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PS4 fan makes less noise when console is horizontal.
- Thread starter Lord Error
- Start date
GillianSeed79
Member
Maybe it depends on the game? Like whenever I play TLoU on PS3, my system's fans go into over drive but it's relative quiet when I play older games. I haven't played Killzone yet on PS4, but whenever I play ACIV, the system is super quiet.
startyourengine
Member
maybe you are doing it wrong, vertical without a stand? im liking mine vertical, looks mega cool
If you don't use a stand (and thus, have no rubber feet)... the vibrations from the PS4 (HDD and fan) will carry over to your furniture much easier, causing noise. Could that have been the reason why it's louder vertical?
I think for a real comparison you need to use a stand.
Mine is gonna sit horizontal anyway.
WhiskeyKnight
Member
I can confirm this.
Switched my PS4 from vertical to horizontal last night and the box is much quieter now.
Switched my PS4 from vertical to horizontal last night and the box is much quieter now.
That seems hard to fathom but I haven't played KZ. After a bit of FIFA, the fan is quite audible and stays that way.
I understood that reference.
LiveFromKyoto
Member
I'm a bit tied up w/ work right now, but I should have a moment in an hour or two, I can record it if people really find it hard to believe.
Lordwindowlicker
Member
My Ps4 isn't loud enough for me to care enough...
Commanche Raisin Toast
Member
Mine makes no noise at all while vertical and stays reasonably cool. The only noise I hear is right after putting a disc in, and it's only for a second.
Like a "zwee!" For a split second and that's it. No noise after that. I have mine turned so the disc drive points to the left and the top of the PS4 and the led strip face me.
Just because the fans slowed down right after you put it horizontal doesn't mean there's a correlation. It could have just been idling and you happen to turn it right before it was already going to slow down the fans. Pretty sure Sony already confirmed that it runs cooler when vertical. I remember there being extensive thermal tests done after PS3 launched and they found horizontal cools better. Guess PS4 is different.
Like a "zwee!" For a split second and that's it. No noise after that. I have mine turned so the disc drive points to the left and the top of the PS4 and the led strip face me.
Just because the fans slowed down right after you put it horizontal doesn't mean there's a correlation. It could have just been idling and you happen to turn it right before it was already going to slow down the fans. Pretty sure Sony already confirmed that it runs cooler when vertical. I remember there being extensive thermal tests done after PS3 launched and they found horizontal cools better. Guess PS4 is different.
Big Takeover
Member
I won't keep mine vertical, but I'll try it to see if there's an improvement. Killzone is the only thing I've tried that sends it into hairdryer mode. Sounds just like this guy's. No other problems with it however.
NipplesAndToes23
Member
Well that's just common sense.
LiveFromKyoto
Member
Mine's exactly the same situation. It'll make noise when it's taking in a disc and reading off it then goes into stealth mode after that.
It's horizontal right now, facing straight forward. I'd like to put it vertical once I get a stand though, takes up less space that way.
Netherscourge
Banned
Over time, as dust builds up on the fan blades, it'll get noisier with the console vertical.
I've dealt with enough PC case and motherboard fans to know this is the truth.
However, on a PC, you can open up the case and wipe the dust off the fan blades to get rid of that unbalanced vibration sound.
Not sure if this is possible on a PS4 without voiding the warranty.
I've dealt with enough PC case and motherboard fans to know this is the truth.
However, on a PC, you can open up the case and wipe the dust off the fan blades to get rid of that unbalanced vibration sound.
Not sure if this is possible on a PS4 without voiding the warranty.
Oppo
Member
Thank you for this tip, OP. This was one of the aspects of the PS4 I was slightly bummed about. You can definitely hear the thing cycling up and down in vertical mode and it was just in the edge of what I'd consider tolerable (noise level is important to me).
I can confirm after an hour of pirating in AC4 that the noise level does indeed seem noticeably decreased in horizontal mode. Prior to this I was using it as you were- vertical with no stand.
I can confirm after an hour of pirating in AC4 that the noise level does indeed seem noticeably decreased in horizontal mode. Prior to this I was using it as you were- vertical with no stand.
I play FIFA a lot and I can barely hear my PS4 even with sound muted.
dead souls
Member
Good to know, though I'd never put any console vertical. I'm too afraid someone would knock it over and hurt it.
shenglongdong
Member
I've played a decent amount of KZ and AssCreed without the fan really kicking into a high gear. Sounds about as loud as my PS3 (first Slim revision), audible, but fairly quiet.
Dr. Zoidberg
Member
So, it appears from this thread that even when fully functional, some people's PS4's are quieter (better?) than others. The question is which ones will last longer? The loud ones or the quiet ones?
The loud ones might last longer because they are cooling properly, or they might not last as long because they are getting hotter for some reason (poor thermal paste or something).
If you have a loud one, like me, what do you do about it since the thing works normally otherwise? Take it back to Gamestop and say "Yeah, I'd like to exchange this for another one, my fans are louder than some other people."
The loud ones might last longer because they are cooling properly, or they might not last as long because they are getting hotter for some reason (poor thermal paste or something).
If you have a loud one, like me, what do you do about it since the thing works normally otherwise? Take it back to Gamestop and say "Yeah, I'd like to exchange this for another one, my fans are louder than some other people."
I was hoping someone would!
i might just wait for a revision, or sell my ps4 when the revision comes out. I don't believe people anymore when they say their system doesn't make any noise, i think they just don't care, have a loud room, or can't hear well. Same with people who say their launch PS3 fat models were "silent".
peanutbutterlatte
Member
If you knock it over the fan won't make any noise at all
theclosetfan
Member
I honestly think different people have different interpretations about what is "whisper quiet."
My system ramps up while playing Killzone to about the same level as my old pre-slim Xbox 360 arcade model. Definitely not a "hairdryer" or a "jet taking off" or whatever other overblown descriptions people use. It's white noise if you aren't being hyper-sensitive about it.
I really don't believe there is a vast difference in noise level between normally functioning consoles.
Lord Error
Insane For Sony
Whether something is loud or not depends massively on how much room noise you have, whether you're playing during day or night (usually night time is much more quiet so the fans are a lot more audible) how sensitive your ears are, how close you sit to the console, and perhaps most importantly as it's not a subjective thing - how warm your room is. I can't answer any of that for you, but what I can say is that.
a) consoles probably have more or less exactsame internals and produce same fan noise under exact same circumstances
b) if you seat it horizontally it will make less noise
Still, it won't cost you anything to go and get another console and try it out, if you can find one anyway.
You also have to keep in mind that people play different games, and some (Killzone) definitely create more fan noise than others (Resogun, Fifa, Flower, Contrast, Trine 2). I was honestly thinking that Resogun was going to sweat the machine the most, but I've now seen for certain that KZ in fact make fan run louder than any other game I tried so far. For me for example, there are times playing KZ when the fan spins into overdrive, then 10 seconds later goes into a bit lower spin mode (still more loud than any other game I have) and stays there.
WoolyNinja
Member
I sent my PS4 back to Sony for loud fan noise only after going to a friends and seeing how his literally was whisper quiet while in a cabinet with the door open (but had a closed back). It was so quiet compared to mine sitting on top of my entertainment center. We'll see if maybe his or mine is the anomaly when I get one back from Sony.
Lord Error
Insane For Sony
Whisper quiet doing what though?
Mine has been horizontal since I got it. Disc was audioable/spinning for KZ only when I was installing the game and turning it on and such. I don't hear it later and I have played and streamed at the same time for 6+ hours.
I guess I got lucky? Or do you guys have the console in a hot or a bit tight-ish spot? I have mine on a glass surface that's open from all sides.
Edit: FWIW: It has been pretty cold lately where I live, but I still don't remember hearing the fan or drive going loud when I turned on the heater.
I guess I got lucky? Or do you guys have the console in a hot or a bit tight-ish spot? I have mine on a glass surface that's open from all sides.
Edit: FWIW: It has been pretty cold lately where I live, but I still don't remember hearing the fan or drive going loud when I turned on the heater.
Loud ones may be worse - eg bad application of thermal paste meaning the chip is reporting a high temperature, spinning up the fan but it isn't effectively cooling it.
I'd take that back immediately
WoolyNinja
Member
Playing games, and in this case specifically, playing Killzone for over 45 minutes.
adamantypants
Member
I had my PS4 vertical for the first three days. But whenever I fired up Killzone it would go into jet engine mode. Somebody on this forum said it may be the 6x disc drive but that definitely didn't sound like the drive. Then I read that vertically, you're covering up an entire vent so I switched to horizontal and bah gawd it's waaaay quiter.
And it's not the feet. I put it on a T shirt for a few seconds to see if the table was amplifying the sound and even picked it up in my hands for a few seconds and it's definitely the fan.
And it's not the feet. I put it on a T shirt for a few seconds to see if the table was amplifying the sound and even picked it up in my hands for a few seconds and it's definitely the fan.
Muffdraul
Member
Come on me bro
Lord Error
Insane For Sony
I'll have to check KZ now that I have console horizontal. When it was vertical it was nothing even resembling whisper quiet while playing it. For a short time it would go into overdrive mode, just like with that youtube video above, then it would settle down on a lower but still fairly loud fan speed.
It will be interesting to see what you find. I ended up opening my other ps4 and compared the two side by side, didnt' see any difference in noise, might return both. Very little noise when starting up, with my ipad with the measuring app right in front of the ps4, 55 decibels when installing and 47 after installing is finished because the fan speed didn't decrease. Both were "loud" as far as i'm concerned and could be heard over the tv speakers on occasion, not enough to be terrible though.
Big Takeover
Member
Hmm, maybe I should. To be honest, I haven't looked around too much as to if this was normal or not, but I'm guessing it's not. I'm not put off by louder than expected, but this is orders of magnitude louder than any phat or 360 ever was.
Anyway, I'll give my local Sony Store a call.
The xbone=Precious
But if it was a bad thermal paste job or a fan problem in general, would this not mean the fan would be at a high level regradless of whar you're doing. Its seems most complaints are when playing games, mainly when playing Killzone.
Hold up, that's loud! Same loudness as when the disc is running on 360? I felt like my 360 wanted to launch off the ground whenever it was reading a disc.
That's not a fan, it's a cry for help.
His video is about how loud my two consoles were after 40 minutes of playing bf4.
Does the PS4 cooler have heatpipes? Heatpipes work best when they don't need to work against gravity, so this could be the obvious explanation for this issue. I've seen this happen in the PC world...some of the 90 degree rotated cases (e.g. Silverstone FT02) don't do well with heatpipe GPU coolers.
Can't find a decent picture of the heatsink, but yeah, here's the issue:
Notice the copper tube, that's a heatpipe, which is copper tubing filled with liquid thermal conductant. When it's standing vertically, the coolant needs to work against gravity which inhibits its performance. When it's horizontal, gravity does not impact it negatively.
This is actually somewhat of a poorly planned design, as the issue would be mitigated if the heatsink were to be rotated by 90 degrees. See the Xbox One, which should have less of a problem being cooled vertically:
If you were to stand the Xbox One up, the portion of the heatpipes making contact with the heatsink would still be horizontal and the coolant could flow more freely. It still won't be perfect as gravity does come into play at some point, but it will be mitigated.
Can't find a decent picture of the heatsink, but yeah, here's the issue:
Notice the copper tube, that's a heatpipe, which is copper tubing filled with liquid thermal conductant. When it's standing vertically, the coolant needs to work against gravity which inhibits its performance. When it's horizontal, gravity does not impact it negatively.
This is actually somewhat of a poorly planned design, as the issue would be mitigated if the heatsink were to be rotated by 90 degrees. See the Xbox One, which should have less of a problem being cooled vertically:
If you were to stand the Xbox One up, the portion of the heatpipes making contact with the heatsink would still be horizontal and the coolant could flow more freely. It still won't be perfect as gravity does come into play at some point, but it will be mitigated.
Lord Error
Insane For Sony
Time to put the ultimate closure to this. I've purchased the vertical stand and ran a controlled test.
- Keeping the console horizontal, I loaded up KZ:SF level 2.2, without touching the controller, I waited for the fan to go as high as it would. It wasn't very loud at all.
- Since the console is near the edge of the table where I'm keeping it, I've left its right side overhang a tiny bit so that I can attach the vertical stand while keeping the console horizontal.
- I attach the vertical stand, keeping the console horizontal. About 30 seconds later, I can already hear the fan spinning up, and after about a minute, it spun up to a very noticeably higher speed (but still lower speed than when you keep the console vertical without the stand!). This right there proves that the stand partially blocks the airflow despite the air intake slits that are on its base. I measured an increase of about 4-5 decibels measured right next to the console, using some iPhone app.
- I lift the console vertical to prove/disprove TheExodu5' theory that heat pipes working against the gravity would worsen the issue. Fan speed didn't increase further, even after about half an hour, thus disproving this theory.
- I put the console back horizontal, remove the stand, and soon enough fan spins back down to where it was before I attached the stand.
- Then I made my own vertical stand using just some lego bricks placed on two ends, that lift the console about an inch off the ground, and which didn't obstruct the side air intake slits at all. With this kind of stand the fan speed didn't increase at all, further disproving the heat pipe/gravity theory.
So there you have it - if you want to keep the console vertical, make your own stand that does not block the console's side even a bit. Otherwise, avoid official stand and just keep the console horizontal.
- Keeping the console horizontal, I loaded up KZ:SF level 2.2, without touching the controller, I waited for the fan to go as high as it would. It wasn't very loud at all.
- Since the console is near the edge of the table where I'm keeping it, I've left its right side overhang a tiny bit so that I can attach the vertical stand while keeping the console horizontal.
- I attach the vertical stand, keeping the console horizontal. About 30 seconds later, I can already hear the fan spinning up, and after about a minute, it spun up to a very noticeably higher speed (but still lower speed than when you keep the console vertical without the stand!). This right there proves that the stand partially blocks the airflow despite the air intake slits that are on its base. I measured an increase of about 4-5 decibels measured right next to the console, using some iPhone app.
- I lift the console vertical to prove/disprove TheExodu5' theory that heat pipes working against the gravity would worsen the issue. Fan speed didn't increase further, even after about half an hour, thus disproving this theory.
- I put the console back horizontal, remove the stand, and soon enough fan spins back down to where it was before I attached the stand.
- Then I made my own vertical stand using just some lego bricks placed on two ends, that lift the console about an inch off the ground, and which didn't obstruct the side air intake slits at all. With this kind of stand the fan speed didn't increase at all, further disproving the heat pipe/gravity theory.
So there you have it - if you want to keep the console vertical, make your own stand that does not block the console's side even a bit. Otherwise, avoid official stand and just keep the console horizontal.
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