80GB Problems Continue, Resorted to 40GB - No Issues

Unstable? Was it not operating and crashing during these times?

The only time I can hear my 80gb running is when everything else is off, granted I think I'm having some hearing loss as I grow older.

My 80 should be loud?

So far, it's been very quiet. I'll have a talk with it tonight to find out why it won't speak up.

My new 80 is quiet too... After hours and hours of playing Rockband with the 9year old and his friends beginning yesterday at 8:30am we had no noise issues and the PS3 was on until about 9PM last night.

80gb is awful, I had two before getting a 40gb. 40gb isn't quiet either but it is definitely a step up from the 80gb.

I don't know what the heck the argument is over how loud the 80GB vs the 40GB??? Why would a larger HDD cause it to be noisier? My 40GB is so quiet I hardly notice it is on. Especially compared to my 360 which sounds like it's ready to explode at any minute.

40gb uses a updated chipset with smaller cell using less power and producing less heat in turn.

I goin get the 80GB in the next 30 days.
No Fears
This isn't a widespread problem.

My 80 gig is more than quiet. These "hair dryer" reports are pretty out there. If you want to keep from wasting your time, don't get a feature stripped 40 gig.

There are remarkably few people reporting "loud" PS3s in forums. Even if this were a small problem, I'd expect to see a huge forum presence of people reporting it. The smallest of issues will usually become big forum issues, as we all know. I've seen no such presence, nor have I witnessed this problem myself.

I'm guessing your "problem" is infinitesimally isolated; glad you found a "solution," though. I'm also guessing that your particular "issue" is something like the now-infamous "dust" problem from a month or so ago.

I've witnessed this myself and I think its more widespread than you think, most casual gamers think its normal and don't come here to complain. As long as the games play, the mass market of casual gamers will not complain. I got a friend to return his after he witnessed the near silence of my 60gb. But I will say the problem is not isolated to 80gb models. My friends was a 40gb.

If you want a demonstration of how loud we are talking go to youtube and type in ps3 hairdryer in the search and click on the very loud ps3 movie. This is how my friends sounded and they're right..sounds like a hairdryer. that movie is a 40gb version too.

type in loud ps3 and you get more videos. Not trying to rain on the ps3 for I love my 60gb.

But its not normal to sound like this IMO and if your ps3 does sound like this....take it back. it might be functioning now but my guess is its going to die faster than it should.

Might be personal problem bro the only PS3 problem I had was a overheat issue on my first one last year out of like 5 of them.

Mine became louder after firmware version 1.6 was released. It's still 10 time quieter than my 360, but it's louder than it was at launch.

What kind of stability issue did you have?

I had a 40 and 80 and with both I could hear the fan but 40 is quieter but not by a huge margin. Perhaps by a few dbs which is a moderate reduction.

Heat wise both are almost the same from temp stand point. I put a probe at the exhaust fan and they were within two degree's. Same exhaust temperature because the fan in 40 gig runs slower.

This thing designed to run within operating peak temp in mind and as long as they are NOT contained in a cabinet should not pose any fire hazard. Do not spread rumers if you can't back them up.

I eventually retuned the 40 gig and the 80 has been flawless and quiet operation. I cannot hear it from 6 ft away and it is only warm to touch after hours of run.

Are you using DLNA functions? Newer firmwares have added a lot of functions that can run in the background all the time unless they are turned off. Turn off the functions you dont use and the processor wont waste the cycles (and create heat) for no reason...

I just bought the 40gig spidey 3 pack and mine is very quiet

can you show us where in your rack you keep your ps3? Are you sure you had adequate ventilation? did you stack them on other components?

I have had 2 of them in well-ventilated areas for about a yr, and have never heard a darn thing from either of them.

I'm just asking a question, dude. As for the youtube thing -- let's just say I don't watch youtubes -- I have few general rules of life, but one of them is to watch as few youtubes as possible.

We have lots of folks on these forums that complain about their components (be they receivers, amps, or gaming machines) running hot, and then they show their setup, and you realize the person's been sticking the poor component in a tin can w/ no ventilation.

I'm certainly not saying that ps3's couldn't possibly have fan noise problems for a few people, but I have more than a year's worth of experience w/ my 2 ps3's, and never heard a single friggin' peep out of them.

I can understand your defensiveness -- I treated my 360 w/ kid gloves and used every possible method to keep the thing well-ventilated (though I never used the intercooler things b/c they are such terrible ideas in their conception), and when it up and died on me after maybe 50 hrs of total running time and I posted on the 360 board, I was accused of being a plant from Sony and all kinds of other things, and that was w/ a product that had already been shown to have MAJOR design flaws wrt QC.

My 60gb blows hot air but its not loud. I'd be pissed if I got a loud PS3 like the one in that youtube video. That thing sounded worse than a 360.

While your sample size of one is intriguing, this thread serves little purpose to....well anyone.

Some people get loud ones. We get it. Thanks.

I apologize if that came off as arrogant, but you have to expect a skeptical response to a thread whose purpose is to inform others to not "waste your time trying to find a rare working 80GB model."

Despite your personal experience, it is more rare to find a malfunctioning 80gb unit than a functioning one. If, as you claim, the majority of units were having problems, there would be a mass exodus of units flooding back to retailers or back to Sony. This is obviously not the case. There are, however, some units that have their fans kick into high gear more frequently than they should regardless of the measures taken to keep it cool.

Nevertheless, a thread warning people that the 80gb is somehow inherently faulty is not warranted. Despite your bad luck, most 80gb users are not having this issue.

I have the 80 gig model and don't notice the noise until I turn it off and it's quiet. I didn't think the You Tube video was loud though either. Could this just be an issue of personal tolerance?

Perhaps not even an issue of personal tolerance, but of physiological sensitivity in the ear.

The humming sound of a tube TV can make me bonkers, but my fiancee can't even hear it. To me, the high-pitched ringing sound is so loud, it sounds like I've just gotten home from a heavy metal concert. As much as I try to convince her that it's as loud as a smoke detector, she just looks at me like I'm crazy. I guess I know how tampabuc must feel.

In the past year, I have owned 7 PS3s - - 1 20Gig, 4 60Gig, and my two current 40Gigs. Had them all in the same exact theater setup, on a open ladder-shelf rack. When standing any of the 60 & 20Gigs vertical, the outblown air coming out of the now topside (right side when horizontal) was warm and would in turn heat up the bottom of the shelf above it. It would get rather warm after only fifteen minutes of use. The drives were still pretty quiet, but the fans would kick in at say, a medium level. In fact, putting my 360 Elite in the same spot, the warmth of the air and shelf was comparable to the PS3s. This prompted me to start putting any console in that same spot horizontal, which helped keep the temps a bit lower. Now, with my 2 40Gigs sitting vertical in the same spot, there is absolutely no warmth out of the top, even after playing 6 hour of COD4. This leads me to believe that proper ventilation of any console is rather important, but the 40Gig archtecture may be a step up in turns of heat regulation.

7 PS3's?? Did you have problems with the first five, or just feel compelled to upgrade?