Aftermarket PlayStation 5 M.2 SSD Cooler Taps into Airflow of the Console's Main Fan

[btarunr]

German company GRAUGEAR, an aftermarket/OEM cooling solutions company, released an interesting M.2 SSD cooler for PlayStation 5, which taps into the airflow of the console's main intake fan. The G-PS5HS01-Cov cooler from GRAUGEAR is meant for bare M.2 NVMe SSDs. It consists of an aluminium monoblock heatsink with a single flat 7 mm copper heatpipe running underneath, making contact with hot components on the drive's topside, through silicone-based thermal pads. This heatpipe sneaks up to the intake fan vent of the PS5, with a copper-channel stack in its end, which dissipates some of the drive's heat to the airflow. The company claims that this design offers 50% better cooling compared to drives with heatsinks that maximize the space above the M.2 slot of the PS5, and can lower controller temperatures by 15-20°C, since it is essentially an active cooling solution. The cooler weighs 70 g. The company didn't reveal pricing or availability information.



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[Chaitanya]

Interesting concept, sould be useful for hot climatic countries.

 

[OverFlow]

it is not like that airflow is for "free" or being useless, or can be increased. I read this as "restrict airflow and reduce cpu cooling to cool a ssd"

 

[Ferrum Master]

Bad idea to tamper with the main system airflow. It has no reserve. Sony should ban it.

 

[Space Lynx]

Bad idea to tamper with the main system airflow. It has no reserve. Sony should ban it.

I agree with you on this, you will be sucking in warmer air to the internals of the PS5.

its not needed, just use a regular heatsink.

 

[Haziza]

Looks smart i like it!

 

[Assimilator]

A stupid product for stupid people. I'm sure it'll sell like hotcakes as a result.

 

[Ruru]

I don't see this as a stupid product, cooling down a SSD most likely won't increase the APU's temp practically at all.

 

[Assimilator]

I don't see this as a stupid product, cooling down a SSD most likely won't increase the APU's temp practically at all.

Cooling down the SSD is wholly unnecessary. Hence this is an unnecessary product. Hence buying it is stupid.

 

[Ruru]

Cooling down the SSD is wholly unnecessary. Hence this is an unnecessary product. Hence buying it is stupid.

Depends on SSD, I guess. SSD throttling due to high temps isn't that uncommon.

 

[Assimilator]

Depends on SSD, I guess. SSD throttling due to high temps isn't that uncommon.

Actually it's incredibly uncommon.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Depends on SSD, I guess. SSD throttling due to high temps isn't that uncommon.

Don't make problems that should not exist.

If you slap a rare drive into PS5 that overheats for some reasons, not sure how PS5 can trigger such states, but you are the problem needing vanity items such as this heatsink. It is totally fine without one.

As I said. PS5 is very balanced and thought out device, it has no reserves to tamper with the thermal envelope, that is designed as cheap you can. It is not a PC, but a closed ecosystem, it is a grand difference.

 

[Bwaze]

With single heatpipe and relatively small fin area I don't think there will be any noticeable impact on overall cooling. I think it's just meant to offload some of the heat generated by SSD - which is already inside PS5 enclosure and dumping the heat into it.

Even if the SSDs don't thermally throttle, very high temperatures (above 100℃ on PCIe 4.0 controllers already) surely can't be good for longevity.

 

[Assimilator]

Even if the SSDs don't thermally throttle, very high temperatures (above 100℃ on PCIe 4.0 controllers already) surely can't be good for longevity.

The manufacturers know what's best for their devices that they produce.

But the only time that controllers will get that hot is when you are consistently stressing the drive by repeatedly reading or writing massive amounts of data from/to it, which quite simply isn't how game workloads currently function. The much-hyped DirectStorage, which was supposed to change this, is still only implemented by a grand total of one game, and appears to make very little appreciable difference.

 

[Bwaze]

The manufacturers know what's best for their devices that they produce.

Yeah, right.

That's why Samsung has issued ZERO press releases when they concluded that there is a bug in early firmwares of 980 Pro and 990 Pro SSD drives - all the users that bought their drives with older firmwares and didn't update them face a high probability their drives will fail, and take their precious data with them - but Samsung has calculated that press release would have greater impact on brand image and percieved quality. After all, people gathering on forums and bitching is just anecdotal evidence.

 

[Assimilator]

Yeah, right.

That's why Samsung has issued ZERO press releases when they concluded that there is a bug in early firmwares of 980 Pro and 990 Pro SSD drives - all the users that bought their drives with older firmwares and didn't update them face a high probability their drives will fail, and take their precious data with them - but Samsung has calculated that press release would have greater impact on brand image and percieved quality. After all, people gathering on forums and bitching is just anecdotal evidence.

That has nothing to do with the rated temperatures listed on the datasheets.

 

[Bwaze]

True.

But most SSDs aren't made with PS5 in mind - even the ones that are sold as PS5 compatible - it just means that their SSD fits all the basic requirements, especially these:

Size including heat-dissipation mechanism

Width: up to 25 mm Length: 30/40/60/80/110 mm Thickness: up to 11.25 mm (up to 8.0 mm from above the board, up to 2.45 mm from below the board)

 

[Assimilator]

True.

But most SSDs aren't made with PS5 in mind - even the ones that are sold as PS5 compatible - it just means that their SSD fits all the basic requirements, especially these:

Size including heat-dissipation mechanism

Width: up to 25 mm Length: 30/40/60/80/110 mm Thickness: up to 11.25 mm (up to 8.0 mm from above the board, up to 2.45 mm from below the board)

Why does an SSD need to be made with a PS5 in mind?

 

[Chomiq]

Why does an SSD need to be made with a PS5 in mind?

$$$ from Playstation branding.

 

[Arkz]

Unless you live in a volcano this seems entirely unnecessary. But the comments saying it will effect system airflow are funny. It's not gonna make any real difference, it's pulling air in at both sides, and one tiny bit of that being slightly warmer isn't gonna mess with the system. At worst under heavy load the fan will run at 1100rpm instead of 1050rpm.

 

[Bwaze]

Why does the PS5 have an option for this error message?

• Temperature Alert
• Your M.2 SSD is too hot.
• Close the game, turn off your PS5, and wait until the temperature goes down.

When PS5 launched most SSDs weren't as hot as they have started making them since. You can find tons of articles on which aftermarket heatsink to use with your PCIe 4.0 SSD that displays overheating alert.

 

[Vya Domus]

I agree with you on this, you will be sucking in warmer air to the internals of the PS5.

NVMe drives dissipate like single digit W figures, it's not gonna matter.

 

[Ferrum Master]

Unless you live in a volcano this seems entirely unnecessary. But the comments saying it will effect system airflow are funny. It's not gonna make any real difference, it's pulling air in at both sides, and one tiny bit of that being slightly warmer isn't gonna mess with the system. At worst under heavy load the fan will run at 1100rpm instead of 1050rpm.

The construction blocks way more percentage of the airflow including the pipe itself. It won't be as dandy as you think.

SSD's, the current GEN5 flops, that everyone urges to be watercooled are not discussed here. Gen4 drives are okay overall.

Why does the PS5 have an option for this error message?

• Temperature Alert
• Your M.2 SSD is too hot.
• Close the game, turn off your PS5, and wait until the temperature goes down.

When PS5 launched most SSDs weren't as hot as they have started making them since. You can find tons of articles on which aftermarket heatsink to use with your PCIe 4.0 SSD that displays overheating alert.

Because the whole PS5 turns glowing hot and overheats while gaming and it also heats up the the drive as the cooling barely is enough. Games are getting more new gen unlike last year and are using more and more resources.

This thing is like attaching a plaster to a corpse. It is not a fix.

 

[Assimilator]

Why does the PS5 have an option for this error message?

• Temperature Alert
• Your M.2 SSD is too hot.
• Close the game, turn off your PS5, and wait until the temperature goes down.

Because Sony needs to cover all the bases, and it is indeed possible that a malfunctioning SSD could overheat. But no properly working NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSD that currently exists will ever encounter this issue. If you install a PCIe 5.0 SSD into a PS5 you might have trouble, but (a) those things are rare as hen's teeth (b) the PS5 doesn't support PCIe 5.0 so you'd be wasting your time and money (c) the current crop of stupidly hot-running PCIe 5.0 SSDs are little more than e-peen technology demonstrators, because the market has shown that it neither wants nor needs PCIe 5.0 speeds - especially not at the price and heat premium being charged for them.

When PS5 launched most SSDs weren't as hot as they have started making them since. You can find tons of articles on which aftermarket heatsink to use with your PCIe 4.0 SSD that displays overheating alert.

No, you can find tons of articles by "journalists", regurgitating the same claim that an SSD installed in a PS5 needs a heatsink. What you won't find is any sort of evidence-based testing demonstrating that it makes one iota of difference. And this is because Sony figured out if they make a vague suggestion that you should use a heatsink on an SSD installed in the PS5, ignorant PS5 buyers will take that as gospel and willingly pay a ridiculous premium for "PS5 ready" SSDs with heatsinks over the non-heatsinked versions that work just as well. In completely unrelated news, Sony started selling their own branded, heatsinked, SSDs at the same time.

The other SSD manufacturers cottoned on to this, probably because they cut a deal with Sony behind the scenes, and started spewing out their own "PS5 optimised" SSDs-with-unnecessary-heatsinks, also for ridiculous premiums. In short, it's nothing more than marketing aimed at the ignorant - and like most such marketing, it's working exactly as intended.

 

[Bwaze]

Got it, everything is a conspiracy then.