Several months ago photos of Sony’sPlayStation 5devkit were leaked online. The oddly-shaped console hardware was a matter of some curiosity. It featured a deep V-shape down its center, as if a 10-story building had a courtyard installed on the roof of its fifth floor. A newly published patent from Sony is providing deeper insight into thePS5devkit’s design. That insight could potentially provide an idea of what the final PS5’s design will be and what some of its hardware features will offer.
The biggest aspect of thePS5 devkit’s designrevealed by the new patent is its cooling system. The v-shape in the top half of the console is important, as it houses six different fans. Three fans are aligned on each side of the v-shape, ensuring excellent ventilation throughout the entire console.
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The PS5 devkit’s cooling arrangement utilizes avapor chamber design. Vapor chambers are incredibly efficient at spreading heat across a broad area. That allows the use of other cooling materials, including fans or heat pipes, to help dissipate heat faster than more traditional cooling solutions.
Thev-shape designis also a great heat solution in a very basic way, as well. The more surface area open to air, the better airflow and so the better opportunity for cooling. That’s why the PS5 devkit’s sides are largely open, but also the center area of the v-shape, too.
With the next generation of consoles, or specifically the PS5 and theXbox Series X, hardware is going to take a giant leap forward in performance, and with that leap forward comes a lot of additional heat. That means that small boxy shapes like the PS4 and the Xbox One S, or even the Xbox One X, are too small. Microsoft and Sony are having to get creative to manage the heat. The Xbox Series X, for example, is both big and clever. It has a large boxy shape with an excellent heat dispersion system within. The PS5, or at least its devkit, has an equally clever design.
As for whether the PS5 devkit will be similarly shaped to the final PS5 design, Sony has yet to officially confirm. However, aleaked icon for the PS5 from an official PlayStation websitedid hint that the console will retain some sort of v shape. It could be similar, or it could be wildly different. PlayStation fans will likely hear more relatively soon.
