Console Thermals/Fan Noise

The X1 sits in my basement where it is extremely quiet and easy to hear any noise. From 3-5 feet away there is zero noticeable noise. Up close, if I put my ear near it then of course I can hear the fan, but this thing is whisper quiet. My plasma TV makes much more noise than anything whereas I could ALWAYS here the X360 and PS3 over it. I have not noticed any noise at any time regardless of what the X1 is doing.

Scientific? No, but comes from a long and rich history of experience with game consoles and high end AV equipment. I think that says more than the actual measurements; consumer perspective and experience.

 

Given that both consoles were readily used as media devices, I doubt many considered them too loud to be used as one. Its not like many spend the vast majority of their TV viewing watching silent films.

 

I think there is a difference what a console buyer - who buys the product with a prime interest in games and secondary for everything else - and what a general consumer expects from an device he's buying for a sole dedicated purpose while gaming is the secondary feature. I am one of those that started using a PS3 as a media device, but have since moved on to quieter, better suited devices (XBMC). I don't have any intention to use a PS4 as such, even if it offered this functionality. The same clearly can't be quite said about the Xbox One, as they are marketing their box differently.

Lets not forget, it is Microsoft who is here trying to expand on their market and convincing people that their box is the center of the livingroom, not entirely a focused game machine. If this wasn't their goal, they most likely wouldn't have made the box this big with efficient power usage and good cooling in mind.

Of course - to us gamers who buy both the Xbox One and PS4 as primary gaming devices, it's an insignificant point. But we can't ignore that the Xbox One is targeting an audience that goes beyond this - and they do care.

Also; if we assume the Xbox One was as loud as their previous consoles, then you can bet that there wouldn't be a chance they could effectively market the console as the center of the livingroom as no one would use it. TV usage might at the limit where noise tolerances are concerned, but I for one wouldn't want to be watching a movie with quiet scenes when you have a device that is far to noisy for its task.

Anyway, Ceger above pointed out from personal experience that the Xbox One should be quiet enough for this kind of task - which is good enough for me. I was merely pointing out that it's not exactly wise to put them both on the same level - they are not targeting excactly the same audience and with differing audiences come different expecations and requirements. Sony is for the most part targeting gamers who will be happy with a less noisy gaming console - Microsoft is targeting more than just gamers and has functions that are dependant on a quiet device. If they don't have that, the whole premise of the "one device" is rather pointless.

 

For me the most obvious change is that now I can download something in the background while sleeping.

When I had the Xbox 360 I couldn't sleep when it was in standby mode downloading something, so I usually ended up switching it off. The Xbox One though lets me sleep peacefully and in fact the power brick is more louder than the whole console itself.

 

Is the XB1 on when it DLs? It surprised me when I bought the DD version of BF4 on the PS4, I hit the DL button, then ran upstairs and saw the PS4 did not wake up. Of course I failed to realize it was DLing, it does it in standby with the ARM processor. That is some next gen stuff!

 

I don't know. But one of my first smile/"oh yeah" moments was simply sticking Ryse in the console and later a notification popping up saying Ryse was ready to start while I was watching TV. I dread progress bar watching/waiting, so load and forget is a nice feature to have.

 

That makes no sense.

 

It makes sense that a small and cheap fan is an important point of failure.

I have no idea if this is a quality fan or not (can't tell from the pictures, is it BB, how's the seal, etc...), but the 360 certainly had issues with this. Power supply gathers dust, fan makes noise, fan fails, supply overheats, supply fails.

 

would you not rather have you can play it within 30 seconds? I think that would be the most next gen, no?

it's silly how much power the arm core takes. my theory is that it's still x86 now, hence the active cooling

 

No doubt it would be nice. But both mechanics are a far cry of progress bar watching/tab keeping which is what I ultimately despised from last gen.

 

Where do you get the ideal that consoles are bought primarily for their limited capability and narrow focus. There may be some gamers like you that want consoles to have a narrow focus just like there are phone users that find all the extra smartphone features unneccessary. But I have met few people that don't like the ideal of products like consoles of having an ever expanding feature sets. I'd bet alot of PC gamers like that the "PC" in "PC gaming" provides practical value outside of just gaming.

MS harps on its TV feature to differentiate its product not solely for market expansion but to make it more attractive to the existing gamer market too. 60% of US homes have at least one 7th gen console, the TV features aren't there just to cater to the other 40%.

Noise is important to both Sony and MS because noisy consoles don't inspire confidence in reliability in those products and have encouraged a lot of gamers to readily shut down their PS3s and 360s out of a desire to perserve the hardware. Which kind of ruins the ideal of background downloads and hands off maintenance of these products. Plus, no one wants their entertainment center sounding like a small A/C condenser resides inside and both Sony and MS understands this.

Furthermore, Sony has just as much interest in servicing the consumers that MS targets with its console. The PS4 media functionality will expand over time. Why do you think Sony is making a concerted effort of buying content in the film and TV space? Who do you think came up with ideal of expanding beyond just gaming on consoles with DVD playback? What device became the primary way users brought Netflix streaming to their TVs? And just as readily as MS added hdmi with a 360 revision Sony can do the same with a HDMI-in.

All you are seeing are different approaches to conquer the same market because manufacturers and their products don't have to look like clones of each other to service this large diverse group of consumers we call gamers.

 

Which, best I can tell, has little if anything to do with the section I quoted. Which is why I quoted that section and not some other random section.

 

Noise is simply not an issue with this generation, that was last gen. And we lived through that just fine.

 

Noise is a talking point some want to throw around as is heat but most seem to accept that any differences are minimal.

 

The X360 slim was noisy enough (similar noise levels to PS3 slim) that I would not even consider using it as a media extender. For me, totally unsuitable for music or movies. For pop/rock/etc. type music it's probably OK. But for the classical stuff I like, there are many quiet passages where the noise would be incredibly distracting. But I also don't play my music at loud volumes anymore as I'd rather preserve my hearing which is already partially damaged (constant ringing) from going to concerts and listening to loud music in my youth.

So, for core gamer's? Probably fine. For videophiles? Questionable depending on how much noise they can tolerate and how loud their media environment is.

Regards,
SB

 

I am sure there are qualities of the 360 and ps3 that disqualify their use as media extenders in some people's eye. But there are qualities that disqualify a no name brand bluray player from WalMart for use in most high end setups. Doesn't stop WalMart from selling a ton of them and people using it for its intended purpose.

 

Where did you get the idea that I said consoles are only bought primarily for their limited capability and narrow focus?

In fact, if you read closely, I even made the distinction that there are some that are buying a console with gaming as their prime intended use with a secondary interest in anything beyond that - and the market that sees the new Xbox as exactly the 'one device' Microsoft has been marketing the device to be. You know, the crowd that buys expensive gadgets on a regular basis but isn't a serious gamer, but happens to like to be entertained in front of their TV.

See the thing is; everybody has different levels of noise tolerance. It all depends what the intended device is supposed to do - and what alternatives there are on the market; did you buy it for the sole purpose of playing games? Did you buy it to play games with some media usage? Did you buy it as a hi-tech device to control your livingroom by using simple voice-commands? It all depends.

A stupid example is; I wouldn't buy an amplifer that emits any substantial noise. That would pretty defeat the purpose. Nor would I want a device that emits fan noise in standbye when not being in use. It's different to a device that I actively switch on to use (like a PC) and can switch off when I don't use it.

If the box is too noisy to be used as a mere passthrough device to watch Television feed with the occasional skype overlay, then it raises the question if [those] people want to pay $100 more for that kind of functionality (which they effectively are; usable, functioning or not).

And if the answer to that question is 'no' - at what point is the Xbox distinguishing itself from its closest competitor who has chosen to focus on a gaming device at a lower price point?

This might actually be more relevant to the business approach topic - because effectively, MS chose to make a tradeoff to chase after a potentially bigger audience. This tradeoff is foremost the higher price point, dedicated resources for Kinect and what seems to be an OS that is centered around voice-commands and livingroom integration. All I'm saying is that if you want your device to be this 'one device' - fan noise is more relevant than if you are solely judging a device on it being a gaming-device. This isn't about the 80million of PS3 and X360 gamers - it's about the audience that extends beyond this audience.

Anyway, as I already said - this talk is a bit redundant given some owners have expressed that the device is quiet enough for them. Heise seems to contradict that though, labeling both consoles too loud for media usage. I'm not sure it would be in my case, since the PS4 is quiet enough (though it's hard to judge since at this point, there's no way to actually watch anything besides a Bluray which I haven't tried yet). Accoarding to Heise though - the fan noise of power-brick, kinect and console add up - so I wouldn't know if in my livingroom, the One would be noiser. If it is, I can assure you, for me, it wouldn't be more than a toy to play around but certainly wouldn't qualify to be the center of my livingroom (nor did the PS3 by the way).

Doesn't mean it doesn't make a fine gaming machine - but if *I* can't use it beyond a gaming console, then it does raise the question why I as a potential customer should buy a One opposed to say a PS4 that's cheaper and doesn't try to be more than a gaming device. Not (or less) relevant of course for existing Xbox owners who already bought into Live and have a history with the brand, but perhaps more relevant to those that haven't.


As a side question; Could any owner confirm if the fans in the power-brick (and kinect) are constantly on? I would expect them to be variable, depending on heat, but I'd be still interested to know if they ever shut-off completely. I would assume not, though I'm not sure entirely, because even in stand-bye, the console would need to be ready at any time in case someone starts voicing a command.

 

As an owner of a new Samsung smart TV in one room and Chromecast in another, I think it is silly to use a 100W console to watch Hulu or Netflix. These streaming apps are so light and simple a console is overkill for anything but games IMO.

 

Unless you actually care more about the netflix experience being decent than the penny you'll save using the crappy tv app.

 

Well, about the noise, maybe the user experience and demography discussion should be merged with the existing user experience thread? We're very far from a technology discussion.

Individual setups can easily differ by over 10dbA from each other. We're opening a can of worms if we try to compare different results with no info on the setup, either for subjective observation or with measuring instruments. It's already very hard to discuss heatsink, fan, and noise on the technology level because it's a much more complex subject than people seem to realize. Different frequency content of the two devices can make the measurement change significantly between two rooms size, wall treatment, distance from wall, measurement filters (dbA versus Sones), or measurement fields (free/diffuse field, near/far field, etc...).