EU Playstation 3 - Fan speed?

[Shifty Geezer]

The mic was most likely on the camera, as the volume changes as the person movies around and gets louder as the camera nears the PS3. It is clearly a loud sound, I'm not so sure why you'd dancing around it, judgment skills on this are not unique.

I know it's a camera mic. That much is obvious. You've no idea how sensitive it is though. I can record a person's quietest whisper and have it sound loud. I've had camcorders where the motor sounds like cement mixer, when it's just the vibrations of the chassis the mic is picking up and the motor is pretty quiet. It's like someone taking a photo and saying 'look how dark the room was' when they show people the black print, and then you realize they took it with a shutter speed on 1/4000th of a second at a tiny aperture.

What it needs is a comparison. If the point is his PS3 is noisy like, or worse than, the XB360, switch the XB360 on and record that from the same distance to prove the point. Anything less is non-scientific method.

 

[Sis]

What it needs is a comparison. If the point is his PS3 is noisy like, or worse than, the XB360, switch the XB360 on and record that from the same distance to prove the point. Anything less is non-scientific method.

I doubt the difference between the Xbox 360 fan noise and PS3 fan noise, both at their highest setting, is that different. Most people don't realize that the loudest noise from the Xbox 360 by far is the 12x drive. It's horribly loud, though it doesn't help that the fans seem to run all the time, regardless of load.

But I would say that anyone who finds their PS3 to be obnoxiously loud should perhaps consider exchanging it. I am continually amazed at the build quality that Sony has put into their machine, so anything outside of norm is probably a defect.

 

[Kaotik]

The problem is, that one of the people who have a noisy one (and the fan won't even slow down without turning the console off first) sent his console for the representatives here in Finland, and got it boomeranged back with a note "There's nothing wrong with the console"

 

[Shifty Geezer]

The problem is, that one of the people who have a noisy one (and the fan won't even slow down without turning the console off first) sent his console for the representatives here in Finland, and got it boomeranged back with a note "There's nothing wrong with the console"

Technically there might not be. Unless the specs list an operating volume, a loud machine won't count as defective.

 

[Arwin]

Usually in those camcorders or whatever the mic is just a bit further away from the target than the lenses, to give you some perspect to it

Don't these camera's normally try to auto-adjust the volume on the directional microphone to match the maximum recording level, like some webcam drivers do?

The pros at the German C't magazine rated the PS3 at a maximum of 0.9 Sone at 0.5 meters (cf the Wii, which reaches 1.0 with the DVD drive spinning at full speed).

I have no idea though whether they used a US or EU version. But that's the kind of measurement that is going to impress me. And probably, eventually, Sony. It's just a matter of finding different PS3s and compare them, I guess.

 

[Kaotik]

Don't these camera's normally try to auto-adjust the volume on the directional microphone to match the maximum recording level, like some webcam drivers do?

The pros at the German C't magazine rated the PS3 at a maximum of 0.9 Sone at 0.5 meters (cf the Wii, which reaches 1.0 with the DVD drive spinning at full speed).

I have no idea though whether they used a US or EU version. But that's the kind of measurement that is going to impress me. And probably, eventually, Sony. It's just a matter of finding different PS3s and compare them, I guess.

If they'd try to match the max recording level always, shouldn't it pretty much sound as loud always?

For C't magazine, how long did they run the thing?
Did they have one of the loud ones or the silent ones?
I mean, even the loud ones are silent when started up, it takes few mins for the fan to speed up, and a bit longer before the "fly off gear" gets on

 

[Skrying]

I know it's a camera mic. That much is obvious. You've no idea how sensitive it is though. I can record a person's quietest whisper and have it sound loud. I've had camcorders where the motor sounds like cement mixer, when it's just the vibrations of the chassis the mic is picking up and the motor is pretty quiet. It's like someone taking a photo and saying 'look how dark the room was' when they show people the black print, and then you realize they took it with a shutter speed on 1/4000th of a second at a tiny aperture.

What it needs is a comparison. If the point is his PS3 is noisy like, or worse than, the XB360, switch the XB360 on and record that from the same distance to prove the point. Anything less is non-scientific method.

The point of this is not at all in comparison to the Xbox 360. By now it is known that the PS3 is quieter, that is not hard to grasp here. The point is that some of these fans could be defective and cause much louder than normal noise levels. Which would be a RMA fix and be done with it. Like usual people's common sense is thrown out the window with these things, this has been blown out of proportion and comparing a defective fan to a Xbox 360 is just nonsense and without merit.

What is so hard to grasp about this entire situation, I do not know. So some units of a defective fan, big deal. Call up Sony and get it replaced. Because the wonderful powers of the Internet fanboys make a huge deal out of this ("Oh noes PS3 is louder than Xbox 360z!") when it has no point at all.

 

[Kaotik]

What is so hard to grasp about this entire situation I do not know. So some units of a defective fan, big deal. Call up Sony and get it replaced and go on. Because the wonderful powers of the Internet though fanboys make a huge deal out of this ("Oh noes PS3 is louder than Xbox 360z!") when it has no point at all.

The problem is, like said 2-3 times already, that Sony's Playstation representatives in Finland (Nordisk Film) just boomeranged one of the said, apparently defective, units back to the user and said there's nothing wrong with it. Maybe it's different elsewhere, but that's how they did here.

 

[Sis]

The problem is, like said 2-3 times already, that Sony's Playstation representatives in Finland (Nordisk Film) just boomeranged one of the said, apparently defective, units back to the user and said there's nothing wrong with it. Maybe it's different elsewhere, but that's how they did here.

Is there no in-store warranty for this? Why send it back to Sony for repairs when you could just exchange it?

 

[Skrying]

The problem is, like said 2-3 times already, that Sony's Playstation representatives in Finland (Nordisk Film) just boomeranged one of the said, apparently defective, units back to the user and said there's nothing wrong with it. Maybe it's different elsewhere, but that's how they did here.

That would be a valid point, but you do not see that being discussed. Instead you get nothing but people comparing it to the Xbox 360 or others wanting to argue if someone's quick video recording is of strict scientific method when neither of those are worth the time of day.

 

[Shifty Geezer]

...others wanting to argue if someone's quick video recording is of strict scientific method when neither of those are worth the time of day.

Huh? Surely the first issue is to confirm that some PS3's are louder than others and there is a fault? Otherwise you may just have people hearing the PS3 at normal operation and thinking it's too noisy. The YouTube video was supposedly of a noisier than normal PS3. How does it prove that when there's no basis of comparison for what a PS3 should sound like? The reason to compare it to an XB360 is because the reports that suggest some PS3's are too noisy are comparing it to XB360. That is, normal PS3's should be quieter. If your PS3 is as noisy as XB360, it's noisier than the standard so you know it's wrong. Thus the movie should either compare the PS3 to an XB360 to show it's as loud and thus too noisy for a PS3, or compare it to a normal PS3 to show the normal PS3 is much quieter.

Only when there's a confirmed problem should the question of solutions be raised, such as is volume a breach of warranty? If you bought the extra store warranty you may be able to replace it. Otherwise standard warranty is against defective parts, and as long as the system is working and there's no official specification for the volume of fans and drives, it's not suffering from defective parts so can't be replaced.

 

[Skrying]

Huh? Surely the first issue is to confirm that some PS3's are louder than others and there is a fault? Otherwise you may just have people hearing the PS3 at normal operation and thinking it's too noisy. The YouTube video was supposedly of a noisier than normal PS3. How does it prove that when there's no basis of comparison for what a PS3 should sound like? The reason to compare it to an XB360 is because the reports that suggest some PS3's are too noisy are comparing it to XB360. That is, normal PS3's should be quieter. If your PS3 is as noisy as XB360, it's noisier than the standard so you know it's wrong. Thus the movie should either compare the PS3 to an XB360 to show it's as loud and thus too noisy for a PS3, or compare it to a normal PS3 to show the normal PS3 is much quieter.

Okay, I'll be sure to contact you when someone has measured both consoles in a noise chamber and done all of the proper testing. Or maybe the mics that are not properly calibrated, who knows. The point I'm trying to get at is that the video clearly had a much louder than normal PS3, other users here could tell you that. I am highly doubtful the camera's mic was so nice that it could pick up the volume much louder than normal. If the sound of a normal PS3 is hard to hear in the first place.

Only when there's a confirmed problem should the question of solutions be raised, such as is volume a breach of warranty? If you bought the extra store warranty you may be able to replace it. Otherwise standard warranty is against defective parts, and as long as the system is working and there's no official specification for the volume of fans and drives, it's not suffering from defective parts so can't be replaced.

Working properly. Judging by the video (which I tend to have enough faith in to do so) that would be very annoying and highly distracting. If your TV or monitor emitted a loud annoying hum would you return? I know I would. If your new computer made a very loud vibrating noise would you return? I know I would. The warranty should be so that components are in working and proper order. If the fan is much louder than standard I would certainly expect it to be covered, as it is clearly distracting and ruining of the entertainment value of the device.

 

[onanie]

I voided my PS3's warranty today in an effort to make it more quiet. Because I hate it when it goes to fan speed 3. Plus it was occasionally freezing up during Folding or playing movies. I thought about sending it in but I decided it would be more fun to try to fix it myself.

It was smoother that I expected taking it all apart and getting to the heat sinks. But it's not like just opening up your PC. There are a lot of screws and levels of components to lift off. And of course putting it all back together correctly is much harder than taking it apart.

But anyway I took it apart, cleaned off all the thermal paste that had generously spread in there. And then I put in my own Arctic Silver 5 and put it back together.

Unfortunately, so far it seems to work about the same as it did before I opened it up. So I guess the problem is somewhere else and not in the paste. Maybe I was just unlucky to get chips that are hotter than your average PS3. I might just have to buy another one for the living room and just use this one as a dedicated Linux box.

Original paste - chips

Original paste - heat sink

All cleaned up

Thanks for the pictures (if only you could also tell us what's inside the RSX) I admire your courage. You obviously knew what you were doing.

Perhaps a percentage of the reports could be due to variations in noise perception (whether it is hearing sensitivity, or subjective noise tolerance levels), as much as some could be due to variations in the manufacturing process. For those who are having problems it is best to check out another person's PS3 under similar conditions. One assumes that most PS3s will sound the same.

 

[dskneo]

i investigated my ps3 fan speed and temperatures more.

I only found 2 levels of fan speeds after 10 hours of folding and gaming.
test time: 2 am (dead silent), room temp: 21ºc

level 1 - slow fans (barely audible)
level 2 - medium fans (a good bit more silent than a silent low rpm 120mm fan blowing air into a radiator - my watercooled pc)

level 1 fans are only active until the hot air from the exhaust reaches 55ºc (it takes about 5 minutes with folding to reach that), then level 2 fans kicks in and drops the temperature down to 52ºc. After 10 hours the temperature is still 52ºc.

I'm sure there is a level 3 fan speed for those who have the ps3 in a tight space...
I'm going to shut folding down and see if the fan drops to level 1 again...

 

[Crossbar]

i investigated my ps3 fan speed and temperatures more.

I only found 2 levels of fan speeds after 10 hours of folding and gaming.

That´s the way mine is working. From other forums I´ve learned there is a level 4 as well. Sony seems to have some margins left for tropical climates, but there obviously is an uneven quality of the heatsinks in some European batch.

 

[-tkf-]

Hello,


over the past few weeks since the Euro - PS3 launch i read lots of stories about the fan speed of those EU PS3s as there seem to be large discrepancies between different models.

Some users report that their PS3s' fans never slow down, instead speed raises from unnoticable to "level 3" which is quite noticable.

Others report that theirs adopt fan speed according to the actual load (e.g. high speed in F@H, slow in the XMB).

My PS3 does not slow down the fan anymore once it reach this "level 3" speed. But how about others (US/JAP)?

Rumors say it's because of wrongly applied thermal sinks or fluids but ´noone can really confirm yet.

Is this a known issue among you (Sony still does not seem to know anything about it ...)

I searched a bit on some swedish sites and came up with the stuff we know by now. People owning the 360 and the PS3 all said the PS3 made less noise. Including during games and movie watching. Except one that claimed his PS3 was louder, i dunno either it was defective or he was lying. And that is the sad thing about this, any place where this rares it´s head there will be supportes that will make alot of fuss about this.

Take 10 PS3´s and test them against 10 360´s in different enviroments.
My PS3 is by all acounts not noiseless but it really doesn´t annoy at all.

 

[dskneo]

i found a 3rd level today.

Its safe to say that everytime the ps3 reaches 55º (im measuring from the exhaust air) she kicks the fans another gear.

Level2 was a 55º, Level3 brought the temp down to 49.
Folding of course... games dont push it as hard (i wonder when they will )

I'm sure when summer hits (with room temps at ~30ºc) i will find more levels. Right now my room temp is at 22.5ºc

 

[nAo]

All cleaned up

Off Topic: Sony always uses the most sexy packaging for its chips!

 

[Kaotik]

Someone @ MuroBBS did quite a stunt to test out PS3's fans (he's one of those who have the loud ones)
He found at least 8 different "levels" on the fan, here's a translation of the levels:

- Fan off
- Fan on, but really silent "hummming"
- Fan's "normal level" after 10mins of idling, movie freaks would say "no-no" for this
*Covers the PS3 inside a towel*
- It's loud
- It's REALLY loud
- Gets even louder
- Hellish noise
- "OMFG-level"
- "Beyond OMFG-level" - if I heard a person yelling like this, I'd call straight to the morgue instead of 112 (112 is the finnish 911)

The "levels" are audible steps on the fan speed, and the PS3 did survive the towel test, it stepped down 4 levels within a minute after removing the towel.

 

[DieH@rd]

Someone @ MuroBBS did quite a stunt to test out PS3's fans (he's one of those who have the loud ones)
He found at least 8 different "levels" on the fan, here's a translation of the levels:

- Fan off
- Fan on, but really silent "hummming"
- Fan's "normal level" after 10mins of idling, movie freaks would say "no-no" for this
*Covers the PS3 inside a towel*
- It's loud
- It's REALLY loud
- Gets even louder
- Hellish noise
- "OMFG-level"
- "Beyond OMFG-level" - if I heard a person yelling like this, I'd call straight to the morgue instead of 112 (112 is the finnish 911)

The "levels" are audible steps on the fan speed, and the PS3 did survive the towel test, it stepped down 4 levels within a minute after removing the towel.

Holy crap. And it's all in the name of science...