PS4 heat dissipation

**a completely inoffensive name** · 08-10-2013, 18:56

Can someone with some tech knowledge explain how the PS4 is packed with beefier hardware, including 8GB of RAM, and yet the PS4 is smaller and slimmer than the Xbox 1 and the gen 7 consoles.

Just from the images I have seen, I can only see vents located on the rear of the console and there are no heat sinks located on the exterior, just a shiny parallelogram plastic box. Am I missing something here?

**Vuk** · 08-10-2013, 19:01

There are little gnomes with bags full of ice cubes to run around and cool the components.

**Furunculus** · 08-10-2013, 23:24

the single most power consuming component, the APU that contains the eight CPU cores and 1152 GPU shaders, is manufavured at .28u, whereas the previous gen began life at .90u.

you can get a much greater transistor density, and frequency, in the same thermal budget.

**Fragony** · 08-11-2013, 08:37

There aren't any moving parts as I understand, so it shouldn't heat up all that much. I don't get the how&why but we will see when we see it.

**Tellos Athenaios** · 08-11-2013, 15:32

Originally Posted by Fragony

There aren't any moving parts as I understand, so it shouldn't heat up all that much. I don't get the how&why but we will see when we see it.

There aren't any moving parts in your average electric kettle either...

**Fragony** · 08-11-2013, 15:40

Ya, that is why I don't get it. The machine is reported to be very quiet, hardly audible. No idea how they pulled that of given the raw power of it's hardware.

Even bigger mystery, as for now only 4 gb ram can be used, what's up with the other 4.

**Veho Nex** · 08-11-2013, 17:16

It could have one of those water cooling systems that doesnt need to be cleaned and stuff. My brother has on in his computer and it does a great job of keeping the temp down.

**Papewaio** · 08-15-2013, 10:08

A bar heater has 'no moving parts' but it still heats up.

Electrons as they move through most materials heat them up. Because in reality the electrons/electrical field is moving.

Heat is the atoms moving around. So pushing an electric-magnetic field through metal causes the atoms to move around. Yes you get a current flow, but you also get heat build up.

**Fragony** · 08-15-2013, 10:27

Thxforthat, my watercooker says hi as well. With moving parts I mean the hard-drive, the ps4 supposedly uses ultra fast DDR(?)-memory which needs a lot less power, so less heat

**Papewaio** · 08-17-2013, 02:15

The faster DDR is tighter packed. So less to travel, faster response and less heat generated as its smaller.

No mechanical moving parts like HD also improves performance and energy use (heat).

I recently got a new work laptop - standard issue
8GB RAM, 238GB SSD, only thing it's missing is the graphics card. Boots much quicker, is quiet and doesn't want to fry the family jewels when its on my lap.

Love how tech is improving.