Sony PlayStation 4 Pro
A look at the guts of Sony’s ‘professional’ gaming console.
The world of video game platforms has been changing quickly. Manufacturers have resorted to mid-gen refreshes to keep up with 4K TVs and VR headsets, and here’s the third iteration of the PS4 generation. We may be amateur gamers, but we’re revved up to tear the PlayStation 4 Pro down, professionally.
MAJOR TECH SPECS
Eight-core AMD ‘Jaguar’ X86-64 CPU, clocked at 2.1GHz (up from 1.6GHz) 4.2Tflops AMD Radeon-based graphics 8GB GDDR5 RAM and 1GB DRAM 1TB removable and upgradable ≠ hard drive storage 802.11a/ b/g/n/ac, Ethernet ≠ and Bluetooth 4.0 (LE) Blu-ray x6 CAV, DVD x8 CAV≠
KEY FINDINGS
The triple-decker design is a little different from the ‘first’ PlayStation 4, but that doesn’t stop us — without wasting time, we flip the console over, pop the first panel, and hit pay dirt! ≠ A single, standard Phillips #0 screw stands between us and hard-driveswapping glory. We’re going to have to remove the ‘Warranty void if seal removed’ stickers to go any further. Adding insult to injury, the screws hidden beneath are Security Torx screws — designed to stop you getting in. With the case cracked open, we can remove a large metal shield. Unfortunately, all this does is give us a view of the motherboard’s backside. With the beast on its back, the opposite panel pops off after some prodigious prying — but no ‘warranty void’ stickers! Alas, removing this panel isn’t the panel-cea we were hoping for. We can pull out the power supply, but nothing else. While you can’t remove the fan, you could certainly clean it from here — maybe that’s why we’re granted this nonwarranty-voiding access zone. ≠ Thwarted by the lack of any more screw heads on the PSU side of the PS4 Pro, we flip it back over and turn our attention to the motherboard. Burrowing through a layer of shielding behind the CPU reveals ≠ a cool X-shaped retaining bracket, similar to ones we found in another console. And directly underneath it, we dig up a plastic and metal cover that seems to be the consumer electronics version of a pizza saver, protecting the back of the board from the heatsink retaining bracket. Repairability Score: 8 out of 10 (10 is easiest to repair). No adhesive makes disassembly and reassembly easy. ≠ The non-proprietary hard drive is simple to access, upgrade or replace and doing so doesn’t void your warranty. While you can clean the fan, removing it and other components requires warrantyvoiding disassembly. Security screws and tamper-evident seals discourage users from disassembling and repairing their PlayStation 4 Pro.