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Hair dryer level PS4 systems? Check thermal paste asap!

Damn. So I started to work on this project last night but didn't get very far because I had ordered a Torx screwdriver and not a Torx Security screwdriver. Really?? Now to wait for Amazon to deliver the proper tool. Sheesh.

Weird thing was, after I put the PS4 back in its spot and plugged everything in, it sounds a little quieter to me. Maybe just moving it around a bit and turning it upside down for a few mins shifted something? Not sure...
 
Parmadillo Marshmallow said:
Great question. The videos in the OP contradict, 8 and 9. I made sure to order a set that has both.

And what's so f'n secure about a system that just requires a hole in the end of the screwdriver??
Click to expand...

It used to be much harder to get these screwdrivers. And the fact that it's not a common one we have laying around is a sufficient deterrent for a large number of the population.
 
My PS4 sounds like a jet engine and always has. Now it's worse. I can play a game for 5mins and the fans are spinning like crazy. Soon as I start a game of Rocket League I swear they're kicking on full blast. I've been thinking about getting one of the new quieter systems. I may have to try this first...
 
Anyone played The Vanishing of Ethan Carter on PS4 yet? Started my playthrough yesterday and was surprised with the noise of the cooler. In the instant the game begins, it starts spinning very loudly and continues through the game.

I'm afraid I will have to open and check the thermal paste. :(
 
I've replaced it yet again because of the difficulty I had the first time with the heatsink.

I've did a dry-run* and disassembled it again to see if I only hit the actual chip and yes, the coverage was only on the chip and a chip-sized spot on the heatsink.
It's still not better from a noise level.

I straight up don't understand how this can happen. It also pulls in more power (15 Watt more peak) than I ever saw before in weeks of running it with a wattmeter. I had this thing since launch and it only recently started acting up like this.

* = I didn't actually start it without thermal paste, I just assembled it and screwed it together and disassembled again to check my coverage.
 
I'm wondering, even though changing the thermal paste is a good thing overall, I read that for some people changing the paste does nothing at all to help noise. I theorize this next point because it was something in the code that may be overlooked... What about the fan profile itself. Could it be programmed to be too sensitive or are games being sloppily optimized (rocket league's main menu frying consoles)?
 
I've been standing my PS4 vertically since I bought it, knowing that I was probably impeding airflow a little on the bottom.

Found a cheap white stand last week and bought it - not sure if it's my imagination or not but the system seems to run the fan less and at lower speeds than before. It's odd because the stand itself has the most pitiful things you might call vents built in, and I can't imagine it would help airflow much at all. Maybe it does.
 
flokk said:
In this process I tried another thing to make my PS4 quieter. I got the idea for this in a forum a I found through google:http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/758144-Arctic-Silver-5-PS4 . Basically I put a copper coin under the preassure bracket of the PS4 to apply some tension and to prevent too much space between chip and heat sink.
Click to expand...

thanks for that tip!

so after i was happy initially after swapping fans i noticed the fan still kicked into the highest gear and got rather loud in several games (rocket league, vanishing of e.c., bf4). so i opened it up a third time and tried that coin under the bracket trick (i had noticed that the little pads under the bracket screws didn´t really compress upon tightening the screws like they were when i first opened it up).

i also used arctic mx-4 instead of arctic silver 5 (had no idea these 2 are from different manufacturers, and also that arctic silver apparently has a recommended curing time before it achieves its best results) and did the pea sized blob instead of the spread it out method.

i think i´m finally satisfied, the console stays really quiet now and the fan never goes up beyond medium gear for the most taxing games like vanishing of e.c.
also, i wouldn´t know what else there was left to try...
 
Both the PS3 and PS4 have been described as "whisper quiet", but I've never had anything close to that. I had two PS3s, both made a considerable noise under load (when isn't a console under load, to be honest?). My current PS4 is about the same. Now, I don't say people who say "whisper quiet" are lying, but it's just hard to believe that's true. I mean, whisper quiet to me means almost completely no sound. Under load? Wow.
 
For the PS4 games i have, only the Infamous games (2nd Son and 1st Light) qualified as 'hairdryer' games....

Bloodborned does make the system spin faster but the noise is not that noticable (to me)...
 
Sorry for the bump, but I'm losing my mind trying to figure this problem out. (preemptive apology for the wall of text that will follow) Jesus, where do I even begin....I wasn't really noticing a noise problem with my PS4, but against my better judgement I decided I was going to open it up and re-apply the thermal paste. All of the cool kids were doing it, and I wanted to be cool too.
Ordered the torx driver, MX-4 paste, watched a couple tutorials and did the deed. Everything went smoothly. Started the system up and put in Batman AK. Everything was great. The problem started when I tried to eject the disc using the eject button. It didn't respond...I got nothing. I had to use the system menu to eject the disc. I then tried to put in another disc and the drive wouldn't accept the disc. It's not like the motor was trying to push the disc back out, it just wasn't responding at all. Interestingly, when I would restart the system I would hear some mechanical whirring coming from the drive for a short time, but still the same result. I booted the system in safe mode and rebuilt the database. Same result.

Since then I've had the system apart multiple (and I do mean multiple) times checking and re-checking connections, re-seating the disc drive, and just about anything I could think of. I took the drive apart to check the gears and spindles. Everything checked out.

I have a second PS4, so I decided to open it up and swap parts around to see if that would help. I started with the ribbon cable and other connectors. Nothing. I swapped the entire disc drive into the original system, and.....nothing. Here's the kicker. I took the second PS4 and put all of it's original components back in, closed it up and turned it on... The. Same. Fucking. Thing. The second machine is now doing the same thing as the first. So now I have two systems that won't accept discs. I've been at this since last Friday and I'm at a loss. Soooo frustrated. Most of the info I get from web searches are the people that were having issues with their PS4's randomly ejecting their discs which it seems has been mostly resolved by Sony. Again, not the problem I'm having. If anybody can offer any assistance whatsoever I'd be ever so grateful. I'm open to any and all suggestions, information, leads etc.
Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for any help.
 
dead christmas said:
Sorry for the bump, but I'm losing my mind trying to figure this problem out. (preemptive apology for the wall of text that will follow) Jesus, where do I even begin....I wasn't really noticing a noise problem with my PS4, but against my better judgement I decided I was going to open it up and re-apply the thermal paste. All of the cool kids were doing it, and I wanted to be cool too.
Ordered the torx driver, MX-4 paste, watched a couple tutorials and did the deed. Everything went smoothly. Started the system up and put in Batman AK. Everything was great. The problem started when I tried to eject the disc using the eject button. It didn't respond...I got nothing. I had to use the system menu to eject the disc. I then tried to put in another disc and the drive wouldn't accept the disc. It's not like the motor was trying to push the disc back out, it just wasn't responding at all. Interestingly, when I would restart the system I would hear some mechanical whirring coming from the drive for a short time, but still the same result. I booted the system in safe mode and rebuilt the database. Same result.

Since then I've had the system apart multiple (and I do mean multiple) times checking and re-checking connections, re-seating the disc drive, and just about anything I could think of. I took the drive apart to check the gears and spindles. Everything checked out.

I have a second PS4, so I decided to open it up and swap parts around to see if that would help. I started with the ribbon cable and other connectors. Nothing. I swapped the entire disc drive into the original system, and.....nothing. Here's the kicker. I took the second PS4 and put all of it's original components back in, closed it up and turned it on... The. Same. Fucking. Thing. The second machine is now doing the same thing as the first. So now I have two systems that won't accept discs. I've been at this since last Friday and I'm at a loss. Soooo frustrated. Most of the info I get from web searches are the people that were having issues with their PS4's randomly ejecting their discs which it seems has been mostly resolved by Sony. Again, not the problem I'm having. If anybody can offer any assistance whatsoever I'd be ever so grateful. I'm open to any and all suggestions, information, leads etc.
Thanks for reading, and thanks in advance for any help.
Click to expand...

You need to take the thing to a game shop that specializes in repair and go through the process with a 2nd person. Maybe they'll spot something you may have missed?
 
guys i need some help, my ps4 its getting overheating after 40~60sec I start the game ( any game ) like you can se in the video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEdPMyuezWc

is that noise " normal " ? i still have warranty but im really afraid to send mine and receive a refurbished that is in worst conditions than mine or with other problems besides overheating...

should i avoid warranty and change the thermal paste ?

ty!
 
Parmadillo Marshmallow said:
When you say "under the prrssure bracket", is that the one metal piece that is held on with 2 screws? The coin isn't actually touching the chip, right? They said to use a 20mmx20mm pure copper shim if it's actually touching the chip.
Click to expand...
I feel stupid, but could somebody point out from a pic what is this bracket we're talking about here :/
 
Hesemonni said:
I feel stupid, but could somebody point out from a pic what is this bracket we're talking about here :/
Click to expand...
from the ifixit guide, it´s this one, coin goes in the middle underneath the bracket:
B3B6fLrfJaPWUGCI.medium
 
Holy shit have I had a stressful few hours! I accidently broke the snap connector off the fan when I was taking the ps4 apart. Just a bit of plastic on the housing, and I thought the wires where making contact within the snap connector so I though it would be ok! So I applied my thermal paste and put everything back together! When I powered the ps4 on, after a few minutes it shut down. I knew about the safety feature that turns of the ps4 when it is overheating, so I checked the fan and discovered it was not working! So I had to solder each wire from the fan directly on to the pad of the motherboard and thankfully it worked!

For anyone who is thinking of doing this, be sure that you are confident in what you are doing and be very careful disconnecting the snap connectors. That is where I made a balls up!
 
Magical Drop said:
I'm about to try this with mine - did you do anything to the coin before installing it? The link suggested sanding it smooth and someone suggested applying thermal paste to both sides?
Click to expand...

no, you´d do that if you want to put something directly between chip and heatsink (and if you want to do that, buy a shim, don´t use a coin).
you´re only putting the coin between the bracket and the cover plate to create more tension.
 
Magical Drop said:
I'm about to try this with mine - did you do anything to the coin before installing it? The link suggested sanding it smooth and someone suggested applying thermal paste to both sides?
Click to expand...
I can't see why you would.
The reason for the coin is to apply more pressure to the HS contacting the chip. I could see a piece of cardboard or plastic doing the same thing.
 
monreader said:
Holy shit have I had a stressful few hours! I accidently broke the snap connector off the fan when I was taking the ps4 apart. Just a bit of plastic on the housing, and I thought the wires where making contact within the snap connector so I though it would be ok! So I applied my thermal paste and put everything back together! When I powered the ps4 on, after a few minutes it shut down. I knew about the safety feature that turns of the ps4 when it is overheating, so I checked the fan and discovered it was not working! So I had to solder each wire from the fan directly on to the pad of the motherboard and thankfully it worked!

For anyone who is thinking of doing this, be sure that you are confident in what you are doing and be very careful disconnecting the snap connectors. That is where I made a balls up!
Click to expand...

I posted about the board fan connector and how I broke the leads from the harness. I was able to use tweezers and put them back in and put electric tape to hold them down. No issues after that.

You're supposed to lift the harness up and not pull back.
 
lord_lad said:
For the PS4 games i have, only the Infamous games (2nd Son and 1st Light) qualified as 'hairdryer' games....

Bloodborned does make the system spin faster but the noise is not that noticable (to me)...
Click to expand...

Check the top plate sensor button leads.

Also - I remember a confusing wire distribution around the disk drive. It can't be anything else really. One or the other.
 
Just swapped out my launch PS4 thermal paste. It was still very moist since I hardly play the thing, but when I did it was LOUD.

I guess I did a bad job on the paste because it pretty much instantly gets to jet engine levels when I start MGS Ground Zeroes.

Gonna try again.
 
Wheresmycoffee said:
Just swapped out my launch PS4 thermal paste. It was still very moist since I hardly play the thing, but when I did it was LOUD.

I guess I did a bad job on the paste because it pretty much instantly gets to jet engine levels when I start MGS Ground Zeroes.

Gonna try again.
Click to expand...
Make sure to clean all the existing paste carefully with alcohol and don't get fingerprints or dirt on it. Also put a thin line of paste on top of the chip
 
DonMigs85 said:
Make sure to clean all the existing paste carefully with alcohol and don't get fingerprints or dirt on it. Also put a thin line of paste on top of the chip
Click to expand...

Yeah, I cleaned it all completely with alcohol, then used the dot method. I just opened it, and it looks like it spread perfectly! Hardly any spilling off the sides. Maybe I'll use a little more this time.

ZBB4exV.jpg
 
Wheresmycoffee said:
Yeah, I cleaned it all completely with alcohol, then used the dot method. I just opened it, and it looks like it spread perfectly! Hardly any spilling off the sides. Maybe I'll use a little more this time.

ZBB4exV.jpg
Click to expand...

Actually I think the issues is that you already used too much from that picture. The idea is yo want a thin of a layer as possible while still making contact as a heatsink will always be a better conductor of the heat then the paste.
 
Yup don't use too much paste. A thin line down the middle should be fine then press the heatsink onto it.
Actually I wonder if the GDDR5 chips getting too hot can make the fan louder too...
 
I've noticed that in the menus of certain games, CODAW recently, that it will kick up like crazy. Louder than I've ever heard it before. Is it because it's still rendering part of the game (character model and test range) but at an unlimited framerate?
 
I think I am going to put new thermal paste this week. Might as well since I am out of warranty. Throw some artic silver on there.
 
Fan speed on ps4 is tied to load, not temperature this time. So 60 fps or unlocked frame rate games are louder by default in my experience. I know it doesn't have to do anything with load, but that's what I get.

It's still very good and quiet enough for a launch system, I'm very satisfied. Launch ps3 was much worse for me.

And it lowers the fan speed as soon as the load goes down this time.

Quiet system is not the only thing we need. We need it to be powerful enough and quiet in a small case , so I think we have a pretty good balance. It will improve in the future.

And guys, please stop that phone measurement of noise level, results have NOTHING to do with real values.

One more thing: what you see inside your ps4 is not a dried out thermal paste, it's thermal grease or something similar that should look like that after some time, don't expect it to feel "liquid" like paste.
 
I've lived on both sides of this issue. First one was ridiculously loud, second one is whisper quiet.

All I can say is that it's real to the doubters. The quiet ones do exist.
 
I've been lucky, in that my launch PS4 has never been super loud. At least, nowhere near the hairdryer levels I've heard about and tried to listen to on YouTube.

However, I was playing a disc-based game last night, and for the three hours I played the fans were quite noticeable. Sometimes I could hear them over the quiet parts of the game, and it bugged me.

But this was before I'd watched YouTube videos, so now I know I'm not dealing with as bad of a noise as yourselves.

Still, should I worry? Should I see about a replacement? Or is it normal for some games to just cause higher fan noise? (I honestly don't use the thing a lot.)
 
Mine is super quite on startup. Sometimes I think I hear the fan go on. But Im sensitive to irritating noises, so Im sooo happy I dont have "Hairdryer ps4". Because I watch netflix for long periods of time.
 
I have about a month on my warranty (destiny bundle) but I changed out the HDD. If I call Sony for a warranty claim will they send me a new unit? Should I take out my HDD?
 
OCDChewie said:
I've been lucky, in that my launch PS4 has never been super loud. At least, nowhere near the hairdryer levels I've heard about and tried to listen to on YouTube.

However, I was playing a disc-based game last night, and for the three hours I played the fans were quite noticeable. Sometimes I could hear them over the quiet parts of the game, and it bugged me.

But this was before I'd watched YouTube videos, so now I know I'm not dealing with as bad of a noise as yourselves.

Still, should I worry? Should I see about a replacement? Or is it normal for some games to just cause higher fan noise? (I honestly don't use the thing a lot.)
Click to expand...

Some games are known to make the fan go a bit crazy yes, like TLOU remastered.

When your console gets noisy most of the time, that's when you've got to worry.
 
Guys my second attempts seems to have worked.

First of all to anyone attempting it, make sure you unplug the Blu-Ray Data Cable from both ends. I botched it and paid 20 CDN dollars to get one off eBay.

So my first attempt was inspired by the OP, I went out and purchase a 24$ Arctic Silver from Canada Computers.

Came home, opened the PS4 and to my surprise the PS4 thermal paste was still wet and plenty left.

I was a bit surprised but I Was under the impression it would have dried out by now. ( this is my launch PS4)

Anyway... I proceeded to replace it with "Superior" Arctic Silver 4.

Everything was done and I booted up the PS4 and after several hours the freakin noise level went all the way up as before.

That Car Football game ... from PSN+ still make the PS4 blow air out like a blow dryer
Same with Bloodbourne (nice ... that PS4 noise was covering up my cursing)
The Last of Us -- Same as above
Call of Duty BO3 - Same at the menu.


***** Second Attempt
- Arctic MX-4
- Canadian Penny (1992)


Then after reading the thread someone mentioned that Arctic MX-4. I went ahead and said might as well try it.

I just finished up and my PS4 is freakin wisper quiet at the Black OPS 3 menu and 1 hour of play.

The bottom of the PS4 is still open.

I had to go close and make sure the fan was running... I was like, did I forget to plug the Fan wire in the motherboard ?

I had to physically place my finger in the middle of the fan to make sure it was rotating..

So far it seems quiet.
 
Why did Sony design this such that you need to take apart the entire console just to get at the fans?

Ugh... wtf.
 
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