Sony has not said a word about it, but the PS5 Slim inside this fall’s Marvel’s Wolverine Battle Yellow Limited Edition bundle appears to be a new internal revision. Polish console technician Modyfikator89 opened one of the $649.99 bundles and posted photos on X on September 30 showing a motherboard labeled EDM-051, which he called “much more interesting than it looks” and “not just another cosmetic revision,” as VGC reported. Push Square, TweakTown and TechPowerUp followed, and TechSpot added its own breakdown today. Their accounts line up on what changed, and all of them are careful to note that everything traces back to that single teardown.
What the EDM-051 teardown shows
The change that drew the most attention sits on top of the APU. Sony still uses liquid metal between the processor and the heatsink, but the barrier around the die has been redesigned so less of the metal is exposed, which the technician said looks closer to the containment Sony uses in the PS5 Pro. TechPowerUp and TweakTown describe the heatsink as rebuilt with a different construction and possibly different materials. Elsewhere on the board, a cheaper and more optimized HDMI retimer has replaced the previous part, and the CR2032 CMOS battery has moved to an accessible spot similar to the Pro’s, so it can be swapped without stripping the console down. TweakTown and Push Square also point out that revised units still ship with manuals showing the old layout.
| Component | What the teardown reports | What it likely means for owners |
|---|---|---|
| Liquid-metal barrier | Redesigned containment exposing less metal around the APU, closer to PS5 Pro | Lower risk of the compound spreading; no temperature data yet |
| Heatsink | Different construction and material than earlier Slim units | Could be cost, thermal, or both; not measured |
| HDMI retimer | Lower-cost, more optimized chip | Looks like a cost-down; no reported change to video output features |
| CMOS battery (CR2032) | Moved to an easy-to-reach location, as on PS5 Pro | Simpler battery replacement for repair shops |
| Manual | Still shows the old internal layout | Sony has not documented the revision publicly |
Sony’s official video for the Battle Yellow bundle shows the hardware the technician opened.
The Slim’s third cooling change in three years
The more interesting context is that this is not the first time Sony has reworked the Slim’s thermal design. The 2025 CFI-2100 revision, which reached Europe first, cut the Digital Edition’s SSD to 825GB but also added PS5 Pro-style ridges to hold the liquid metal in place, a change aimed at the pooling and dry-spot problem that could appear when the console stands vertically, according to Wccftech’s write-up of Austin Evans’ teardown. Modyfikator89 made the same point in his thread: compared with the 2025 Slim revision, “which had already received the improved cooling system, Sony has changed things again.”
| Date | Hardware | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 2023 | PS5 Slim (CFI-2000) | Smaller chassis and a 1TB SSD replace the launch design |
| Nov 2024 | PS5 Pro (CFI-7000) | Uses the liquid-metal containment design that later Slim revisions echo |
| Sept 2025 | Slim revision CFI-2100 (Europe first) | Digital Edition drops to 825GB; Pro-style liquid-metal ridges; lighter build |
| Apr 2, 2026 | U.S. price increase | Digital $599.99, disc $649.99, Pro $899.99 |
| Sept 15, 2026 | Wolverine Battle Yellow Limited Edition bundle | PS5 Digital Edition, matching DualSense and game code for $649.99 |
| Sept 30, 2026 | EDM-051 board found in that bundle | New barrier, heatsink, HDMI retimer and CMOS battery placement |
The cost angle is hard to ignore. A cheaper HDMI retimer and a simpler layout are the kind of savings console makers chase late in a generation, and Push Square ties the timing to the memory crunch that has pushed hardware prices up all year. As we covered in our console price guide after Micron’s warning, Sony already raised U.S. PS5 prices on April 2, so a cost-reduced board should not be read as a sign that shelf prices are about to fall.
Who is affected and what to do
| If you… | What it means |
|---|---|
| Own a working PS5 Slim | Nothing to do. No performance, feature or software change has been reported, and there is no reason to trade up |
| Are buying the Wolverine bundle | The teardown unit came from this bundle, but there is no confirmation that every unit carries EDM-051 |
| Are buying another Slim SKU | Unknown. There is no external way to identify the board, and the manual has not changed |
| Repair your own or others’ consoles | The CMOS battery should be easier to reach on EDM-051 boards; check warranty terms before opening a console |
For now, the EDM-051 is a well-documented single sighting rather than a confirmed new model, and TechPowerUp rightly notes it is unclear whether Sony is using it across all new Slims or only in certain production runs and bundles. Further teardowns of standard Slim units over the coming weeks should settle that, and the first independent temperature measurements will show whether the new barrier and heatsink do anything more than save Sony money and make repairs easier. Sony has not commented publicly on the change.
Sources: Modyfikator89 on X (September 30, 2026); VGC; Push Square; TweakTown; TechPowerUp; TechSpot; PlayStation Blog (Marvel’s Wolverine Limited Edition bundle listing); Wccftech (2025 CFI-2100 revision).