A new model of PS5 is starting to roll out with an altered cooling system, but so far it seems like no reason to scramble to get your hands on one of the old ones.
If you've been following the roll out of the new PS5 Digital Edition (which was first clocked back in July), you already know that it's about 300 grams lighter. The mystery was where that weight was reduced. Then the cause was finally laid bare when YouTuber Austin Evans posted a breakdown over the weekend where he took both consoles apart and found that a smaller heatsink with a reduced amount of heat-conducting copper was responsible for nearly all of the weight reduction.
It sounds bad that a new hardware revision would put out more heat than an old one, right? Isn't cooler better? Well, it's tough to say that just from measuring the heat of the exhaust. Pushing out more hot air could mean worse heat management overall, or it could mean the new cooling system is simply doing a better job of moving heat from inside the console to outside the console. Speaking of which, the new version also seems to have a new fan design.
The takeaway for folks who are still hunting to find a PS5 restock is that, unless you're really worried about having the biggest possible cooling solution - whether or not your console actually needs it - you probably don't need to worry about which model you get.
If you're still trying to buy any version of Sony's new-gen console, you can check out our PS5 bundles guide to find the best deals available.
