PlayStation 5's Cooling Fan Has An Internet-Connected Secret Weapon

At this point, we know a lot about the PlayStation 5, with Sony having revealed not only the console's hardware, but also the the PS5's new UI. Today we're learning about a new feature that is definitely smaller in focus but still very noteworthy, as Sony has confirmed that it will be able to optimize the PlayStation 5's fan through software updates.

That may not seem like a big deal on the surface, but when the PlayStation 4 was often lambasted for its fan noise, this kind of granular control over the the PS5's fan could be a big relief for gamers. Sony revealed these capabilities in an interview with Japanese site 4Gamer.net – ResetEra user orzkare translated the interview, with Eurogamer confirming the accuracy of that translation.

In that interview, Sony Interactive Entertainment VP of mechanical design Yasuhiro Otori explains that these software updates will use data from the console's Accelerated Processing Unit concerning individual game performance. The data that's collected will inform the software updates that will optimize fan control.

"Various games will be released in the future, and data on the APU's behaviour in each game will be collected," Otori said. "We have a plan to optimize the fan control based on this data." Since the updates Sony plans to ship will use APU data, it sounds like the PlayStation 5's fan will get better over time, which hopefully means more efficient usage that will only ramp up fan speed when truly necessary.

We've already been introduced to the PlayStation 5's single, 120mm air intake fan through a Sony teardown of the console that was published a couple of weeks ago. Sony is saying that the PlayStation 5 should be a lot quieter than the PS4, so hopefully these regular software updates will help it achieve that goal.