Gadgets

The PS4 Got a Job and Gained Some Weight

Do you even lift, Pro? The PS4 Pro is bigger and heavier than the original, and after a thorough teardown we attribute a lot of that heft to power requirements. Unlike the PlayStation 4 of 2013, which topped out at 165 watts, the Pro’s giant internal power supply dishes out an impressive 289 watts of power—and has a cooling system to match. Basically, they crammed an oven and a fridge into one body. All the trimming that went into the PS4 Slim went right out the window (‘tis the season to plump up, after all)—this Pro’s double-stuffed GPU is just too power hungry.

PS4 Pro teardown

PlayStation 4 Pro Teardown highlights:

  • Sony insists on the Pro’s SATA III support, yet its 2.5″ HGST HTS541010A9E680 platter drive is labeled 3.0 GB/s (SATA II)—although some online sources claim it’s actually a 6.0 GB/s HDD. Regardless, at 5400 RPM this drive will never reach SATA III speeds. Luckily, a hard drive upgrade is a breeze (and won’t void your warranty).
  • We learned that Sony’s “double-sauced” GPU comes in the form of a single chip, the CXD90044G SoC—rather than (as some imagined) an SLI-style, twin-GPU configuration.
  • No adhesive, modular components, and a non-proprietary hard drive that is easy to replace and upgrade earned this console an 8 out of 10 on our repairability scale.
PS4 pro teardown

This is just an appetizer. See the full disassembly of the PS4 Pro at iFixit.com