New PS5 Model Uses More Efficient ‘Oberon Plus’ 6nm Chip

Sony’s first serious revision of the PS5 hardware has largely flown under the radar and Sony itself isn’t talking about it, but model CFI-1202 is a big deal.

Following a teardown of the latest model earlier this month, which revealed significant internal design changes, Angstronomics(Opens in a new window) has now confirmed Sony switched from a custom 7nm AMD Zen 2 CPU to a 6nm equivalent produced by TSMC and codenamed Oberon Plus. This has some positive side effects for both Sony and consumers lucky enough to get their hands on a CFI-1202.

The move to a 6nm chip means the logic transistor density increased by 18.8% and the die size shrunk from 300 square millimeters to just 270 (roughly 15% smaller). Combined, it means the CPU requires less power and produces less heat, which led to Sony introducing a smaller, cheaper cooling solution. The other benefit of the smaller chip for Sony is the fact 20% more of them can be produced per wafer, with little difference in production cost.

The changes to the new model equate to each PS5 costing Sony roughly 12% less to manufacture, according to Angstronomics. Sony may have increased the price of the PS5 in most regions of the world recently, but this does bode well for the price coming back down in the not too distant future. For consumers, it’s also going to cost less to use this PS5 thanks to the lower power draw.