PlayStation 5 (“CFI-1202”): New 6 nm custom APU as a shrink for Sony's game console

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The latest revision of the PlayStation 5 (test), the model 1200 or CFI-1202, which comes after the first generation (“model 1000”) and the first refresh (“model 1100”) the second revision of Sony's Zen 2 RDNA 2 gaming console, features a new 6nm AMD Oberon Plus custom APU and higher efficiency.

Already at the beginning of September, the latest revision of the PlayStation 5, which has even smaller heat sinks and in this case was intended for the Australian market, fell into the hands of the YouTuber Austin Evans. This attested the “new” PlayStation 5 a 20 to 30 watt lower consumption in games. As the website Angstronomics was able to prove using die shots, the product maintenance of the PlayStation 5 is based on a “new” custom APU from AMD.

AMD Oberon Plus (TSMC N6) and Oberon (TSMC N7) (Image: Angstronomics)

New custom silicon thanks to TSMC

The two APUs made of custom silicon, which in terms of performance on will operate at the same level, differ in numbers as follows:

AMD Oberon → AMD Oberon Plus

  • 7 nm (N7) → 6 nm (N6)
  • ~ 300 mm² Die → under 260 mm² Die
  • Model 1000 and 1100 → Model 1200
  • 4.5 kg (1000) → 4.2kg (1100) → 4.0kg (1200)
  • 20 to 30 watts less consumption in games

The reduced die size from ~ 300 mm² to under 260 mm² means a shrink of almost 15 Percent. Which ultimately means that almost 20 percent more chips can be manufactured at a similar cost with each processed wafer.

On the tracks of AMD Mendocino

AMD owes this shrink to the precautions of its contract manufacturer. TSMC ensures that its N6 process is “Design Rule Compatible” with its N7 process, meaning customers can reuse existing designs developed for N7 on N6, as AMD recently did with Mendocino aka Ryzen 7020 respectively Athlon 7020 has demonstrated. Here, too, Zen 2 meets RDNA 2, but here in a custom design for Sony.

Same performance but better efficiency

As with the first revision, the performance remains absolutely identical to the original version. Sony will probably start here at some point with a PlayStation 5 Pro, which will then probably be based on RDNA 3. With the same performance, the 1200 model has better efficiency on the plus side.

Sony aims to cut costs

Sony's primary goal for the new iteration of the PlayStation 5 is to cut production costs. In view of the globally rising inflation rates and currency fluctuations, the Japanese manufacturer recently increased the price of the two PlayStation 5s by 50 euros each to 550 euros and 450 euros respectively.

Microsoft should also follow suit

As Angstronomics further reports, Microsoft is also said to be preparing to move its Arden APU, which is based in the Xbox Series X|S (test), also a custom SoC based on AMD Zen 2 and RDNA 2, from TSMC 7N to TSMC 6N. Here, too, the focus will primarily be on optimizing consumption and costs.

Update 09/27/2022 4:21 p.m also in Germany

The new revision of the PlayStation 5, the model 1200, will soon be available in Germany in the form of the model number CFI-1216A. In Sony's in-house online shop, the new revision of the game console is offered in a bundle as the “PlayStation®5 Console – Call of Duty® Modern Warfare II Package”, which should be available from October 28th at a price of 619.99 euros.

The editors would like to thank community member “0range” for reporting this update.