PS3 Test Unit impressions (noise, heat etc.)

[ban25]

Being the raving cynic that I am, I was going to take this all with a bag of salt, but it looks more credible on closer inspection. All we can really say for sure is that it is quiet when playing a movie.

All of that information is publically available (regarding Blu-Ray playback, codecs, etc.) and could have come straight from avsforums. Not that I suspect he isn't telling the truth or anything.

 

[Rangers]

You know I was thiking though, these consoles can get much smaller in the future. 65nm and below. I dont see why passive cooling wont be easily doable. There are 7600GT's with passive cooling right now, which is a close cousin of the RSX. Granted much smaller, but also core clocked a bit higher (560 mhz). G71's are altogether pretty good on heat and power consumption. Not so sure about Cell.

Also those should require less power after die shrink so they could shrink the power supplies. MS could go internal or reduce the size of the external in a smaller console revision, etc.

We should see massively smaller redesigns at a relatively faster pace this generation imo.

Also RE silent PS3, maybe that was the reason for RSX drop to 500 mhz..as it was stated to be for thermal reasons.
________
DirtyMelissa cam

 

[Bad_Boy]

You know I was thiking though, these consoles can get much smaller in the future.

I'm sure they will Rangers, Sony does it all the time. (PSOne, PSTwo)

Also RE silent PS3, maybe that was the reason for RSX drop to 500 mhz..as it was stated to be for thermal reasons.

I thought it was for voltage reasons.

 

[Kryton]

Also RE silent PS3, maybe that was the reason for RSX drop to 500 mhz..as it was stated to be for thermal reasons.

Has anyone confirmed this yet? I thought it was still speculation based on 'insider remarks'...

 

[Carl B]

Has anyone confirmed this yet? I thought it was still speculation based on 'insider remarks'...

Hey! But I'm the 'insider' in question... (not saying I'm the guy that spoke to Charlie D of course, the 'plague of the Internet')

Anyway we'll see what's up. Dev kits are still at 500MHz on the RSX, so if they up it to 550MHz afterall two things will happen:

a) Sony will have pulled it off and I'll be happy

b) I'll also look like an idiot across the Internet.

BUT, honestly I'll be surprised if it happens...

Anyway at Bad Boy and Rangers: Voltage and thermals are the same thing in a sense. Increased voltage jacks the thermals, so if the highest consistent operational speed they could reach on present RSX chips at their desired voltage was 500MHz, well there ya go...

I mean there are obviously RSX chips out there that can hit 550MHz and run relatively cool to the majority of their ilk, it's just a matter of the fab process, yields, maturity, launch, etc etc...

 

[NavNucST3]

Hey! But I'm the 'insider' in question...

Anyway we'll see what's up. Dev kits are still at 500MHz on the RSX, so if they up it to 550MHz afterall two things will happen:

a) Sony will have pulled it off and I'll be happy

b) I'll also look like an idiot across the Internet.

BUT, honestly I'll be surprised if it happens...

Anyway at Bad Boy and Rangers: Voltage and thermals are the same thing in a sense. Increased voltage jacks the thermals, so if the highest consistent operational speed they could reach on present RSX chips at their desired voltage was 500MHz, well there ya go...

I mean there are obviously RSX chips out there that can hit 550MHz and run relatively cool to the majority of their ilk, it's just a matter of the fab process, yields, maturity, launch, etc etc...

Bah, even with these comments I personally think you would still look brighter than most at your board....ooops, I think I used my out loud voice.

BTW, I think you're safe.

 

[compres]

I would ass-u-me that he meant 'in game' as the disks spin very fast and do (indeed) get very hot!

Personally I think the convex design of the PS3 helps get the heat away from the components whereas the X360 has a concave design (and therefore the heat has no-where to go).

Just a thought.

The ps3 is concave if you look at it from the inside out. Can someone in the know say something about this?

I personally think it makes absolutely no difference when it comes to heat, however I will most likely be wrong.

 

[quest55720]

Very impressive good to see sony could pull it off.

 

[Guden Oden]

The ps3 is concave if you look at it from the inside out.

What on earth are you talking about, the PS3 isn't concave anywhere.

I personally think it makes absolutely no difference when it comes to heat, however I will most likely be wrong.

There's forced airflow through the (marginally concave) 360, just as there is through the (obviously convex) PS3, the shape of the outer shell has little to zero impact on the cooling performance, at least for these products.

What I'd like to know is how the cooling system in the PS3 is engineered. The flash photo taken of a demo unit some weeks back (the one with the now famous semi-transparent cover) seemed to indicate a large blower-type fan on the top of the unit. Question is then, from where does this fan draw air, and in which direction does it eject it? What's the size and shape of the heatsink(s)? I'm damn curious about this!

 

[DemoCoder]

My XBOX360 is loud as shit just sitting at the dashboard with no game, if I leave it idle downloading a bunch of demos for a few hours. Basically, don't put the thing in an entertainment center, even if it's got 300% clearance on all sides. It needs a fan on the rack it is sitting on to remove heat, otherwise the entire cabinet heats up. The XB360 heats up the surrounding air almost as hot as my RX-Z9 receiver.

 

[Arwin]

The guy from Lair mentions also that the PS3 final unit is very, very quiet. When they booted up Lair from BluRay for the first time, they thought the machine was broken because they didn't hear anything.

Source: ign interview

 

[wco81]

My XBOX360 is loud as shit just sitting at the dashboard with no game, if I leave it idle downloading a bunch of demos for a few hours. Basically, don't put the thing in an entertainment center, even if it's got 300% clearance on all sides. It needs a fan on the rack it is sitting on to remove heat, otherwise the entire cabinet heats up. The XB360 heats up the surrounding air almost as hot as my RX-Z9 receiver.

A Best Buy or Circuit City circular had an ad for an X360 cooler.

Unusual accessory for a console and the fact that it's being sold by mass market retailer seems to suggest overheating is a widespread issue.

 

[goonergaz]

My XBOX360 is loud as shit just sitting at the dashboard with no game, if I leave it idle downloading a bunch of demos for a few hours. Basically, don't put the thing in an entertainment center, even if it's got 300% clearance on all sides. It needs a fan on the rack it is sitting on to remove heat, otherwise the entire cabinet heats up. The XB360 heats up the surrounding air almost as hot as my RX-Z9 receiver.

mine was too - I had a 'batch 2' UK machine - it then died (after playing the Dead Rising demo too much! lol) and the new one (shop did a straight swap-out) is nice and quiet(er)!

 

[DemoCoder]

I already got the green-lines/freezeup of death once or twice after playing Dead Rising. I wonder why that game specifically seems to statistically kill more XB's. (note, it wasn't DR that locked the game. Simply BOOTING the XBox360, even after it was turned off all night with no disc in drive would cause spurious lockups)

 

[goonergaz]

There's forced airflow through the (marginally concave) 360, just as there is through the (obviously convex) PS3, the shape of the outer shell has little to zero impact on the cooling performance, at least for these products.

So, just to clarify, you think that the extra head-room that PS3 has won't help keep the 'escaped' heat (which obviously rises to the top of any electrical product) away from it's components more than the slightly concaved design of the X360 (where the heat has no-where to rise to)?

I just thought it might help a little bit...hell the extra height may even contain the heat sinks!? lol

 

[goonergaz]

I already got the green-lines/freezeup of death once or twice after playing Dead Rising. I wonder why that game specifically seems to statistically kill more XB's. (note, it wasn't DR that locked the game. Simply BOOTING the XBox360, even after it was turned off all night with no disc in drive would cause spurious lockups)

I dunno, it made me lauch as when I called MS they said the demo had been an issue as it was 'buggy' - however I suspect the truth was that many launch/early machines were just not 'great' (mine had always been noisey) and this game (maybe the fact it pushed the console a bit more than other games?) killed a few X360s off!

 

[Powderkeg]

So, just to clarify, you think that the extra head-room that PS3 has won't help keep the 'escaped' heat (which obviously rises to the top of any electrical product) away from it's components more than the slightly concaved design of the X360 (where the heat has no-where to rise to)?

Not really, since the concave shape of the 360 pushes that rising heat to the sides where there are vent holes allowing it to escape from the system entirely.

 

[goonergaz]

Not really, since the concave shape of the 360 pushes that rising heat to the sides where there are vent holes allowing it to escape from the system entirely.

Good point, but then the PS3 has vents as well so you're keeping the components as free as possible.

 

[Guden Oden]

So, just to clarify, you think that the extra head-room that PS3 has won't help keep the 'escaped' heat (which obviously rises to the top of any electrical product) away from it's components more than the slightly concaved design of the X360 (where the heat has no-where to rise to)?

Heat won't rise to the top in a box with fans working in it, shifting the air around. Convection is an extremely weak force and will be totally wiped out in the presence of a forced airflow. If you feel with your hand at the top of the 360, you'll notice it's actually drawing air in DOWNWARDS when it stands vertically.

Anyway, even if there were no fans at all in the 360, the concavishness of the casing is SO TINY it wouldn't block off airflow inside the case, and as already mentioned, it's only concave at the front; the back is totally straight. Of course, the internal layout might well pinch off airflow instead, since MS uses a full-height DVDROM drive that takes up a lot of space, and what space remains beneath the circuit board is occupied by the GPU heatsink.

Then again, who cares? The 360 isn't designed to use convection cooling, its heat output is much too great for that to be effective in a case that small, you'd likely need a heatsink three, four times the size of the external power supply AT LEAST to cool the 360 just with convection alone, that'd be rediculous and very ineffective from a materials/storage/transportation point of view.

Edit:

Not really, since the concave shape of the 360 pushes that rising heat to the sides where there are vent holes allowing it to escape from the system entirely.

Nothing escapes from those holes, or at least not while the fans are spinning. The fans create a negative air pressure inside, meaning air will go IN throgh those holes to compensate. Just check with your hand dude... That the casing is (marginally) convex has no effect on this - since the force of the fans (greatly) overpowers the force of convection).

 

[standing ovation]

Yesterday I went over to a Development Studio and got to see actual PS3 TEST Kits in action (Until now, all I've seen are the 3 foot bulky dev stations that look like Beta Max videotape players). It was so shiny and sleek (just like Darth Vader's Helmet). Low and behold the power supply was internal with minimal heat to the unit and no fan noises! (I'm not joking, the thing was freaking mute). Ah, I haven't wanted to dry hump an inanimate object for several years (don't ask, I'm not telling), but that PS3 Test unit was damn sexy.

As far as micro-power sources and low noise goes, Toshiba has not stated otherwise.

The Cell reference set hardware provides a reference design to achieve stable operation for this new-generation processor, which requires a high-capacity core power supply and superhigh-speed multibit input-outputs (I/Os). It also has flexible expandability to utilize the various I/Os of the SCC, and is supplied with a dedicated chassis that incorporates a low-noise, highly efficient dedicated liquid cooling system.