Picked up the 80gig from walmarts secret sale. Loving the ps3 and blu ray so far but have a question for others with the 80gig machine. PS3 is virtually silent for about 10mins then it starts ramping up the fan speed and gets loud, I'd say its slightly quieter than the 360 fan. Is this normal?? Thought the ps3 was virtually quiet. PS3 is in a open space with nothing blocking the vents. Anyone have success getting the fans or temp sensor replaced?

that's weird. I have a launch 60gig and mine is whisper quiet all the time.

I have a 60GB and mine is whisper quiet all the time.
;)

get a new one if the fan noise is that noticeable. I've also heard others remove the heat sink and put some new thermal paste for better heat dissipation if your so inclined.

-Splints

yes i understand other people have quiet ones and my question was not directed to those. I was asking other 80gig owners and if they had any success having sony repair it.

I've got an 80 and mine is so quiet that I can't hear it from 10' away. I can hear the fan on my TV though, at low volume settings.

If yours is making that much noise, call Sony and have them replace it. My understanding is they replace not repair...

I have a 60gig and can hear it from 4-6ft away if it is quiet. If movie or game is on I don't hear it. My friend has an 80gig that performs the same as mine. Everyone is gonna perceive sound diferrently. What's quiet to some people is noisy to to others. Very hard to get accurate numbers on this topic on a forum like this, people have tried just search "ps3 fan noise". Unless everyone had there ps3 in same environment and had equipment to measure the sound.

Picked up the 80gig from walmarts secret sale. Loving the ps3 and blu ray so far but have a question for others with the 80gig machine. PS3 is virtually silent for about 10mins then it starts ramping up the fan speed and gets loud, I'd say its slightly quieter than the 360 fan. Is this normal?? Thought the ps3 was virtually quiet. PS3 is in a open space with nothing blocking the vents. Anyone have success getting the fans or temp sensor replaced?

You must have one REALLY quiet 360!
I haven't noticed the fan sound from my 60GB unit unless I was purposely listening for it with the volume down...

Is the fan sound intrusive to your playing/viewing?

Gostse, mine is dead quiet. Take it back to Wal-Mart for exchange.

80 gig here and silent. Actually more quiet than the 60 I traded for it.

We've seen reports here all the time of 60's that are just too loud. First 80 report I've seen.

I wonder what makes some so much louder than others.

I bought my 60 gig unit around the time the PS3 launched and it was whisper quiet for the first six months and now it goes into high fan mode every 15 to 20 minutes for around 5 to 10 minutes. When upconverting more often and when playing games more often but when playing Blu-Rays less often. I've got plenty of air getting around the unit.

my launch console and 40gig are equally quiet, and they are on all the time...

Goatse,

I purchased a 80GB last week (20% off Kmart coupon impulse buy) and it's significantly louder and hotter than the worst of the 360s that I've owned. Just like you described, mine is great for 10 minutes then it's ready for take-off. I'm trying to decide if I should exchange it for a 40GB (65nm) or just dump it and upgrade my Bourbon purchases through the holidays.

Wal-Mart should not hassle you on a replacement, regardless of the 10 BD disk deal. Keep returning systems until resolved. Good luck.

Goatse,

I purchased a 80GB last week (20% off Kmart coupon impulse buy) and it's significantly louder and hotter than the worst of the 360s that I've owned. Just like you described, mine is great for 10 minutes then it's ready for take-off. I'm trying to decide if I should exchange it for a 40GB (65nm) or just dump it and upgrade my Bourbon purchases through the holidays.

Wal-Mart should not hassle you on a replacement, regardless of the 10 BD disk deal. Keep returning systems until resolved. Good luck.

I would exchange it for another 80. That's obviously a defective console.

whats the build date of the quiet 80gb?? mine is loud and built in march.

whats the build date of the quiet 80gb?? mine is loud and built in march.


Goatsex,

I would say you have a PS3 that operates within "standard noise tolerance levels". The fact that you can hear the fan noise probably means you have superb hearing; better than average.

This is confirmed. My friend just got an 80gb and he says it's very noticable. I have a launch 60gb and the only thing you would hear if it's very quiet is the reading of the blu ray disc.

I picked up one of the 80gb at Wal-mart on Sunday, and was really surprised how quiet it was compared to my 360.
I watched a movie on it that day and didn't notice the fan noise hardly at all...

I have a 80 gb unit, and i notice the fan during playback. i returned a previous 60gb and an 80gb unit for the exact same reason. So, in the end, i decided that some people (like myself) are more sensitive to fan noise..... rather than the alternative that I received 3 defective PS3s. it isn't that bad if i keep it in the open and vertical, but i was hoping for dead silent operation (I know it is not realistic, but i'm used to using stand alone dvd players). We keep the room very quiet, and it is noticable during quieter scenes.

sony just switched to the 65nm cell (showing up in the new 40 gb units), and they are switching to the 65nm version of the RSX graphics chip shortly, so in 6 months or so I may trade mine in and for a new one that draws less power (less heat, less fan noise).

Anybody else with a launch 60 gig unit that has started going into high fan mode more often?

I have a 60gig from launch and I never noticed the fan until I cam on here and saw a post about it. I can hear mine at times and it can ramp up. It varies depending on what I'm doing. If goes back down to low speed if idle for awhile like sitting in XMB.

Blu-Ray playback is quiet and barely noticable during quiet scenes.
DVD upscale is louder (don't know which level) and is noticable in quiet scenes
Games I only notice it during a loading scene or absolute quiet and it varies depending on which game.
Downloading, installing, etc. it is noticable if quiet.

Mine sits out in the open on top my TV stand. I play games about 3-4ft away and watch movies about 8-9ft away. I'm not concerned with it and feel this topic is getting beat to death. If its loud and bugs you return it. How do we know cause the fan is on that it is defective? Anyone ever think that ones that are quiet might be baking inside? Who knows........

Silent is subjective, even here on avsforum. It also depends on what the ambient room temp is - I've noticed a big difference once the temperature goes below 74 degrees; above that, the thing is quite loud; below that, not quite as much. There have been some scattered reports of two different fan revisions, but I have not heard much on that in a long while (and only the earliest ones supposedly had the quieter fans)

I'd say mine can definitely get up to the noise level of a 360, especially when watching an upscaled movie or folding. Many people say they can never hear theirs, but that is probably because its almost never silent in the rooms that they keep them in. Right now my current solution is to use a 25' HDMI cable to put the PS3 in a different room, because I watch a lot of movies. Since mine is now out of warranty I think I'll open it up and put some Arctic Silver on the CPU/GPU as well.

I don't know if you'll get good results trying to get a quieter one - if there are in fact different noise levels for certain consoles you'd be very likely to get another 'loud' one from Sony, since they send out refurbished consoles rather than new ones.

I really hate to continue to beat this to death and I tried to restrain myself but console noise is really not subjective or even debatable. I just sucks.

You expect a vacuum to sound like a vacuum. You do not expect a game console to sound like a vacuum.

This is a widely known and expected issue with the 360. However, I never heard of this as a problem with the PS3 and was shocked to experience it. Quiet and cool was the biggest selling point for me. The PS3 was replacing my ridiculously slow to load, drives the wife and 2 year old crazy, Toshiba HD-A1 as my primary HD movie source. I guess I’ll just go the stand-alone route for now.

Since my Walmart is out of the 80gb, going to see if they let me swap it out for 40gb.

I just purchased the 80gb version and the fan is quite loud. However, I noticed if I place the console vertically in open air, rather inside my tv stand, the fan speed stays much lower, hence much quieter.

they exchanged it for another 80gb, same march build. But this one is even louder, its loud as the 360 but the ps3 has a annoying high pitched air sucking in sound. Now it sounds like a server room. I'm pissed.

they exchanged it for another 80gb, same march build. But this one is even louder, its loud as the 360 but the ps3 has a annoying high pitched air sucking in sound. Now it sounds like a server room. I'm pissed.

That sucks man. I think you should go back one more time and demand that they give you a 40GB to try.

It's Wal-Mart so you could easily end up with a MotorStorm+SpiderMan3+10 free BD disk+working PS3 windfall in the end.

FYI - just checked, my POS PS3 is from June 2007.

I'm returning it this weekend after I go through a few Netflix BDs. I returned the remote and several unopened games today. I'm not willing to deal with this crap again.

Just got the 60GB. Was watching a dvd movie and about 45 minutes in I hear a roar and was like wth is that? The rest of the time the system is dead silent. Haven't tried another dvd, but with BD it's silent also.

Also note. The system is sitting out in the open.

I did some tests, first 5mins its completely silent then the 2nd fan speed kicks in which is tolerable. It only takes a couple mins later when full speed kicks in and never lets off. It doesn't matter whether if the system was on a cold boot up or restarted while it was fully warmed up. The fan speed ramps up exactly the same.

I have a 60GB March 2007 that I just got from Best Buy a couple of weeks ago. I can hear the fan kick up to its 2nd speed while watching Blu-rays. It is somewhat distracting, so I ordered a PC fan with a trigger to kick on when the PS3 is on. I will have the PC fan sit next to the right side and help draw air out of the unit.

As I understand it, it's not so much the fan making noise, rather air rushing by the vents. And as the chips work harder and it heats up, obviously more air is going to be pushed through the vents. So, I'm not a 100% confident my solution will decrease overall noise levels, but I'm willing to give it a shot.

I hate fan noise and it is killing me. Well, ok, not really. But I do hear it from 10 ft away during quite scene. I am going to try to put it outside of shelf and stand it up vertically to see if that helps.

Well, I took back my 60GB for a 80GB. I think the fan noise is *slightly* less, but still pretty obvious.

I also put a silent 120mm fan right up next to the right side so it can draw away heat. I was hoping it would suck out enough hot air to reduce the internal PS3 fan speed, but that doesn't appear to work.

Are the 40GB units really that silent? I sure would hate to go down to a 40GB and lose PS2 BC and SACD just to get a quieter box. My 80GB is well ventilated, open on all four sides. It was made in March 2007, in Japan.

I have a 40gb now. its much quieter than the 80gb for bluray watching but there is still some fan noise, its not distracting at all. However if you do folding at home, it will get loud as the 80gb and does not quiet down unless you reboot it. BTW 40gb is quiet but still little loud for my taste for SD dvds, apparently the ps3 works harder to upscale.

Agree both make noise but 40 probably half as much decible wise. There are more heat from 80 also. I have both the 40 and 80. After a while you get used to it. The difference is and is not that much depending how sensitive your ears are and where you locate the unit. I like my 80 better for unknown reasons.

I have a 40gb now. its much quieter than the 80gb for bluray watching but there is still some fan noise, its not distracting at all. However if you do folding at home, it will get loud as the 80gb and does not quiet down unless you reboot it. BTW 40gb is quiet but still little loud for my taste for SD dvds, apparently the ps3 works harder to upscale.

Agree both make noise but 40 probably half as much decible wise. There are more heat from 80 also. I have both the 40 and 80. After a while you get used to it. The difference is and is not that much depending how sensitive your ears are and where you locate the unit. I like my 80 better for unknown reasons.

Thank you both for your comments. I'm glad to hear that the 40GB is not completely silent, because I had fear of some mystery 'silent' PS3 that was the solution to my situation.

Being that the 40GB will still make some kind of noise, I'll live with my 80GB.

I've gone through four 60GB units and I'm on my second 40GB unit now. This one is a "keeper". I suppose I'm a little obsesed with this issue but I really found the sound quite distracting. I have to say that this last one is much better. For camparison I measured the sound level and all my 60B units would start out at 55dB, then go to 60 and then step up to 66, one even went up to 78. (measured with a Radio Shack sound meter in front of the unit, under the PS3 logo). The 40GB only goes up to 58dB and that's while folding and charging two controllers. My first 40GB was similar but it would just occasionally kick into tornado mode for short spurs so I exchanged it....just my findings.

I've gone through four 60GB units and I'm on my second 40GB unit now. This one is a "keeper". I suppose I'm a little obsesed with this issue but I really found the sound quite distracting. I have to say that this last one is much better. For camparison I measured the sound level and all my 60B units would start out at 55dB, then go to 60 and then step up to 66, one even went up to 78. (measured with a Radio Shack sound meter in front of the unit, under the PS3 logo). The 40GB only goes up to 58dB and that's while folding and charging two controllers. My first 40GB was similar but it would just occasionally kick into tornado mode for short spurs so I exchanged it....just my findings.

What are you going to do when it over heats and dies?

Being that the 40GB will still make some kind of noise, I'll live with my 80GB.

40gb is much more quiet compared to the 80gb. 80gb sounded like a blow dryer while the 40gb sounds like a projection tv.

The 40gig is very quiet (just a tad louder than the Gamecube for reference) and runs very cool.

What are you going to do when it over heats and dies?

Not sure what you mean. All the units I tested have been used vertically in open space. Heat doesn't seem to be a factor. In fact the 40GB I have now is quite cool to the touch as it runs it's heart out. Only the back is hot as air is being exhuausted. Of course the theory is that because of less electronics in the 40s there is less need for cooling hence the lower fan speed. Also there are roumors that they use the "65 nano something" cell chip which runs cooler.