PS3 Fan Noise

Sareth

Sareth

Sareth

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Joined
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1,406
I think my PS3 has a fault.


When starting the fan begins at full power then drops right down to virtually unnoticeable, after about five or ten minutes it then kicks up another level, at this point I seem to be able to let it idle in the xmb for a length of time and nothing changes, good. But when I play a DVD/Blu Ray/ Game it rapidly steps up another level, this level 3 is twice as loud (if not more) than level 2.
At this point the only way the fan speed can be reduced is by shutting off the console, no length of idling on the xmb will reduce the fan speed from this level.
Why I think its a fault:

1) It never steps down from this level
2) It can be any length of time after it has gotten to level 3 and if I shut down the console and restart it it goes back to level 1, if the console was hot enough to justify level 3 should it not step back up to level 3 or 2 rapidly after being restarted ?

So, PS3 owners, how does your fan behave ?


P.s. I have refrained from making comparisons with the X word, please dont.
 
It's normal, the PS3 fans never step down a level once it's reached a level. The same thing happens on all PS3's when you restart the console.

It's a poor design and seems to be based on time and activity type rather than CPU load or temperature.

That said it's still very quiet even when the fans are at tier 3 for me.
 
Kreeeee said:
It's normal, the PS3 fans never step down a level once it's reached a level. The same thing happens on all PS3's when you restart the console.

It's a poor design and seems to be based on time and activity type rather than CPU load or temperature.

That said it's still very quiet even when the fans are at tier 3 for me.
Click to expand...

Actually the reason I posted this is because I'd read several accounts of peoples PS3s that do step down the fan speed (to the extent that I believe that should be normal) after playing games/ folding so I thought I'd see what all your experiences have been like.
 
Sareth said:
Actually the reason I posted this is because I'd read several accounts of peoples PS3s that do step down the fan speed (to the extent that I believe that should be normal) after playing games/ folding so I thought I'd see what all your experiences have been like.
Click to expand...

Really? The 2 PS3's I've been in contact with (one being my own) have never slowed their fans down, even after idling in the xmb for more than an hour.
 
Kreeeee said:
Really? The 2 PS3's I've been in contact with (one being my own) have never slowed their fans down, even after idling in the xmb for more than an hour.
Click to expand...


Edit: i'm trying not to speculate, just gather first hand reports so got rid of the theories of others I'd put here.
 
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My PS3 also ramps up to a reasonably loud level and stays there.. My brother has 2, his import is silent, his european one is just about as noisy as mine..
 
Sareth said:
I think my PS3 has a fault.


When starting the fan begins at full power then drops right down to virtually unnoticeable, after about five or ten minutes it then kicks up another level, at this point I seem to be able to let it idle in the xmb for a length of time and nothing changes, good. But when I play a DVD/Blu Ray/ Game it rapidly steps up another level, this level 3 is twice as loud (if not more) than level 2.
At this point the only way the fan speed can be reduced is by shutting off the console, no length of idling on the xmb will reduce the fan speed from this level.
Why I think its a fault:

1) It never steps down from this level
2) It can be any length of time after it has gotten to level 3 and if I shut down the console and restart it it goes back to level 1, if the console was hot enough to justify level 3 should it not step back up to level 3 or 2 rapidly after being restarted ?

So, PS3 owners, how does your fan behave ?


P.s. I have refrained from making comparisons with the X word, please dont.
Click to expand...

normal

too noisey for watching a dvd imo
 
I thought my first PS3 was faulty because I was told the fans should spin down and be pretty darn quiet, mine was the opposite.

Hopefully my US model will be a bit different, but if not then I'm not too fussed, I put up with the noise of my PC fine, 360 is louder than my PC however but that's because of the stupid DVD drives.
 
mine doesnt always ramp up, but when it does it stays there when doing wheatever you are doing. it does turn back down though. either way, mines a quiet model. i suppose it would bug me if i was sitting on it, but im not:)
 
neocon said:
normal

too noisy for watching a dvd imo
Click to expand...

If PS3 fan speeds alter depending on the activity the console is doing, I'm surprised just watching a movie is enough to make the console loud. Gaming I can see doing it, But just a movie. Any movies I've watched I've hardly noticed the console.
 
james.miller said:
mine doesnt always ramp up, but when it does it stays there when doing wheatever you are doing. it does turn back down though. either way, mines a quiet model. i suppose it would bug me if i was sitting on it, but im not:)
Click to expand...

Gah, I think mines definately faulty, the noise it gets to is pretty distracting and it wont turn down, I did just discover something else though, if I *immediately* turn it off after a game and then restart it it ramps up to the second level of fan noise within seconds, so the fans increase in speed is thermally controlled, it just doesnt decrease when it should.
 
wannabedamned said:
If PS3 fan speeds alter depending on the activity the console is doing, I'm surprised just watching a movie is enough to make the console loud. Gaming I can see doing it, But just a movie. Any movies I've watched I've hardly noticed the console.
Click to expand...

Gets as loud as it does in a game with DVDS for me.
 
I found it depends on where the PS3 is.

When I first got mine, for the first week or two, it was out in the open, in front of the TV.

Never heard it.

When I put it in my TV stand, on a shelf, which is closed in on three sides, I heard a hell of a difference. The fan would also go to "speed 3" which made it unusable, to my ears, as an upscaling DVD player.

Going back to the XMB, it would stay making noise for some time, but, after a while, the fans would spin down to speed 2.

I purchased one of those side standing mounts, the one with the blu neon style lighting on it, for £12, and now stood on it's side, out in the open, it's almost entirely silent again.

I played Sega Rally last night for 30 mins, before the fan span up at all.
Upscaling a DVD, it'll sometimes speed up, I think, to speed 2, but it's not really noticable watching a film. It never gets to speed 3 any more, which was most definitely noticable.

V1N.
 
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