Sony has the habit of releasing a slim version of its PlayStation consoles a couple of years after their initial releases. The PlayStation 5, released in 2020, is now a couple of years old, so it might soon get its makeover too. However, it appears a YouTuber has beaten Sony to the punch by creating his own DIY PlayStation 5 ‘Slim’. He has downsized the console to a thickness of just 1.9cm. In comparison, the original PS5 has a thickness of 10.4cm. Of course, there are caveats — the biggest of which have to do with cost and power.
YouTuber Mattew Perks from the channel DIY Perks has been successful in his attempt to build the “world’s first PlayStation 5 Slim.” Measuring 39×26×10.4cm in dimensions, the PS5 is the largest gaming console by Sony to date. So, Perks’ first task was to tear down this console and get rid of any components that could be replaced with something slimmer. Unsurprisingly, he had to remove the bulk of its steel shrouding and CPU heatsink. He then installed a custom water-channelling cooling system, made from copper sheeting, with the sheet supposedly costing $240 (roughly Rs. 19,000). The PS5 costs $499 / Rs. 49,990.
Perks’ next challenge was to remove the sizeable internal power supply to trim the PS5’s thickness. He then replaced it with an external power brick — an elegant solution, to say the least. The PS4 Slim, the one made by Sony, has an internal power supply. That said, in my opinion, it greatly improves the aesthetic appeal of the new PS5 ‘Slim’ console. Finally, all the remaining essential parts were squeezed into a 1.9cm thin copper box.
Perks’ first attempt to run the PS5 ‘Slim’ resulted in the console overheating. After some amends when the PS5 ‘Slim’ eventually ran, it supposedly provided better thermal performance than the original PS5 console. According to the temperature measurements taken by Perks while running Horizon Forbidden West, his PS5 ‘Slim’ reached a processor temperature of about 65 degrees Celsius, RAM temperature of 52 degrees Celsius, and VRM temperature of 44 degrees Celsius. In comparison, the original PS5 allegedly reaches processor, RAM, and VRM temperatures of 75, 94, and 71 degrees Celsius, respectively.
The original PS5 can be purchased from popular online and retail stores during monthly restocks. In fact, one of them happened Tuesday itself. There is no word from Sony about an official PS5 Slim. Yet.