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Me_Marcadet

Member
Oct 25, 2017
411
I caved in, I opened the second PS5...
I'm currently downloading demon's souls. With Astrobot, one was slightly louder than the other. But it's not so much the noise level, but the pitch and whirling sound.
With demon's souls running on both consoles I'll be fixed.
None of them are dead silent.
 

Ferrs

Avenger
Oct 26, 2017
18,829
I think mine has it, but I'm not bothered by it at all

Frankly, not sure how people are bothered by the whine as, for example, if I'm playing with a sound coming through a sound bar, it completely masks the whine. Or if wearing headphones, I'm completely isolated from any outside noise.

I understand people have got different expectations and requirements, but to me, this is a none issue and I hope more people choose to be not worried by the coil whine as, subjectively, this is a very small defect/issue.

P.S. this is coming from a person who had no problem with a jet engine PS4 Pro, so you can tell my tolerance to this kind of noise is high (or low standards, ahah?). So there's that.

Neither I have a soundbar nor use headphones, so I hear the console noise more obviously.

And nope, not going to start using them because of this.
 

bboris77

Member
Sep 11, 2020
73
This kind of issue is very difficult to discuss because each person has a very different tolerance for noise. On top of that, the environment we all play in is vastly different - the base noise level, distance from the PS5 and so on. It also appears that there is some degree of variance between different PS5 units in terms of how loud the coil whine/ electrical buzzing is. It also heavily depends on which game you play as it is not a steady noise. The loudest I've heard my PS5 was in the Black Ops multiplayer menus which have uncapped frame rates.

For people whose units can be heard over speakers/headphones - this is not normal or acceptable. If it was my unit, I would contact Sony. For all the rest of us, we can only hope that coil whine will diminish with time or that Sony will find a way to tweak power draw or cap frame rates to 60/120 through firmware updates to minimize this.

For the people who commented on having silent PS4 Pro units, it must have been later revisions because most launch units were absolutely horrendous, at least 2-3 times as loud as my PS5.
 

Martinski

Member
Jan 15, 2019
8,420
Göteborg
I had coil whine on my GTX 1080 for a while when the framerate was unlocked like in menus and i had like 200-300 fps. Maybe it's a similar issue here? I had to lock framerate with vsync to 60 fps in some games for the coil whine to go away.
 

Sanctuary

Member
Oct 27, 2017
14,205
I don't know what to tell you except it's there and very audible. If you can't hear it, good on you I guess?

I guess. I do get really annoyed by certain environmental sounds, and I know that if I could hear the system it would likely bother me too. I don't know if this would make any difference, but is there any other spot you could possibly place yours, or even just angle it differently? The noise on mine isn't what bugs me the most though, it's the obnoxious, blaring lights on the front which are like a Las Vegas strip in a dark room. So I have mine behind my TV. Maybe that's dampening the whine somewhat.

I had coil whine on my GTX 1080 for a while when the framerate was unlocked like in menus and i had like 200-300 fps. Maybe it's a similar issue here? I had to lock framerate with vsync to 60 fps in some games for the coil whine to go away.

Would the dashboard be at an unlocked, max frame rate though? Plus, what about when playing games that are capped at 60? My previous two 1080s both had intermittent coil whine, but I always kept the frame limiter to 60.
 
Oct 27, 2017
7,468
After playing Demon's Souls for a day I am seriously considering returning my PS5. Like the coil whine while playing Demon's Souls is simply unacceptable. Astro Bot was noticeable but at a level I can deal with. Demon's Souls however is orders of magnitudes worse:

It's not the sound of a mosquito, it's that of a whole army angrily coming after you. I can hear it wearing my headphones, sitting 6-7 feet away from the console for christs sake.

Like, I'd literally rather listen to my jet plane ps4pro, before I modded it to be silent, than this.

Sony managed to drop the ball yet again. All this "We want to make a silent console" talk amounting to nothing because they couldn't help themselves but cheap out on the PSU.

Wow, that's seriously loud then, or at least at a frequency that cuts through all other ambient noise. My PS4 Pro sounds like a jet engine but I can't hear that from 6-7 feet away with headphones on.
 

Sykra

Member
Oct 28, 2017
48
I got no sounds so far playing Astrobot and Spiderman, I hope it stays that way with Demon Souls next week..
 

Qudi

Member
Jul 26, 2018
5,318
It decreased playing the same games or are you playing different things?

I've put 25 hours into Demon's Souls alone and it hasn't changed a bit
Ive been playing Astrobot, Spider man MM, Ghost of Tsushima and Uncharted Multiplayer constantly in rotation. It was the worst on day 1 in Ghost of Tsushima Legends.
 

Me_Marcadet

Member
Oct 25, 2017
411
Well, it's very subtle but I think the new one is slightly quieter, but I can still hear it from my couch and it's still a little annoying buzzing sound. Can't hear it over game audio like the other one, I think they are on the same level and it's even more stressful to decide which one to keep 😂

My quest for a silent ps5 ends here.
Time to sell the other one.
 

FriendlyNPC

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,599
To me this sounds more similar to the guy who had an issues with a sticker becoming dislodged and rubbing against the fan than coil whine.

The sound instantly changes when I switch between in-game and home screen. If it was a fan related issue you'd assume there is a delay with the fan ramping up/slowing down but there is none of that. The pitch of the hum instantly changes between main menu, loading and actual gameplay as well. Additionally, the sound emanates from the bottom of the console where the PSU is located. The fan is at the top (talking about vertical orientation of the console of course).

I am pretty positive this is coil whine and not a fan related issue.
 
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Skulldead

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,450
Well, it's very subtle but I think the new one is slightly quieter, but I can still hear it from my couch and it's still a little annoying buzzing sound. Can't hear it over game audio like the other one, I think they are on the same level and it's even more stressful to decide which one to keep 😂

My quest for a silent ps5 ends here.
Time to sell the other one.

Or try like me to send the other one at sony and pray they will correct this, if not then sell it if they say its normal.
 

Footos22

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,771
Mine is dead silent have to go right up to it to even hear the fan. Glad I wasnt one of the unlucky ones this thread was Making me nervous
 

Oreiller

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,831
Yeah, mine is pretty loud too. I don't hear the noise with headphones or when it's in rest mode but it's kinda annoying. It's not enough for me to send it back yet but we'll see how it goes in the future.
 

kVH2LpZd

Member
Apr 3, 2019
954
I had coil whine on my GTX 1080 for a while when the framerate was unlocked like in menus and i had like 200-300 fps. Maybe it's a similar issue here? I had to lock framerate with vsync to 60 fps in some games for the coil whine to go away.
Thought about that as well. Are there maybe differences with the used resolutions? I am playing on a 1080p screen with serious coil whine, maybe there is less of that with 4k screens.
 

Me_Marcadet

Member
Oct 25, 2017
411
The sound instantly changes when I switch between in-game and home screen. If it was a fan related issue you'd assume there is a delay with the fan ramping up/slowing down but there is none of that. The pitch of the hum instantly changes between main menu, loading and actual gameplay as well. Additionally, the sound emanates from the bottom of the console where the PSU is located. The fan is at the top (talking about vertical orientation of the console of course).

I am pretty positive this is coil whine and not a fan related issue.

My "new" ps5 does that and the "old" one was loud because of the fan. There's two loteries you have to win in order to get a silent ps5.


Or try like me to send the other one at sony and pray they will correct this, if not then sell it if they say its normal.

It' s so widespread that I think it's normal. Seriously, if I didn't read people saying they got dead silent ps5, I would not think twice about it. Both my PS5s are quieter than the Switch fan ffs. I have to mute the audio and focus on the sound of the ps5. If I can live with the ps4 pro, I can deal with this level of noise.
Let's play the lottery again in 3-4 years with the ps5 pro!
 

NoWayOut

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,073
I didn't ask for one and I won't ask for one. I am lucky to have both my ps5 dead silent with very minimal coil whine . Why would I ask for a replacement ?
The other ps5 with a whirl sound isn't mine.
Not a single issue with both ps5 and lucky with the fan lottery . I am good till the ps5 pro

Sorry, I meant to quote someone else :)
 

Loud Wrong

Member
Feb 24, 2020
13,894
At this point I just want the people who claim that their shit is silent, to post some receipts lol. The anecdotal 6 consoles I have come in contact with so far, including my own all make the same fan whirl noise. Ours aren't as horrible as some people are posting, but the PS5 does have a slight noise when its running, and even playing a digital game. I honestly think the slight noise is "normal" for the majority of the units out there, but the buzzsaw sounding ones that people have posted definitely have a very real issue.
Yeah the fan noise is normal. They all do that and should sound nothing more than a whooshing sound. The definition of "whisper quiet". People who say theirs don't do that either have ambient noise that's louder in their room or have a PS5 with a broken fan, because it's clear Sony kicks the fans up any time a game is started. The coil whine though is something none of the consoles should have. In a perfect world, all consoles would achieve the level of quiet MS did with the XSX. It's not even whisper quiet. It's straight up silent.
 

NoWayOut

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,073
The sound instantly changes when I switch between in-game and home screen. If it was a fan related issue you'd assume there is a delay with the fan ramping up/slowing down but there is none of that. The pitch of the hum instantly changes between main menu, loading and actual gameplay as well. Additionally, the sound emanates from the bottom of the console where the PSU is located. The fan is at the top (talking about vertical orientation of the console of course).

I am pretty positive this is coil whine and not a fan related issue.

That's exactly what I noticed as well. Even if I'm on the homescreen with Demon's Souls running in the background the buzzing is as loud as when the game is on screen. The moment I close the game the sound goes down immediately. Definitely the buzzing is related to the CPU/GPU load.
 

Slash

One Winged Slayer
Banned
Sep 12, 2018
9,859
I've seen people say that the coil whine isn't a big deal if you're playing a game and not right next to the console, but the thing is that we have different variations in how noisy it is. I don't agree with the statement "we all have some coil whine, it's normal" because it undercuts how severe it can get for some people. This isn't normal.
 

Fancy Clown

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,407
I'm starting to wonder if my buzz isn't fan related and not coil whine since it seems to be constant and even no matter if I'm in a game or on the Home Screen. I can only hear it if I get up close, do you think it's worth it to try and open up the console and see if there's anything caught in there or is that too risky?
 

bboris77

Member
Sep 11, 2020
73
I've seen people say that the coil whine isn't a big deal if you're playing a game and not right next to the console, but the thing is that we have different variations in how noisy it is. I don't agree with the statement "we all have some coil whine, it's normal" because it undercuts how severe it can get for some people. This isn't normal.
It is "normal" for Sony :)

All joking aside, I agree with you that as customers, we should not accept any degree of coil whine as the norm. In theory, at least.

The people who have more severe cases of this electrical noise should absolutely get their consoles exchanged/repaired. At least the odds of getting one that is less noisy will be in their favour. It is not realistic to expect that they will get a totally silent console at this point in time though. Sony may address this issue in a future revision of the PS5 hardware if we put a lot of pressure on them, but I would not hold my breath. Considering how many units exhibit a certain degree of coil whine, they must have noticed this in their own testing and thought that it was within acceptable limits.
 

Alek

Games User Researcher
Verified
Oct 28, 2017
8,467
A handful of my Apex friends are now playing on PS5 and they've all reported coil whine when I spoke to them. Seems quite common. I don't think it'll bother me if I get a PS5, as I usually play with headphones on.
 

Slash

One Winged Slayer
Banned
Sep 12, 2018
9,859
The people who have more severe cases of this electrical noise should absolutely get their consoles exchanged/repaired. At least the odds of getting one that is less noisy will be in their favour. It is not realistic to expect that they will get a totally silent console at this point in time though.

Yeah, I agree with this. If the coil whine is only noticeable 2 feet away from the console, I wouldn't care, but my problem is that I can hear it from my couch. I want a quieter console, but I'm not expecting it to be completely silent or anything.
 
Oct 25, 2017
3,471
Yeah, I agree with this. If the coil whine is only noticeable 2 feet away from the console, I wouldn't care, but my problem is that I can hear it from my couch. I want a quieter console, but I'm not expecting it to be completely silent or anything.
Same, I can hear my high pitched whirl sitting 6 ft away during quiet parts of games. Going to return my unit and try my luck with another unit. I already have a silent Series X.
 

coolguy949

Member
Nov 14, 2020
46
Here is another video to the pile:



Mine sounds just like this. I also can hear it from across my living room. I don't have Demon's Souls but mine makes a loud buzzing sound like this while playing AC Valhalla. It's quieter in Fortnite and Astrobot probably because they aren't pushing the system as hard. Who knows how loud it will get once more next-gen games come out that actually push the system's performance.
 
OP
OP
Psychotron

Psychotron

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,683
Here's another. Seeing more and more videos on YouTube. Also, people giving shit about being close before the phone picks it up, you need to understand that the phone doesn't do a great job of picking this buzzing up. My ears can hear it from 10 feet away easy. This buzzing, much like plasma buzz, bounces off walls. Playing Demon's Souls, even at a high volume with a pretty badass surround system, I can hear a very noticeable buzzing. Moving the camera changes the pitch and intensity.

There are way too many people trying to say that we can't hear our own PS5's because they couldn't hear it when the mic wasn't near the console. What reason would anyone here have to lie? If we say we can hear it from 6-10 feet, we probably can, otherwise why would we be unhappy? If mine made a noise right next to it but not from my seating position, you'd never see me post anything about it. This is a shitty thing happening to people who were very excited about their new console. The fact that this console does so much right just pushes the dagger in further when once again, it's an audible noise messing it up.

 

coolguy949

Member
Nov 14, 2020
46
Wow that's bad. Mine is like that too. Yeah I don't understand why people feel the need to tell us we aren't hearing things or it's not that bad. I have a 7.1 high-end home theater setup and the buzzing cuts right through whenever a game quiets down. I posted a few responses on Reddit and people instantly pile on saying the noise is normal and exaggerated by the camera. Also many defending Sony's decisions to allow this level of noise variance in the manufacturing. "cOiL wHiNe iS nOrMaL!"
 

SneerfulOwl

Member
Nov 4, 2017
1,862
Wow that's bad. Mine is like that too. Yeah I don't understand why people feel the need to tell us we aren't hearing things or it's not that bad. I have a 7.1 high-end home theater setup and the buzzing cuts right through whenever a game quiets down. I posted a few responses on Reddit and people instantly pile on saying the noise is normal and exaggerated by the camera. Also many defending Sony's decisions to allow this level of noise variance in the manufacturing. "cOiL wHiNe iS nOrMaL!"
Yeah. I'm beginning to think people who thinks this is normal has never experienced coil whine before ps5. This shit is not normal and those of us who lived through shoddy ass quality GPUs on our PC can attest to this. It's not something you will ever get used to unless you have an amazing patience of tuning out a high pitched white noise constantly whining.
 

chrisPjelly

Avenger
Oct 29, 2017
10,494
Dunno if videos alter the pitch in some way, but mine definitely has a noticeable whir to it, but thankfully at a lower hum. I can hear it across the room, but thankfully it comes across as more white noise/ambience than some of these examples.
 
OP
OP
Psychotron

Psychotron

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,683
Furthermore, media outlets with clickbait titles should be ashamed. Gamespot and Push Square posting that stupid sticker video that is clearly a different issue, yet saying in their titles "Coil Whine Could Be Caused by a Loose Sticky Label." Really? Besides being factually impossible since coil whine has zero to do with anything near the fan, it's taking attention away from the real coil whine issue. I was glad to see they mentioned in the article that there are people facing real coil whine issues, but come on, you buried that part and most will just see the title and run with it. This doesn't help at all.
 

JohnnyToonami

Member
Dec 16, 2018
5,467
Earth
Here's another. Seeing more and more videos on YouTube. Also, people giving shit about being close before the phone picks it up, you need to understand that the phone doesn't do a great job of picking this buzzing up. My ears can hear it from 10 feet away easy. This buzzing, much like plasma buzz, bounces off walls. Playing Demon's Souls, even at a high volume with a pretty badass surround system, I can hear a very noticeable buzzing. Moving the camera changes the pitch and intensity.

There are way too many people trying to say that we can't hear our own PS5's because they couldn't hear it when the mic wasn't near the console. What reason would anyone here have to lie? If we say we can hear it from 6-10 feet, we probably can, otherwise why would we be unhappy? If mine made a noise right next to it but not from my seating position, you'd never see me post anything about it. This is a shitty thing happening to people who were very excited about their new console. The fact that this console does so much right just pushes the dagger in further when once again, it's an audible noise messing it up.


Damn wish they went into the game to move around the camera to show how bad it gets. That so far is the closest to what mine sounds like.
 

coolguy949

Member
Nov 14, 2020
46
Has anyone tried different power strips, surge protectors or even outlets to see if affects anything? I moved mine to a nearby outlet and it didn't change a thing.
 

CHC

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,246
Whatever it is it can't be worse than my RTX 2080 Black Edition. It sounds like a goddamn UFO as soon as my headphones come off, like some kind of vast warbling alien engine.

Coil whine is a strange thing.
 

ohitsluca

Member
Oct 29, 2017
730
Mine is audible enough to be annoying when not wearing headphones / in quieter scenes, but low enough to where I can mostly tune it out. Sucks having it in a small bedroom though where the buzzing noise bounces off the walls and sounds louder than it really is lol
 

Bold One

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
18,911
You can't fix hardware problems with software.
Q9qMcmQ.gif
 

Deleted member 17289

Account closed at user request
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
3,163
The sound on mine is definitely the fan, i took it apart and when the fan starts spinning faster it hums, i have very little coil whine.
 
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Skulldead

Member
Oct 27, 2017
4,450
I think i could need some help here, i want to know if i write a little letter in the repair box that explain the problem a little better then the useless guy french guy on Sony support (the first i've got in the morning was amazing, not the second one during PM). I have a feeling he wrote stupid thing in the report. Does it could help the repair center ? After 10 hours with my second ps5, coil whine is there, but really less noticeable at distance.
 
Apr 28, 2020
306
I just want to say sorry to all you who have coil whine/noises with your PS5. Truly a bummer. I don't have any noise yet but I wouldn't be surprised if it shows up at some point - really haven't stressed the system at all.
 

Bunta

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
2,270
Your recording is inaudible until you're up on it, unless it actually didn't even start whining until you got that close. I'm listening to it with headphones right now. With it being that low from over three feet away, the only time you could possibly hear it with headphones is during a completely silent scene, or you always have your volume at like 5%.

Maybe the mic on the phone is just bad, but all I hear is a hiss until you're right next to the system. And then the plane too.
I've got the same issue and it's more audible in person, the microphone isn't going to pick up on it as well as you can hear it. I don't understand trying to downplay it when there's numerous people in this thread that have said it's clearly audible in person, not just when you're right next to it.

To me this sounds more similar to the guy who had an issues with a sticker becoming dislodged and rubbing against the fan than coil whine.
No, it's the coil whine. The sound is louder as you get closer to the PSU.
 

NoWayOut

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,073
Has anyone tried different power strips, surge protectors or even outlets to see if affects anything? I moved mine to a nearby outlet and it didn't change a thing.

I have mine plugged in a ups-surge protector, so I tried plugging it directly to the outlet on the wall and made zero difference unfortunately