Building the WORLDS FIRST PlayStation 5: Tablet Edition

Summary

The video details an ambitious project to convert a full-sized PlayStation 5 console into a portable, tablet-style device. It discusses the monumental engineering challenge of condensing the components into a handheld form factor while maintaining cooling and performance. Custom solutions are devised, including a reshaped heat sink, heat pipes, high-powered fans, a 3D printed shell, and a brilliant OLED display. The end result is the world's first PS5 tablet that delivers premium portable 4K gaming, with surprising acoustic performance akin to a laptop. This novel concept sparks curiosity about the potential for unconventional form factors to enhance the gaming experience.

Takeaways

• 😲 Sony has the components to make a portable PS5 but hasn't tried yet
• 👾 A portable PS5 tablet could enable new social gaming experiences
• 🔧 Key challenge is shrinking cooling system while maintaining performance
• 🛠️ Custom copper heat pipes and fans effectively cool PS5 components
• 👍 4K OLED display enables sharp, vibrant visuals for portable gaming
• 🔊 Mini subwoofers provide impactful sound from the compact device
• 💪 Console runs quieter than expected thanks to efficient cooling design
• 🤩 Final product delivers full PS5 performance in a portable tablet form
• ❓ It's unclear if there's demand for a tablet-style gaming console
• 😀 A portable PS5 could represent the future of social gaming

Q & A

What is the main idea of the video?

The main idea is to create a portable PlayStation 5 by shrinking down the components to fit into a tablet form factor with a built-in screen.

What were some of the challenges faced in creating the portable PS5?

Some key challenges were cooling the powerful PS5 processor in a small form factor, powering the device, and fitting everything into a compact shell.

How did the creator address the cooling challenges?

By using a shorter, wider heatsink, custom mounting the heatpipes, adding a second smaller heatsink, and using high-powered laptop fans in a push-pull configuration.

What display technology was used and why?

An OLED display was salvaged from a laptop for its superior image quality, high contrast, and lack of motion blurring.

How was the device powered?

A small, high-power gallium nitride power supply was used. A braided cable with copper ground sleeve was made to provide power.

What was the inspiration behind the aesthetics?

The two-tone black and white color scheme was inspired by the PS5's own high-contrast design language.

What was the purpose of the included subwoofer?

The miniature subwoofer using dual drivers was added to provide impactful low-end sound for a more immersive gaming experience.

How quiet did the custom cooling solution end up being?

With the large heatsinks and quiet fans, it was much quieter than expected, comparable to a gaming laptop.

What are some benefits of the tablet form factor?

It's portable and social, allowing gaming anywhere. It avoids the solo, isolating experience of other portable consoles.

Why might this not be a product yet from Sony?

As an unproven form factor, the market demand is uncertain. But it could be viable if Sony produced it at low cost.

Outlines

00:00

😊 Discussing Sony's potential to make a portable PS5 console

The paragraph discusses Sony's capability to make a portable PS5 console by leveraging the recent internal redesign of the PS5 components to be much smaller. It proposes the idea of a PS5 tablet by addressing design considerations like cooling and portability. Key challenges highlighted include space constraints, cooling capacity, and power requirements.

05:00

😧 Testing an initial cooling solution for the portable PS5

The paragraph tests an initial cooling solution for the portable PS5 using small fans and heat pipes. It highlights that the solution is inadequate to cool the high TDP PS5 processor, causing the console to overheat and shut down during testing. Improvements identified include increasing airflow over the heatsinks and expanding the heatsink surface area.

10:02

😃 Implementing upgrades to effectively cool the portable PS5

The paragraph implements upgrades to effectively cool the portable PS5, including nickel-plating a copper block for better thermal conductivity, optimizing the heat pipe layout, and installing high-performance bidirectional laptop fans for maximum airflow. Thermal testing validates the revised cooling system keeps the console running smoothly with significant thermal headroom.

15:02

😁 Finalizing the portable PS5 tablet with a custom shell, speakers and OLED display

The paragraph finalizes the portable PS5 tablet by 3D printing a two-tone shell for aesthetics, integrating a subwoofer and speakers for good sound, and salvaging an OLED laptop display for exceptional image quality. Other final touches include a carbon fiber back panel for protection, a compact GaN power brick, and visually appealing cabling with silver and white sleeving.

😎 Demoing and assessing the completed portable PS5 tablet console

The paragraph demonstrates and assesses the completed portable PS5 tablet. Its unique benefits highlighted include portability for social gaming, a brilliant 4K OLED display taking advantage of PS5 rendering power, integrated bass-boosted speakers, and remarkably quiet fans. Comparisons are made to laptop noise levels and a PS5 slim form factor.

Keywords

💡Portable

The term 'portable' refers to gaming devices that are small, lightweight, and easily transported. The video focuses on creating a portable version of the PlayStation 5 console by shrinking its components. Portability is important because it enables gaming experiences outside of being restricted to a TV, allowing social gaming with friends.

💡Console

In gaming, a 'console' refers to a specialized electronic device used to play video games, usually connected to a display. The video centers on transforming Sony's PlayStation 5 home gaming console into a portable tablet-like device.

💡Tablet

A 'tablet' is a thin, flat mobile computer characterized by a touchscreen with no attached keyboard. The narrator envisions creating a 'PlayStation 5 tablet edition' by fitting PS5 components into a slim, portable form factor reminiscent of a tablet.

💡Cooling

Effective 'cooling' (heat dissipation) is essential for the safe operation of the PS5's high-power components. Most of the technical challenges in shrinking the PS5 involve devising compact, quiet cooling solutions using heat pipes, heat sinks, thermal pads, and high-airflow fans.

💡Motherboard

The 'motherboard' is the main printed circuit board in the PS5, containing critical components like the CPU, memory, and connectors. Much of the video focuses on creatively reconfiguring the motherboard and cooling architecture to fit inside a portable enclosure.

💡Display

The narrator opts to use a bright, vibrant OLED 'display' rather than a more common LCD screen due to OLED's superiority in color, contrast, motion clarity and energy efficiency - ideal traits for gaming.

💡Power Supply

The high-wattage PS5 requires a robust power supply to operate. After replacing the original bulky unit, the build uses a compact GaN power brick to meet the electrical needs in the downsized enclosure.

💡Portability

By creatively re-engineering a full PS5 system into a compact, battery-powered device, the narrator achieves unprecedented 'portability' - the ability to easily transport and use console-quality gaming anywhere.

💡Form Factor

In electronics, 'form factor' describes the physical configuration, shape, and size of a device. A key goal of the project is reinventing the PS5's form factor to achieve a tablet-shaped portable console.

💡Social Experience

Unlike traditional consoles and portables, the tablet form factor enables gaming as a 'social experience' between multiple people gathered around its screen, rather than isolating players.

Highlights

Sony could make a portable PS5 console using existing internal components

PS5's internal redesign made components smaller, enabling a portable design

Heat pipes transfer heat effectively from processor to heat sink

Liquid metal thermal interface needed between processor and heat sink

Nickel plating prevents liquid metal absorption into copper heat sink

Small fans couldn't match cooling of original large PS5 fan

Added second heat sink and optimized heat pipe layout for better cooling

High power laptop fans properly cooled the portable PS5

3D printed shell with aluminum trim gave high contrast PS5 aesthetic

Mini subwoofer and speakers provided impactful sound

OLED screen has superior image quality over LCD panels

Smaller gallium nitride power supply replaced original bulky PS5 one

Thick silicone power cable with copper sleeve matched PS5 aesthetic

4K OLED screen takes full advantage of PS5's graphics power

Portable form allows for shared social gaming experience

Transcripts

despite the popularity of portable games

consoles big player Sony hasn't released

one in this category for over 10 years

and no the PlayStation portal doesn't

count because all it can do is stream

games from a full-sized PS5 but the

thing is Sony have everything they need

to make a proper portable console right

now you see compared to when it was

first launched the PlayStation 5 has had

a significant internal redesign with the

components like the motherboard being

completely refreshed to be a lot smaller

and honestly it's now pretty tiny

considering that this is a full PS5 that

can be held with two fingers and this

has got me thinking surely it's possible

to convert this into a portable console

of course it's never going to be quite

like a handheld but there is a format

for gaming that's not been explored much

yet which I think will have huge

potential a PlayStation 5 tablet edition

the first challenge before making this a

reality though is that the PS5 is more

than its motherboard alone it requires

many extra components to make it work

most of which are dedicated just to

keeping it cool as it generates so much

heat trimming all this down to a size

that can be considered portable is going

to be a Monumental challenge but where

there's a will there's a way take the

main heat sink for example it's a fairly

weird shape and occupies a lot of space

but one action we can take is to swap it

out for one that's much shorter and

wider though with approximately the same

cooling capacity as its base is solid

copper it can be easily drilled and

tapped to add screw holes to it which

are perfect for using some aluminium

lengths to mount it adjacent to the main

motherboard rather than on top of it

which makes for a shallower profile even

still particularly when compared to the

original but how on Earth are we going

to get any heat generated by the

processor over to it in this

configuration heat pipes of course heat

pipes for those who don't know are Hol

copper tubes that have a rough texture

on the inside walls as they're normally

sealed with a small amount of liquid

inside heat can be transferred very

rapidly from one end to the other by the

liquid literally boiling inside and

condensing wherever it's the coolest

making them ridiculously good at moving

heat around the ones I've got are

designed to be mounted to a little

copper block but unfortunately I can't

just this block to the processor as is

you see as the ps5s processor generates

almost 200 WS worth of heat it's

necessary to use a thermal interface

material referred to as liquid metal and

if I were to use this with my block it

would eventually absorb into the raw

copper and stop working properly

interestingly the base of the original

heat sink is copper as well but Sony has

nickel plated it making it far more

resistive to liquid metal absorption and

this is actually actually great news

because it turns out that nickel plating

is surprisingly easy to do at home so

it's time for a quick side quest all

that's needed for this is some white

vinegar and nickel strips plus a dash of

salt by connecting the strips to the

positive and negative terminals of a

battery or a power supply one of the

nickel strips can be dissolved into the

solution giving us an electrolyte that

can be used for electroplating to use it

all we need to do is replace the

dissolved nickel strip and swap out the

other one for the block this allows the

nickel to be transferred from the new

strip over to the block giving us a

nickel plated

finish after a quick polish this looks

perfect and it should now work reliably

with the liquid metal this stuff is like

magic it's literally molten metal as

it's made up of various components to

achieve a very low melting point once

it's been spread to both the processor

dye and the now nickel plated block the

whole thing can be squashed together as

the surface area intended to be in

contact with the heat pipes is pretty

large it's actually okay to go with

traditional thermal paste here after

which the heat pipes themselves can be

finally mounted in place these have been

carefully bent to go around various

components and so that they spread out

on the heat sink and it looks pretty

cool with the processor now thermally

linked to the heat sink we're almost

ready to test it out but how are we

going to move air over the heat sink to

keep it cool the original rather

gargantuan blower fan is simply out of

the question due to its size but what

about using several mini versions

instead using four of these in parallel

multiplies their airflow output

hopefully to the point where they'll

match the much larger fan the sheer size

difference between these two types of

fans is so large though that I actually

have my doubts as to whether the new

ones are even capable of cooling the

processor which again is 200 100 WS

worth of heat and that's a lot but

there's only one way to know for sure

and that's to try it out by positioning

these new fans along one Edge they blow

air underneath the console and by taping

the sides the air has only one way out

through the heat sink now this of course

looks super juny right now especially

with the power supply just perched on

top but it does allow us to operate the

console and observe its temperature with

a thermal camera as soon as the console

is on we can see that the heat pipes

start moving the heat over to the heat

sink once the game is launched though

the console begins to draw its maximum

power and the temperatures continue to

climb with the block itself hitting over

60° C it's safe to assume that the core

of the processor will be even higher

than this so it's no wonder that after a

few moments the console shuts itself

down with an over temperature warning

message so clearly there's more work to

do here if we want to have any chance of

this being cool properly but there are

thankfully two easy ways we can improve

things increase the air flow over the

heat sink so we can pull heat away from

it more quickly or increase the heat

sink size so we have more heat

dissipation surface but preferably it

would be both of these things if we can

pull it off now as the present heat sink

fits very nicely on the side here

instead of increasing its size I'm going

to add an additional smaller heat sink

instead to provide the extra heat

dissipation surface area mounting it

does require some modification of the

heat pipe layout but doing so provides

the perfect opportunity to optimize

things further by spreading them out

more so that they go diagonally across

the fins rather than parallel to them

allowing them to dump heat more

effectively into the heat sinks as for

increasing air flow over the heat sinks

the cheap generic fans I used during

testing just aren't anywhere close to

being good enough so after some intense

research online I'm going to replace

them with some highly engineered models

designed for high high power laptops not

only do these push more air while being

quieter but they're bidirectional as

well meaning that they can blow air over

both heat sinks at once despite the heat

sinks being at opposite ends of the

motherboard being on the back here they

can also cool the small components on

the board too thanks to some additional

mini heat sinks and copper bridging pads

with some 3D printed air du to control

the

airflow so how well does this revision

work well rigging it up testing reveals

some legitimately shocking results not

only is the console more than happy to

run indefinitely with this new cooling

setup but it does so with a huge amount

of Headroom with the block itself now

hovering at just 42 Cel at full load

this means that the speed of the fans

could be ramped down significantly to

the point where they make only a soft

weing sound and I'll be doing some tests

against a gaming laptop later so you can

hear it for

yourself so this second attempt at the

cooling system works a treat as it not

only keeps the console cool but it does

its job quietly as well which I was

really not expecting to be possible um

but as you can see it looks a bit like

an engineering prototype right now um so

we need to focus a bit on the Aesthetics

to make it look a bit more like a

manufactured product Sony's design

language for the PS5 leans heavily into

a high contrust two-tone look so taking

inspiration from this I've designed a

shell that can be 3D printed it's a

little big to print in one go so I've

split it up to print in several separate

pieces with the intention of gluing them

together this technique allows some

parts to be printed in different tones

as well providing the high contrast

black and white appearance and I think

it's ended up looking pretty smart as

the main body likes a uniform perimeter

for the shell to be fitted to though

it's necessary to add some aluminum trim

to provide a robust frame even so it's

not quite time to put the shell on yet

as an important component needs needs to

be considered the speakers you see most

portable consoles have some form of

sound system but they're usually pretty

thin sounding and not great for a full

gaming

experience so to get around this I'm

going to include a miniature subwoofer

consisting of two 5 wat drivers to fill

in the low frequency sounds and I think

it will provide some serious bass

especially being complemented by two

stereo side speakers

now making speaker enclosures at this

scale isn't particularly easy and I have

to admit they don't look very neat but

that's okay because the intention is to

cap them off with the remaining 3D

prined trim with that done the shell can

now finally be lowered on top to hide

all of the internal components which

suddenly makes it look a lot more

complete with a subtle but definitely

present PlayStation Vibe and with the

help of a little kickstand it is indeed

starting to look like a tablet granted

it is a little on the chunky side but do

keep in mind that there's a full PS5

inside here and when compared to the

original console it's actually quite

remarkable how much we've been able to

shrink it down this size Advantage

remains even when compared to the PS5

slim which is the thinnest official PS5

to date which is very

satisfying this leaves us with pretty

much the last job which is of course to

add the screen now you might be thinking

that I'm just going to go with a

standard LCD panel from a laptop for

this but I've got a better idea which

we'll get to after a quick break you see

making a custom PS5 is a tricky timec

consuming process that literally takes

weeks but needed thanks to this video's

sponsor dbrand now you may have already

heard of dark plates 2.0 D Brand's

popular replacement side panels for the

PS5 they are slim feature built-in vents

for improved Cooling and lose the popped

color look that personally I've gotten a

little bit fed up off you can also

inject a bit of your own style by

picking from a selection of designs for

the middle skin I've got one of their

new skin options which are real X-Ray

scans of the ps5s internals allowing the

engineering to be shown off here we can

actually see the coils and Transformer

in the power supply as well as the heat

pipes and their accompanying fins

they've actually scanned a load of

different devices too I've got one for

my phone which makes it a lot more

interesting to me as things like the US

B port and internal speakers are made

visible but their latest release is

actually a tempered dust screen

protector for the PS portal it's super

easy to install and is a great way of

protecting it as the screen is pretty

exposed especially when it's shoved into

a bag actually S as dbrand will be

watching this I know haven't quite added

the screen just yet to my build but I

don't know if you guys could do a custom

cut version of this specially for it um

you know my address if you could do that

but uh while we wait for that answer

visit dbrand.com /d perks if you'd like

to pick up some dark plates a phone skin

or glass for your PlayStation portal but

other than that thank you dbrand for

sponsoring this video and let's get back

to the project the next step of which is

of course to add the screen now the

problem with LCDs and why I don't really

want to use one is that they suffer from

motion smearing and poor black level

performance so instead let's go with

OLED these provide pixel level dimming

for incredibly vibrant images but as

they're still a bit hard to get hold of

in panel form I'm salvaging mine from a

busted laptop there's really no contest

when it comes to image quality here with

the OLED panel being in a league of its

own for sure with a much brighter and

more Vivid image with no motion smearing

top tier performance for a top tier

console as the display itself is so thin

though I think it's a good idea to

reinforce it with a super stiff custom

cut carbon fiber back panel which

protects it from bending if it were ever

to be pushed in the middle this finishes

off the unit beautifully and it finally

looks like a real product but before I

can test it out there's a bit of an

elephant in the room how on Earth is it

going to be powered you see the

motherboard itself needs a 12vt power

supply in order to turn on now the

original one is a super weird shape and

is kind of massive especially compared

to how small the console is now so we're

going to swap it out for a much smaller

gallium nitride alternative despite its

high power capability it's actually

smaller than many laptop power bricks so

is a good choice for this project to

hook it up to the PlayStation instead of

going with plain paired wire which is

ugly not to mention stiff my plan is to

get a single core of large gauge silicon

wire to carry the positive voltage

Supply and sleeve it with copper for

ground making for a highly flexible low

resistance power cable after adding some

custom High current connectors it can be

finished off with some beautiful silver

and white sleeving which matches the

aesthetic of the unit nicely this can

now be plugged into the back of the

PlayStation completing the build it's

taken so much effort to reach this point

but it looks amazing which means we're

ready to try it

out

y there we go the world's first

PlayStation 5 tablet

edition that's pretty cool my first

impression is the Brilliance of the

screen being OLED it of course has Inky

dark blacks for vibrant color rendition

but as it's full 4K as well it really

takes advantage of the ps5s insane

rendering power and it looks incredibly

sharp 4K portable gaming man this this

is pretty unique oh listen listen to the

subw 3 2 let's go here we

go wa oh man this is crazy just to prove

it no display cable just a power cable

and uh yeah full PS5 in a nice portable

package wild the best thing about this

form factor is that it's portable enough

to actually be a social experience

you're not bound to a TV so it can be

used pretty much anywhere perfect for

sharing a gaming experience with

friends come

on I did it own goal

James this is in stark contrast to the

solo and potentially lonely experience

you get with most other portable gaming

consoles and it really is a super unique

experience that brings a lot of fun to

the table what's even more remarkable is

just how quiet it is thanks to the large

heat sinks and three bidirectional fans

it makes far less noise than you'd

expect here's a comparison to a high-end

laptop that doesn't even draw as much

power

so while it's definitely audible

compared to a full-sized PS5 it's not

bad at all especially considering it's

so portable and I'd say Mission very

much

accomplished so why hasn't anyone made a

console like this honestly I'm not quite

sure because I think it's got a lot

going for it but it's likely down to it

just being an unproven form factor no

one knows yet whether a console like

this would sell well so you guys will

have to let me know your thoughts in the

comments down below now I think if Sony

themselves were to make a console like

this they could probably make it about

one third of the thickness and it

shouldn't even really be that much more

expensive than a PlayStation 5 because

really this is just a PlayStation 5 plus

a screen the extra components are just

in a different form factor so it' be

really interesting to see if this kind

of thing becomes a bit more common in

the future let's hope so but until then

if you've got an itch to custom ize your

own PS5 don't forget to check out

dbrands dark plates which are a great

way of making your PS5 your very own um

but other than that the concepts that

we've learned in this video are actually

going to be applied to my next project

which will be something that's very not

visible now if you're familiar with the

channel you'll know exactly what I'm

talking about but if you're not make

sure you're subscribed because you don't

want to miss it but other than that I'm

Matt you've been watching DIY perk and I

hope I see you next time goodbye for

[Music]

now