Current PlayStation 5 consoles have switched to using an improved 6nm chip • HWzone

Pro models, a price reduction or a complete solution to the availability problem of the systems is not yet visible on the horizon, but Sony continues to work to improve its consoles unofficially in the shadow of the development of chip manufacturing technologies available on the market

A few weeks ago, a new sub-model of the PlayStation 5 console began to be sold in some countries of the world, without any official statements or explanations from Sony – and although it was not the long-awaited Pro model that is apparently at least a year away from launch, comparisons Speed ​​on the net discovered that this is a slightly lighter model of the coveted and well-known console thanks to the use of a reduced cooling system.

The natural assessment in such a situation was that Sony switched to using a more efficient system on a chip, and now a site called angstronomics.com that specializes in conducting in-depth research into hardware brings us the final confirmation of this under the nickname Oberon Plus – the name of the new chip, apparently, which is a direct conversion of hardware The console from TSMC’s 7nm manufacturing process to an improved N6 (or 6nm) manufacturing process.

The jump between the production processes may be considered minimal at first glance, but entails a transition from a process with full DUV (Deep Ultra Violet) lithography to a process where there is significant use of state-of-the-art EUV (Extreme Ultra Violet) lithography, with the need for fewer layers of masks and the ability to crowd the transistors more effectively – which provides a potential improvement of almost 19 percent in the number of transistors that can be crammed into a given area, or alternatively the possibility of cramming the same number of transistors into a chip with a smaller area than before. That’s exactly what’s been done with the Oberon Plus, it seems, as a close-up head-to-head photo allows you to see the difference in physical size compared to Sony’s original chip, with a reduction of around 15 percent in area on the way to 260 square millimeters.

A chip with a surface area of ​​about 300 square millimeters on the right side, compared to a chip of about 260 square millimeters on the left side

The reduction of the chip, without any harm in performance, allows Sony to get a larger amount of chips from each silicon wafer with a fixed physical size of 300 millimeters (and a price that remains similar, more or less, without any real dependence on the number of chips produced from it) – and together with lower power consumption which makes it possible to reduce the cooling array and reduce additional components in the voltage and current supply and production system, contributing to a cost reduction for each and every console that comes off the production line. According to angstronomics, all these changes result in a projected reduction of about 12 percent in the price of each new PlayStation 5 console for Sony, relative to the 2021 sub-model that resulted in a slight reduction in weight compared to the launch models (without changing the processing chip).

The weight of Sony’s consoles has dropped by about 13 percent since the launch until today – and every such reduction means the use of fewer components for Sony and a reduction in the bill of materials that it invests

Before you burst into spontaneous cheers, we note that it is very likely that the reduction in production for Sony will not be passed on to consumers in the near future, not even back to the recommended launch prices from 2020, which have already increased since then in most countries – it makes more sense that Sony will use its improved profit margins in reinvestment To return the investment on the conversion process from one production process to another, in plans to promote the development of more and more titles for the system that utilize its exclusive technologies and probably also in additional improved versions, such as the said PlayStation 5 Pro that will almost certainly become official sometime during the next two years.

Direct comparisons between all PS5 sub-versions found no differences in performance between the models – although the modern 2022 model does appear to be capable of being cooler and quieter than its sibling, which is another welcome bonus for consumers

For us, the consumers, the main hope as a result of this silent upgrade to PlayStation 5 is that you could get an increase of up to 20 percent to the number of valid chips from each Viper will lead to a gradual improvement in the availability of the platforms on store shelves, thus helping more and more consumers to enjoy them at sane and competitive prices instead of inflated prices within of packages with extras that are not always needed.