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[Fliesen]

It is though.
Just after a while the thermal paste fucks up and it starts getting loud, changed my launch paste the other day and it is silent again.

and many MANY many MANY

...

MANY many people have had PS4s that were loud from the get-go AND have even replaced their thermal paste with high quality new paste, including cleaning their fans before re-assembly.
And it's still rather loud.

You're either playing the wrong games, or you've been super lucky. But in general, the PS4 is simply not a "quiet unless you're doing it wrong" console.

 

[NXGamer]

So do all the interior design pundits in this thread pay attention to the wallpaper & furnishings when watching amateur porn?

Damn yeah, have you see some of the carpet and settee combinations in those? Oh boy talk about colour match clash..shudder.

 

[Breakfast at Noon]

and many MANY many MANY

...

MANY many people have had PS4s that were loud from the get-go AND have even replaced their thermal paste with high quality new paste, including cleaning their fans before re-assembly.
And it's still rather loud.

You're either playing the wrong games, or you've been super lucky. But in general, the PS4 is simply not a "quiet unless you're doing it wrong" console.

It's fine with Battlefield 1
To be fair I had a extremely loud 360 and PS3, a cat been strangled is whisper quiet to me now lol

 

[lord pie]

You guys haven't confused me, at all.

Two basic ways to send an color image signal; RGB should be obvious, but also YUV (also called YCbCr) where instead of sending the image as three values per pixel (channels) for red, green and blue you send three channels that are luminance plus two 'chroma' channels for color (sort of like saturation and hue).

The trick is that our vision is dramatically more sensitive to luminance than color, so by using YUV instead of RGB you can often get away with sending lower resolution color data with surprisingly little perceived quality loss. Pretty much every digital video you will ever watch does this.

The reason this is important for 4k is because HDMI 2.0 only has enough bandwidth for a 24 bit 4k60 signal. So you can send 8bit per channel RGB fine (8 bit x3 RGB channels = 24 bits per pixel).

However HDR ideally needs more than 8bits of precision because of its expanded dynamic range. 8 bits can potentially show banding artifacts, as 8 bit encoding only allowed for 256 shades for each channel.

Ideally you want 10 bit (1024 shades) or 12 bit (4096 shades).

But HDMI 2.0 doesn't have the bandwidth for that, so the compromise is to reduce color resolution by using either YUV422 or YUV420. The idea is that a drop in color resolution (but not luminance resolution) will be less noticeable than a drop in luminance precision.

So YUV422 will allow for 10 or 12bit precision by sending luminance at full 4k res, and chroma at half horizontal res (1920x2160). YUV420 sends chroma at half res both vertically and horizontally (1920x1080).

It's important to reiterate that your eyes are dramatically less sensitive to small changes in chroma than luminance - so with a few exceptions (text being one) it is usually extremely hard to spot low res chroma.

The trade-off then becomes which you can notice; low res chroma or low precision luminance.

My personal preference is actually to use 8 bit RGB, but with a touch of noise to help hide banding.

 

[Bl@de]

Spoiler

I don't think we're out of the woods yet

10/10 GIF usage

Woke me up real good today

Spoiler

Still waiting for reviews though, there are many quiet and many loud base PS4 consoles. Mine was loud, but not a jet engine

They are for the most part. I've had a couple and they've been whisper quiet. But my buddies has been quite loud since he got it. I assume it's the thermal paste.

Not true. Different revisions use different fans. And even with the same fan not all PS4s have the same decibel levels. I opened my old PS4 weeks after I bought it and changed thermal paste to one of the best (Cooler Master MasterGel) and there was only a little difference in noise levels. To this day I still don't know why some units are louder. System settings should be the same for all systems.

 

[Markitron]

Looks nice and chunky - just the way I like my game consoles.

Also if you pronounce Sega the same way as the guy in the video then you are pronouncing it wrong. I mean they tell you exactly how to pronounce it every time you booted up one of their games.

 

[kyser73]

Damn yeah, have you see some of the carpet and settee combinations in those? Oh boy talk about colour match clash..shudder.

It's the flock wallpaper that sends me over the edge

 

[Aztechnology]

I swear a whole bunch of you guys must play videogames inside a sound-amplifying box.

Never buy a gaming PC!

My gaming PC is liquid cooled with a $60 closed loop system with dual radiator fans. My PS4 was louder than my PC.

 

[Langdon Alger]

I'm really not a fan of that third "blade" on the physical system. It's too few to look like the PS2 stack, and doesn't look as good as the double-stack standard PS4.

It's that useless third bun in the Big Mac.

Agreed.

 

[kyser73]

You know, for all the confusion over Pro mode enhancements the thing that's really floored me is How To Use Your TV.

Why have TVs suddenly become so complex?

 

[FlutterPuffs]

I swear a whole bunch of you guys must play videogames inside a sound-amplifying box.

Never buy a gaming PC!

I put my ps4 near my gaming PC at my parents house. Often times the sound of my ps4 is higher than my PC :/

 

[Dynomutt]

So between monitoring sound levels, adjusting RGB settings, measuring HDD bays , and making sure the HDMI is the right AWG does anyone actually ever play their PS4?

 

[PodcastFips]

My gaming PC is liquid cooled with a $60 closed loop system with dual radiator fans. My PS4 was louder than my PC.

And how much smaller is the PS4 compared to this PC? Tenfold?

 

[Aztechnology]

And how much smaller is the PS4 compared to this PC? Tenfold?

Yea it's air pressure that's creating the sound I know. I was just saying that was kind of silly to assume that PC's are all monstrously loud or something when often they're pretty quiet.

 

[ScientificPizza]

Does it wobble?

is it even a PS4 if it doesn't wobble

 

[Cerbero]

I swear a whole bunch of you guys must play videogames inside a sound-amplifying box.

Never buy a gaming PC!

My gaming pc is whisper quiet, my ps4 is very loud.

 

[User123456]

I'm really coming around with regards to the big mac design. Honestly starting to think that it's actually rather pretty.

IMO the extra height allows the angled design to stand out more. I'm starting to like the Pro's design more than I like the Slim's.

 

[cripterion]

You'd think this board would care about how the games looked or played, not page after page of concern about how much noise it produces.
Christ, this has truly become an obsession for some just because there's this huge spotlight on the issue. I never remember anyone caring a whole lot that the Xbox 360 was loud as fuck - it played great games.

People spend money on making their pc's quieter. I seriously didn't expect the PS4 to be this noisy (and yes the 360 noise bothers me as well, so does the external PSU of the Xbox One), I think it's a valid complaint, what's your point?

 

[Maedre]

I swear a whole bunch of you guys must play videogames inside a sound-amplifying box.

Never buy a gaming PC!

CPU and GPU are watercooled. It's hard to tell if its on or not. I can't say the same about my PS4 i had in the last years.

 

[Fliesen]

You'd think this board would care about how the games looked or played, not page after page of concern about how much noise it produces.
Christ, this has truly become an obsession for some just because there's this huge spotlight on the issue. I never remember anyone caring a whole lot that the Xbox 360 was loud as fuck - it played great games.

games are not just about looks, but also about immersion. Immersion does suffer when they game puts you in an intense, yet quiet situation - like in a horror game -, or an important character dying in the arms of another - and you should feel really sad -, and if the game's (lack of) audio is overshadowed by your PS4 going 'wrooooooooooooooom', that's more irritating to me than, say, bad hair physics.

Honestly,"you'd think this board would" respect that different kinds of players care more about different aspects of their gaming experience.

If all i cared about was looks, i'd be playing on a PC anyways.
And clearly, Sony and Microsoft care about noise levels, as both of their slim revisions are super quiet.

 

[Hoo-doo]

People spend money on making their pc's quieter. I seriously didn't expect the PS4 to be this noisy (and yes the 360 noise bothers me as well, so does the external PSU of the Xbox One), I think it's a valid complaint, what's your point?

For sure it's a valid complaint for some.

But I never expected that nearly every PS4Pro discussion/impression thread starts to revolve around how much sound the fans make. As if it's the critical thing that decides the quality of the product.
I'm convinced that people have become increasinlgly hyper-sensitive to this issue simply because this board often puts such a huge emphasis on it's importance.

Personally, I've never heard my PS4 in my living room. But I also don't really pay attention to it. I'd much rather read about gaming performance, UI and such over decibel counts.
I didn't even care when my Xbox 360 sounded loud when spinning up a DVD either. It certainly can be improved upon but it'll have exactly 0% impact on my gaming experience either way.

 

[Logsi]

I must be really lucky with my launch PS4...it's quiet. Much quieter than my launch 60GB PS3 and Elite 360.

In fact, i'd go as far to say my PS4 is quieter than my Wii U...

 

[User123456]

For sure it's a valid complaint for some.

But I never expected that nearly every PS4Pro discussion/impression thread starts to revolve around how much sound the fans make. As if it's the critical thing that decides the quality of the product.
I'm convinced that people have become increasinlgly hyper-sensitive to this issue simply because this board often puts such a huge emphasis on it's importance.

Personally, I've never heard my PS4 in my living room. But I also don't really pay attention to it. I'd much rather read about gaming performance, UI and such over decibel counts.
I didn't even care when my Xbox 360 sounded loud when spinning up a DVD either. It certainly can be improved upon but it'll have exactly 0% impact on my gaming experience either way.

I've become hyper-sensitive to this issue because I legit can't hear my TV at the volume I usually play it when my Slim's fan goes into overdrive (which is quite often playing Samurai Warriors 4II). It's not a problem with any of my other PS consoles.

Hopefully the PS4 Pro's size accounts for a large and well-designed cooling solution that allows it to be quieter, but the 310W power consumption in a not much larger enclosure than the OG PS4 is worrying for sure.

 

[ManUnkindH]

Love these videos that make me feel like a lurker in a serial killer's house.

 

[Sodding_Gamer]

Lol I have a jet engine PS4 until I changed the thermal paste and now it's ok. It's still loud though. When it was bad though my ps4 would be much, much louder than my gaming pc. And that just had stock fans. No liquid cooling or anything.

Will be interested how the PS4 Pro runs in comparison! Don't want another loud console if I can help it aha.

 

[Mendrox]

I must be really lucky with my launch PS4...it's quiet. Much quieter than my launch 60GB PS3 and Elite 360.

In fact, i'd go as far to say my PS4 is quieter than my Wii U...

Yep. Doesn't matter even when I play Uncharted 4. Quiet like my Wii U. My Fat PS3 60GB...is a jet.

 

[cripterion]

For sure it's a valid complaint for some.

But I never expected that nearly every PS4Pro discussion/impression thread starts to revolve around how much sound the fans make. As if it's the critical thing that decides the quality of the product.
I'm convinced that people have become increasinlgly hyper-sensitive to this issue simply because this board often puts such a huge emphasis on it's importance.

Personally, I've never heard my PS4 in my living room. But I also don't really pay attention to it. I'd much rather read about gaming performance, UI and such over decibel counts.
I didn't even care when my Xbox 360 sounded loud when spinning up a DVD either. It certainly can be improved upon but it'll have exactly 0% impact on my gaming experience either way.

You might be not sensitive to it, or your PS4 is no loud as mine. Playing certain games, the console is in a small room, the noise is unbearable.

There's no dust in it, it's clean and thermal paste has been changed but the damn thing runs hot (even during winter) and there's a noticeable "hummmm" even while playing Netflix or Crunchyroll.

I don't get the feeling people are focusing on the noise issue, hell there were plenty of topics yesterday on X game having pro enhancements.

 

[kiaaa]

games are not just about looks, but also about immersion. Immersion does suffer when they game puts you in an intense, yet quiet situation - like in a horror game -, or an important character dying in the arms of another - and you should feel really sad -, and if the game's (lack of) audio is overshadowed by your PS4 going 'wrooooooooooooooom', that's more irritating to me than, say, bad hair physics.

Honestly,"you'd think this board would" respect that different kinds of players care more about different aspects of their gaming experience.

If all i cared about was looks, i'd be playing on a PC anyways.
And clearly, Sony and Microsoft care about noise levels, as both of their slim revisions are super quiet.

I get this to an extent, but if immersion is really my concern, I just grab my nicest pair of headphones and drown anything else out.

I also picked up the Silver headset to play with friends and it comes with the USB connector for surround sound.

 

[AbandonedTrolley]

my 20th Anniversary machine was a jet, sent it back to Sony who quietened it down for a little while, but got progressively louder, opened it up, replaced the paste etc and sold it on.

 

[Fliesen]

I get this to an extent, but if immersion is really my concern, I just grab my nicest pair of headphones and drown anything else out.

I also picked up the Silver headset to play with friends and it comes with the USB connector for surround sound.

That's fine, that's what you do.

Some of us have a top notch surround sound system, or do NOT want to block out everything just to block out the fan noise the console makes. I do not want to block out my girlfriend from being able to talk to me, for example.

What's even worse than PS4pro threads "revolving" around the fan noise, is people constantly trying to discredit people who are more sensitive to the noise their OG PS4 makes, making suggestions like "wear headphones or buy a slim".

The PS4 has more power, but it's still a home console. Up until the 360/PS3, home consoles were absolutely whisper quiet - remember any loud(!) fan noise from your SNES, NES, N64, PS1, Dreamcast?
Just because within one generation of consoles, some gamers have accepted manufacturers sacrificing noise level while at full load to raw power and sleek console design, doesn't mean all of us have.

Again, if all i care about is power, i'll just get a PC.
A console has always and will always be - to me, that is - a compromise between power and price, size and noise level, ease-of-use and versatility.
So, sorry that i do hope that not everyone who wants their next console to be an upgrade not just in power but also noise levels, would have to wait for the "PS4pro Slim"

 

[FarFromAnyGame]

Why did they switch to a 3-pin sized power connector but with only 2 pins?

 

[-hadouken]

Up until the 360/PS3, home consoles were absolutely whisper quiet - remember any loud(!) fan noise from your SNES, NES, N64, PS1, Dreamcast?

I'm guessing it's been a while since you've booted up a Dreamcast.

In fact, i'd go as far to say my PS4 is quieter than my Wii U...

Glad the Switch has no noisy disc drive. Nintendo claimed they under-specced the U to be quiet, yet made the disc read even in the store! argh.

 

[martino]

See his Twitter answer:

tbh it's not hard to do better than OG ps4 on thoses 2 points.

 

[the_batman]

are people really comparing the sound of a three year old console with a brand new one?

 

[AbandonedTrolley]

are people really comparing the sound of a three year old console with a brand new one?

My Mega Drive is still silent.....

 

[Saint of Killers]

Pretty sure some people were unlucky enough to have super loud PS4's even on day 1. So yeah, I can understand people wanting to know what Pro sounds like even while it's brand spanking new.

 

[the_batman]

My Mega Drive is still silent.....

that's because you rarely ever had to use it ;D

 

[Fliesen]

are people really comparing the sound of a three year old console with a brand new one?

Many OG PS4s were super noisy even when brand new.

I'm guessing it's been a while since you've booted up a Dreamcast.

well, yeah. But even then - was it that noisy?
To be fair, seeing as it was mostly used for fighting games, i suppose i didn't notice the noise quite as much, as opposed to playing narrative driven games on the PS4.

 

[CyberPunked]

And how much smaller is the PS4 compared to this PC? Tenfold?

Unless you're really pushing for space in the room you game in, the size of the console/PC doesn't really matter.

 

[GribbleGrunger]

Access unboxing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3ZA5ceI-Zw

 

[the_batman]

Many OG PS4s were super noisy even when brand new.

like when it's installing games off discs or all the time?

 

[Fliesen]

like when it's installing games off discs or all the time?

... all. the. time.

I still can't believe there's still people who can't believe that "loud PS4s" are anything but a user error
(you have to wait for it to finish installing, you have to clean the fans, you have to disassemble it and replace the thermal paste, ...)

Infamous Second Son. 'release window' PS4 (like 1 month post release), digital download. Jet engine.

 

[-hadouken]

well, yeah. But even then - was it that noisy?

Between the horrible disc grinding noises and the undersized high pitch fan - yes, the DC was the first console that spoiled the mood.

Infamous Second Son. 'release window' PS4 (like 1 month post release), digital download. Jet engine.

I'd suggest that early PS4s sound like hairdryers, not jets.

 

[PLASTICA-MAN]

Access unboxing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3ZA5ceI-Zw

Wow the Power and Eject buttons are not obvious on both PS4 Slim and PS4 PRO.

 

[lowhighkang_LHK]

Man, it's so great that I game with headphones because all this talk about fuckin noise means nothing to me.

Yay for me I guess.

 

[Pankratous]

Did loud PS4s just ship to USA or something?

My PS4 is whisper quiet and I don't know anybody who has ever complained at the noise.

 

[GribbleGrunger]

Did loud PS4s just ship to USA or something?

My PS4 is whisper quiet and I don't know anybody who has ever complained at the noise.

Putting my Sherlock head on, I bet people with smaller TVs hear the PS4 more than people with larger TVs.

Thank about it ...

 

[the_batman]

Putting my Sherlock head on, I bet people with smaller TVs hear the PS4 more than people with larger TVs.

Thank about it ...

lol what?

Spoiler

people use their TVs for sound? gross

 

[Aztechnology]

lol what?

Spoiler

people use their TVs for sound? gross

Distance from the TV dude... Distance from the TV/console.

Also yes it is gross if you're playing a multiplayer game. It's the worst hearing someone game each through their mic.

 

[RocknRola]

lol what?

Spoiler

people use their TVs for sound? gross

As shocking as it may sound, yes this is still the very much standard scenario

I for example only have space for a soundbar and I hear those are kinda meh (for what they cost) so I never bothered. When I finally get more space I do plan on getting a proper sound setup.

--
On topic. Actually doesn't look that big (especially in the PS Access video, side by side with the Slim PS4). If they manage to make it run quiet, that's a great piece of hardware right there.

Still on the "not buying" boat though, need to see what devs do more often for 1080p users to make up my mind.