Amidst the growing anticipation for the next PlayStation, renderings of various parts of the PS5 have been released.

The latest renderings are a bit more unusual than the others, as they envision what the PS5's heatsink will look like. While not as exciting as the concept designs we have seen for entire game consoles, the heat sink is a very important part of the console and often influences the overall design of the console.

The rendered image of the heatsink was published on Reddit and is fan-made rather than leaked from an official image. However, it showcases a two-tier design with what looks like copper piping connecting the lower and upper sections.

This suggests that the heat sink works by releasing heat from the lower tier, which sits on top of the PS5 chip, and pushing it up to the upper tier. This area is likely to be exposed to airflow from the console's fan, which blows hot air from inside the console's silicon.

Having sufficient cooling capacity is an important factor in the design of the console, as it will allow the PS5 to utilize all of its power and ray-tracing capabilities for gaming. If the gaming console gets too hot, thermal throttling can occur.

This is one reason why the Xbox Series X design appears to be built around a heat sink and cooling system rather than a futuristic concept.

The large heat sink could also be the key to creating a PS5 that is fairly quiet even when running at full power. If you have an older PS4 there, you know that the console's fan can be a bit distracting when it really spins up.

The heatsink appears to have more horizontal surface area than vertical surface area. If this rendered image is close to the actual shape of the PS5's heat sink, one would expect the console to be designed to be installed horizontally. If this is the case, the design may be very different from the Xbox Series X, which is designed to be placed vertically.