Iv had my PS3 for a few weeks now, and i barely ever hear a noise from it. However over the last few days, the fan has started coming on quite loudely after about 1-1.5 hours gameplay (it also seems to be more when im playing CoD4 aswell for some reason??)
I'm just wondering if peaople have any ideas on whether this could be a faulty fan unit or overheating issue, or if this is likly to be normal in these circumstances. Im in the Uk, so its quite cotd atm, meaning the heating is on, although the room is a comfortable, not overly warm.
Also, when i switch the machine off and back on again, the fan returns back to the normal speed/volume.
Also, when the fan is blowing loud, ther is a lot of hot air coming from the back of the machine.
I was thinking of ringing sony up and getting ot swapped, but if this was normal i didnt want to risk swapping it for one that could have actually be broken from sony.
There doesnt seem to be anything out of order, I've had my ps3 heat up quite a bit when I play cod4 as well. The loud noise is just the fans powering up to compensate for the heat generated by the system.
I wouldnt worry about the fans being faulty unless you hear something similar to a grinding noise; or no fan noise at all of course ^.^'
Oner, I hope you don't mind but I copied this from a thread I started a few days ago as I felt it was quite important to put here. This was quoted from "Anyone considering purchasing a PS3 should READ THIS FIRST!"...
Originally posted by Ryu77: ATTENTION!
Anyone with a fan that they would consider loud should read on...
I bought a PS3 on the 27/12/07 and took it home only to find it had a loud fan. After contacting Sony, they authorized an exchange. So on 28/12/07 I took it back to JB Hi-Fi and got another one. After taking the new PS3 home, I found the SAME THING was happening... Can you believe that?
So at this point I was starting to wonder if it was me. I had read on many forums (including this one) that some say they have a loud fan while others say their PS3 is very quiet.
Anyway I contacted Sony and they authorized another exchange... Only this time JB Hi-Fi wanted to test it. So while I waited an hour in the store for the fan to kick in, it hadn't done so yet. So at this point I was feeling guilty for taking up so much of their time so I decided to admit defeat. JB Hi-Fi then said they are under no obligation to exchange it. Even though I showed him a video I recorded with the fan being loud and he even said that isn't normal. I knew deep inside that I should have waited longer as the time for the loud fan to kick in varied from 30 to 90 minutes.
Anyway, I took the unit home. Everytime I played a game or watched a movie, without fail the fan would kick in at an annoying loud level. So I asked myself am I crazy or is this unacceptable? Is this what everyone else accepts from Sony? My answer was NO!. So after further investigation on many forums I came to the conclusion that it wasn't normal. So I contacted Sony again and they said I should send my PS3 to them. I said that is not acceptable for a 1 week old unit. They then said I should call JB Hi-Fi and talk to the manager. That is exactly what I did. This time I had to be firm. I was still friendly but I made it very clear that I am fully aware of my consumer rights. So.... I finally got my third PS3!
I have it home now and it has been on for about 6 hours and barely a whisper. It is so quiet! I even turned off my air con and it is quite a warm day here. So anyone with a loud fan... It is not normal! Do not accept it! You should contact Sony and get an exchange. It took me 3 units to get a good one.
The hot air is perfectly normal, my fan gets a tiny bit louder only for 5 mins though after long gameplay then returns to normal sound. Also the hot air is the fans doing its job. This is why 360 overheats alot and Ps3 doesnt. Sony placed the heatsinks at the back of the console you can see them through the back vent. The internal fans cool the heatsinks and the CPU AND GPU at the same time so hot air is released. What the xbox 360 does is collect air from outside and blows that into the console towards the heatsink which is in the middle of the console cooling the heatsinks CPU AND GPU but the hot air is circulated inside the console as its not being released out of the console directly like the PS3. If that makes sense..
ziggi_83... I 100% agree with you about the hot air but I think he may be more concerned about the fan speed/volume. I looked into this matter quite a lot before I came to the conclusion that it wasn't normal.
My first two PS3's seemed to have 2 levels of fan speed. The first speed was quite low volume and was not a problem to listen to. Hot air was still being expelled from the rear of the unit. It was the second speed that was annoyingly loud. I have had my third PS3 now for about a week and it hasn't made the loud fan noise even once.
So either the one I have now is faulty or the first two I had were... I know for sure I would rather keep this one as it is so much better to watch movies with. Who wants to watch a movie with the sound of a 747 in the background?
Thanks for the replies everyone...i think i may stick with the unit for a while longer and see if it coninues or stops. If it does continue i will consider asking Sony for an exchange.
The fan does not kick in everytime the console is played (as mentioned above, it seems to be more common when playing CoD4...maybe this game uses higher resources than most and so the system heats up more???just a theory).
I have also had the system swotched on for around 7 hours consecutively on other games or downloading updates etc and not heard a whisper from it!
The part that worried me most was the fact that if i switched the unit off then immediately back on the fan returned to, and stayed at, its normal level again. But if you guys think that should be alright then i'll just leave it for a while and see what happens. I have loads of warrenty left on it anyway (only bought 2 weeks ago), so should be fine.
If it's only happening occasionally and more on a particular game then I would say that is perfectly normal. My first two units would crank up the fan into turbo mode between a time of 30 - 90 minutes no matter what game I was playing or movie I was watching.
The PS3 I have now (the third one... lol) only has a very soft fan volume. I have to place my ear right next to the machine to hear it. So at least I know it is working. At this stage I haven't heard the fan go into turbo mode. Maybe I should give COD4 a go!
Id definiteley recommend giving CoD4 a go...even if your fan doesnt crank up, its the best game iv played on the PS3 as yet, so its definitely worth it!!
Thanks again for the help,
