orthodoxy1095
Banned
Well that would probably be the issue. I don't think I had enough space around the back with all the wires running by/around it it. It's a CUH-1001A, manufactured in November 2013.
PS4 Fan Noise
- Thread starter Darkgran
- Start date
So by the looks of it later 1001A's are superior to the supposedly quieter 1116A's.
We now have at least two CUH-1001A's that sits around 40-45dB max while playing TLOU.
Might sell mine and look for a used 1001A with a later manufacturing date and see if I can test it out 20min before I might buy it.
I got my PS4 replaced 2 weeks ago (bought on day 1). The fan was loud and the interface lagged a bit.
I did at first think it was normal; however I recently bought a new PS4 for work and loaded my profile on it. It was quite and ran great, so I called up GAME as a bought it on their online UK store. They told me to get a replacement in store. Which I did but it was a MASSIVE fight - very stressful 2 hours of arguing and faffing about - basically their testing in store went as far as, does it turn on, does it play a game. If it does these things it does not count as broken. They even went as far as far to say that they would of excepted this as a console to sell second hand. Scary knowledge if you ever decide to buy a PS4 second hand from them.
The replacement works great. I should mention both consoles were at all times ventilated as it was on top of my game center with full ventilation all around it.
I did at first think it was normal; however I recently bought a new PS4 for work and loaded my profile on it. It was quite and ran great, so I called up GAME as a bought it on their online UK store. They told me to get a replacement in store. Which I did but it was a MASSIVE fight - very stressful 2 hours of arguing and faffing about - basically their testing in store went as far as, does it turn on, does it play a game. If it does these things it does not count as broken. They even went as far as far to say that they would of excepted this as a console to sell second hand. Scary knowledge if you ever decide to buy a PS4 second hand from them.
The replacement works great. I should mention both consoles were at all times ventilated as it was on top of my game center with full ventilation all around it.
Actually the sides are more important since that's where the unit draws it's cool air from. Blocking the intake vents would lead to instant overheating. Having less space at the back would assuming that you have it in an open space lead to a warmer area at the back of it, but it would still be able to cool it's insides with fresh cool air. Unless the heat at the back would "bounce" back to the sides.
I am curious as to how future games will cause louder fan-noise, since asynchronous compute (e.g. in the down-time of creating one frame, the GPGPU-Cores work on other stuff like physics) seems to be the one feature that will be exploited a lot more in the future. And it seems to create a near constand load on the consoles APU and that might cause noise. But until then we might already have our first slim-consoles.
Doubt it will put much more stress on it. Probably results in less speed variations on the fan keeping it on a more frequent value. Doesn't Ass Creed Unity put GPGPU to use?
OK WHAT THE?!
Either my new thermal paste has burnt in with a FANTASTIC result or the 2.01 update have made some changes to the PWM signal on the fan. I haven't played on my PS4 for at least three days since the last time and now Ground Zeroes doesn't go above 40dB with the OS brought to the front. So either one of those two options or a combination. If it stays like this I'll be so damn happy I don't know what because the noise level before was the only thing I hated about it. So badly that I thought about selling it. Everything else I love. I'll be reporting back in an hour or so.
Either my new thermal paste has burnt in with a FANTASTIC result or the 2.01 update have made some changes to the PWM signal on the fan. I haven't played on my PS4 for at least three days since the last time and now Ground Zeroes doesn't go above 40dB with the OS brought to the front. So either one of those two options or a combination. If it stays like this I'll be so damn happy I don't know what because the noise level before was the only thing I hated about it. So badly that I thought about selling it. Everything else I love. I'll be reporting back in an hour or so.
"Loud" is a matter of perception. It's a bit silly to measure noise with crappy phone apps in conditions and settings you won't at all be exposed to yourself and expecting different people to even reproduce these fairly decently, especially when there are even people complaining that they can still hear their console 4 meters away while playing (with sound/music on, I'd assume), but whatever floats your boat I guess.
It's possible they just adjusted the point where the fan ramps up to a higher number...they may have it set really low to minimise faulty units numbers.
Crappy phone apps? You do know that the microphones even in smartphones from a couple of years ago are pretty sophisticated. Stop pushing everyone over the same edge.
Some of measure in very controlled environments. Noise is as objective as any other subject as long as you take scientific readings using a decibel meter. If you don't have an actual decibel meter a modern smartphone with a decent app is far better than saying that your console is "whisper quiet". That's at least something to go on. Just what kind of settings and conditions do you think people game in? Most of us live in very similar conditions you know.
ecosse_011172
Junior Member
I sent my quadruple back to Sony a week ago because of the noisy fan, just got an email to say that it's on it's way back.
Hoping that there's a proper difference and not, as I expect, that it'll be the same as the "my ps4 is silent" internet types are cloth eared/live on building sites
Hoping that there's a proper difference and not, as I expect, that it'll be the same as the "my ps4 is silent" internet types are cloth eared/live on building sites
Very possible. Either way I'm very happy with the change since it doesn't get any warmer than before. I know for a fact that the thermal paste replacement made a big difference before the 2.0 update and now after 20 min of testing I got a maximum of 47dB in Ground Zeroes switching back and fort between the game during lots of action and the PS4 OS.
Have a CUH-1116A and I measured with a real decibel meter on top of the unit with the mic pointed at the exhaust at the back.
I sent my quadruple back to Sony a week ago because of the noisy fan, just got an email to say that it's on it's way back.
Hoping that there's a proper difference and not, as I expect, that it'll be the same as the "my ps4 is silent" internet types are cloth eared/live on building sites
got an email that mine was received today....hoping for the best.
Rock Howard
Member
i changed the thermal pasty yesterday on my unit that was introduced with tlou remastered (CUH-1116A). i agree that there was too much paste applied by sony...the stuff squeezed of the sides of the die.
cleaned with alcohol & changed it with a thin layer of artic cooling mx-4...yet my fan is still behaving like before. it kicks in after a few minutes of heavier load in driveclub & shadow of mordor.
cleaned with alcohol & changed it with a thin layer of artic cooling mx-4...yet my fan is still behaving like before. it kicks in after a few minutes of heavier load in driveclub & shadow of mordor.
Spreading the paste on the APU resulted in higher temps and noise levels for me. So far the best application method for me has been a small dot in the middle which lowered the original noise levels by quite a lot. I used Arctic's MX-2.
Who knows. Your fan could just be somewhat faulty as well. Worse build quality on some components leading to higher temps in general.
By usual you mean while playing Destiny? Destiny doesn't put the system to any real stress at all. Driveclub does a lot more in that department.
Melchiah
Member
That and other games I've played during the past months; Alien, Mordor, First Light, TLOU:R...
Rock Howard
Member
you´re right...i changed the paste again and applied a dot in the middle...pea sized..is that too much?
now it takes a few minutes longer for the fan to ramp up and i noticed a drecreasing fan noise when there is less load..overall a better behavior compared to spreading the paste
Pea sized in proportion to the APU I'd say. An actual pea would be too much, but about half of it or just a little bit more than half?
Either way since my last reported decibel readings I can confirm that it now doesn't break 50dB. Playing Killzone for about an hour and then switching to Infamous or Ground Zeroes and playing one of those for an hour too I get 50dB as a maximum reading just at the exhaust on top of the unit at the back. That's 5dB lower than before when I had ~55-57dB during the same conditions. Strangely enough it feels a bit cooler than before too. So either a complete burn in of the new paste or a new threshold for when the fan should ramp up with the latest firmware. Perhaps a combo.
If only I could get it down to 45dB as an absolute max I'd leave this behind.
Rock Howard
Member
what about using a potentiometer and setting the fan to a max of 45 db?
I don't have a clue of where to begin. Don't know much about electricity and individual electronic components at all I'm afraid. Been building computers for over twelve years, but somehow I never got around to that part. You seem like you know what you're talking about though? I'd appreciate if you could describe what I'd need and perhaps how I'd go about doing it?
Rock Howard
Member
just google ps4 and potentiometer...it involves a little soldering, but shouldn´t be too diffucult...don´t you know somebody who´s able to help you?
Sanic
Member
I'm somewhat concerned now....i'm reading 50db under load with Destiny running with the home menu pulled up. I was under the impression that's within normal range, but i'm also seeing that many other games push the fans harder than Destiny. I don't have anything else to test with, so is this information accurate?
50dB with Destiny is a clear sign that something is wrong. My unit only has a really faint sound of the fan pushing some air from it while playing Destiny. Destiny is one of those games where your PS4 should be next to whisper quiet (around 30dB which is what you get if you take your readings in an empty library).
Probably, but I don't know. I'd want to maintain the PWM signal, but decrease it's max value. You think that would still be possible with a simple potentiometer?
Hmm, that's interesting. The fan profile for the PS4 definitely is aggressive.
I suppose Sony didn't state anything in their patch notes?
Been playing for an hour now and 47dB is the max level I could read from it. Yesterday I got 50dB as a max value. Improved software stability was the only patch note.
EDIT: It's barely warm too. Guess the burn in period of the thermal paste replacement is peaking in its performance.
Rock Howard
Member
I hate buying things.
I sent my ps4 back for fan noise, they sent me a replacement unit i got back today and it doesn't even power on, so i guess the noise isn't a problem.
edit: it turned on after tapping it's undercarriage and plugging it in vertical....we'll see.
edit x 2: nope not working
I sent my ps4 back for fan noise, they sent me a replacement unit i got back today and it doesn't even power on, so i guess the noise isn't a problem.
edit: it turned on after tapping it's undercarriage and plugging it in vertical....we'll see.
edit x 2: nope not working
The fan noise is normal. I had a PS4 that was dead silent because the fan never kicked in and it had the infamous Ce-34878-0 (crashed every 5 to 15 minutes). I got a replacement from Sony. Thankfully, the replacement PS4 has been running great for over 6 months and was a new unit.
I want to explain why there is so much talk about the fan getting loud. At times it can kick up, but it does go back down at times. It is noticeable when the volume is very low or off. The noise varies among the different games that are out because of the stress put on the system as a result of a multitude of factors.
Plus, people are not considering or know the simple fact that the PS4 HAS A CUSTOM BUILT FAN. It isn't a stock PC fan which are commonly available and of a variety to choose from. This is why certain xbox 360 and xbox one power bricks vary in noise level.
Considering those statements, the variation of noise is minimal. One friend of mine swears his is dead silent. However, from hearing his PS4 myself, it sounds the same as mine (except his CD drive is definable louder than mine).
I want to explain why there is so much talk about the fan getting loud. At times it can kick up, but it does go back down at times. It is noticeable when the volume is very low or off. The noise varies among the different games that are out because of the stress put on the system as a result of a multitude of factors.
Plus, people are not considering or know the simple fact that the PS4 HAS A CUSTOM BUILT FAN. It isn't a stock PC fan which are commonly available and of a variety to choose from. This is why certain xbox 360 and xbox one power bricks vary in noise level.
Considering those statements, the variation of noise is minimal. One friend of mine swears his is dead silent. However, from hearing his PS4 myself, it sounds the same as mine (except his CD drive is definable louder than mine).
I should have never sent mine in. I have regrets.
edit: Sometimes things do get worse people, that it gets better PSA stuff is a lie. Worse.
I have a romantic hope that some companies would begin to sell silent replacement fans for the PS4, but I guess that won't happen. Would gladly spend some time to install it...
I know I should, I've already swapped the sticks and battery in my dualshock 4.What are you waiting for?
If the upcoming PS4 games will need more cooling, I might end up doing the same. Right now in AC Unity, the console sounds like it's going to take off when in certain menus. It's insane.
Hmm, I think I have some MX4 paste somewhere.
A potentiometer is just going to create a voltage divider. This means only a fraction of the voltage applied by the control circuitry will be delivered to the fan's motor (this can be adjusted by changing the resistance of the potentiometer), the rest will be dissipated as heat through the potentiometer (and through the wires but in general those have a fairly low resistance).
What you want would require an extra piece of electronics that "reads" the input PWM signal and thresholds it.
Data Ghost
Member
Well PS4 replacement number 4 and I seem to have found the mythical holy grail 'whisper quiet' PS4!
I didn't believe it myself but it's true, will post old and new comparison vids tomorrow using the Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes title screen as the example. The cake is not a lie.
I didn't believe it myself but it's true, will post old and new comparison vids tomorrow using the Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes title screen as the example. The cake is not a lie.
WickedCobra03
Member
This is nuts! My friends want me to jump in a buy a PS4, but the more I hear about it, I think I am just going to wait for the Slim. My phat PS3 is super loud, I love that system, but it is just super noisy and kind of annoying. I did get a super-slim PS3 for the 500GB hdd though.
BlockheadBrown
Member
I have this problem and I'm concerned about getting the run-around like you did. Just keep plugging away? What should I say?.
Data Ghost
Member
To be honest I had just accepted the noise and learned to ignore it. However the disk loading mechanism started to fail and it was struggling to pull disks in so I returned it to Amazon for a new replacement. Turns out not only does the new replacement have a perfect disk drive it's also much quieter than all the PS4's before it!
I would imagine that recently manufactured consoles are more likely to be quiet than those made closer to launch time. Time to iron out the kinks.
By my understanding, no console game really make use of GPGPU coding yet. I bet Uncharted 4 will be the first to really go after it.
Data Ghost
Member
OKAY so I have been plagued by loud PS4 fans on numerous PS4's and had come to the conclusion that 'whisper quiet' PS4's were just a myth (apologies to the people who I dismissed before, love you).
I have just received PS4 replacement number 4 after the last one started suffering from a weak disk loading mechanism (like my first PS4). To my complete surprise its REALLY QUIET.
Some of you may remember my original vid where I demonstrate the fans kicking in as I boot up MGSV to the title screen (an excellent way to demonstrate the issue):
http://youtu.be/f6Oh71t2ees
Well here is my replacement PS4 under the same conditions, and well, listen for yourself. The difference is incredible:
http://youtu.be/FmCI9cIlIbI
A couple of things to note, this machine is brand new, not refurbished, and has probably been recently built. I also have my new system horizontal rather than vertical but before you say it, I had tried my previous noisy systems horizontal as well but they were just as noisy.
Im really happy as you can imagine. Whilst I had just learned to ignore the noise it was never ideal, and it really does seem like its a lottery. With all the faulty disk drives and loud fans Im not greatly convinced on the PS4 build quality as a whole.
I have just received PS4 replacement number 4 after the last one started suffering from a weak disk loading mechanism (like my first PS4). To my complete surprise its REALLY QUIET.
Some of you may remember my original vid where I demonstrate the fans kicking in as I boot up MGSV to the title screen (an excellent way to demonstrate the issue):
http://youtu.be/f6Oh71t2ees
Well here is my replacement PS4 under the same conditions, and well, listen for yourself. The difference is incredible:
http://youtu.be/FmCI9cIlIbI
A couple of things to note, this machine is brand new, not refurbished, and has probably been recently built. I also have my new system horizontal rather than vertical but before you say it, I had tried my previous noisy systems horizontal as well but they were just as noisy.
Im really happy as you can imagine. Whilst I had just learned to ignore the noise it was never ideal, and it really does seem like its a lottery. With all the faulty disk drives and loud fans Im not greatly convinced on the PS4 build quality as a whole.