PS4 Is Overheating | Symptoms, Causes & Solutions [2023]

Heat is the deadly enemy of electronic components, and when the PS4 is overheating, lots of issues would occur that would badly impact system performance and how PS4 is supposed to work. When your PS4 is running slow and lagging or it keeps freezing and crashing, always suspect there’s an overheating issue going on with your console.

In fact, All game consoles, including the PS4, are designed with heat dispersion and ventilation in mind so they don’t overheat or get too hot. If that’s the case, why would the PS4 overheat in the first place? Or, in other words, is it really possible that the PS4 would overheat? The answer is simply yes, PS4 overheats just like any other device when it ages or part of it malfunctions.

In extreme cases when the PS4 is overheating, the system will crash/freeze or just suddenly turns off by itself without any visible reason. Even if the PS4 system doesn’t crash or freeze, overheating drastically shortens the lifespan of the PS4 internal hardware components such as the CPU, GPU, and hard drive.

Actually, your PS4 contains a lot of parts, almost all of which create heat when your console is on. Some parts, like the CPU and graphics card, can get so hot you could cook on them. So, keeping your PS4 running within safe temperatures is important, especially as the temperature rises outside.

There are a couple of basic reasons your PS4 can overheat. The first is when misbehaving or damaged components generate more heat than they should, especially the hard drive or GPU. Another is when the cooling system that’s supposed to keep PS4 overheats from happening (i.e. the PS4 fan) isn’t doing its job.

In this article, we’re going to look at how to tell when overheating is the problem and how to narrow down the problem. You’ll learn also what makes the PS4 too hot in the first place and how to prevent PS4 overheating in the future.

How Your PS4 Cools Itself

To fully understand the PS4 overheating issue, you need to learn more about the PS4 cooling system and how it works.

PS4 components generate a fair bit of heat during normal use. Airflow is the cooling system that PS4 adopts to dissipate this heat. All the PS4 components rely on the case being able to draw in cooler air from the outside and expel hot air that builds up in the case.

How the main airflow works in the PS4 really depends on its design which varies according to its model. On the base PS4 model, you’ll just see a single exhaust fan with vents on the side, as well as a heat sink that clings to EMI shielding. As for PS4 Pro, the heat sink is bigger and the exhaust fan is designed to deliver better airflow over all the interior components.

Heat mitigation is a huge aspect of any high-powered device, especially a console with a beefy APU; too much heat can leave the sleek trapezoidal box a smoldering mess. Sony had to design a viable cooling solution to keep its console at a stable rate–especially with the inclusion of an internal power source.

As for specifics on the airflow, the design for the airflow inside the PS4 console was taken from the N version, while the G version contributed to how the power supply, cooling fan, and heat sink can be placed. The PS4’s intake splits airflow between the bottom and top of the unit. The air then passes through the heat sink, cooling the console’s power solution and exiting via the exhaust port. Positive and negative pressure from the unit’s fan uniformly spreads the airflow, and Sony keeps the “eye of the storm” or “snail shell” design to maximize efficiency.

Everything from the fan’s shape (which has been shaped to reduce noise) to the motor that powers it (a three-phase unit that efficiently handles power consumption) has been specifically tailored to the PlayStation 4’s cooling system. Additionally, the console has an internal sensor that rates the ambient temperature of the air that’s expelled via the exhaust port, affording for the moderation of external temperatures.

Despite all this, the console still heats up quite a lot with usage (still under the 50-degree Celsius point, though). Thermal imaging shows how hot the core becomes. This is also the place where the APU and the system memory have been placed.

Causes of PS4 Overheating

Game consoles like the PlayStation 4 tend to run hotter with age, but even a brand-new console will heat up when memory-intensive tasks overwhelm the processor. Overheating occurs whenever the PS4’s internal cooling system can’t effectively ventilate the hot air caused by the electrical components involved in PS4 processing.

Heat is an inevitable by-product of all electrical machines, and game consoles are no exception. Ultra-powerful, modern consoles like the PS5 can pump out a lot of heat. That shouldn’t be a problem if the temperature can be effectively regulated by the PS4’s heat management system — its fan, heatsink, and vents.

Let’s take a look at some of the most common reasons why a PS4 runs hot:

• Demanding applications: High-intensity apps/games can exhaust CPU or GPU capacity, causing the components to overheat.
• Multiple open browser tabs: Every open browser tab hoovers up resources that can contribute to PS4 overheating.
• Unresponsive Apps: When apps and tasks crash or freeze, your PS4 works hard to resolve the error, guzzling energy and memory in the process.
• Fan failure: The PS4 cooling system mostly relies on the console’s fan to regulate heat. If there’s a hardware issue with the fan itself, it can lead to dangerous overheating.
• Blocked air vents: If the air vents are obstructed or blocked, the hot air can’t dissipate, heat will accumulate, and the temperature inside your machine will soar.
• Outdated software: Buggy, outdated PS4 system software can have an outsized energy impact, and older PS4 system software versions may be poorly optimized for gaming and other high-intensity tasks.
• Direct sunlight: Using your PS4 in direct sunlight or any kind of hot environment can cause it to overheat. Your cooling system is designed to handle heat caused by internal components and external, environmental factors can overwhelm it.
• Defective hardware component: If a part of your PS4 hardware is defective or malfunctioning, such as the CPU, PSU, GPU, or HDD, it may generate excessive heat that will heat up the whole PS4 system.

Symptoms And Signs of PS4 Overheating

When the PS4 is too hot, there are clear signs that indicate it. The most obvious one is when you get an error message saying that the PS4 is too hot:

But even if you don’t get that message, it does not definitely mean that you don’t have an issue with the PS4 overheating. The PS4 system might get too hot which impacts the system’s performance without showing up that error message.

Bear in mind though that just because your PS4 seems hot doesn’t mean it’s overheating. When using the PS4 for typical tasks, you shouldn’t have to worry about overheating at all. That’s unless something is really going wrong.

You can simply figure out whether the PS4 is too hot and overheating by observing one or more of the PS4 overheating symptoms laid out below:

1. Sluggish Performance

There are a number of things that cause a PS4 to slow down, but heat is commonly overlooked. This is especially true with PS4 game consoles. Because there is very little room for air to pass through, dust is a common culprit.

As components get hotter, they become less effective and drop in performance.

Read more on PS4 is slow and lagging and how to fix it.

2. PS4 Crash/Freeze

One of the most common reasons why the PS4 would freeze or crash is overheating. When the PS4 overheats, particular components will stop working to save themselves from any potential damage, and that would cause a freeze or crash.

Read more on PS4 Freeze or PS4 crash.

3. Random Shutdowns

If this happens, your PS4 has essentially “hard crashed”. As we mentioned at the beginning, CPUs are made to automatically shut down when a temperature threshold is reached. This is the CPU’s last resort to prevent the chip from melting.

Read more on: PS4 Randomly Turns Off By Itself

4. The PS4 Fan is Too Loud

This is another early sign of overheating that is noticeable in PS4 consoles. If there isn’t proper airflow, the fan will run at full speed in an attempt to push heat out. The loud whirling usually becomes the thing that forces many users to visit a repair shop to fix or purchase a new PS4.

5. Glitches and Errors

When the PS4 CPU gets too hot, it will encounter a higher rate of errors. That means you’ll see more funky program glitches and processing errors. The cursor may disappear, your sound may hiccup, or clicks will fail to register.

6. Texture Artifacts

As a gamer, a hot PS4 will start displaying weird technical glitches that only show up in 3D environments. This can also happen when only one region of the PS4 is overheating (i.e. the GPU is hot, but the case temp isn’t). These artifacts appear as missing textures, blocks of colors, twisted and missing polygons and etc.

7. Your Room Has a New Heater

The difference between a PS4 running at around 55C and 80C is like moving to Florida from Tennessee. It’s still warm, but when it gets hotter, you feel it. Gamers can also attest to the ambient room temperature impact that a PS4 console can bring.

What Causes PS4 to Overheat

PS4 overheats can happen for several reasons. It may be that a component is malfunctioning. It may be a hardware driver that isn’t behaving well. Or perhaps there’s a file corruption/conflict that confuses the system and impacts how the CPU/GPU works.

But more than likely, it’s because the airflow cooling system isn’t operating as well as it should be. The potential reasons for that include dust-blocking intake grills or exhaust ports, a clogged-up fan, or a degenerated thermal grease (aka thermal compound) between the heat sink and the CPU or GPU. You can fix all of these things yourself, though some jobs will be tougher than others.

If you believe that your PS4 takes its fair share of environmental cooling, and it’s clean enough inside, yet it overheats, it can be either a hardware defect or a file conflict within the PS4 system that causes this problem. This might be the cause of a corrupted PS4 database.

It can be also the result of improper installation of a game/app or its update, or due to an unsuccessful update of PS4 system software.

Fixing PS4 Overheating Issue

First, we will talk about fixing problems with the cooling system of your PS4 as it is usually the cause of the PS4 heating up. Below are some ways you can fix cooling system problems.

1.Check if the fan is working or not

If the fan of your PS4 isn’t working fine or for some reason, it can’t ventilate air, the result will be an overheated PS4. In such a case you will have to get it fixed by a repair shop.

Here is how to check if the PS4 fan is working properly or not:

When you press the power button to start up the PS4, you hear a satisfying “vroom” sound. Well, that’s the sound of the fan inside, which runs at full throttle at first and then slows down as the PS4 boots. If you can’t hear that sound when the PS4 starts, or maybe you feel the sound is less powerful than before, then there is a chance that the fan isn’t working well.

To investigate further, you can open up the PS4 case to see if the fan is working or not. If you are not comfortable with opening the PS4, then use a flashlight to see inside the PS4’s ventilation holes for the running fan. If you are not able to see any movement, you should immediately take it to a repair shop before the heat melts down the components.

2.Avoid blocking the vents

You should never place your PS4 on your bed, blanket, or any other soft surface while working. Such soft and uneven surfaces block the airflow from the vents, resultantly warming up the PS4. Instead, always place the PS4 on a hard surface, preferably a wooden table or a tray, so that the ventilation area never gets blocked

3.Clean up the PC

If you haven’t cleaned your PS4 in a while, then dirt is most probably the cause of the heating PS4. It is easy to clean a PS4 console, but if you feel uncomfortable doing that, you can simply take it to a repair shop. If you want to clean the PS4 yourself, follow the below-mentioned steps:

1. First, completely turn off the PS4 and unplug it.
2. Now open the cover and you should be able to see visible dust. To clean it up, you can use a can of compressed air or a leaf blower (at a slow speed). Blow the main PS4 components with air, especially the fan, from both the front and back sides.
3. You can also use cotton buds to clean up the narrow spaces. However, don’t worry if you can’t get it sparkly cleaned, as we are just looking to get rid of any blockage caused by dust.

Read our PS4 Cleaning Guide for more details.

4.Reapply thermal paste

Thermal paste is usually a highly conductive material that is applied between CPU/GPU and heatsinks. This paste ensures that the heat is properly moved out of the PS4. If this material gets old, it will definitely affect the effectiveness of the cooling system.

If the above tips don’t help, you can also try reapplying the thermal paste.

Preventing Your PS4 From Overheating

If you’re afraid to have your PS4 overheating, there are tips you can do in order to prevent that from happening.

• • Regularly clean the inside and outside of Your PS4: Dust accumulates in the PS4 case over time, clogging the fan and blocking airflow. This dust can cause ventilation problems, trapping heat and preventing your PS4 from cooling itself properly. Be sure to clean your PS4’s case occasionally to prevent dust build-up.
  • Ensure Proper Ventilation: Put the PS4 in a location where it can properly ventilate itself. Don’t push the case up against a wall so that the PS4’s vents become blocked or leave it near a radiator or heating vent.
  • Use an External Cooling Station for PS4: External PS4 cooling stations and fans could help keep your console quiet by increasing airflow and will help to take the strain off the PS4’s internal fans. This means that console noise from internal cooling components shouldn’t reach absurd levels of volume, and, alongside simply keeping your PS4 well-ventilated and air-dusted occasionally, cooling fans and stations could lead to a potentially longer console lifespan.

Conclusion

PS4 does overheat sometimes and becomes too hot. You don’t have to panic as it’s usually an easily-resolvable issue. Mostly, all you need is to clean the vents and the fan and everything will go right. Rebuilding the PS4 database or initializing it can be also a solution. This article has included almost every possible way to fix this issue.

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What Causes the PS4 to Overheat?

There are various reasons that cause the PS4 to overheat and become very hot. The most common one is that the CPU is not getting enough cooling due to a malfunctioning fan or a bad thermal paste.

What happens when the PS4 overheats?

The most common symptoms of PS4 overheating is: System freeze/crash, unreasonable slowness, loud fan noise, and glitches on the screen.

How to prevent PS4 from overheating?

You can protect your PS4 system from overheating by keeping it always clean from inside and outside and making sure there's no noise coming out the console.