Sony Interactive Entertainment has reportedly pushed a new PlayStation 5 Digital Edition console model but which might run hotter than the original model.
According to a breakdown shared by YouTuber Austin Evans on the weekend, the new PS5 Digital Edition model CFI-1100B 01, which started shipping roughly a month back, features a smaller heatsink in comparison.
Sony decided to remove a “sizable amount” of the original heatsink to make the new PS5 Digital Edition model about 270g lighter. The new heatsink has fewer fins and smaller heat-pipes and as such might not do as good of a job when it comes to moving heat out of the console.
The smaller heatsink also leads to concerns of overheating and higher temperatures when playing games for long hours, which would in turn be problematic for the health of the console in the long term.
“Think about it as if it were a PC,” explained Evans. “If I remove a large CPU heatsink in favor of a smaller one the exhaust coming off my system would be hotter as the overall system temps are higher since the weaker cooler can’t cope. That’s exactly what’s going on here.”
Based on testing, if the original model hits around 51-52°C during gameplay, the new PS5 Digital Edition revamp hits around 55-56°C within the same testing parameters. 3-4°C may not be that big of a difference to cause alarms but hardware enthusiasts will probably not be happy regardless. The fact remains that Sony did reduce its heatsink in terms of efficiency and which will be brought up every time someone experiences overheating issues, particularly in the sweltering summers.
Despite supply shortages, PlayStation 5 was the best-selling console in the United States for the month of July 2021 in terms of revenue generated from sales, not in terms of units sold. It outsold Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S after being outsold itself a month prior.
