The PlayStation 5 devkit's unusual V-shaped design, revealed last year thanks to patent documents, is the result of a dual-chambered cooling system as detailed today in another patent filing.
Today's patent filing, unearthed by Dutch site Let'sGoDigital, describes 'a plurality of cooling fans for supplying air to a heat sink' in its English abstract. Designs supplied with the patent, which was first filed with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) on November 30, 2018, show how airflow is taken in through the V-shaped notch in the center of the devkit and sent across radiator fins of one large heat sink on one side and a component board stuffed with transistors on the other to exit the exterior sides and back of the console.
The rest of the patent is written in Japanese, however exploded view diagrams show that there are six fans positioned on the outer edges of the unit to draw air across components from the central intake.
If you've ever complained about your PS4 getting hot enough to cook an egg, you may be happy to learn that the PS5 devkit's cooling system appears to be significantly beefier than its predecessor. The devkit design is still unlikely to be the final consumer model we'll be placing under our TVs by Christmas time, however the technical specifications are likely to be similar given the massive jump in power for the 8-core Zen 2 CPU and 10.3 teraflop GPU architecture it will need to keep cool.
It's also unclear how quiet this cooling setup would be, which may leave the rest of you, who complain about the sound of your PS4 taking off like a jet engine, a little less excited. Devkits often have less of a focus on consumer comfort in their industrial design, which contributes to their historical blocky looks, and can also mean that designers have some leeway with the decibel output of their fans.
Does this PS5 devkit cooling patent excite you? Would you be happy to have a PS5 console with six cooling fans in it? Does your current PS4 overheat a lot, or sound like it's trying to escape earth orbit?
