PlayStation 5 Slim Hardware Review
Hardware revisions are nothing new in the consumer electronics space, ever since the original 70s Atari VCS became the Vader 2600 in the 80s, through Sega, Microsoft, & Sony, we have seen an improved, refined, redesigned and above all cheaper update to existing models. Sony have repeated history again with their first proper redesign and now officially dubbed the Slim, launched earlier this week here in the UK and a few weeks earlier in the US. It is smaller, refined and redesigned but certainly not cheaper, well for the customer anyway, than the current models. So, what does it offer for the new PS5 player and current owners then?
Small & mighty
The most obvious change is the reduction in physical size and thus manufacture cost, the biggest reason these refreshes happen. It earns its slim moniker as it is slenderer than before, trimming almost 2cm of its collar size, 90mm versus 73mm now. Which was the most obvious design reduction from the images and the central blue plastic is now concave rather than the convex design of the launch mode. Front to back has seen a trim by 45mm down to 215mm now and the stilettos are off with a 32mm short shadow at 358mm against the taller 390mm of the base model.
This all adds up to a big volume reduction of 38.4% over the original model which is 62% larger than this updated machine, not bad and now is only slightly larger in volume than the Series S. This all comes down to reductions in everything from APU to cooling. Now built on a new 6nm node over the prior 7nm it means the machine will need less power and cooling for the same performance. This means PSU and cooling can be reduced and the design changes also leave a wider vent system and smaller fan and fin count. Less of the copper colling pipes, which is the single biggest weight reduction and likely a welcome cost cut also. As a result, the machine pushes out more heat than the launch mode at the rear and likely runs cooler across the die and all components including those same 16GB GDDR6 nodes and larger 1TB SSD. Which offer the 5.5GB/s read speeds via less lanes thanks to faster controllers now being available to handle this enabling a reduction in flash storage chips, that cost saving again.
The APU still sports identical Zen2 CPU and RDNA2 GPU clusters at the same 3.5Ghz and 2.23Ghz respectively, meaning we see the same theoretical compute performance of 10.3Tflops across a 256bit bus with 448GBps bandwidth. No increases are offered over any current model in the market, as is the norm for the majority of upgrades. The last generation Pro models spoiled us a little, however the circa 200GB storage increase does add up to handful more game installs before you need pick and choose your delete list.
Slipped a Disc
The most unique aspect of the new console is the removable and swappable BD drive. Another cost saving and logistic improvement for Sony. They can now manufacture a single SKU for physical and digital alike, the only difference being the bottom section cover. Digital players can upgrade to disc with the drive being sold as a standalone expansion. It uses a very simple Sata like connector that clicks in and out with no screw being touched. Thumbs up here on design and simplicity, significantly better than the weak ribbon cables of the PS3. Once popped in the sync of the drive to the console is a simple online registration, not linked to an account but the machine. If you reset the console, it does de-register the drive. Allowing the drive to be used across multiple PS5s and maybe a future Pro or PS6. As these can be swapped quickly between machines it opens up a Second hard market for them and makes Dead drives much simpler for customers to replace, which I am a huge advocate of.
The registration is not ideal, but the Digital rights law does force some restrictions on Sony and any company making and selling Blu Ray drives and the legal team would likely be ensuring this for lawsuit risks, something Sony know well. Once registered you can disconnect and play all your PS4 and PS5 discs offline and even without an account, keeping the physical dream alive that little bit longer. Both a clever logistical and user-friendly solution from Sony here, I hope the market makes good use of these, so the voice is heard, loudly. The shell now comes with a mixed gloss and Matt finish, not unlike the original PS4. With the bottom layer having the PlayStation icons double as a badge and a mini support. This works in conjunction with the cheap plastic feet to offer horizontal positioning, bringing memories of the phat PS3. No vertical stand is included but they are sold separately, however you can stand it up in this position without one, which I did for days with no issues. The front now has dual USB-C ports but only the bottom or right most port supports the required 10Gbps throughput the PSVR2 requires, either can be used for charging dual sense or such.
The rear sports similar figure 8 power, dual usb3 ports and a single RJ45 network socket, the HDMI2.1 socket is the same but has moved due to the motherboard redesign and shrink. Bluetooth and wifi6 are also within completing the I/o options of the console improving slightly over the base model. From an aesthetics perspective it looks better in some ways than the original, but the included feet are very cheap, and the split panels will not be to everyone tastes. It works but in reality it is not a huge difference in design with it looking closer to the split design of the dual sense and PS4 models and the glossy panels will likely scratch easier as does the deep blue glossy front which has on my launch model with the standard 3 attempts to insert the USB in the correct orientation, likely a reason we now see dual USB-C ports.
Power Usage
Testing power is quite simple, and my methodology is equally so, plugged into a power monitor these measures total system draw. So, all elements such as Network access, BD drive use, and of course CPU, GPU, SSD and RAM all play a part. I tested from off to full load in games and recorded the gameplay and power monitor for each. From this I reset the device to ensure Maximums and Lows per test were captured. Then this are reflected in my table graphs which show the maximum recorded load for each. Not 100% scientific but close enough for information and certainly delta analysis. This is where, compared to my Launch PS5 anyway, we should see the biggest gaps and we do see a reduction in like for like tests. With the delta ranging from 17% at best to identical or even 1%, so margin of error.
Performance
The incredible quality control of use experience continues. With so much of the base hardware change the management of each area to mimic and adhere to the current console spec is impressive. From a curated Suite of full PS5 titles that cover 4K 30, 60 and 120 along with Base PS4 BC. We see margin of error differences across all, with some being single digit Better or worse on the newer slim. Reinforcing that PlayStation’s aim was to match but not exceed the current 38 million + user base, a wise and successful choice.
Digging deeper into the tests we see the disc version of Robocop are practically identical, offering 2 to 3 % gains or losses dependent on the scene and even the extremes are only 1s and 2s higher. Alan Wake II is the same story with the average a meagre 2% to the Launch models favour, again well within margin of error territory. Arkham Knight was identical at a locked 30fps. And the only real delta was Rift Apart, where the averages where again within 2% of each other but the Frame time spike on the portal sequence had a big 133ms spike compared to the Slim 60ms, likely due to a fresh drive and much smaller install footprint. The summary is, if you are looking for any performance gains from this new console, you will be sorely disappointed as none were promised and none are given, but what about loading?
Loading
The final piece is the SSD testing, does the reduced NAND and faster controller give us any better or worse results. Well again with a selection of games tested from RoboCop, Hogwarts and Rift Apart we see nothing tangible, sometimes a few frames faster on the Original sometimes a few on the Slim. Even copying games from the internal SSD to external provides a similar maximum of 3.4GBs which is likely limited by the write speeds of the SSD. As I covered in my SSD upgrade video a few years ago, the internal write speeds are severely limited to prolong life and we see the same limit here.
But we have a gain and a real one, with installing games from Disc we see a circa 14% faster rate in favour of the Slim which installed it approx. 1.5 minutes faster. Which may be a result of a fresh SSD and slightly faster optics, so the only real win here and in reality, not one that anyone will notice or care. One nice feature if you are looking to swap from an older model is you can simply remove your SSD and drop into the new console and all your games will be ready to play, aside checking if you have them installed on 2 drives this is a simple process and really helped my testing. Not something most will notice or need but a welcome transparent transfer process non the less.
Summary
The lead up to the new Slim was the best time to be a PS5 buyer, you could pick one of the older models up for close to £350 sometimes better, across the US, Europe, and UK as I discussed a few months back. This clearing of Inventory was a boost for PlayStation market share and a great treat for customers, and IF you can find one of those earlier models for that price or a secondhand one then you would be crazy to not buy it. For less than the new Digital model you can have the full physical options. And the £480 or near $500 price the Disc version goes for is simply paying more for less than that model. A newer model rarely offers any real benefits over current and that is true here, aside minor SSD increase and slightly faster Disc speeds you get an identical and slightly more efficient console in a smaller package. The main reason for this is to benefit the production pipeline and reduce the BOM cost for Sony with no reduction on the user experience, and on that score, it is a success. The new modular drive is brilliant, and I hope means that Sony can continue to offer a cheap and efficient method for those that want to remain in the physical realm. We can only hope that the price reductions will resume on this model into next year when the Pro is released.