I’ve never been a specs person, so when someone shows me the insides of a next-generation console like the PlayStation 5, I’m more concerned about the practical uses of all of it than someone spouting numbers and letters jumbled together at me. So when Sony decided today to tear down the entirety of the PlayStation 5 to show how it’s constructed, I was looking out for explanations about how it would help me beyond making Spider-Man: Miles Morales or Demon’s Souls look pretty when I pick mine up on November 12.
The roughly seven-minute-long video takes apart an entire PlayStation 5 system down to its base parts. By the time it’s done, you can’t even tell what’s in front of you is the console it began with, but as it goes through the process of breaking the thing down part by part, it explains how each piece helps make the whole better…and also larger. That thing is extremely big. But Sony says that this is not only so it can put all the more powerful innards in one place, but it will also make the PlayStation 5 demonstrably quieter than the PS4. Which I’m sure will thrill folks who have been dealing with a system that’s getting progressively louder as years have gone by. Games like Marvel’s Avengers and The Last of Us Part II made my launch PlayStation 4 sound like it could take off any minute, so hopefully that won’t be the case for the PlayStation 5 by 2027.
Along with all the ports and inputs you’d expect (as well as new USB-C, which wasn’t included in the PlayStation 4), the exterior of the PlayStation 5 is covered in air vents, especially the back side which is entirely made up as an exhaust port.
As was demonstrated in several pre-release images, the PS5’s stand will be removable and adjustable to put the system on its side or standing straight up to best accommodate whatever your setup looks like. However, that might not be the only thing you’ll be able to customize on the system, as the box’s white plates seem fairly easy to remove. It wouldn’t be surprising if Sony decided to start releasing custom plates similar to the early Xbox 360 era. Removing them reveals the system’s cooling fans, as well as new dust catchers, which will make the PS5 much easier to clean. This means I might actually go out of my way to do that this generation as I’m not confident there isn’t a rat living in my PlayStation 4 because I have not once ventured into the depths of the system to get rid of seven years worth of dust.
In other news:
- Ghost of Tsushima’s Multiplayer and New Game+ Updates Are Coming Next Week
- If You or a Loved One Has Been Affected by Joy-Con Drift, Lawyers Want Video Testimony
- Warner Bros. Addresses Rowling’s Garbage Opinions By Saying Nothing At All
Here in the video is when the PlayStation 5 starts to become unrecognizable as Sony’s new system, as the presenter starts taking out the hard drive, the disc drive, the wi-fi and bluetooth antenna, the CPU and system memory, and the SSD. It was also confirmed the PS5 will be using liquid metal cooling to keep things from overheating.
While much of the “what” of the makeup of the PlayStation 5 isn’t a surprise at this point, as Sony announced the specs for the system months ago, the “why” is always interesting to hear for people who need more clarity as to what any of these things do to understand why they matter. Like me. I am that person. PlayStation 5 is just over a month away, so Sony will likely be showing off more about the system’s new features in the coming weeks.
