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Why Do So Many People Complain About Loud Consoles?

Because the console is generally in the heart of the home and many people like me live with kids and wifes. To fire up a hairdryer when you have put the kids to sleep and your wife is Reading a Book is big no no
 

Zafir

Member
I'm not sure what's so hard to understand about the fact different people are annoyed by different things. :p

My PS4 can get really loud at certain points, and it's really distracting. It's not even when the game is struggling either. Like I'm currently playing FFXV and the console revs up like crazy when ever I fast travel somewhere. Actually playing the game is fine. In fact it was so bad that the person who I was talking to over VOIP could hear the damn thing, and actually asked what it was, lol.
 
I'm no expert or anything and i don't own a console, but it doesn't really surprise me contemporary consoles are pretty loud. I would expect the tiny fans to have to work ridiculously hard to create some kind of necessary airflow in such little cases. I mean, i build my PC-systems in midi atx-cases (wich are still huge compared to a console), and even i need three 140mm air fans in the case itself, a big 212 EVO and two fans on my msi 1070 to create a truly quiet PC (wich it is, it is a thing of beauty).

I'm much more amazed by the fact that some people actually have quiet consoles. I'm very impressed by that.
 

chunk3rvd

Member
Thread has me anxious. I have no issues with noise on my OG PS4 but I'm waiting on delivery of a pro and stressing now that I'm going to get a jet plane in a box :( Hoping this is a vocal minority thing but this thread doesn't create a good picture.
 
Only time I had problems with loud console was when I had my Ps4 in a cabinet and it would overheat. This post reminds me though how I never hear my xbox unless I put my head next to the fans
 
Yo I have a original 60GB PS3 and it genuinely sounds like a hair dryer going buck wild. My replacement PS3 and PS4 are quiet though - but I know the annoyance of the loud console. Oh boy is it annoying.
 

Mokujin

Member
It annoys me a lot, I changed my original Ps3 for a Slim day one for that reason and my Pc is built around minimizing noise, as examples.

I want to buy a Ps4 Pro soon, but I'm concerned right now about the disparity in opinions about this matter.
 
I admit, I am also quite shocked at the number of noise complaints. I too just attributed this to people playing in very quiet rooms.
 

Doc Holliday

SPOILER: Columbus finds America
Are you guys keeping the PS4 well ventilated? Only time my PS4 gets really loud is when I forget to open the component door on my tv stand.
 

DESTROYA

Member
Because they are loud and distracting, my PS4 is very quiet compared to friends of mine, when I go to there place it's like night and day.
 
Distance from the unit will make a big difference in how you experience the noise. If you sit further away you'll turn up the game volume so it sounds equally loud to you, but the console is obviously going to sound more quiet at a distance. I sit less than 2 meters from my PS4, the noise is obvious.

But then I can hear the sound of a hard drive spinning up in my NAS when I'm in my bed in another room (when there's no music or anything on), so maybe I'm just more sensitive to sounds.
 
At some point my launch unit was louder than my AC. Lol

PS4 Slim is as silent as my PS3 Super Slim, big difference. Ive yet to receive my PS4 Pro so I dont know what's up yet
 

Okada

Member
At some point that ain't gonna help, my problem probably was the thermal paste drying

I had to do the same with my launch PS4. It helped a bit but it was still really loud. I think my launch PS4's issue is with the type of fan it has in it more than anything.

I took a punt on a new Chassis-C machine that turned out to be almost silent in the end.
 

Tambini

Member
The last time I had a super loud console it got the yellow light of death shortly after so when my ps4 started going vacuum mode on launch day I wasn't exactly thrilled
 
I have an OG PS3 whose whine is so loud especially in the summer that I have to turn the television up to pretty ridiculous levels just hear whats going on. I don't think any system should be louder than say the decibel of a desktop or laptop fan that begins to run. I have yet to purchase a PS4, but I refuse to pick one up if its as loud as my PS3.
 
The PS4 has cheap thermal paste so the thing roars like a jet half the time. I usually play in the living room or my bedroom sitting 5-10 ft from the television and can clearly hear the fans whine sometimes. It's annoying and no, "just put on headphones" is not a valid solution.
 
It just bothers me I guess hah. There's no elaborate backstory or traumatic childhood event involved, it just distracts me. I just bought a slim over buying a pro because it's quieter and uses less power, but still has really decent performance. I don't find it odd vice versa BTW, I am well able to step outside myself and understand a world where it doesn't bother folks. OP seems to be having an issue with the last part.
 

Seijuro

Member
OP probably either never had a launch 360 or a launch PS4 with noise problems. The sound my PS4 regularly makes when I play XCOM 2 of SF5 is beaten only by the hair dryer or vacuum cleaner. This isn't a slight humming we're talking about, people don't call the PS4 jet engine for nothing.
Playing on a sunday morning while my gf is asleep in the other room isn't possible because the fan will wake her up.
It sounds like somebody is drying their hair through a thin wooden door right next to you.
 

Aiustis

Member
I only have a Wii U, but it's super quiet. I remember how loud my 360 got. My Xbone isn't super loud, but it's louder than my Wii U.

My PC has been quiet since converting to SSD.
 

Isomac

Member
PS4 is so loud I can hear it even when using headphones in some games. The pitch on it is so annoying. It's the worst console I have ever had in this regard.
 
The Dreamcast and original 360 were fucking ridiculously loud. Those two were on a whole different level of noise. MS did a course correction mid-lifecycle of the 360 and made them relatively silent but holy mother of god the OG units were insane.

I never turn it on anymore but my 80GB PS3 is prohibitively loud and depending on what I'm doing on it, the PS4 can really crank up the noise to the point of being distracting. The only real quiet console we have is the Bone. I can't even tell that it's on.

Generally I'm indifferent to a lot of complaints about games and systems that get tossed around here but I can sympathize when people are complaining about noise.
 

Lupin3

Targeting terrorists with a D-Pad
Who in the hell are these people and where are they getting their consoles? And why are they playing in such quiet rooms without headphones and expecting their electronics to be whisper quiet?

They are probably ordinary people who happened to receive loud units? I really don't understand these threads. Some units are louder than others, that's about it. I've had 360's that are silent, somewhat noisy and pretty much jet engine alike.

I am one of those that is really bothered by noisy equipment, that's one reason why I pay extra for "soundproof" PC cases and silent graphic cards, and I wouldn't hesitate one second to return an annoying console that's louder than a TV on regular volume.
 

IvorB

Member
OP, there's a thing where you can comprehend things that you have not personally experienced through the accounts and explanations of others. Just because you haven't experienced it doesn't mean it's not a thing.
 

Kouriozan

Member
Problem is in some games some sounds/music is too quiet and your PS4 is way too loud to hear and find the red frogs in FFXV (gosh that quest was awful) or listen to the radio.
 

alarre1

Neo Member
Sounds like the people with "whisper quiet" PS4s should sell them on ebay for tons of money since they seem to be ultra rare.

Had a regular PS4 and PS4 Pro, and both are louder than my One S and gaming PC.
 
I could hear my PS4 over my PC when I would play Bloodborne.

I don't have a quiet PC. It's annoying when I'm trying to game without a headset on.
 

Big Blue

Member
Not trying to be a dick here -- I've genuinely always wondered this.

What in gods name are you people doing that you can ever hear a console? Are you Buddhist monks living in a lakeside sanctuary? Do you play in a room with 7 sleeping newborn babies with the sound on your TV turned all the way down?

I have NEVER, ever heard a console make significant noise in my 35 years of playing video games. Well I mean, there's noise, a very slight humming sound when games boot up, but other than that, why do people bitch so god damn much about "console noise"? People even get really extreme and say really weird shit like "my PS4 sounds like a jet engine in my living room!" Or "I'd love my PS4 Pro if it didn't sound like a fucking hair dryer on full blast!" (Real quote from someone here, not kidding).

My question is, who in the hell are these people and where are they getting their consoles? And why are they playing in such quiet rooms without headphones and expecting their electronics to be whisper quiet?

I don't mind it when playing games, but when watching movies?? It's really annoying and can ruin tense moments in horror movies, thrillers etc.
 

rdytoroll

Member
OP, count yourself lucky you've never had to deal with a loud jet engine PS4. I'm not joking, that thing gets so loud you hear it through headphones. It's sometimes louder than a fucking vacuum cleaner. The worst it ever got was with Rocket League and AC: Unity, just idling in the games menus made the PS4 go crazy
 
I mostly only get to play at night. I can't turn up my tv loud. Though that being said the only console sound that ever really bothered me was the Dreamcast. The crazy beep when your vmu battery was low, the whrrrrrrrrclikclok of the drive....

I do wish ps3 and ps4 didn't have those loud beeps when you turned them on.

Occasionally my ps4 fans kick into overdrive but luckily it's not too often.
 

Haganeren

Member
I resold my 360 to take the new one recently because i couldn't bear the sound of the 360 next to me. (Yeah, i'm on a little appartment) it's so annoying to hear that all the time.

When i turn off the console, i can heard myself sigh from relief.
 

Horp

Member
What the fuck?

My PS4 is SERIOUSLY loud. It was since the start, and it still is. Both my huge PC comps are often on at the same time, but together they only make fraction of the noise the PS4 does alone.
My friends PS4 is way less loud, it's a huge difference. Guess I could get mine replaced, but that in itself sucks.

Also, I live in a fairly small apartment with my wife and son. The PS4 is so loud that even if I block it out with headphones, they can still hear it clearly inside the living room, even with the door closed.

So just shut it OP, loud consoles are annoying. So annoying that I've stopped playing on my PS4 all together.
 
My base PS4 used to sound like a jet engine but because I usually wear headphones when gaming it never really bothered me much or at all. For whatever reason TlOu remastered really brought it out.

Xbox One is whisper quite so that's that.

Now, my OG 60GB PS3, that was a jumbo jet. I mean it literally sounded like it wanted to take off. Put it like this, it was so loud I could put my headphones and raise the volume around 75% and I could still hear the hum of the console.
 

Kthulhu

Member
I can hear my PS4 when I'm upstairs. (It's in the living room) I can hear it over my TV.

What the fuck?

My PS4 is SERIOUSLY loud. It was since the start, and it still is. Both my huge PC comps are often on at the same time, but together they only make fraction of the noise the PS4 does alone.
My friends PS4 is way less loud, it's a huge difference. Guess I could get mine replaced, but that in itself sucks.

Also, I live in a fairly small apartment with my wife and son. The PS4 is so loud that even if I block it out with headphones, they can still hear it clearly inside the living room, even with the door closed.

So just shut it OP, loud consoles are annoying. So annoying that I've stopped playing on my PS4 all together.



Please get your PS4s repaired. There is clearly something wrong with them if they are that loud.
 

belvedere

Junior Butler
I couldn't care less about any of this until I stumbled upon the "MY PS4 Pro Is SOOOOOOO LOUD" thread. There's a couple of videos posted in that thread where the PS4 Pro cannot be heard at all until the camera is moved directly on top of the console. Even then I had to turn my headphone volume all the way up to hear anything.

If that's loud I'd love to know how you're gaming. There's no way that little amount of fan noise can be heard with headphones on, with a 5.1 system or even using loud TV volume. If so, something is wrong with your console, son.

Outside of a couple of quiet moments after long gaming sessions I've never heard my PS4 or Pro unless loading a disc in the drive.
 

IvorB

Member
It's weird to me that there's this backlash against people complaining about noisy consoles. Is it not possible for people to just accept that some PS4 are unacceptably loud even though theirs are not?
 

trixx

Member
PS4 is louder than wii u? That shit is annoying when play games like CoD on it, keeps clicking. I can hear my one s though
 

Preezy

Member
I've only really experienced turbo-fan levels of noise from my PS4 when playing DOOM. Genuinely thought it was going to melt into my floor.
 
What case is it? Have been thinking of switching everything out of the hadron.

Unfortunately they stopped making these about a year ago. It was a prebuild PC designed to be in a console form factor with the option to easily upgrade things like RAM, HDD, and GPU on your own. So the GPU that it came with I ditched for a ATI 7870 initially and now I've upgraded it again to a GTX 1060 and it runs pretty much everything with full effects at 1080p60 and produces less noise than my OG PS4. Heck, now with the GTX1060, it's way quieter than when I had the 7870 in it. The blower style fan actually is making a huge difference in making it more quiet.

Are you guys keeping the PS4 well ventilated? Only time my PS4 gets really loud is when I forget to open the component door on my tv stand.

Nope. I keep my system on a vertical shelf that can only fit one console per shelf and is nothing but open air on all four sides of the console. It really couldn't be more open at all times. So ventilation is not the problem at all.
 
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