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[hesido]

It seems I'm one of those unlucky people with a loud PS4. On some posts around the net, there are people with inaudible PS4's and there are those with jet engines.

After 10 minutes of Don't Starve, my PS4 becomes loud enough for me to adjust the volume of my TV. It's not in a complete enclosure, it's in a shelf with hopefully sufficient space around, The air around is not hot so I could say the surrounding air flow is not shabby, just the air coming out of the vents is hottish.

Have I got a faulty PS4? Is there a secret menu I can check on the GPU temp or maybe control fan speed?

Ok, I'll add some suggestions compiled from the answers, some will be anonymous, sorry for that:

Keep it out in the open, some racks not only block air flow, but also may cause the sound to be directed towards the front:

If your shelf is in an entertainment rack that doesn't really have any air fed in or out from the back, it can get hot in there. I used to have my PS3 in one of those and I thought it seemed okay, but when I moved it to be out in the open, it was much quieter and ran much cooler. It's probably hotter in there than you think, which will cause the fans to run louder.

Enclosure amplifies the noise for one, and the lack of air movement reduces the cooling effect.

I had my PS4 in my entertainment center, open front with decent space around it. It was very loud and was audible on hotter days to people on coms when I was within 5 feet or so. I moved it on top of my sub woofer next to my TV and I never hear it now, and the daily temps have gone up significantly.

If you can't move it out of your cabinet, why not drill holes?

i made 2 holes behind my cabinets backplate or whatever you call it for my ps4, it stopped kicking the fans in and i only feel cold air now, your output is directly hitting the wood so i recommend making 2 holes at the height of your back vents.

A wooden platform helped Melchiah in this specific instance:

To my knowledge the PS4 is louder in a vertical position. The fan in mine was audible when I played Killzone, but it's been pretty quiet after I put this wooden plate between the system and the metal shelf. I haven't tried KZ since then though, so I don't know how it's now.

For people who have fan noise during standby (this is quite a revelation) :

Try turning off the usb charging function during standby. Worked for me. Of course it's a bit cumbersome since my controllers now aren't always charged.

Vertical is not recommended: (I think with or without a stand)

I noticed a difference when I had mine vertical with no stand. because there are no rubber feet to dampen vibrations, I think. I put it horizontal and the noise went down appreciably.

For disc spin noise, bluetak, whatever that is, may hold the answer:

Also nice little tip to help reduce any unwanted noise. My PS4 is on the vertical stand but this counts for horizontal consoles as well. I have put 8 small balls of bluetak under the stand, 4 on the feet and the rest along the underside of the stand. It also prevents the console sliding off the top of the wood unit I have it on.

Bluetak absorbs sound and vibration. So when the disk spins up its much quieter all round. Previously the spinning of the disk would send a degree of vibration through the wooden cabinet its on. Its a little thing but its a nice improvement.

Some vacuum them vents, they seem happy:

Nope, not at all. [Not noisy] Vacuum the vents regularly...

I vacuum the vents every couple of months, as I do with PS3.

If all else fails, you may indeed have a faulty PS4:

I had the same problem, my PS4 would slowly start getting louder like a jet engine. When I touched it I could definitely feel that it was a lot warmer than normal. It was happening on quite a few games such as Killzone SF and BF4. Luckily I got in touch with Sony and they replaced it and the new one has been working fine since I've had it.

Telling you guys to swap your PS4's while you can. Mine was loud as hell then it broke and I got a new one. Wayyyy quieter.

I wouldn't be surprised if the reason it broke had something to do with the loudness. Maybe it wasn't venting properly.

 

[BigTnaples]

Nope.

 

[DieH@rd]

Horizontal or vertical? Do you use vertical stand?

 

[StuBurns]

I remember a fan kick up during KZ once, otherwise, it's whisper quiet.

 

[Yaphett Kotto]

Mines only gives off a whim sometimes, but its barely audible.

 

[Triz]

My fans seem to kick into overdrive quite a bit. It has me worried.

 

[hesido]

It's horizontal. I've heard horizontal was better.

 

[SniperHunter]

nope mine is super quiet

 

[Tsundere]

On Don't Starve, really? That seems odd since it's completely digital. My PS4 only ever gets somewhat loud when I insert a disc for the first time, then it quiets down.

 

[pixlexic]

Nope .. But I also do not have any disk in the drive.

 

[Jobbs]

it's not noisy, but sometimes it refuses to power on for a while. very strange.

 

[family_guy]

Mines sounds like I'm taking off in a 747.

 

[marrec]

Mine's super quiet in both vertical and horizontal positions.

Then again it's next to my 360 who's hard drive sounds like a woodpecker.

 

[KORNdoggy]

super quiet, only audible while installing, and freakishly cool running considering it's size.

 

[Cyborg]

Nope.

I dont hear mine....realy quiet. Im realy impressed Sony pulled this off.

 

[dugdug]

If there's a disc in there, it gets so loud that it sounds like it's going to set my soul on fire.

But, with no disc, it's quiet as a mouse.

 

[andycapps]

It seems I'm one of those unlucky people with a loud PS4. On some posts around the net, there are people with inaudible PS4's and there are those with jet engines.

After 10 minutes of Don't Starve, my PS4 becomes loud enough for me to adjust the volume of my TV. It's not in a complete enclosure, it's in a shelf with hopefully sufficient space around, The air around is not hot so I could say the surrounding air flow is not shabby, just the air coming out of the vents is hottish.

Have I got a faulty PS4? Is there a secret menu I can check on the GPU temp or maybe control fan speed?

If your shelf is in an entertainment rack that doesn't really have any air fed in or out from the back, it can get hot in there. I used to have my PS3 in one of those and I thought it seemed okay, but when I moved it to be out in the open, it was much quieter and ran much cooler. It's probably hotter in there than you think, which will cause the fans to run louder.

 

[methane47]

I thought my PS4 was noisey for a few days.. then i realized the stand that it was sitting on was vibrating and hitting the wall. I moved the stand 5 mm away and back to silent.

 

[hesido]

On Don't Starve, really? That seems odd since it's completely digital. My PS4 only ever gets somewhat loud when I insert a disc for the first time, then it quiets down.

I gave that example specifically, even with a digital 2d title!

If your shelf is in an entertainment rack that doesn't really have any air fed in or out from the back, it can get hot in there. I used to have my PS3 in one of those and I thought it seemed okay, but when I moved it to be out in the open, it was much quieter and ran much cooler. It's probably hotter in there than you think, which will cause the fans to run louder.

I'd try to move it on top shelf in the open but my 2yr old daughter owns that shelf. 3rd edit: I'll try this tho when she's not around.

 

[FeiRR]

Horizontal or vertical? Do you use vertical stand?

Does it get better or worse?

My PS4 is very noisy, which annoys me a lot.

Edit: and now I'm jealous with all you people with quiet consoles.

 

[smoothj]

Not at all. Also, my DS4 analog sticks are in tact, no rubber issues.

Launch PS4.

 

[PintSizedSlasher]

My children are noisy...

 

[archnemesis]

I have a very silent system.

Also, my DS4 analog sticks are in tact, no rubber issues.

Same here, although I haven't put in that many hours yet.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

My first PS4 was noisy as hell in standby then got the weird HDMI handshake issues. I sent that one in and my new one works great. I'd send yours in too, but just be prepared for a long wait (three weeks in my case).

 

[mattp]

disc drive is loud, but it only runs during boot and while installing a game
otherwise i dont think i can even hear it

 

[tait269]

Mine is noisy as fuck. mostly the fan but sometimes the disc drive.

 

[MikeHaggar]

certain games tend to make mine loud (fans) and run hot. bf4 is one of them. i believe infamous:ss does as well. i'm not too concerned about it though.

 

[That Wont Fit In There]

Ps4 only noisy when reading discs or trying to do many things at once.

 

[Kysen]

Definitely audible when a game is running, even worse when the disk is being installed.

 

[Alchemist]

Second Son was the only game that made mine louder than usual.

 

[daveo42]

Mine is noisy at start up if I have a disc in the system. Otherwise it is whisper quiet most of the time.

 

[SJRB]

The cooling fan kicks off when I'm playing Ground Zeroes or Infamous, but it's the same level as my PS3 and by no means a jet engine. I'm fortunate, I guess.

 

[Lucifon]

Yep. After about 30-60 mins of Infamous or Killzone it becomes very noticable, to the point where it's actually quite annoying. Fans kick up and down, and are significantly louder when anything is patching/downloading/installing in the background. Nothing to do with the disk in the drive, it's easy enough to tell the difference between a disk spinning and a fan. The system also throws out fairly warm air.

 

[DryvBy]

Only if I've been playing all day. Make sure you dust out those vents!

 

[Acquiescence]

Only when I make sweet love to it.

 

[Vlade]

Quiet except when a disc is starting up.

 

[Deleted member 752119]

Fan is loud at times in mine too, especially Killzone, also sometimes in Second Son.

Probably depends on setup. Mine is on a shelf in my tv stand, open in front (unless I forget to open the door then it gets super hot and loud very fast), has a good bit of room above but the sides are closed and the back is other than the holes for cable).

So my fans probably run more than someone that has it more in the open, and my set up probably reflects the sound back out a lot too. Add in sitting six feet or so from it and it's pretty loud at times. Still quieter than either of the 360s I had (original and slim) and probably quieter than my slim ps3. So it doesn't bother or worry me as it doesn't get too not or anything as ling as I open the tv stand door.

 

[JimmyRustler]

Yep. After about 30-60 mins of Infamous or Killzone it becomes very noticable, to the point where it's actually quite annoying. Fans kick up and down, and are significantly louder when anything is patching/downloading/installing in the background. Nothing to do with the disk in the drive, it's easy enough to tell the difference between a disk spinning and a fan. The system also throws out fairly warm air.

Exactly this for me as well. Don't mind as much any more as I play with my headphones on most of the time.

 

[Sojgat]

I can hear that it's on, but it's not what I'd call noisy.

 

[jaypah]

I can almost hear my fan when I'm playing SS. Other than that it's pretty quiet. So much so that I never really think about it.

 

[Bundy]

We have currently over 15 PS4's in our clique.
14 are silent and can't be heard.
Only one of them sounds like a jet engine....
(but it works normally)

 

[A.Romero]

Mine is very noisy but I Live in a hot place (30 C and up, most of the year) so it doesnt surprise me.

 

[mrklaw]

generally fairly quite, but it does ramp the fan up sometimes on certain trials levels (especially user created tracks) and on a couple of other games. Oddly it can be relatively simple games that do it, but it is quite on Infamous.

Once games start really pushing the APU so it gets really hot, I'm sure it'll get louder

 

[bob page]

Mine is a little loud on boot (I'm assuming the disc spinning up) but after the first 30 seconds it's extremely quiet- even after playing games for upwards of 3 hours.

 

[Kandrick]

Yeah, mine gets really loud after playing FFXIV for a while. That thing must be pushing the system.

On other games, it's barely noticeable.

 

[Nyx]

Only when playing certain games. (BF4, Killzone)

 

[Owzers]

loud when playing killzone/infamous, not bad with everything else.

I returned the first one i bought and the second was the same, noise bugs me so i'm not sure i believe the silent folk.

 

[WeAreStarStuff]

The only time I recall mine being loud was during Shadow Fall.

 

[hesido]

My first PS4 was noisy as hell in standby then got the weird HDMI handshake issues. I sent that one in and my new one works great. I'd send yours in too, but just be prepared for a long wait (three weeks in my case).

It's imported from overseas so I think I won't be able to send it to local Sony.

My main hope that it's not faulty hardware, to be honest.

We have currently over 15 PS4's in our clique.
14 are silent and can't be heard.
Only one of them sounds like a jet engine....
(but it works normally)

That's nice statistics, also re-inforces the notion that I'm so unlucky with hardware. It never asked me to shut the unit down so should I feel safe that my APU's life expectancy is not getting shorter because of it?

 

[AwRy108]

Make sure your intake ports aren't overly dusty.