I've had my PS5 since launch and while my son has a larger claim to it now, it remains in heavy rotation after almost three years, but one major flaw has limited our PS5 gaming over the last few months: overheating.
This isn't entirely new, a little over a year in we first started to encounter issues with the PS5 randomly shutting off. It was always during more intensive PS5 games, so I was reasonably sure that overheating was to blame, and cleaning it out proved effective. That is until a few months ago when even our freshly cleaned PS5 would refuse to play PS5 games for more than 10-15 minutes. We were sticking to PS4 games, and while I appreciate the backward compatibility, it's not exactly what you have in mind for your cutting-edge console.
That brings us to a week ago when a device that was the potential solution to our piping-hot PS5 problem arrived.
Fan-tastic PS5 cooling
The cure for my console cooling conundrum took all of 5 seconds to install and now we're back to taking the PS5 to its limits with any game in our library. So what was the solution? Just a simple snap-on fan accessory.
In my case the SCRY Artic PlayStation 5 Cooler. While the company bills it as "The World's Most Advanced PlayStation 5 Cooler," it's exceedingly simple to set up. There are two plastic hooks at the top that slide into the gap near the top of your PS5, then you align the USB Type-A plug on the Artic with the top USB-Type A port on the PS5 and seat it in place with two clips at the bottom then snapping firmly into place to make sure it doesn't go anywhere. If you are exceedingly careful about it the whole process may take 10 seconds, but that's it, this is the definition of plug and play.
Once it's attached and your PS5 is powered on the SCRY Artic kicks into action with 6 fans whirring at high-speed to keep your PS5 cool as a cucumber. While there's no RGB lighting, they do have white LEDs to give your PS5 a little bit of extra gaming panache.
Overall I'm thrilled with the SCRY Artic, not being able to play PS5 games on our PS5 was more than a little irritating. We are well beyond the warranty so it was going to be a question of buying a new PS5, which doesn't feel right after less than 3 years.
My one complaint is that it is reasonably loud, notably louder than the PS5's built-in fans. It's not a dealbreaker by any means and depending on where you have your PS5 it will be more or less of an issue for you. It's just worth noting as they claim "As Quiet As Library Operation" and I will promise you that a librarian would be hushing the SCRY Artic until they passed out.
The other catch is that the SCRY Artic is on Kickstarter. Standard warnings apply that Kickstarter is not a store and there is risk in backing any project. I can at least attest in this case that it's not vaporware, the model I received came in what looks to be final packaging and at least dozens of others received the same model, so they can and have produced the product already. SCRY claims that shipping will start in September or October depending on the options you choose. The Super Early Bird tier is still available as of this writing for ~$29 (51% off their projected retail price).
If you are dealing with the same problem and can't wait that long there are other options in the market, just search for PS5 cooling fan on Amazon and you'll find dozens of options. If you want a full stand that also includes a charger for your PS5 controller there are some interesting options there, but I do like how minimal the SCRY Artic is while also giving you maximum added cooling.
I'm just happy that my son and I are back to being able to play the best PS5 games rather than having to rummage through the PS4 classics bin.
