The Quietest Next Gen Console is... the Xbox 360?

[Acert93]

From: Pre Game Lobby

The results were a bit amazing to me. Whereas I fully expected the Wii to be the quietest and the Xbox 360 to be the loudest, while playing games, the results were reversed and the PS3 was louder than most people thought. If you are judging your consoles on noise alone (and by noise I don’t mean the noise coming out of the speakers while playing a game), the consoles stack up as follows:

1. Xbox 360 – on average least noisy, generally level noise output
2. PS3 – Not noisy at first, but fairly noisy once on for a short while
3. Wii – Virtually no noise… until you play a game and then the noisiest of the bunch

I am not an expert here, but maybe a slightly better method would have been to measured the noise 1M away (frequent method I have seen on 'silent PC' sites) and 3M away (playing distance) in the normal direction of the gamer. That said, the results are very surprising, to me at least. I wonder DVD drive model his 360 unit has?

 

[thatdude90210]

Strange results, especially for the Wii. I can barely hear it even when it spins up for a game. There are a couple of clicks when the disc stops, that's about it. In menu I can't even tell it's on.

My 360 on the other hand, there is a fan-whoosh even in menu, and when a game spins up, it's fairly loud. I'm going to guess that the website is going to get tons of hits for showing results that are contrary to common observations.

 

[Darkon]

I'm waiting for a punchline here.

 

[Acert93]

There are some issues with the tests, granted. The averaging... db are log, not linear, so 60db is 10x louder than 50db, so averaging really doesn't work. The other thing is being close to the machine has kind of a high change for issue. e.g. if the average range is 2-3cm, the one 2cm away will be louder than the 3cm. A listening distance of 1M in the typical gamer direction would be a good typical scenario and the distance would have made any variables irrelevant. Also no note if it is a Hitachi-LG or Samsung-Toshiba Drive. As a non-console owner I don't have a personal opinion on the matter, but at least it is a starting point for us all to bicker

Maybe B3D will do their own tests?

 

[Farid]

There are three types (or maybe more?) of X360 DVD drives out there, the Toshiba-Samsung one, the Hitachi-LG one and the recent Philips'. The Toshiba-Samsung is quite more quiet than the Hitachi-LG one (which is defintely louder than any other console drives out there, any. Anyone with a Hitach-LG drive would confirm that).

If I recall correctly, a modified firmware for the Hitachi-LG drives can reduce the noise emitted by these drives (it reduces the RPM, or something along these lines). Obviously, installing such a modified firmware would void your warranty and give MS the right to ban your console from Xbox Live anytime they feel like to.

Edit: Too late, acert replied already!
Note that, good denizen of B3D, that Acert in his reply stole the knowledge I politely shared with him on IM about the X360 current drives!
That's evil of him, that's for sure!



And Yeah, we'll try, later this year, to run some noise/heat/electrical consumption measurements on the three consoles.

 

[Mefisutoferesu]

Uhh... BS like nobody's business. Aside from the god awful test setup and measurements, You realize that people often compare street traffic to 70db, right? 85db is ear damage, by the way. Numbers are beyond bad. Blah.

 

[Acert93]

Uhh... BS like nobody's business. Aside from the god awful test setup and measurements, You realize that people often compare street traffic to 70db, right?

If you played with your ear 2cm from the console it may very well sound like car traffic

 

[AlNom]

Yeah, it'd be nice if they mentioned which DVD drive they had in the 360. The later ones are supposed to be a lot quieter than the initial batch.

Btw, the formula for the noise/power level is
 dB= 10log10(x)  ;for those wondering how the calculation works out

;or...

x = 10^ (dB/10);

 

[Acert93]

Note that, good denizen of B3D, that Acert in his reply stole the knowledge I politely shared with him on IM about the X360 current drives!
That's evil of him, that's for sure!

If you French were not such slow typists I wouldn't have to do all the heavy lifting myself! You guys should have become English when you had the chance! Long Live the Queen!

 

[Farid]

If you French were not such slow typists I wouldn't have to do all the heavy lifting myself! You guys should have become English when you had the chance! Long Live the Queen!

Lies, slanders, calumnies!

Never forget that the only royalties we support are the beheaded ones!

Now, let's get back to topic, let us talk about the info you stole from me and how you deserve bad rep points for that. That or we can also discuss about this article. Not that it's mandatory to one or the other, we can do both.

 

[JacksBleedingEyes]

Funny how they also include a harddrive noise level with the Wii considering there is none. Noise doesn't stack I suppose, or does it

 

[scooby_dooby]

I've been through 3 360's, 2 manufactured in April 2006, 2 of the 3 were quit loud, but the latest one is much quiter, really a huge difference. Can't really hear the disc spinning anymore, just a very faint sound.

 

[Crossbar]

I've been through 3 360's, 2 manufactured in April 2006, 2 of the 3 were quit loud, but the latest one is much quiter, really a huge difference. Can't really hear the disc spinning anymore, just a very faint sound.

There certainly is an individual variance among different units for all different consol brands. I've been told by some that the fan of the PS3 speeds up considerably during gameplay while others claim it doesn´t speed up at all or at least they don´t notice some big difference. The difference can be due to how well the heatsinks have been attached, small differences in heat sensor levels or whatever.

The 360 that has been on the market for more than one year has certainly gone through a lot of different components as well.

 

[[maven]]

I've been through 3 360's, 2 manufactured in April 2006, 2 of the 3 were quit loud, but the latest one is much quiter, really a huge difference. Can't really hear the disc spinning anymore, just a very faint sound.

I'm on my 5th 360 and they've all been loud (and I've had at least 2 out of the 3 different drives). Some rattled / vibrated slightly differently, but as soon as the DVD spun up, it's making a lot of noise.
The Wii is quiet compared to the 360 (slightly audible with disc spinning). But not so much you have to turn the sound up, as you do with the 360.

I'll be very tempted to just cash out for a new, quiet revision of the 360 (which isn't how it should be - incompetent noise management resulting in another sale...) whenever it's available.

 

[Nick Laslett]

This might be interesting for perspective buyers, but I already have an Xbox360 and PS3, so from personal experience with equipment I own, I know that my Xbox360 is intolerably loud, to the point where I don't even want to start it up. The other issue is the heat generated by the power brick.

Anyway I have my Xbox360 in the upright position, this helps prevent the overheating, but exacerbates the noise levels. This might be the reason why my launch machine still works.

I would consider getting a new Xbox360 if I was sure the noise issue had been solved.

I have a Sound Meter somewhere in the house, if I can find it, I'll get a reading.

 

[hey69]

that article is a insult for real online journalists...

i had over a dozen xbox360's at home , they all make very much noise.

xbox makes a solid sound already in normal mode , when its not reading from the dvd drive.
Sure, first 6 months, the xbox had very loud dvd drives but now its quiter but absolutely not in the
ps3 level .

I cant comment on the Wii I dont have it at home, only played it at places where there was loud noise around.

The ps3 is very quite, almost not hearable. AFter a few hours sometimes fans start kicking in, but nothing really loud.
Disc acces is almost non hearable...


one thing i have to say, if you have a modded xbox360, sound is much less since those firmwares enable slow read acces (for better backup media compatability) on the dvd drive..

 

[Rainbow Man]

That chart is almost entirely if not totally 100% bogus.

I've not heard PS3 it's too expensive for me so some new 360 revision could possibly be quieter but my own 360 is pretty loud. It's not obnoxious as long as the disc is well balanced but even then it makes a bit of a racket.

However Wii being loudest is simply a ludicrous claim. It's obviously just nonsense to generate controversy/clicks..

Peace.

 

[DJ12]

Maybe MS sent them one they sound-proofed as best they could.

 

[Rangers]

One thing I have heard that I'm sure is true is that while PS3 is normally quiet, when it's fan spins to top spead it's pretty much very loud, if not the loudest console. If you can avoid that top fan gear is assumedly when it is quiet.

It would be nice if a more reputable site did some measurments instead of all this hearsay.

 

[Titanio]

I have had all three in the same room (two are resident, Wii and PS3), and 360 was by far the loudest. Both the Wii and PS3 are quiet, although the Wii seems to have a vibration somewhere that travels very easily in my room..even to the point that you can hear that vibration in the room below mine. The PS3 is pretty much silent and I've not noticed a variation to the point where I would call it anything but quiet..I was surprised the Wii is not quieter than it to be honest.