What does PS5's WiFi-6 and USB-C advantage mean in next ...

Yesterday's official deep-dive into the body of PlayStation 5 showed us some interesting details regarding hardware, cooling, and some other specific components.

It seems to us that PlayStation 5 packs more next-gen components than Xbox Series X and Series S.

Don't get us wrong, we're not trying to pick sides or sound fanboyish, we're just stating the obvious. The technologies we are talking about here are not gonna give you more Tflops, or 8K resolution, but they are going to play a very big part in the general usage of the upcoming consoles.

WIRELESS ANTENA

The teardown video revealed that PS5 is equipped with a Wi-Fi 6 wireless antenna that also supports Bluetooth 5.1. Wi-Fi 6 is capable of transfer speeds of 9.6Gbit/s. Wi-Fi 6 is the next-generation standard in WiFi technology.

Wi-Fi 6 (also known as “AX WiFi" or "802.11ax WiFi”) builds and improves on the current 802.11ac WiFi standard. Wi-Fi 6 was originally built in response to the growing number of devices in the world.

Wi-Fi 6 is designed to improve speed, increase efficiency and reduce congestion in heavy bandwidth usage scenarios. Therefore, it's ideal for crowded networks.

Xbox Series X and Series X are equipped with only a Wi-Fi 5 chip, which is the older, current-gen model.

In other words, PS5 is more future-proof than Xbox Series X or S, in terms of wireless connection.

USB PORTS

The other section in which PS5 is better equipped for every average user is the USB connectivity. This is confirmed by yesterday's teardown, in which we can see that PS5 has the USB-C on the front, as well as the two USB-A (blue) ports on the back, all SuperSpeed-rated, which means that they're capable of speeds up to 10Gbit/s.

The only standard USB port (non-SuperSpeed) is the USB-A (black) on the rear side of the PS5.

To compare with Xbox Series X/S, neither of two Microsoft next-gen consoles come with a USB-C port, and their USB-A ports are capable of 5Gbit/s speed.

NVMe SUPPORT

Teardown was full of interesting bits and parts, and one of them is certainly the M.2 bay, where users will be able to take off the side cover and add NVMe PCIe 4.0 drives to expand the PS5 storage.

The PS5 M.2 SSD expansion port supports all four sizes of the high-speed storage spec. The 2230, 2242, 2260, and 2280 PCIe Gen 4 M.2 SSDs can comfortably fit into the PS5 expansion port, although Sony has yet to detail which SSDs will work with its new console.

This would make PS5's storage expansion more versatile, and perhaps more affordable, than the custom-made one which is the deal for Microsoft's next-gen system, where players can only opt for Seagate 1Tb custom Xbox Series X/S expansion card.

Sony

PS5's M.2 bay - four sizes supported

COOLING SOLUTION/Liquid metal

The PS5 is a very well-built piece of machinery, and what we often talked about among ourselves is the possible cooling solution in it. Yesterday, we all saw how Sony have taken a serious approach to this matter, and that they've learned from previous mistakes.

The teardown video revealed that the PS5 will come with a

liquid metal

to cool its chip. Liquid metal is there to sit between the heatsink and AMD's system-on-a-chip and provide better cooling than thermal paste, that was used in PS4, PS4 Pro, and it's standard in the PC world.

Sony

PS5's cooling solution - liquid metal

Liquid metal is far more superior to thermal paste, but it's very dangerous if it touches any chip, as it might damage it. For this, Sony's engineers have tackled the challenge and they've been testing it for years to make sure any type of damage never happens.

An impressive feat of engineering.

The latest news regarding thermals of Microsoft's console are in a more negative note, saying that

Xbox Series X can get very hot

We're looking forward to both next-gen consoles, and we are very excited about next month's release of both systems. It's a really great time to be a gamer!