 60 cents per kWh). Energy Saver mode would cut this to usage / expenditure to approximately  £0.20 (0.23 cents) per month.

Mark Tyson
Mark Tyson
News Editor

Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

18 Comments Comment from the forums
  • gggplaya
    UK electric rates are 60 cents per kwh????? Holy smackers!!!!! I pay 14 cents per kwh, and I thought that was high. At 60 cents, I would put solar on every inch of my property.
    Reply
  • sizzling
    gggplaya said:
    UK electric rates are 60 cents per kwh????? Holy smackers!!!!! I pay 14 cents per kwh, and I thought that was high. At 60 cents, I would put solar on every inch of my property.
    The whole of the EU is screwed at the moment on energy prices, prices have roughly doubled since the start of the year and if it wasn’t for government intervention (subsiding) they would be doubling again in the next 4-6 month. As a kicker we also have limits on the maximum KWh of solar panels we are allowed to install on residential property.
    Reply
  • gggplaya
    sizzling said:
    As a kicker we also have limits on the maximum KWh of solar panels we are allowed to install on residential property.

    Is there a specific reason for that?? Producing too many kwh is a bad thing?? I can understand ground water permeability, but I feel like you should be able to install as much as you want on any non-permeable structure or paved land according to land codes. I can also understand not pumping too much back into the grid, but you should be allowed to store and use as much as you want internally to your property.
    Reply
  • sizzling
    gggplaya said:
    Is there a specific reason for that?? Producing too many kwh is a bad thing?? I can understand ground water permeability, but I feel like you should be able to install as much as you want on any non-permeable structure or paved land according to land codes. I can also understand not pumping too much back into the grid, but you should be allowed to store and use as much as you want internally to your property.
    I believe it was because solar installs were being partially subsidised and it was a way of limiting how much each household could take. My parents came up against this as they could easily install more than they were allowed too. Personally I think it shows just how much of a mockery these government backed green initiatives are, surely the best thing for the environment is get as many installed as possible but hey what’s logic got to do with anything :ROFLMAO:
    Reply
  • King_V
    gggplaya said:
    UK electric rates are 60 cents per kwh????? Holy smackers!!!!! I pay 14 cents per kwh, and I thought that was high. At 60 cents, I would put solar on every inch of my property.
    I'm in NJ, and, total, the power and the delivery charge, I think comes to about 21 cents per kwh here.

    Regardless of that (I'm not a console guy), I'm always glad to see hardware get more efficient. Whether more performance for the same power consumption, or the same performance for lesser power consumption . . or of course, the more performance for less power consumption holy grail . . I just love to see that kind of progress happen.

    A little bit here, a little bit there. It adds up.
    Reply
  • martinch
    gggplaya said:
    UK electric rates are 60 cents per kwh?????
    It's gone up massively since last autumn across Europe, largely due to the situation with Russia. As sizzling said, it would be increasing in January and then again in April (nearly doubling again), taking the average household gas & electric bill to £6,600 ($7,700) had the government not introduced a (subsidised) cap that would limit it to c.£2,500 (c.$2,900), based upon average use.
    Reply
  • The UK is in extreme terrible spot right now because they decided to go green. Which makes absolutely no sense. And now the prices are skyrocketing. SO STUPID.

    They better start building some new nuclear power plants quickly. Germany is screwed too and California is screwing them selves with the same stupid agenda

    Solar power is never going to cut it and water power isn’t going to cut it the only thing that can save people is the new types of nuclear reactors that are much safer than the old. There is no such thing as clean energy unless we had solar cells that were 100% efficient and way to store all the power which we don’t.

    And for anyone who thinks that oil is going to go away you are insane. There would be no way to make any kind of plastic. And plastic is critical to our economy in case you haven’t noticed it’s in everything so all the green weenies are stupid and their policies are absolutely ridiculous

    The same goes for all the morons running the United States right now in power. It’s time to take our country back

    There won’t be an electric economy without nuclear power.
    Reply
  • KyaraM
    gggplaya said:
    UK electric rates are 60 cents per kwh????? Holy smackers!!!!! I pay 14 cents per kwh, and I thought that was high. At 60 cents, I would put solar on every inch of my property.
    Not sure, but they might have taken the baseline you get eg when your provider went bancrupt or you couldn't find a good one before moving in. At least that's how it is in Germany. Contracts are usually better. For example, I pay 27.8ct/kWh here, though that is already a mad good contract since it ia running for a while now; new ones are extremely expensive, I admit that. Thankfully, thede will be subsidies and a cap to most likely 30ct/kWh soon, and pay out 300€ to everyone directly, which will hopefully help. I also started to lower my consumption as much as I can; basically switched everything I could to multi-sockets that you can turn off, which should help. They are all new and good quality, too, so it should be fine and nothing will draw any power when not in use. Also tinkered with power settings for my computer, too, which also saves a couple watts.

    But since I don't live in the UK, I cannot tell how bad it actually is there. I did hear from someone who lives there that they might consider planned blackouts in winter, though, so it is quite possible.

    Mandark said:
    The UK is in extreme terrible spot right now because they decided to go green. Which makes absolutely no sense. And now the prices are skyrocketing. SO STUPID.

    They better start building some new nuclear power plants quickly. Germany is screwed too and California is screwing them selves with the same stupid agenda

    Solar power is never going to cut it and water power isn’t going to cut it the only thing that can save people is the new types of nuclear reactors that are much safer than the old. There is no such thing as clean energy unless we had solar cells that were 100% efficient and way to store all the power which we don’t.

    And for anyone who thinks that oil is going to go away you are insane. There would be no way to make any kind of plastic. And plastic is critical to our economy in case you haven’t noticed it’s in everything so all the green weenies are stupid and their policies are absolutely ridiculous

    The same goes for all the morons running the United States right now in power. It’s time to take our country back

    There won’t be an electric economy without nuclear power.
    Just that Germany's issue comes from the gas crisis, since, well...

    German primary energy consumption amounted to 12,193 Petajoule, with more than 75% coming from fossil sources, 6.2% from nuclear energy and 16.1% from renewables.

    Not all that much emphasis on renewable energy which you blame. Btw, at the start of the year, over 14% of the energy produced here came from natural gas, now it's a bit more than 11% still. That's quite a lot and price increases and scarcity here have a big impact on pricing. So no, it's not because we are "going green", not even close. Btw. 1/3 of energy comes from coal. Very green indeed.
    Sources: Wikipedia and
    https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/commodities/europe-energy-crisis-germany-generates-third-electricity-coal-natural-gas-2022-9?op=1
    btw, we are actively reducing plastic year over year, and alternatives such as plastics made from starch are a thing. In any case, needing a lot of plastic is absolutely nothing to be proud of or which should be continued, seeing how devastating that trash is for the environment and subsequently us, too. We are most likely already ingesting it via our food, especially fish. We shouldn't make it worse.

    But since you are such an expert on nuclear energy, maybe you could answer some questions? For example, where to get all the material needed to keep the power plants running, and do you know how much energy transport, processing, and disposal costs? Talking about disposal, where is the best place to do so? I'm sure you know the answer to all those questions. Come to think of, acquisition is an issue for all fossil fuels. Where do you want to get it from? Do you know of any undiscovered deposits geologists didn't detect yet? What about the environmental issues coming from mining those?

    Last, if you want to die in a natural catastrophy caused by climate warming or from an accident on a nuclear power plant, be my guest. Please leave the rest of us out of that, though.

    Edited for typos.
    Reply
  • King_V
    Mandark said:
    They better start building some new nuclear power plants quickly.
    "New nuclear plants" and "quickly" don't go together.

    Mandark said:
    Solar power is never going to cut it and water power isn’t going to cut
    Combined with wind power, why not?

    Mandark said:
    it the only thing that can save people is the new types of nuclear reactors that are much safer than the old.
    Why do you think that's the only solution

    Mandark said:
    There is no such thing as clean energy unless we had solar cells that were 100% efficient and way to store all the power which we don’t.
    Yet. And, nothing is 100% efficient, so why do you think anything less isn't clean?

    Mandark said:
    And for anyone who thinks that oil is going to go away you are insane. There would be no way to make any kind of plastic. And plastic is critical to our economy in case you haven’t noticed it’s in everything so all the green weenies are stupid and their policies are absolutely ridiculous

    The same goes for all the morons running the United States right now in power. It’s time to take our country back

    Ok, now you're getting a bit too much into political ranting, and dangerously close to the kind of political misinformation that was exactly the wording used by people who literally were trying to commit sedition. As one who lives in the US, keep that right-wing authoritarian crap out of this.
    Reply
  • gggplaya
    For climate change, I think the best solution is SMR(Small Modular Reactor) Nuclear energy. Look it up, but here's a good video. Please watch. First one was fully approved last month and should come online in 2029.

    Also, it appears the UK is also investing in SMR nuclear as well. https://singularityhub.com/2022/08/05/the-first-small-modular-nuclear-reactor-design-was-just-approved-by-us-regulators/
    cbrT3m89Y3MView: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbrT3m89Y3M
    Reply