PS4 Fan Noise

Okay, took some readings today. Phone placed on backtop of PS4:

50-55d - system idle (I consider the system itself silent and everything is just ambient noise around me)

58-64d - disc drive working + idle (game booting up)

60-65d - moderate workout IE: first 10-15 minutes or so of any game

65-73d - heavy load, such as lighting/effects heavy segment of Metro 2033, Killzone Shadowfall, or The Evil Within

So what do you guys think?
 
AgentOtaku said:
Okay, took some readings today. Phone placed on backtop of PS4:

50-55d - system idle (I consider the system itself silent and everything is just ambient noise around me)

58-64d - disc drive working + idle (game booting up)

60-65d - moderate workout IE: first 10-15 minutes or so of any game

65-73d - heavy load, such as lighting/effects heavy segment of Metro 2033, Killzone Shadowfall, or The Evil Within

So what do you guys think?
Click to expand...

That is rather loud, especially the peak.

I measured my PS3 slim while playing modern warfare 1 and was getting around 45-50db. May not be entirely accurate though, because it's a curved top. I had nothing else on in my room. Computer was off, no electronics running at all. 28db ambient room noise.
 
Duxxy3 said:
That is rather loud, especially the peak.

I measured my PS3 slim while playing modern warfare 1 and was getting around 45-50db. May not be entirely accurate though, because it's a curved top. I had nothing else on in my room. Computer was off, no electronics running at all. 28db ambience room noise.
Click to expand...

Yeah, quietest I could get my living room was around 45-50d :/
 
This is utterly confusing. Why is it that some consoles are clearly whisper quiet (like mine) while others as loud as a launch 360? Is there a legitimate manufacturing issue that Sony is trying to sweep under the rug?
 
knerl said:
Be extremely careful not to get it on any components except the heatshield of the APU.
The heatsink I think is made of aluminum.
Click to expand...

thanks.
its out of question then.
it corrodes aluminium quite heavyly.

edit: people doing noise tests in uncontrolled environments with their phone at a random place now?
wow
this is a new low
 
With so many on this board saying the "loud" consoles are broken and should be sent in for repair everytime someone complains about it I'm thinking that the failure rate is much much higher than it should be. Mine is loud too. I'm switching it for a Slim some day instead of sending it in though, it's loud but not old-360/PS3-fat loud.
 
shattyboombatty said:
Fair question. Yes, playing with the speakers muted, nothing else going on in the room, windows open, not even warm in the room, and 5+ inches of space on all sides of the console. Here's a pic... the phone is resting 4-5 inches behind the console. I'll contact sony and see if they think it's replacement worthy.

kg1atBB.jpg


edit: not quite 80db like I mentioned, but pretty close.
Click to expand...

Each microphone adds some gain to the signal. No way any PS4 is capable of producing such a huge amount of noise. What you are seeing there is noise level after signal gain and that's not the way to measure noise level of, well, anything.
 
I ended up submitting an online service request to see if they can get my ps4 quieter, they didn't have a "Fan" option for problems so i chose Temperature and in the description i talked about the fan getting loud and making a higher pitch whirly noise at higher levels and on Netfilx the fan going up a speed too. I'm still pretty doubtful i'll get something better in return, just hope it's not worse like one of those hair dryer videos.
 
AgentOtaku said:
Okay, took some readings today. Phone placed on backtop of PS4:

50-55d - system idle (I consider the system itself silent and everything is just ambient noise around me)

58-64d - disc drive working + idle (game booting up)

60-65d - moderate workout IE: first 10-15 minutes or so of any game

65-73d - heavy load, such as lighting/effects heavy segment of Metro 2033, Killzone Shadowfall, or The Evil Within

So what do you guys think?
Click to expand...

Get it replaced!
 
jaosobno said:
Each microphone adds some gain to the signal. No way any PS4 is capable of producing such a huge amount of noise. What you are seeing there is noise level after signal gain and that's not the way to measure noise level of, well, anything.
Click to expand...

Not true. Some microphones might add gain, but not all do it.
Whether or not the gain is added depends on the software as well.
The PS4 is indeed capable of producing such loud noise levels if it's not working correctly.
 
Ok after 1.5 hours of The Evil Within the dB level lies steady at 53-55dB (measured directly at the back on top of the unit with the microphone pointed at the fan exhaust.)
Switched to the heaviest parts of the campaign in Killzone (parts that made the fan kick into over drive before on this unit and the others I've had) and it never went above 55dB.
Tried Ground Zeroes as well and even it that it never goes above 55dB.

Before I changed the thermal paste it went over at least 60dB and probably 65 too since that's about where the fan starts to whine to the extent where you get a headache.
Now the fan never starts to whine. The proof for all the skeptics is the well proven fact in the world of computers where the type of thermal paste and the method of application can make all the difference in the world. I used Arctic MX-2.

Probably getting my ordered thermal pads tomorrow. Going to change those currently on the memory modules for something better. My console also just had thermal pads on half of the chips. So if applied to all of them I should be able to lower the temperature and noise even more.

As another reference my console is completely silent while using for example Netflix on it. In that context I can only hear it if I stand next to it and focus my hearing on it.
 
knerl said:
Ok after 1.5 hours of The Evil Within the dB level lies steady at 53-55dB (measured directly at the back on top of the unit with the microphone pointed at the fan exhaust.)
Switched to the heaviest parts of the campaign in Killzone (parts that made the fan kick into over drive before on this unit and the others I've had) and it never went above 55dB.
Tried Ground Zeroes as well and even it that it never goes above 55dB.

Before I changed the thermal paste it went over at least 60dB and probably 65 too since that's about where the fan starts to whine to the extent where you get a headache.
Now the fan never starts to whine. The proof for all the skeptics is the well proven fact in the world of computers where the type of thermal paste and the method of application can make all the difference in the world. I used Arctic MX-2.

Probably getting my ordered thermal pads tomorrow. Going to change those currently on the memory modules for something better. My console also just had thermal pads on half of the chips. So if applied to all of them I should be able to lower the temperature and noise even more.

As another reference my console is completely silent while using for example Netflix on it. In that context I can only hear it if I stand next to it and focus my hearing on it.
Click to expand...
I'm going to do this myself but what thickness of thermal pads are required?
Thanks.
 
AgentOtaku said:
I suspect this might in line with the system though. Even per your experience, you never ACTUALLY nabbed a supposed whisper quiet one and have resorted to taking your own measures :/
Click to expand...

whats the point of the asking for opinions if you are unwilling to listen to any suggestion that deviate from your already predetermined opinion that was formed before you started the thread?
 
I only noticed the fan, on yesterday, while during my roomie playing a game and then going to the ps store during it, it cranked up quite noticeably while being whisper quiet in game. What a strange phenomenon.
 
AgentOtaku said:
I suspect this might in line with the system though. Even per your experience, you never ACTUALLY nabbed a supposed whisper quiet one and have resorted to taking your own measures :/
Click to expand...

Over 60dB is not an acceptable or normal noise level. Sure my most recent one got to that before I replaced the thermal paste, but over 70? That is in no way ok. 70dB is fucked up beyond all measures.
 
Received my Thermal Pad XT's from Phobya today.
Complete and utter garbage. Either they were too thick or they were really just bad.
I got the 1.5mm ones and with a size covering most of the memory chips the PS4 instantly overheated. Cut them down to the same size as the original ones placed there by Sony and the same thing happened again. So it could have been that they are too thick and thus stopped the heatsink from getting full contact with the APU. The ones provided by Sony seems to be 1mm. Went through some accessories I got with a GPU cooler (Arctic Twin Turbo II) and used the left over thermal pads from that. They had the same thickness as the Sony ones and the PS4 is back to 55dB under full load.

So a tip for anyone thinking of doing the same thing as I am make sure to get whatever brand you use with a thickness of 1mm.

EDIT: I might add that if the PS4 overheats it instantly turns itself off just like a regular computer. So no damage done.

EDIT 2: Do you think some thermal paste as well as thermal pads on the memory chips would do any difference?
Seeing mixed responses to this. Some claim it's ok and even good to use some with a pad, but others claim the opposite. I think I'll go with the opposite response and not use paste with pads since the thermal resistance would change and make it worse.
 
Marco1 said:
I'm going to do this myself but what thickness of thermal pads are required?
Thanks.
Click to expand...

I tried 1.5mm which was too thick. Must have stopped the APU from getting proper contact with the heatsink so use 1mm. The original pads seem to be 1mm.

Sigh. Have to say that Sony fucked up. Say what you want, but seriously. It's twice as thick as a powerful gaming laptop. Still they didn't manage to keep it quiet under full load.
Cheap heatsink and a cheap fan. Does anyone in here have skills and access to equipment needed to create a custom heatsink and/or fan? The specs of the originals are available so it should be plausible to make something better with the same dimensions.
 
Fan noise and temperature If the initial model (CUH-10XX) only reaches 45 degrees Celsius they should really turn down the fan speed with a firmware update. 45 degrees Celsius is nothing. Max safe temp is around 75 for an A10-5800K so it should be similar for the one used in the PS4. Lower the fan so it sits around 55 degrees Celsius and the noise should be whisper quiet.
 
Just finished applying the new thermal paste on the cpu the fan is now much quieter. When I removed the old paste there was excessive amount on all sides of the cpu it took a while to clean up. If you have a very loud ps4 it's most likely due to over use of thermal paste. I don't blame sony it must be a difficult job on the assembly line having to do that hard work by hand.

Now back to infamous :)
 
To everyone measuring the noise level of their units. Be sure to measure it directly at the exhaust at the back of the console to give us all an accurate representation of how loud it is.
 
After playing a lot of Sunset Overdrive on my Xbox last week, I really got fed up with the noise from my PS4. I called Sony Friday and I'm having it repaired/replaced. It's louder than my gaming PC. There's no way a 140w PS4 should be that loud.
 
AmethystEnd said:
I've said this before but mine is so quiet I constantly get paranoid the fans aren't working at all and have to hold my hand next to it to make sure I feel air blowing out.
Click to expand...

Same. I've never even heard my PS4 before but I keep it well ventilated, my place is always clean and never dusty.
 
Do Sony PlayStation have chat support? Much preferable to phone chat.

Not sure if my launch PS4 is still covered.or not but the fan is very loud on my console, especially during certain games and when dropping into the OS to check friends etc. It's sitting on top of a desk so no air flow issues.
 
knerl said:
Ok after 1.5 hours of The Evil Within the dB level lies steady at 53-55dB (measured directly at the back on top of the unit with the microphone pointed at the fan exhaust.)
Switched to the heaviest parts of the campaign in Killzone (parts that made the fan kick into over drive before on this unit and the others I've had) and it never went above 55dB.
Tried Ground Zeroes as well and even it that it never goes above 55dB.

Before I changed the thermal paste it went over at least 60dB and probably 65 too since that's about where the fan starts to whine to the extent where you get a headache.
Now the fan never starts to whine. The proof for all the skeptics is the well proven fact in the world of computers where the type of thermal paste and the method of application can make all the difference in the world. I used Arctic MX-2.

Probably getting my ordered thermal pads tomorrow. Going to change those currently on the memory modules for something better. My console also just had thermal pads on half of the chips. So if applied to all of them I should be able to lower the temperature and noise even more.

As another reference my console is completely silent while using for example Netflix on it. In that context I can only hear it if I stand next to it and focus my hearing on it.
Click to expand...

knerl said:
Received my Thermal Pad XT's from Phobya today.
Complete and utter garbage. Either they were too thick or they were really just bad.
I got the 1.5mm ones and with a size covering most of the memory chips the PS4 instantly overheated. Cut them down to the same size as the original ones placed there by Sony and the same thing happened again. So it could have been that they are too thick and thus stopped the heatsink from getting full contact with the APU. The ones provided by Sony seems to be 1mm. Went through some accessories I got with a GPU cooler (Arctic Twin Turbo II) and used the left over thermal pads from that. They had the same thickness as the Sony ones and the PS4 is back to 55dB under full load.

So a tip for anyone thinking of doing the same thing as I am make sure to get whatever brand you use with a thickness of 1mm.

EDIT: I might add that if the PS4 overheats it instantly turns itself off just like a regular computer. So no damage done.

EDIT 2: Do you think some thermal paste as well as thermal pads on the memory chips would do any difference?
Seeing mixed responses to this. Some claim it's ok and even good to use some with a pad, but others claim the opposite. I think I'll go with the opposite response and not use paste with pads since the thermal resistance would change and make it worse.
Click to expand...


From reading these two posts it looks like the thermal pads on the memory chips did absolutely nothing?
 
The more I read this thread, the more I think I should get my PS4 replaced too. It's super loud even when streaming video on Hulu for example. So my question is if I replaced the hard drive on it, should I remove it before I send it to them? (I lost a bunch of 360 saves once when I red ringed and sent it for replacement with HDD) And I guess how much money does it cost?
 
Iorv3th said:
From reading these two posts it looks like the thermal pads on the memory chips did absolutely nothing?
Click to expand...

Mine did more harm than good. I used 1.5mm pads which I suspect is too thick and something that's actually hindering the APU from getting contact with the heatsink which in turn leads to the console overheating. The stock pads are 1mm in thickness it seems so with 1mm pads the result will definitely be another story. So no the pads haven't done me any good so far. Went back to the stock ones. The paste though made a big difference.
Should be less than the size of a pea on it. More like a cooked rice grain really. Tinting (applying an extremely thin layer on it spreading it around removing as many gaps as possible) the heatsink could also help.
 
NegativeCero said:
The more I read this thread, the more I think I should get my PS4 replaced too. It's super loud even when streaming video on Hulu for example. So my question is if I replaced the hard drive on it, should I remove it before I send it to them? (I lost a bunch of 360 saves once when I red ringed and sent it for replacement with HDD) And I guess how much money does it cost?
Click to expand...

The Sony support will tell you to send the original hard drive back in. Don't send any peripherals in, but remove the HDD you replaced the stock one with and send the original back in it. Streaming video should not put any stress on the unit at all. In that scenario I can confirm that it should be whisper quiet only being audible while standing right next to it listening closely.
 
knerl said:
The Sony support will tell you to send the original hard drive back in. Don't send any peripherals in, but remove the HDD you replaced the stock one with and send the original back in it. Streaming video should not put any stress on the unit at all. In that scenario I can confirm that it should be whisper quiet only being audible while standing right next to it listening closely.
Click to expand...

for netflix, does your ps4's fan increase a level above what it's at during standby?
 
What I don't understand is that when I first got my launch PS4 is was whisper quiet even while playing through KZ, but these days it's hitting 60db easy so what's the score? What is actually happening technically for my system to increase in noise like that? Internal dust build up?
 
lowrider007 said:
What I don't understand is that when I first got my launch PS4 is was whisper quiet even while playing through KZ, but these days it's hitting 60db easy so what's the score? What is actually happening technically for my system to increase in noise like that? Internal dust build up?
Click to expand...

More then likely, check the vents also the ones on the side of the console.
 
Thought id give an update to my situation...

Basically sold off my system and bought an Xbox One.... im being serious

I'll buy a PS4 down the road when either slim revisions hit or they put in cooler chipsets
 
AgentOtaku said:
Thought id give an update to my situation...

Basically sold off my system and bought an Xbox One.... im being serious

I'll buy a PS4 down the road when either slim revisions hit or they put in cooler chipsets
Click to expand...
I don't blame you. Mine isn't is loud as yours and it still bugs me little but I've learned to live with it. I have an Xbox one also and I actually enjoy the user experience more on that anyways
 
lowrider007 said:
What I don't understand is that when I first got my launch PS4 is was whisper quiet even while playing through KZ, but these days it's hitting 60db easy so what's the score? What is actually happening technically for my system to increase in noise like that? Internal dust build up?
Click to expand...

Dust build-up. Dried out thermal paste.
 
knerl said:
I opened my PS4 up last night. Changed the thermal paste and man what a difference.
They used far too much thermal paste before and probably a cheap brand too. Cleaned it off with some chemically clean gasoline and added a pea sized dot of Arctic's MX-2. Playing Infamous First Light never goes beyond the faint sound of air being pushed out from the unit now. Will have to take some more tests and report my decibel readings as well.
Wondering what works best for the APU. A dot of thermal paste in the middle letting it spread from the pressure of the heatsink or if I spread it around in an equally thin layer all over it. Going to get some better thermal pads for the memory chips as well.
Click to expand...

Think im going to do this as well soon as my warranty is up.

Wish I could put in a better fan too.
 
knerl said:
To everyone measuring the noise level of their units. Be sure to measure it directly at the exhaust at the back of the console to give us all an accurate representation of how loud it is.
Click to expand...

I find it's more accurate to look at the differential between base and top levels. It seems those with "silent" machines get a 10-15 db increase max, and those without go to 20+ when the fan hits the top speed and whine.
 
Here's my take on fan noise!
As long as the air coming out the back is hot, then the fan is working correctly, and your PS4 noise is normal!

My reason is this:

The fan blows over the heatsink, so if the air coming out the back is hot, then that means the application of thermal paste is even/correct, as its doing its job of transferring the CPU/GPU heat to the heatsink! Hence the hot air!!

However, if your PS4 fan is relatively noisy, but is blowing out cool or only warm air, then It sounds to me like the CPU/GPU is getting hot, (temp sensor telling fans to ramp up), but that that heat is not being transferred to the heat sink due to poorly applied paste! Hence cool air out the back.


Simple see? :)
 
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