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Sony really cheaped out on their PSUs didn't they?

xacto

Member
Just the tip though. You don't want to worsen the coil whine.

Just the tip, but then you slip, you know? And all of a sudden, you're in it at least elbow-deep. Welcome to your new eco-system! 300+ games and at least 30+ backlog games later, you're worst than in a shotgun marriage.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
rofif rofif would you say this is coming from the GPU as it changes wildly depending on what I am doing and on second inspection it is pretty audible from the top of the console so perhaps it is just reverberation which makes it audible from the bottom?

Also as far as I am aware this doesn't cause danger to the system itself does it? so theoretically I could just man up and use headphones and not worry about it.
It's no danger at all. Just noise
 

THE:MILKMAN

Member
The PSU is a Delta and I believe Sony have been using them at launch for a long time and they are pretty legit.

I do wonder if a combination of the new paradigm of a constant supply of electrical power with the frequencies varying and SmartShift err shifting power has the downside of producing this varying pitch coil whine depending on what you do in a game?
 

Vae_Victis

Banned

To me that sounds exactly like GPU coil whine, it's pretty constant and pitch-shifts abruptly.

I used to have an Nvidia GPU (I think it was a GTX 560?) that for some reason had ridiculous coil whine, both very loud and very high-pitched, if I tried to play certain games without forcing v-sync. All the instances I've heard from PS5 videos at least sound relatively low-pitched, so they shouldn't drill in your skull as badly, but that's hardly a consolation if it's noticeable and distracting enough for you.

If you don't really hear the sound as you play though, you can safely ignore it. Coil whine is a by-product of normal hardware operation, not a signal that something isn't working as intended (well, apart from noise screening, clearly) and is breaking down.
 
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xacto

Member
The PSU is a Delta and I believe Sony have been using them at launch for a long time and they are pretty legit.

I do wonder if a combination of the new paradigm of a constant supply of electrical power with the frequencies varying and SmartShift err shifting power has the downside of producing this varying pitch coil whine depending on what you do in a game?

It would be interesting if Sony could step up to the plate and let people know what this is all about. Some kind of clarification would go a long way.
 

TheKratos

Member
Am I the only person not bothered by low buzzing sounds? I don't hear shit from my PS5 but even if I heard some buzzing sound or coil whine I wouldn't even notice it during gaming.

Is this some kind of OCD people have?
 

cMonry

Neo Member
Apple is the standout that historically has, and I think by way of trying to compete with them with Surface, Microsoft picked up on these things as well and the Surface team had that input for Xbox, which they (from the lack of complaints I've heard) have done quite well here.
My Series X has coil whine, but it's so quiet that I need to put my ear 20cm from the console. I consider this normal. Overall from more than 50cm you can't really hear that it's on. Beautiful hardware really.
PS5 on the other hand.. yeah, I've sold it after a week, couldn't stand the whine from my couch 3m away from it. And it's a shame really, cause I've grown huge backlog because of how PS4 Pros were whining and I was really hoping I'll catch up on these beautiful exclusives on PS5. Well, I'll wait until they'll get their shit together. I don't think they will fix this for a couple next years though, seeing how people and news outlets are approaching this issue.
Also, I'm fully aware that coil whine is highly individual dependent. My friend have said that he "hears something" but isn't bothered at all by it. Same goes for my wife. A lot of people doesn't hear it at all because of age and/or hearing deterioration.

Am I the only person not bothered by low buzzing sounds? I don't hear shit from my PS5 but even if I heard some buzzing sound or coil whine I wouldn't even notice it during gaming.

Is this some kind of OCD people have?
OCD people may be more sensitive to this probably. I just have excellent hearing according to a recent medical examination so I'm very sensitive to these frequencies.
 
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THE:MILKMAN

Member
Am I the only person not bothered by low buzzing sounds? I don't hear shit from my PS5 but even if I heard some buzzing sound or coil whine I wouldn't even notice it during gaming.

Is this some kind of OCD people have?

It will vary by peoples hearing level/sensitivity. Unfortunately everyone I know tells me I have bat ears......

I still suspect most of the videos are exaggerating the severity of noise because I've done my own experiments with my PC using my phone.
 

Tiptop10

Neo Member
not only my PS5 but my entire friend groups are making the most annoying coil whine

This is exactly why I'm just gonna monitor mine for a while instead of quickly going to sony for RMA. I don't wanna end up going through the process to only end up with another unit with the issue, or one with even worse coil whine. I think Sony needs to make some amends to their production line to fix this or we're all just gonna be participants of the coil whine lottery. plus mine doesn't really fill the room (yet), but definitely something you can kind of make out when the environment is silent.
 
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People don't seem to understand that some consoles are so loud you can hear them across the room. I was sitting 3m away and mine sounded worse than OPs. I sent it back, amazon didn't have the replacement option. :'(
Nothing with sensitive hearing, it was just that loud.

I am always reading "well I don't put my ear on the console when playing", yeah no shit, neither do I. I could hear mine through my damn headphones.

You got a quiet one? Nice. Some of us didn't.
 
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reinking

Gold Member
rofif rofif would you say this is coming from the GPU as it changes wildly depending on what I am doing and on second inspection it is pretty audible from the top of the console so perhaps it is just reverberation which makes it audible from the bottom?

Also as far as I am aware this doesn't cause danger to the system itself does it? so theoretically I could just man up and use headphones and not worry about it.
Just send it in for replacement. There is no reason to keep a faulty system.
 

dano1

A Sheep
People have sensitive ears and some coil whine can be heard from across a room, don't be a smart ass.

Well when you come off praising Xbox and call PlayStation a piece of junk. And all of your friends have the same issues and you can’t even record it because for some reason your phone doesn’t work....
I guarantee you every PS5 has some noise if you want to hear it. Mine does.
 

DonJorginho

Banned
Well when you come off praising Xbox and call PlayStation a piece of junk. And all of your friends have the same issues and you can’t even record it because for some reason your phone doesn’t work....
I guarantee you every PS5 has some noise if you want to hear it. Mine does.
Oh dear, please look through my post history, I love Sony with a passion, they're my favourite company in gaming, I said ONE thing about how quiet the Series X was and how the PS5 was a hunk of junk in regards to noise levels compared to it.

If you think I am attempting to war, you don't know who you're speaking to mate, phones don't pick up the coil whine very well and that video sounded exactly like mine so why not use it? Take off the tin-foil hat buddy.
 
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I can't hear mine at all which I know is not the case for everyone so definitely a fan/coil whine lottery.

Seems way better than last gen though as there is at least a chance to get something that is quiet. I think even if Cerny hand crafted the parts himself using the world's finest materials the PS4 was always going to make a lot of noise and it varied between slightly annoying to obnoxious.
 

iHaunter

Member
Again, the internet is a double-edged sword. You're looking at the .000001% of the people that actually got a PS5 that have this issue. EVERY single launch has had bad hardware. It's the nature of electronics. People are so obsessed with the Switch.

It had an atrocious launch.

Nintendo Switch painful launch - YouTube
 

M1chl

Currently Gif and Meme Champion
To me that sounds exactly like GPU coil whine, it's pretty constant and pitch-shifts abruptly.

I used to have an Nvidia GPU (I think it was a GTX 560?) that for some reason had ridiculous coil whine, both very loud and very high-pitched, if I tried to play certain games without forcing v-sync. All the instances I've heard from PS5 videos at least sound relatively low-pitched, so they shouldn't drill in your skull as badly, but that's hardly a consolation if it's noticeable and distracting enough for you.

If you don't really hear the sound as you play though, you can safely ignore it. Coil whine is a by-product of normal hardware operation, not a signal that something isn't working as intended (well, apart from noise screening, clearly) and is breaking down.
Wasn't it 8800GTS 512?

39264.jpg


Coil whine on these things were mental...
 

Vae_Victis

Banned
Wasn't it 8800GTS 512?




Coil whine on these things were mental...
At first I seemed to remember it wast was more recent, but I looked at some old store receipts and it could have also been a 8600GT or a 9400GT. I don't remember which one was in my PC and which in my father's, but if you're telling me that the 8K series was famous for it, then it must have been that one.

Only thing I know is that thing sometimes randomly started screeching like a soul being butchered in a cyber-hell.
 

dano1

A Sheep
Oh dear, please look through my post history, I love Sony with a passion, they're my favourite company in gaming, I said ONE thing about how quiet the Series X was and how the PS5 was a hunk of junk in regards to noise levels compared to it.

If you think I am attempting to war, you don't know who you're speaking to mate, phones don't pick up the coil whine very well and that video sounded exactly like mine so why not use it? Take off the tin-foil hat buddy.

Hats off. Hope your whine goes away soon..
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
Consoles don’t have check engine lights OP figure it out I’m not saying PS5 is great until year 3, 4 who gets some help from AAA games
 
Yeah. My coil whine as thankfully gotten more quiet actually, not as bad as it once was.. but it really pisses me off how my first two days with the system, it was completely silent.. but now I can hear a slight fan plus the coil whine, like wtf happened?


It's so fucking embarrassing and humiliating for Mark Cerny to be honest considering how big the god damn thing is. That size and yet it still can't be more quiet than a series x (which more powerful going by the sheets).

As you said everything else is great on the system, but the god damn sacrifices we put up with to experience greatness.. I swear.

When I get back to campus it's gonna be embarrassing as fuck if my xbox/nintendo fanboy of a roommate will be able to hear the ps5 considering I boasted about the size and that's why it would be quiet compared to the ps4 pro.. but he'll just rub it in my face and embarrassing me with his ultra silent series x

Stop playing dumb consolewars baby bullshit and you won't be embarrassed. This is ridiculous.
 

Chiggs

Member
I think a lot of this stuff is getting overblown...but, to be fair, my PS5 has gotten louder since 11/12. I normally use headphones, but last night I didn’t and I did hear the system several times, despite being 8 feet away from it.
 
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PaintTinJr

Member
EDIT: I may be a dumb dumb and this could and most likely actually stems from the GPU which is why it is audible from near the top of the system.

Jesus fucking Christ this is getting annoying now, I've been adoring my time with the PS5, the games are great, the UI is snappy and beautiful, the controller is a delight and the system itself is gorgeous.

However there's one thing that sticks out like a sore thumb whenever I go from my Series X to the PS5, the sound. The Series X is a marvel in how quiet it is for the power it holds, you can tell the engineering team did a top job, taking care with every minute component.

The PS5 on the other hand is starting to feel like a cheap hunk of junk in that department. It really feels like Sony cheaped out with their PSUs as not only my PS5 but my entire friend groups are making the most annoying coil whine which seem to have gotten worse since Nov.19

Here's a little diary of my coil whine experience:

Nov 19: quiet as hell, no fan or coil whine sound at all, Astro and Miles Morales running with no issues.

Nov 22: start to notice some very quiet humming from around the PSU of the console, only flairs up when on Miles Morales, everything else is fine and the sound was only audible as I was sorting out my cable management whilst game was on.

Nov 25: coil whine evolves into a more audible sound, has a pretty noticeable whine when TV is quiet now when on Miles Morales, no other games creating a hum.

Nov 27: coil whine evolves again, this time easing itself into not only Miles Morales but Spider-Man Remastered, Astro, AC Valhalla and even when I power it on, still not a major annoyance but it now varies in sound from app to app.

Nov 29: coil whine fucking evolves tenfold as it now starts to get slightly louder and the fan starts to kick in whenever I start a game, pretty audible noises from the fan doing its work on games which never made it work this hard before, coil whine frequency changes wildly from game to game.

Dec 1: Coil whine reaches a new phase of fuckery, I didn't record my own as my phone doesn't pick it up well but this YouTube video sounds exactly like mine, the coil whine and fan have gotten slightly louder, I must stress with my TV on around 20 volume or with headphones in you can't hear it, it's only when the game hits a quiet spot on TV or the volume is low, but now the coil whine is rapidly changing frequency out of nowhere whilst playing Valhalla, it only stopped doing this once I closed the app entirely but even then it slowly whirred down to a quiet hum. Video below is just like mine.



All in all I'm very disappointed, especially seeing as barely any review units have mentioned coil whine yet most people I know on here who have a PS5 are experiencing this to a degree, seems like something Sony were aware of as they wouldn't have not noticed this during testing, but as it wasn't a threat to the system health they let it through to be sold, which is very poor on their part seeing as all we hear is how quiet the system is.

As it stands I won't be replacing my unit yet as I want to wait for Sony to address this or make a slightly revised model under the radar which solves this by grounding the coils so this coil whine doesn't happen on as many consoles. I'm still loving my PS5 but I think this was something that Sony have really fucked their customers over on.

I know this is probably a pointless suggestion - because it is too much hassle and time consuming for most people with hardware issue; especially if you don't have uncapped 350MB/s type broadband - but have you backed up your save files, then formatted the SSD, then restarted the PS5 in safe mode and re-installed the latest firmware - even if identical in number to the one installed - from a USB stick, with file downloaded from playstation.com ?
 

DonJorginho

Banned
I know this is probably a pointless suggestion - because it is too much hassle and time consuming for most people with hardware issue; especially if you don't have uncapped 350MB/s type broadband - but have you backed up your save files, then formatted the SSD, then restarted the PS5 in safe mode and re-installed the latest firmware - even if identical in number to the one installed - from a USB stick, with file downloaded from playstation.com ?
I did consider doing this but I can't see it helping anything as this seems to be an issue with the PSU or GPU and resetting the software likely won't do too much.
 

PaintTinJr

Member
I did consider doing this but I can't see it helping anything as this seems to be an issue with the PSU or GPU and resetting the software likely won't do too much.
No it is quite the opposite. It is like bothering with a spirit level on a house with lopsided foundations. The firmware controls everything and any corruption potentially compromises everything
 

LucidFlux

Member
I had a GTX 570 (actually still do) and it had the most obnoxious coil wine. Luckily my PS5 is silent aside from the Bluray.

It seems most people don't actually understand what is producing the wine in the first place which leads to some confusion. It's not the actual GPU (or APU chip in this case) but rather the capacitors that surround the chip and deliver the chip its power. As power is sent this vibrates the coil, sometimes this produces an audible "whine" sometimes it doesn't. It's down to specific power delivery and small manufacturing variances. The most expensive PC GPUs can have terrible coil whine or be totally silent and same goes for just about every device with capacitors.
 

PaintTinJr

Member
I had a GTX 570 (actually still do) and it had the most obnoxious coil wine. Luckily my PS5 is silent aside from the Bluray.

It seems most people don't actually understand what is producing the wine in the first place which leads to some confusion. It's not the actual GPU (or APU chip in this case) but rather the capacitors that surround the chip and deliver the chip its power. As power is sent this vibrates the coil, sometimes this produces an audible "whine" sometimes it doesn't. It's down to specific power delivery and small manufacturing variances. The most expensive PC GPUs can have terrible coil whine or be totally silent and same goes for just about every device with capacitors.
Whine is deterministic just like anything else in the world of physics, the idea that a device intended to sell at least 30million units before a revision - designed by one of, if not the most advanced global electronics company in the world - won't have been simulated and tested thoroughly to ensure this doesn't happen on +95% of PS5s - with the others being considered failed units, probably as a biproduct of defects in a simple component, isn't plausible IMHO.

And I suspect the same is true of coil whine on workstation class GPUs too - not their cheaper alternatives that gamers use outside of specification - where the whine will be engineered to a level that is unheard in normal use.

Minimizing electrical signal noise, interference, coil while, etc were certainly overcome in the pre-digital music mastering era of the past - where such things couldn't be present in the recording as isolating and removing post-recording, like happens in this digital age wasn't an option.

That knowledge is still applied today, and I would still be looking at a corrupt firmware(on consoles bad OS HDD on PC or bios settings issue) as the first possible solution, in case a corruption is using some aspect of the system outside specification that wasn't simulated or tested because it is a random error.
 

Tarin02543

Member
There shouldn't be any coil while but what I've seen so far on Youtube, I could live with that.

Jet engine fans, no.
 

IanH

Neo Member
EDIT: I may be a dumb dumb and this could and most likely actually stems from the GPU which is why it is audible from near the top of the system.

Jesus fucking Christ this is getting annoying now, I've been adoring my time with the PS5, the games are great, the UI is snappy and beautiful, the controller is a delight and the system itself is gorgeous.

However there's one thing that sticks out like a sore thumb whenever I go from my Series X to the PS5, the sound. The Series X is a marvel in how quiet it is for the power it holds, you can tell the engineering team did a top job, taking care with every minute component.

The PS5 on the other hand is starting to feel like a cheap hunk of junk in that department. It really feels like Sony cheaped out with their PSUs as not only my PS5 but my entire friend groups are making the most annoying coil whine which seem to have gotten worse since Nov.19

Here's a little diary of my coil whine experience:

Nov 19: quiet as hell, no fan or coil whine sound at all, Astro and Miles Morales running with no issues.

Nov 22: start to notice some very quiet humming from around the PSU of the console, only flairs up when on Miles Morales, everything else is fine and the sound was only audible as I was sorting out my cable management whilst game was on.

Nov 25: coil whine evolves into a more audible sound, has a pretty noticeable whine when TV is quiet now when on Miles Morales, no other games creating a hum.

Nov 27: coil whine evolves again, this time easing itself into not only Miles Morales but Spider-Man Remastered, Astro, AC Valhalla and even when I power it on, still not a major annoyance but it now varies in sound from app to app.

Nov 29: coil whine fucking evolves tenfold as it now starts to get slightly louder and the fan starts to kick in whenever I start a game, pretty audible noises from the fan doing its work on games which never made it work this hard before, coil whine frequency changes wildly from game to game.

Dec 1: Coil whine reaches a new phase of fuckery, I didn't record my own as my phone doesn't pick it up well but this YouTube video sounds exactly like mine, the coil whine and fan have gotten slightly louder, I must stress with my TV on around 20 volume or with headphones in you can't hear it, it's only when the game hits a quiet spot on TV or the volume is low, but now the coil whine is rapidly changing frequency out of nowhere whilst playing Valhalla, it only stopped doing this once I closed the app entirely but even then it slowly whirred down to a quiet hum. Video below is just like mine.



All in all I'm very disappointed, especially seeing as barely any review units have mentioned coil whine yet most people I know on here who have a PS5 are experiencing this to a degree, seems like something Sony were aware of as they wouldn't have not noticed this during testing, but as it wasn't a threat to the system health they let it through to be sold, which is very poor on their part seeing as all we hear is how quiet the system is.

As it stands I won't be replacing my unit yet as I want to wait for Sony to address this or make a slightly revised model under the radar which solves this by grounding the coils so this coil whine doesn't happen on as many consoles. I'm still loving my PS5 but I think this was something that Sony have really fucked their customers over on.

Hi.
unsure if it may be a temp issue with the PSU. The PS5 and therefor the PSU seems to be of been primarily designed to operate cooler and more efficiently vertically mounted not in the horizontal orientation you have shown. Try giving it a few days Vertically and see how things turn out? Just a thought...
 
People don't seem to understand that some consoles are so loud you can hear them across the room. I was sitting 3m away and mine sounded worse than OPs. I sent it back, amazon didn't have the replacement option. :'(
Nothing with sensitive hearing, it was just that loud.

I am always reading "well I don't put my ear on the console when playing", yeah no shit, neither do I. I could hear mine through my damn headphones.

You got a quiet one? Nice. Some of us didn't.
Sony is doing replacements, you should have contacted them. Coil whine you could hear across the room through headphones is beyond just bad luck of the draw, that should be considered straight up defective.
 

Krisprolls

Banned
My PS5 is perfectly silent if I don't insert a disk so I can't say they cheaped out on anything.

They didn't cheap out on hardware customization and performance either according to the comparison videos.

I'd say it looks extremely promising right now.
 

farmerboy

Member
Serious question, is this something I'm going to hear from 8ft away with earphones on or gaming at normal volume levels through my surround sound?
 

v_iHuGi

Banned
Serious question, is this something I'm going to hear from 8ft away with earphones on or gaming at normal volume levels through my surround sound?

Absolutely not.

Ps5 makes little noise, it does indeed make noise like every other electronic that has a Fan/PSU on it, i mean come on even my dead silent Zenbook 14 has some tiny little noise.

Ps5 is definitely louder than my NoteBook, no question but it is the quietest Console i´ve ever owned alongside Ps1.
 

DESTROYA

Member
the shit poor people/people who couldn't get their hands on a console tell themselves always amuses me
Or they just don’t see the value for the system yet and having only a handful of games that are mostly remakes that you can also get for the PS4 for the most part.
Being poor has nothing to do with it when you don’t see the value of something today and have some patience.
I think it’s the smart play in the long run, you get a console thats less buggy and Sony can Iron out any hardware bugs .
My main beef is how big and ugly it looks and waiting for a slimmed down model hopefully that’s all black.
 
My PS5 whines whenever I play something that taxes the GPU. You can literally hear the pitch changes based on being in a menu or actually playing. The thing is that if another company had the same issues people would be posting memes day and night. The PlayStation is a fine brand but I expect better from the market leader. Hopefully more competition will inspire Sony.
 
My PS5 whines whenever I play something that taxes the GPU. You can literally hear the pitch changes based on being in a menu or actually playing. The thing is that if another company had the same issues people would be posting memes day and night. The PlayStation is a fine brand but I expect better from the market leader. Hopefully more competition will inspire Sony.

You don't own a PS5.
 
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