A few weeks ago, YouTuber Austin Evans released a video in which he took various measurements of the new PS5 and compared it to the original model. He found that the PS5 was generating more heat from the back, and upon disassembling it, he concluded that this was due to the heat sink not doing its job as efficiently as the original model due to its smaller size.

However, some, including my colleague Marshall Honorof, have pointed out that higher exhaust temperatures are not the same as components being hotter. It only proves that more heat is being removed from the casing, which may actually point to more efficient cooling.

Further testing is clearly needed, and initial results were much more positive for Sony.

First Hardware Busters published a video in which the team installed sensors on different parts of two different PlayStation 5 revisions. The results showed that while exhaust temperatures were indeed lower on the original hardware, CPU operating temperatures were 11°C lower on the newer model and VRM temperatures were 1.5°C higher. Memory ran at 7.5°C higher temperatures, but overall, the results cast doubt on the original concern of a cheaper build.

But to further convince people, Hardware Busters, in conjunction with Igor's Lab, released a second video in which they installed a large number of 12 sensors on the new PS5 and compared the temperatures to those measured on Gamers Nexus' previously released PS5.

Obviously, this is not an ideal comparison due to potential environmental differences (and the fact that the original analysis used fewer measurements), but it should give an equally general idea. Here are the results:

In general, despite the higher ambient temperatures in the lab, the temperatures are between 6 and 20 degrees cooler with the improved hardware, which seems to be a significant improvement overall. Tests also revealed similar power consumption at idle, albeit slightly increased in the new models.

Further testing will no doubt be conducted to remove any doubts and ensure identical conditions for the revisions, but even with the data we have, it is clear that anyone purchasing a new PS5 model should have little to worry about in terms of long-term reliability.

It appears that Sony was right to make the PS5 lighter and to take full advantage of the cost savings that come with lighter weight.