Sony PlayStation 5 SoC die pictured up close

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Sony PlayStation 5 SoC die pictured up close

Fritzens Fritz delivers the first photos of the Sony PS5 System on a Chip.

 

Unlike Microsoft who was quick to showcase its Xbox Series S and X die shots, Sony has never shown what is under the hood of the PS5 System on a Chip. It has been months since PS5 was introduced, but only now we get to see a chip codenamed AMD Flute up close.

 

Play Station 5 SoC, Source: Fritzchens Fritz

 

The Sony PS5 SoC codenamed known as Oberon or Ariel is based on AMD technology (Flute is AMD codename). It features both AMD Zen2 core architecture as well as RDNA2 GPU. The 8-cores Zen2 cores are clocked up to 3.5 GHz, while 36 RDNA2 Compute Units can reach a clock speed up to 2.23 GHz.

 

Sony announced that its PS5 chip will feature liquid metal instead of traditional thermal paste. This would ensure a longer lifespan and increase heat exchange between the chip and the cooler. However, at the same time, it increases the production complexity and forces Sony to use custom packing solutions to ensure no liquid metal spill would occur.

 

Play Station 5 SoC, Source: Fritzchens Fritz

 

The die was pictured using a special microscope using short wave infrared light (SWIR). This technology allows the photographer to look under the hood and see the internals of the SoC without typical detaching and grinding techniques, which would also destroy the chip in the process.

 

Sony PS5 chip has 8 cores located on the left side, while 36 Compute Units are packed together in a middle. The die picture confirms that the chip features eight 32-bit memory interfaces for GDDR6 memory. It also confirms that the chip has some changes to the layout compared to Zen2 based APUs. It would appear that the chip has some Fixed Function Units (FFU) missing as well as Fused Multiply-Add (FMA/FMADD) are not be seen on the chip. Those units were likely removed as they are not required for a gaming console.

 

Play Station 5 SoC, Source: Fritzchens Fritz

 

Play Station 5 SoC layout, Source: Locuza

 

Official die shot of the Xbox Seriex X has been shown by Microsoft even before the console was released:

 

Xbox Series X SoC, Source: Microsoft

 

Source: @FritzchensFritz, @Locuza_

 

 

Source: Sony PlayStation 5 SoC die pictured up close