Kickstarter campaign claims its $39 AI-powered PlayStation 5 add-on reduces exhaust temps by up to 9 degrees C

SCRY PS5 AI Cooler
(Image credit: SCRY)

A Kickstarter campaign is touting its PlayStation 5 cooling unit that purportedly resolves overheating and instances where the rear I/O can melt. The campaign was at $89,000 when we wrote this, with a stretch goal of up to $125,000. Pricing for the cooling element starts at $39.

The add-on is dubbed the Arctic PS5 cooler and is advertised as the world's first AI-powered PS5 cooler. The device is a clip-on vent that hooks onto the rear exhaust of Sony's PS5 console, featuring either four or six fans that actively dissipate heat. The device is powered with a single USB port and features a pass-through USB port, negating any reduction in port selection from the console.

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SCRY, the creators of the new Kickstarter, are offering three unique models, one for each PS5 version, the original PS5 (SCRY is dubbing the "fat" model), the PS5 slim, and the recently launched PS5 Pro. The PS5 Pro and Slim models are very similar, with four fans in total, three at the top and one at the bottom. The PS5 "fat" version comes with six fans.

As highlighted several times on the Kickstarter campaign page, the three cooling add-ons are powered by "smart thermal AI" that adjusts fan speed based on the PS5's internal temperature. It's unclear how or if this is different from the way PC fan speeds have been controlled for decades. At 50C, the fans are purportedly programmed to ramp up to maximum fan speed to keep the console as cool as possible.

SCRY says its new cooling element provides a 30% reduction in temperature compared to stock operation, dropping from a max of 64C to a max of 55C. Thermal camera imaging on the site shows a 9 degrees Celsius reduction in temperature at the hottest point at the rear of the PS5 chassis, the ethernet port.

The goal of these PS5 coolers is to prevent any overheating issues that might occur on Sony's latest console. Last year, reports were swirling regarding overheating problems in several titles, such as Final Fantasy XVI. In some rare instances, reports have shown the PS5 can overheat to the point where some of the rear connectors can melt.

In addition to the PS5 coolers, SCRY is also promoting a Gen 4 M.2 SSD with a heatsink as part of its Kickstarter campaign.

Again, the main page shows a stretch goal of up to $125,000 with that milestone arriving with a free "vertikal" universal PS5 stand. Stretch goals for $75,000 and $100,000 are also in place but will purportedly be "announce when unlocked."

Aaron Klotz
Contributing Writer

Aaron Klotz is a contributing writer for Tom’s Hardware, covering news related to computer hardware such as CPUs, and graphics cards.

  • hotaru251
    powered by "smart thermal AI" that adjusts fan speed based on the PS5's internal temperature

    so it has a temp probe that speeds up fans when gets hotter.....such ai.....
    Reply
  • tennis2
    THIS ISN'T AI.....STAWWWWP.

    Also, pretty clear Arctic branding ripoff....how are they getting away with that?
    Reply
  • gggplaya
    WTF?? People are just tacking on "Ai" to everything. There's zero need for Ai on this. You literally just set a fan curve.

    Also, the PS5's internal fan controller probably close loops to a set temperature. Meaning the internal fan will slow down to reduce noise, so you might not see good temperature savings unless you can fix the internal fan to 100%.
    Reply
  • Giroro
    The goal of a fan is to reduce the internal temperature, not exhaust temperature.
    Lower exhaust temperature can mean the inside is staying hot, which is a bad thing.
    Reply
  • silentbtdeadly
    Giroro said:
    The goal of a fan is to reduce the internal temperature, not exhaust temperature.
    Lower exhaust temperature can mean the inside is staying hot, which is a bad thing.
    I mean, while I would agree that the device is stupid and obviously trying to take advantage of dumb people that don't know any better, if the exhaust is cooler it probably is reducing the heat internally.. it could literally be sucking the hot air out of it, maybe..
    That said, I'm upset this was even an article because they shouldn't be promoting something that is THIS stupid. AI powered, yet not connected to the Internet.. how dumb are people, or the person writing the article?!
    Reply
  • Giroro
    silentbtdeadly said:
    I mean, while I would agree that the device is stupid and obviously trying to take advantage of dumb people that don't know any better, if the exhaust is cooler it probably is reducing the heat internally.. it could literally be sucking the hot air out of it, maybe..
    That said, I'm upset this was even an article because they shouldn't be promoting something that is THIS stupid. AI powered, yet not connected to the Internet.. how dumb are people, or the person writing the article?!
    I mean, fans like this have been around forever, and yes they can do more harm than good by restricting airflow.
    That is, if they even mount the fans pointed in the right direction, which isn't guaranteed.
    Maybe it's pulling so much more hot air out from inside that it's finally getting cooler, maybe it's not sealed so it pulls cool air in from the sides. Maybe the exhaust isn't actually cooler.
    But let me put it this way: when your thermal paste goes bad (which at least happened on ps4), the exhaust gets cooler, but the CPU gets hotter. Adding air doesn't help, because airflow was not the bottleneck. The fans rev up, but your console stays hot.
    Whatever this dumb fan does, your console definitely won't run any better, will be louder, and also it's overpriced.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    Giroro said:
    The goal of a fan is to reduce the internal temperature, not exhaust temperature.
    Lower exhaust temperature can mean the inside is staying hot, which is a bad thing.
    As long as it's not forcing heat to be diverted through other means, the only way it can lower exhaust temperature is by increasing airflow, which should lead to lower temperatures inside, as well. A given workload has a power utilization rate that's invariant of the cooling (assuming it's not thermal throttling). So, that heat must be dissipated and the only way you reduce the dowstream temperatures is by increasing the volume of air that the heat is transferred into.

    Haven't you ever gotten into a cold car and noticed that the hottest air comes out of the heating vents at the lowest air speeds? Crank up the fan speed and the air coming out of the vents is now cooler. If you're trying to warm up frozen hands, it's best to keep the fan speed low. If you want to warm up the entire cabin, you might as well increase the fan speed a bit. In fact, my car does this automatically - while the engine is still cold, it keeps the fan speed down and only starts ramping it up as the engine starts to get warm.

    Giroro said:
    But let me put it this way: when your thermal paste goes bad (which at least happened on ps4), the exhaust gets cooler, but the CPU gets hotter. Adding air doesn't help, because airflow was not the bottleneck. The fans rev up, but your console stays hot.
    Even with poor thermal conductivity, the rate at which heat energy is transferred into the heatsink is proportional to the temperature difference. So, ramping up the fan will still have some effect, even with degraded TIM since it's not as if its thermal conductivity goes to zero.

    As I said above, the only way degraded TIM reduces the total amount of heat that needs to be dissipated is if the CPU gets so hot that it starts throttling. That will reduce the amount of power being consumed, which directly determines how much heat is generated.
    Reply
  • Elusive Ruse
    Never had overheating issues with my PS5 is this a Slim problem?
    Reply
  • dalek1234
    .....so add more fans for some extra noise?
    Reply
  • bit_user
    Elusive Ruse said:
    Never had overheating issues with my PS5 is this a Slim problem?
    Which revision do you have? I think CFI-1100 runs hottest, since it has the same chip as the CFI-1000 models, but a smaller heatsink.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayStation_5#Standard_Model
    I'm sure dust and ambient (intake) temperature also matter, as well as what sorts of games you run and how hard they stress it.
    Reply