Should You Add An External Cooling Fan To Your Playstation 5?

Those who have recently invested in a new PlayStation 5 system may naturally want to know how to get the best longevity out of their console. Adding extras for things like cooling or additional storage (though the PS5 has pretty excellent storage on its own) can sometimes help improve the lifespan of a device by providing auxiliary utility not available from the device's raw hardware. However, they may not be necessary for every use case, which can leave consumers confused as to what's actually needed to produce the best longterm results.

An external cooling system may not be necessary for your PS5. The PS5's internal cooling system works fine on its own and is more than adequate to cool your system if it's kept in ideal or near-ideal conditions. Thus, it may not be worth it to spend the extra money on an external cooling system unless you meet specific criteria. Let's look at some factors that might influence whether you need an external cooling system for your PS5 to stop it from overheating.

The good news is that if you think extra cooling might be helpful, installing a PS5 heatsink is pretty easy. Beyond that, some situations may individually call for an external cooling system to keep the console operating at favorable temperatures. For example, you may want to consider a cooling system if your PS5 doesn't have enough room to breathe. 

Not everyone has a space that offers adequate breathing room for all of their devices. A confined space can cause heat to build up inside the device and eventually damage it. If you don't game in a cool space, your PS5 might just be adding to other heat-generating devices warming the room. Alternatively, sometimes an intensive game is itself enough to ramp up the heat production on your PS5. Dust can also have a major impact on performance. Layers of dust prevent components from venting heat as effectively, causing them to heat up faster and hotter, which can contribute to sluggish behavior or even damage.

In most cases, you probably won't need additional cooling for your PlayStation and the console should be able to cool itself sufficiently. However, if you don't have a lot of space for the PS5 to cool itself, extra cooling may be the fix. This is especially true if you notice your PS5 is shutting down as a means of thermal regulation, but in those cases, a good dusting will probably go further than additional cooling.