PS5 Pro spent a year in a cardboard box
A custom PlayStation 5 Pro has successfully operated for a year inside a regular cardboard box. An ingenious gamer showed Reddit skeptics that the console can function properly even without its standard casing.
The story began with an unusual purchase. A man bought a PlayStation 5 Pro at a Walmart supermarket in the US, removed all the internal hardware, packed the empty plastic shell back up, and returned it. The remaining “naked” board with the processor was later purchased for $100 by a user with the handle bayareapyro. Since there were no full replacement cases for the PlayStation 5 Pro on the market, the enthusiast decided to place the electronics in a shoebox.
When the author first showed his setup online, users predicted the console would quickly fail, overheat, and accumulate dust on the board. However, the “cardboard” console has been running for over 12 months with daily use. The owner even uses it to play games for the PSVR2 headset.
During the experiment, the enthusiast discovered several features of this build. The standard PlayStation 5 Pro cooling system is designed for directed airflow within the factory casing, so the board began to overheat in the open box after about half an hour. The problem was solved using a regular room fan pointed at the setup.
Concerns about dust, according to the owner, were also not confirmed. In a standard closed case, dust can accumulate on radiators and vents, whereas in a cardboard box, air flows freely around the components. After a year of use, the owner did not find any significant dust buildup that could interfere with the console’s operation.
As a result, the user obtained a working PlayStation 5 Pro for $100 by discarding the stock case and adding external cooling. For comparison, the official recommended price for the console currently starts at $900 in the US and €900 in Europe.
