The latest PS5 Slim model reportedly changes some components, including a replaceable CMOS battery and revised cooling

Sony has reportedly quietly revised the PlayStation 5 Slim, with the latest models featuring new and rearranged components.

Console technician and modder Modyfikator89 obtained the new Limited Edition Wolverine version of the PS5 Slim, and opened it up to see if there had been any changes made to its internal components.

Noting on X that the new EDM-051 motherboard is “much more interesting than it looks”, they added that it “isn’t just another cosmetic revision”.

The motherboard now has a different layout, and the CR2032 CMOS battery can now be easily removed and replaced.

The technician also noted that the console had a “redesigned and simplified internal layout”, including a “newer, lower-cost and more optimized HDMI retimer implementation” (an HDMI retimer ensures the image remains stable and removes timing jitter).

The cooling system has also been entirely revised, with a liquid metal interface closed to that of the PS5 Pro, and there’s “a noticeably different heatsink construction/material compared with earlier Slim revisions”.

Discussing the cooling further, Modyfikator89 said: “Compared with the 2025 Slim revision, which had already received the improved cooling system, Sony has changed things again. The area around the APU / die and its protective surface looks different, and the liquid-metal containment appears to be closer to the approach used in the PS5 Pro.

“The new protection seems to expose less area directly to the liquid metal and should help keep it better controlled around the processor. So even after the 2025 cooling update, Sony clearly kept refining the thermal design. This is not just the same Slim with a different shell.”

While these changes will have been made for a number of reasons – from saving money on component costs to increasing the life of the console – Sony has made similar hardware revisions in the past and the differences, while sometimes drastic under the hood, are negligible (if at all existent) when it comes to the actual game playing experience.

As such, players who currently have an existing PS5 Slim which works perfectly well for them would almost certainly not have to ‘upgrade’ to one of these revised models.