ps5-hwinfo

ps5-hwinfo is a small PlayStation 5 payload for collecting hardware and runtime telemetry from a console. It is built with ps5-payload-sdk and produces two payload ELFs:

• hwinfo_sysinfo.elf prints system telemetry.
• hwinfo_bench.elf runs read-only disk read benchmarks.

The payload writes its results to stdout, so use it with a payload loader or deployment tool that shows the payload console output.

What It Reports

The system telemetry payload currently prints:

• hardware model, system software version, main SoC ID, and current process AUTHID
• SoC and CPU temperature
• fan duty, fan policy/mode summary, and optional raw ICC fan debug data
• USB and Blu-ray drive power state
• CPU frequency and per-core CPU clocks
• SoC clock domains, including known and inferred labels such as GFXCLK, FCLK, UCLK, cache clocks, video clocks, memory clock, and boost limit
• ShellCore-style state such as HLT, GC, BAPM, and VM stats
• partially decoded SoC power rails from sceKernelGetSocPowerConsumption
• system RAM usage and a VRAM page-table proxy when available
• logical CPU load estimated from idle-thread deltas

Some low-level fields are still reverse-engineering notes rather than confirmed Sony API names. The payload marks uncertain labels with ? or prints them as raw/debug data.

The benchmark payload scans readable regular files from these locations when available:

• /mnt/sandbox/pfsmnt/*-app0
• /data
• /mnt/shadowmnt
• /mnt/ext0
• /mnt/ext1
• /mnt/usb0
• /mnt/usb1

For each source it runs a single-thread read pass and an 8-thread read pass, printing progress, file count, read volume, elapsed time, throughput, CPU load, and per-core clocks. It is intended to read existing data only.

Requirements

• A PS5 environment capable of running payload ELFs.
• ps5-payload-sdk, with PS5_PAYLOAD_SDK pointing to the SDK root.
• A payload listener/loader on the console. The Makefile defaults to host ps5 and port 9021.

The default SDK path is /opt/ps5-payload-sdk.

Build

make

To use a non-default SDK path:

make PS5_PAYLOAD_SDK=/path/to/ps5-payload-sdk

Build outputs:

hwinfo_sysinfo.elf
hwinfo_bench.elf

Clean generated payloads:

make clean

Deploy

Deploy the system telemetry payload:

make test-sysinfo PS5_HOST=<console-ip>

Deploy the disk benchmark payload:

make test-bench PS5_HOST=<console-ip>

If your listener uses a different port:

make test-sysinfo PS5_HOST=<console-ip> PS5_PORT=<port>
make test-bench PS5_HOST=<console-ip> PS5_PORT=<port>

You can also send either ELF with your usual payload loader.

Runtime Configuration

The Makefile builds separate payloads instead of relying on command-line arguments. prospero-deploy does not forward extra argv values to the payload, so runtime options are compile-time defines near the top of main.c:

#define HWINFO_CFG_WATCH false
#define HWINFO_CFG_DUMP_FAN_MODE true
#define HWINFO_CFG_SET_FAN_MODE false
#define HWINFO_CFG_FAN_MODE_RAW 0u
#define HWINFO_CFG_INTERVAL_SEC 1u

• HWINFO_CFG_WATCH: repeat system telemetry until the payload is stopped.
• HWINFO_CFG_DUMP_FAN_MODE: include raw fan mode/debug state.
• HWINFO_CFG_SET_FAN_MODE: set a raw ICC fan mode before printing telemetry.
• HWINFO_CFG_FAN_MODE_RAW: raw fan mode value used by the setter.
• HWINFO_CFG_INTERVAL_SEC: sampling interval for CPU-load deltas and watch mode.

Rebuild after changing any of these values.

Notes

• The payload attempts to switch its process AUTHID to 0x4800000000000010 on startup when the SDK helper is available.
• CPU logical load is an idle-thread delta estimate, not a confirmed bit-exact clone of ShellCore's CPU utilization display.
• Fan policy labels are inferred from ShellCore behavior and registry state. Raw ICC state is kept as debug output.
• SoC power data is only partially decoded. Known-looking rail groups are labeled, while uncertain values remain raw or marked as inferred.