PS5 System Updates Will Optimize Its Fan Over Time

Sony plans to optimize the PlayStation 5 fan with game data collected from the hardware's Accelerated Processing Unit (APU). That will allow the company to tweak how intense the fan activity will be based on how particular games push the hardware.

In an interview with 4Gamer.net (via Eurogamer), mechanical design VP Yasuhiro Ootori says the company will be collecting APU behavior for each game that's released. There's a temperature sensor inside the APU, as well as three more sensors on the main board. Sony will be able to adjust those fan control parameters basd on its collected data, like increasing the fan speed if a game tends to require a lot of processing power (and heat) for an extended time.

To help test the fans, Otori also said that Sony made a transparent model of the PS5's outer chassis and observed smoke (from dry ice) flowing through it to help test the fans, airflow, and temperature. The PS4 and PS4 Pro were well-known for their fan noise, and part of the reason the PS5 is so large is for cooling.

This comes shortly a PS5 teardown video, which gave us a great view of the internals and how to switch the vertical/horizontal orientation. Sony followed that hardware detail with a first look at the user interface, which includes some cool bells and whistles like the new Activities function. That will let you jump straight into particular parts of a game, or even view pre-made guides.