DIY Perks’ Matt recently demolished the PS5, which is currently in short supply, and went about decreasing its size. The regular PS5 is 4.1 inches thick, but Matt wants it to be as thin as possible (0.79 inches, to be exact).
The cooling system must be completely overhauled, and the power supply must be relocated, in order to achieve this aim.
Heatsinks are responsible for most of the PS5’s bulk, since they protect the system’s different components from overheating. After removing them, you’ll see that the PS5’s motherboard is actually rather slim. Those components must, of course, be cooled, or they will go up in flames within seconds of turning on the system.
Matt resorted to water cooling as a solution. However, off-the-shelf components aren’t going to cut it here since they demand too much headroom for this application, so Matt had to make a bespoke three-layer copper water block to keep everything cool.
His process may appear rudimentary, and the finished result – even after a short polish – may not appear as clean as something you’d expect from a retail maker, but the cooling loop is air/water tight, and that’s all that matters.
On the cooling plate, spacers and thermal glue were used to assist remove heat from secondary chips that also get hot. The SoC was given a fresh coat of liquid metal, and the original bracket was utilized to secure the plate.
A few other chips had spacers to direct heat to a different lid. Matt modified the PS5’s original heatpipe to link it to a secondary liquid channel he constructed into the copper sandwich water block for beefier cooling of the VRMs.
To read our blog on “Sony reveals slimmer and lighter PlayStation VR2 and Scene controllers” click here.
