PlayStation 5 confirmed to stay cool and quiet while gaming

Sony's investment into console cooling has paid off big, and Japanese previewers say the PS5 runs cool and quiet under heavy load.

Japanese websites have gone hands-on with the PlayStation 5 and the initial results are stellar. Sites like Dengeki Online and 4Gamer both praise the system's heat mitigation while playing games like Godfall and Demon's Souls in 4K resolution. The PS5's fans are described as nearly silent and the vents themselves are cool to the touch--a stark contrast to the launch PS4 and PS4 Pro systems, whose fans rev up quite loudly when playing heavy-hitting games.

Sony has put tremendous money, R&D man hours, and planning into the PlayStation 5's cooling system. Earlier this year, console architect Mark Cerny said the PS5's heat management system would make us 'quite happy,' and the system's chassis has been specifically designed for maximized airflow.

The more dramatic changes are on the inside of the system.

On paper, the PS5's capabilities indicate it should run pretty hot. It can run games at native 4K, it houses an ultra-fast PCIe 4.0 SSD at 5.5GB/sec speeds, and can even belt out 8K output. This kind of demanding performance usually generates lots of heat.

AMD and Sony built the custom 7nm+ SoC with cooling and heat mitigation in mind. The key is the how the system supplies power to its components. Instead of in the past, where CPU and GPU frequency was locked and power draw was variable, the PS5 now uses variable GPU and CPU frequencies and continually supplies the same flow of power to the system.

The result is less heat generated and less noise now that the GPU and CPU can scale performance around the demands of the game itself.

There's other solutions that might come into play, too. It's possible the PS5 uses a dual-fan cooling array, and it may also use liquid metal thermal compound to significantly reduce SoC temperatures and promote much more heat conduction from the built-in heat sink.

Nothing's been confirmed yet, though, and Sony promises to do a console teardown sometime soon.

More on the PlayStation 5's cooling system:

• PlayStation 5 will be quiet and cool, Sony says
• PlayStation 5's cooling solution will make you quite happy, Cerny says
• PlayStation 5 could have dual fan setup for maximum thermal reduction
• PlayStation 5 may use liquid metal compound to significantly drop temps