Before we start, the new CUH-1200 C-Chassis model brings some curious physical changes. Gone is the PS4's glossy panel, and the new revision gives us a uniformly matte surface on top - a material less prone to dust and scratches build-up. Smart, depressible buttons also now feature at the front, with power and eject switches protruding by a millimetre. These give a satisfying, tactile click, replacing the last model's more sensitive capacitive buttons. Running down its centre is also a new LED assembly, a shorter strip of light that doesn't stretch as far across as the launch model's. Conversely, the new model's LED is brighter, and by comparison shows up better in daylight conditions.
Internally there's been some shifting around too. Rather than using 16 modules of 512mb GDDR5 RAM (tallying up the console's full 8GB of memory), we now have eight bigger clusters of 1GB. As a consequence of halving the modules, space is freed up on the opposite side of the motherboard, and energy efficiency should be greatly improved as a result - something borne out in our later tests. Added to this, we have a slightly thicker 500GB HDD in the new console - a Samsung Spinpoint drive that's swapped from the thinner HGST drive in our original PS4. The PS4's power supply unit is also replaced with a lighter, lower output model, in part contributing to the C-Chassis' lower 2.5kg weight - 300g lighter than the launch model.
Otherwise, the new PS4 is in many ways similar to the old. Placed side-by-side, the dimensions are matched to the millimeter (barring the new buttons), while internally, shots reveal the same sized APU at the motherboard's centre - a likewise 28nm chip. The only other tweak is to the PS4's port layout around the back; the HDMI, auxiliary and Ethernet ports all switched around at no real consequence.
But what of the PS4's noise levels? It's fair to say that fan speeds on our launch model ratchet up to a distracting degree during play, especially so with games like The Last of Us Remastered. One of the worst offenders as of late is Rocket League - an Unreal Engine 3 game that cranks the older CUH-1000 PS4 up to 63.7 decibels (dB) on our sound meter (as tested while upright on a wooden desk, and viewing a 4v4 match in spectator mode). Our sensor takes its reading from a centimetre behind the console's back vents, recording the fan at its top-most RPM - and it's fair to say that the high-pitched whine is a distraction even from a few metres away.
By comparison, the C-Chassis PS4 makes a real difference. In starting the console under the exact same testing conditions, Rocket League doesn't rise much higher than 51.2 decibels on the meter. This puts the new PS4 model at 12 decibels quieter overall in this close-proximity test. Though we're unlikely to get so close to a PS4 vents in reality, the difference is tangible at a regular playing distance from the console. At full speed, the launch PS4 is audible from across our office - a louder presence with higher pitch and volume. The new model is far from whisper quiet, but the fan isn't nearly such a distraction at max velocity.
It's a big improvement, and one that holds up in other tests. For example, our disc-based version of Metal Gear Solid 5 starts off loud on each PS4 as the optical drive initially caches data to the HDD, but this ceases after five minutes of play. Once settled, the C-Chassis gives a six decibel lead over the launch PS4 here, from 62.2 dB down to 56.2.
