PS5 Coil Whine Complaints Intensify as System Launches in Europe

So it’s just the equivalent of the PS4’s fan going into turbo mode in graphically intensive games. I mean... it’s almost as if pushing an electrical device will cause it to strain?

I'm not saying this isn't a problem, but I literally had to check YouTube wasn't muted for that top video.

Okay, the sound is so silent if I have the console I don't think I'll hear the sound, is it a problem?

What year is it? How powerful is it? Id actually be concerned if it was too quiet. Its pretty much a maxed out gaming pc from 2017 and to sound as quiet as that!! Good job Sony, Pro was "alittle" nuts as my launch Pro is loud with the fan on. I cant even hear the ps5 when playing near it enough to still view the whole screen. Again. Good job Sony!

Coil whine was on my original ps4 and is now slightly on my slim, so dunno if this will ever be fixed. Its slightly annoying but so faint your speakers will block it out nearly every time

Out of left field here, but how would a person setup warranty or get replacement consoles/parts, if bought from a scalper.

See, this time when I play the video backwards, I’m getting Scatman (ski-ba-bop-ba-dop-bop) by Scatman John. Could this perhaps be a regional difference?

Having no issues at all with either my series x or ps5

Wow, the sounds from both videos are just terrible. To me it's a legit complaint.

@PhhhCough Call Sony and say you got it as a gift!

Well this is a little whirrying.

Ok, this has to be one of the of the most stupid things i have ever seen. EVERYTHING that has a fan has a margin of coil noise, its basic aerodynamics, yes some are louder than others, but in this instance its a non issue. Consider for a second that ALL consoles made within the last 15 years have had this noise, however, this generation there has been a major focus on advanced cooling systems. The noise has always been there, its nothing new at all, its just now the cooling solution is so quiet you can actually hear the coil whine. If anything its a testament to how well the cooling works. Honestly, people will be complaining its not made of solid gold next.

Reminds me of when a PC's GPU fans rev up a bit on more graphic intensive games.

Unless it can be heard at optimal viewing distance from a TV with noise canceling headphones on, I can’t see it being much of a problem. My PS4 Pro whooshes and whines like a dying blow dryer, so a softly whining PS5 would be a considerable improvement (whenever I can actually buy one). Anyone expecting silent operation is simply being unrealistic.

@nessisonett Dude you have a thing for 90s Eurodance don't you 😁

@Juanalf There’s something incredibly fun/hilarious about that particular style of music. Of course, anybody who went to a school disco in the UK knows that 90s Eurodance is the pinnacle of human creativity. Don’t worry, I do listen to serious music too 😂😂

@get2sammyb Warranties are usually non transferrable and are typically only offered to the purchaser. Officially.

Unofficially:
If the scalper gives you the receipt where they bought it from too though, how are they gonna prove you didn't buy it originally after all. Only catch is if you've no proof of purchase, you might be in trouble.

Wasn't it said the PS5 goes through a ambient temperature adjustment stage? I noticed my PS5 did make a slight fan noise for a few days and slowed to silent after 3 to 4 days. It may also help if they pulled the PS5 away from the wall a little more.

Mine has a soft fan noise when playing games but I can only hear it if I put my ear down next to it. I figured these consoles would have some sort of sound from time to time?

my system has it. I can hear my ps5 from 6-10 feet away. I would like to pretend I have superpower hearing abilities, but I don’t. I am disappointed that it’s not as quiet as reviewers led me to believe, but it’s still fairly quiet compared to many other things in my house. My fridge in the other room can drown it out.

Thankfully my ps5 only has that janky squeaky sound being made by my controller's square button similar to yongyea's d pad in his unboxing video.

I think mine may do that, but I literally didn’t notice until I put my ear up to the machine. Maybe now I’ll obsess over it or something, but it seems like a non-issue unless there is a heating problem?

I don’t have demon’s souls to test with, but I ran the 120fps mode of Borderlands 3 (ps5 version) and ran around while spinning and shooting - with my ear to the console and sound muted I could definitely hear an increased high pitch sound...but not from across the room or anything.

I heard a high pitch noise at some point and thought this was my PS5 for a second. Then a few minutes later, it happened again, but my PS5 was off. Turn out it was my old computer that I use as a media server and not my ps5.

Sounds like PS5 throat singing lol

@PhhhCough As a scalper myself, let me explain you how warranty works. If you have problems, you go to Scalper King Louie. You plead your case case for King Louie, and he may decide you are worthy of warranty. He knows a guy at Sony and will arrange you a good as new ps5 after pushing some buttons. King Louie may call on you for a favor in the future

@ShogunRok you can't say this isn't a problem, you're a professional, I respect that. But I can. This is dumb and definitely not a problem. Still obviously going to be buying one as soon as fiscally (and physically) possible. Honestly don't understand why it's even an issue. Whenever my consoles/pcs make noise I just turn the volume up on the monitor/tv/headphones? Drowns it right out. Maybe I'm missing something but the solution has always been pretty apparent to me.

I had an original xbox..made noise..had a dreamcast and that made noise too..heck pretty much every console/pc i have ever had have all made some kind of noise when operating under load..my bass guitar amp (200 watt torque amp) makes noise,a buzzing sound..these things are common but i guess its the times we live in now where no matter how great things are people will always complain about something no matter how small...

@shadyshadow you can hardly hear it.

@figboot Not sure I agree with that. If you have to put your ear up to the machine or get within a couple of feet that's acceptable in my opinion. But, normal viewing distances will be annoying, you shouldn't need headphones to block it out.

The best subheading ever

its to do with using helicoper rotor blades for the fan

Do you guys even have laptops?

Only played on mine for 30 mins last night as got work but it seems super quiet and i can only hear the fan if i put my ear to it.

Off topic Astro playroom is great with the Dual Sense

If you can buy a spare Fan from Sony it looks easier to replace yourself.

I noticed the fan kicking in last night while watching Netflix for maybe a 2-3mins. Was quiet playing games though and still a million times quieter than my pro.

My guess the way it sped up like that doing what way be a none intensive exercise would make me belive that it is not a hardware issue.

Mine came yesterday. Played all night no coil whine.

They should've got some cat food instead. Dead silent.

Is this real or are people complaining the fan's spinning? Or is fast span and coil whine different? I don't get it.

I have terrible hearing, so I probably won't even notice it. Besides, if you don't have you TV on mute, you don't hear it either, right?

@PhhhCough to be fair, I'd hope they can't get warranty, people that buy from scalpers are as bad as the scalpers themselves.

I'm not even sure if mine has it. I tried listening close and maybe it's there but it's 100% impossible to hear while playing a game featuring... you know... sound.

My ps5 is definitely not silent. I can hear it spinning away from at least 6-8 feet away while sat on my sofa. Seems all the press about the PlayStation being near silent was a load of nonsense. Other purchasers I speak with all say the same. Ps mine sounds exactly the same as the top video. Strangely my PS4 pro was actually quieter 😂

My xbox 360 sounds like it's gonna take off sometimes and that's the slimmer and apparently quieter version. So I can't see this being something that would bother me.

There always seems to be some issue with a new console, this seems pretty minor. My ps4 had the ejecting discs problem (waited until warranty had ran out until it started though) which only happened to the chunky ps4s (thank the gods for YouTube guides explaining how to fix it with electrical tape). Makes me wonder if it's better to wait for the slim version of the ps5 (but then money saved during lockdown is burning a hole in my pocket).

@Sambo91 You've used all your allotted luck for 2021. 😂

Read article - This is outrageous, how could Sony be so stupid again.
Plays Video - Barely hear anything, turn sound to max , hears something.
If I have to play the video at full blast to hear the noise it really can't be that bad.

The PS5 is just blending in with its natural environment as so many gamers have been whining about everything recently

Has @playstation1995 seen the subtitle to this article yet? Word up son!

My PS5 sounds just like the PS4, apart from the crazy jet engine sounds when you get into some games... but give it time I’m sure that will come in a year or two! The ‘silent’ noise thing may be a myth, but Xbox somehow manage to make totally silent consoles

This launch has been an absolute disaster. Not enough units, units getting stolen by courier companies, hardware issues, bricked consoles, pre-orders not honoured, bot scalpers buying up units, genuine folks again being the ones who lose out.

It's very disheartening.

It must suck not being able to get hold of one, especaially when you see all the marketing Sony are doing, crazily promoting a product that no one can even buy!

Just commenting to say the subheading is brilliant lol

@boxmonkey surely if it's that loud it must be faulty. My PS4 Pro when playing RDR2 requires me to crank up the TV volume because the fan is that loud. None of these videos seems anywhere near that level. 🤣

@Triplexbee laptop fans are generally noisy because they are small so have to spin faster, one of the reasons for the massive PS5 fan. The PS5 should be much quieter than a laptop.

A system so quite that you can hear its coil whine lol. I must say I never cared about the noise of my PS4, whether because I was a couple of metres away, or because I could just tune it out I don’t know. Hopefully this whine isn’t more aggravating. Not so much a decibel thing, as some pitches can annoy even if quiet.
Should find out soon Anyway, Parcel is in the local depot so should be here today.

If you think those noises are loud you should hear my first gen Sky Q box 😱

I mean I can chime in on this lol. No video needed. Yeah, the sound does get intense. Loud enough that my fiancé did complain of it. It doesn’t happen often though. In my past 3 days of playing the only times I’ve heard it get that loud were installing games and on occasion in Demons Souls. In-game though the sound never lasts more than 15 or so seconds and it goes away and won’t come back for another 45 minutes.

So I mean we can sit here cracking jokes that it’s not loud (it is) but really the people posting about this are blowing it way out of proportion.

@PhhhCough buying from scalpers only encourages them, I hope you learn a lesson here and are reminded of it every time you hear the whine of your faulty ill gotten machine

Don't encourage him.

@Steel76 Noise is just noise to some people. With the PS4 Pro it's very loud and annoying. It was something I was hoping to get away from when upgrading to the PS5. In contrast my series X was completely silent for 5 days, then it died. 😂

@chewzy Harsh but fair. 😂 😂

@Jayofmaya. 😄 haha.its is hes on spin on it whirred up son.🤔.which is weird.im glad you spot i.i saw it i was like wtf.haha.word up son

My PS5 is fine 🙂

@ShogunRok Same, I had to check Spotify and put the volume incomfortably loud to hear anything on the youtube videos. I'm sure it must be easier to hear it IRL tho !

Got mine yesterday, doesn't seem to have any problems, crossing my fingers !

@ShogunRok yep, turned my sound up full, and... barely heard it?

@Nexozi I laughed, but now feel bad about it! Sorry to hear that, bud! Hope you get a replacement soon.

@Zuljaras That's interesting. So it's coils in the PSU that are whining.

Including myself i know 3 people who have a PS5 and only issue any of us encountered was a USB error. I had to check my PS5 to see if it was still on its so silent.

Wish mine was only coil whine, as my PS5 crashes on avg after about 20mins on any game I tried.

@playstation1995 Also you will get some faulty ones no doubt but alot will be jumping on the bandwagon and faking it lol. My PS5 runs like a dream. My big beautiful beast lol.

@Max2574 I had a "Something went wrong" message pop up with an error code while copying Miles Morales from disc but honestly I don't even know what went wrong because everything seems fine. Zero actual crashes in the ~6 hours I played and a few more I just had it on (downloading/copying/just waiting for me to get off work ).

Does anyone else appreciate the irony that a small electronic component can be heard now that the fan cannot?

My PS5 definitely as the coil nose. Is it bad or distracting? Not at all this system is the quietest console I've ever owned bar none. Hell its not even warm to the touch. My PS4 Pro sounded like it was going to take off for orbit when playing Red Dead, God of War Of Modern Warfare. Plus it almost got hot enough to cook on hahaha

This is a nine issue and it's being blown way out of proportion in my opinion.

@PossibLeigh 😂 Thanks, I new how hard it was going to be to get a PS5 so just went for the Xbox. With it on the way back to Microsoft I tried for a PS5 yesterday but had no luck at all. Will have to live with the PS4 Pro fan noise for a bit longer. 😂

I can hear mine sitting where I normally do, playing a game. I think I'll give it some time as Sony is probably a little busy right now lol, but I might give them a call to see if it's something they can fix.

@Max2574. Haha.what do you think.i believe ps5 will outsold x box easy.word up son

@figboot Maybe not to you but what about anyone else in the house? I regularly play with headphones on while fiancé watches TV in the same room. If the console was making that noise it would be a big issue.

I doubt the microphones used in the videos do it justice either. Sounds very high pitched and something that I'd find very noticeable without headphones as well.

Some people might be more sensitive to the tone that the coil whine causes. Coil whine will drive me crazy and I can notice it right away and everyone else in the room will not even notice it. It probably just depends upon how sensitive their hearing is.

@zupertramp Touché

Damn, looks like mine does it too.
But I didn't notice until I muted the sound, walked up to the console and put my ear close to it.
It's almost like if you get real close to a fan, it makes noise.

Received the PS5 yesterday, first and foremost I must say I can totally understand the reviews on the DualSense and 3 audio - the console really does feel next gen.

One slight issue (I hope its a firmware piece and not hardware) - the system randomly shut down and turned itself off whilst sitting on the CoD Black Ops Ps5 version menu - the system was certainly not overheating and I had no HDD plugged in, just the Pulse 3d Headset and a wire for when I was charging one of the remotes. I also as soon as turning on the PS5 for the first time and before the random shut down, turned off rest mode as read this could cause issues.

When restarting the console via pressing the power button on the console as touching the controller wouldnt boot the system up, I was greeted with a very brief but worrying system rebuild error.

Seen some forums that people have experienced similar issues but not sure what to think at present!

@get2sammyb only with an original receipt/ proof of purchase... I don't think many scalpers hand those out.

@LJ_314 It's likely to be an inductor that makes the sound, not much can be done about it as it's just something all inductors do when they're under load. You get similar noises out of PSUs, TVs, laptops and anything else with inductors inside... Sadly having "tech knowledge" isn't the same as a fundamental understanding of electronics and electronic components.

I guess everyone's hearing is different but once again I can barely hear anything in those videos, let alone anything I wouldn't expect to hear if I put my head next to a fan. Maybe it's an advantage of getting old, it gets harder to hear whining of all sorts

😶-No coil whine on my Nov.12th launch PS5 Console.
I had to check to see if the fan was even running after putting my ear practically against the console and still couldn't hear it, so I put my hand at the back of the exhaust vent(Many Times) and felt a slightly warm breeze coming from it.
I think people are going to get slightly different results from their consoles, seeing as there coming off an assembly line, and these are first run products, so Quality Control is going to vary. That's why I ALWAYS buy Extended Warranties on first run products just in case, but after putting my PS5 through it's paces so far, I might have wasted that warranty money, because it seems mine is solidly built.

PS4 suffers from the same problem I think?my PS4 consoles have always had a low level whine or ‘crackle’ as it’s sometimes described.

@PhhhCough Buying from scalpers is like negotiating with terrorists. Just don't do it. Ever.

I recieved my PS5 Digital yesterday morning, have used it heavily and find it to be silent in use. There is a very feint sound if I press my ear right up to the console, about the same as my Define S2 pc case which was not cheap. If you get a good one they have done an amazing job. Also I have had zero crashes and downloaded/installed several games, signed into all media apps that I have accounts for. I can finally play zero dawn without getting a headache from fan noise!

@carlos82 Haha most underrated and accurate comment of the day.

Ive started to get a constant whining noise in my ear lately. I tend to just give her my wallet and tell her to go buy some shoes.

Deal with it you wanted a powerful system you then have to deal with the unfortunate issues like this, I get coil whine on my rx580 only got it when Bioshock 2 remastered I installed on Steam first booted up and the v sync wasn't turned on the FPS on the main menu was 567fps so it caused coil whine and now I'm stuck with it thank god for headphones

They need to play the division 2 on a ps4 pro and hear that ! then they would stop moaning.

I only hear mine on BC games, but it's still quieter than my PC, so I'm happy enough

Mine does it too. Like others said, some won't notice it, I do. I was still able to hear it when I put the console to sleep. Had to turn off USB power in sleep mode to eliminate it.

My console does have minor coil whine, but it is barely audible at normal seating distance, and to hear it fully I had to had to have my ear quite close to the console. For me it’s not really an issue given how low the sound is. It’s also good to know that it’s not a defect and the console isn’t overheated or strained, it’s just normal electromagnetic vibrations. It’s likely that the fans on most devices are loud enough that they mask the sound, whereas the PS5’s fan is very quiet. For some people the coil whine may well be far louder and irritate them.

@TimeDelayedGamer I didn't. Was just wondering if those individuals, were screwed twice. And to all the people who assumed I bought one off a scalper, I'm more likely to rob the scalper than pay him.

@PhhhCough That's what I like to hear 😁 Yeah, I suspect that they probably are screwed twice. Caveat emptor and all that.

Personally, I'm quite happy to wait a while for a PS5 yet. Let the early kinks be worked out. I've got dozens of games in my backlog as it is.

I practically had to turn my floor standers up to max just to hear that guy hear the noise whilst stood centimetres away from his PS5, really sounds like a non-issue to me. I can hear the fan on mine if I put my ear to it but a meter away and nothing.

"I bought a brand new console during a pandemic and it makes a whining noise". Boo-effing-hoo. I'm having a hard enough time making rent. Let alone throwing down $400+ on a brand new system. I'll just have to keep playing my PS4 like a plebeian.

Just commenting in appreciation of the sub heading 😉

Now that I played some Spider-Man with headphones - as I took them off - yeah, there is a little whirring for sure. Might be the fan though, not the coils, I don't know. It's barely audible from 2m away with all sounds muted - not a chance I'd hear it with headphones on or sound on speakers. Nowhere near the levels of the PS4 fan.

@playstation1995 Yeah, I think it was a nod to you. Word up, son!

@get2sammyb check this tweet out, it may be worth updating the article. https://twitter.com/dark1x/status/1329820356253782017?s=21

I can't hear anything like that on my PS5, my Bluray Drive has noise when I'm installing games, but the fan and PSU make no noise that I can hear unless I put my ear right next to the system and even then I can't hear that unless my surround or TV isn't making any noise.
My PS5 is standing vertically and in an area with loads of space.

As others have said I had to check the fan of the console was actually working by putting my hand near the vents, but I wouldn't call the air coming out of it much hotter than room temperature, the system is also very cool too the touch.
Playing Demon's Souls in performance mode is gorgeous, I can't even really tell the difference between fidelity or performance mode.
I have a few games and none of them have made the system loud or have coil whine.

My PS5 has it and I hate it. Its not really the noise level that’s distracting, it’s the type of sound it produces and the fact that it is coming from the front of the console, not the back. It’s the same with or without a disc. I know I won’t get use to it. I would exchange it if I could.

It barely makes any noise at all my original ps4 makes far more noise

@shush gee that's a bit uncalled for, haha!

If it gets to loud, will just start up my PS4. As it sounds like a jumbo jet taking off and will drown it out. But seriously, if that's as loud as it gets am more than happy. Will have to wait a couple of years until devs max out the system, but am sure it will get a little bit louder than that. I know my 2080TI when maxing out and played for a few hours starts to make louder noises.

it's not really a big problem or anything, it's just all the early review people kept saying its whisper quiet - they should have clarified that's when you're not doing anything on it!... overall it's an amazing device, especially the controller

It only seems noticeble when you press your Phone against the console what are we even complaining about.

Jesus. Can you even hear that when playing a game? You should hear my laptop when I'm gaming... it's far louder than my Pro, and even that at its worst is barely audible when you have the game audio coming out of the TV.

The important thing is that the cooling is doing its job.

Cool whine has nothing to do with fans. It's from the inductors. I had a graphics card h that had it. I could hardly here it but my kids could not sit in the room. That chalkboard kind of sound. It seems to be far worse for young ears than old.

My PS5 gas no issues happily but even if it doesn't bother you, it's can still be a real problem for others

this is the biggest non-issue coil sound is normal usually goes away.

I can hear this on mine, it isn't as bad as it sounds on the videos and more noticeable as I was using the Pulse 3d headset, when I took this off for a moment with no other background sound to mask it, it was noticeable. The problem isn't the sound as such, it's a background ticking noise, it's the bass from it, IMHO it's less noticeable closer to the console as you can hear the other low dB noises such as the fan, Futher away the actual sound is more prominent, but I wouldn't go as far as to say it was an issue, yet at least!

I haven't noticed as have been enjoying games with the Pulse 3D headset. I'm just glad my whole house doesn't know I'm gaming like the PS4 days.

Yeah, there is nothing in these videos. What are you guys talking about?