Weak Cooler Design: PlayStation 5 Thermals, Power, & Noise Testing
video description
Date: 2020-11-23
Related videos
Comments and reviews: 10
ken0y
In terms of noise, my PS5 definitely had something else other than fan noise going on (and before anyone says anything, it wasn't a damn sticker too close to the fan). In terms of fan noise, I agree that it is almost silent.
It was a distinct buzzing that changed in both intensity and pitch depending on what was being drawn on-screen. The simplest example being it was present in-game but not on the home screen. Another example would be in Sackboy's Big Adventure, the effect was more pronounced when raytracing was being used.
It sounds like a lot of other people are experiencing this too which makes me think it is somewhat as designed and my theory is that it relates to the variable gpu/cpu frequency setup Cerny talked about. It makes sense to me because as previously mentioned, the effect is pretty much determined by what is being drawn on-screen and therefore linked to gpu/cpu usage. Whether or not this translates to coil whine I'm not sure, I'd love to hear what people think?
reply
In terms of noise, my PS5 definitely had something else other than fan noise going on (and before anyone says anything, it wasn't a damn sticker too close to the fan). In terms of fan noise, I agree that it is almost silent.
It was a distinct buzzing that changed in both intensity and pitch depending on what was being drawn on-screen. The simplest example being it was present in-game but not on the home screen. Another example would be in Sackboy's Big Adventure, the effect was more pronounced when raytracing was being used.
It sounds like a lot of other people are experiencing this too which makes me think it is somewhat as designed and my theory is that it relates to the variable gpu/cpu frequency setup Cerny talked about. It makes sense to me because as previously mentioned, the effect is pretty much determined by what is being drawn on-screen and therefore linked to gpu/cpu usage. Whether or not this translates to coil whine I'm not sure, I'd love to hear what people think?
reply
Jeff
I gave up on Playstation a few years ago dye lack of backward compatibility after my PS3 died, and I did not trust a refurbished PS3 unit. So, this question is academic. Will running PS5 with covers off be helpful in an appreciable way? Though at end of video, its explained it might help. Also, if not, which I assume due to actual lack of real physical contact. And more drastically, a copper spacer from top of chip to heat sink. Like a copper penny held in with a thermal adhesive, not paste. Paste wouldn't hold them in with paste . After red ring of death with the Xbox 360 first year's batch. I wouldn't get a new gen console for the first 6-9 months of release, even might wait a year. I had dodged that bullet, back in the day. Some one I met had not. His broken console was repeatedly replaced with a repaired unit. Which would also soon fail. Looks like MS I learned, and the Series X is built like smoke stack. Sony, apparently learn from their competitions earlier failure .
reply
I gave up on Playstation a few years ago dye lack of backward compatibility after my PS3 died, and I did not trust a refurbished PS3 unit. So, this question is academic. Will running PS5 with covers off be helpful in an appreciable way? Though at end of video, its explained it might help. Also, if not, which I assume due to actual lack of real physical contact. And more drastically, a copper spacer from top of chip to heat sink. Like a copper penny held in with a thermal adhesive, not paste. Paste wouldn't hold them in with paste . After red ring of death with the Xbox 360 first year's batch. I wouldn't get a new gen console for the first 6-9 months of release, even might wait a year. I had dodged that bullet, back in the day. Some one I met had not. His broken console was repeatedly replaced with a repaired unit. Which would also soon fail. Looks like MS I learned, and the Series X is built like smoke stack. Sony, apparently learn from their competitions earlier failure .
reply
lagrangemechanics
With respect to the error of the offset from the thermocouple reading, I think the phrase you are looking for is systematic error.
One can reasonably assume a die temperature of 97 degree C given the temperature measurement of the memory casing is 93 degree C. And that is with an ambient temp of 22 degree C. Run it in Arizona or Australia or India, as some commenters have already stated, and it's not difficult to imagine the die temp pushing 105.
Now manufacturers (ala Apple, AMD etc) have long indicated some of these silicon's run fine notwithstanding 100+ degree C. Still, it does give cause for concern. Should the design really have been better?
reply
With respect to the error of the offset from the thermocouple reading, I think the phrase you are looking for is systematic error.
One can reasonably assume a die temperature of 97 degree C given the temperature measurement of the memory casing is 93 degree C. And that is with an ambient temp of 22 degree C. Run it in Arizona or Australia or India, as some commenters have already stated, and it's not difficult to imagine the die temp pushing 105.
Now manufacturers (ala Apple, AMD etc) have long indicated some of these silicon's run fine notwithstanding 100+ degree C. Still, it does give cause for concern. Should the design really have been better?
reply
Kaoukabi
the thing that i don't understand is those smart people at Sony spend years designing their consoles, and in the end, the memory doesn't have proper contact with the heatsink and it's get quick to 90degreesC, it's a pretty scary territory especially for a console, that something else than all the reviewers pointing their heat reading devises at the sides of the panel, even Digital Foundry did that, I was like seriously, why not measure it on the other side of the room, can't wait the XBOX Series X findings .. can't do better than that
reply
the thing that i don't understand is those smart people at Sony spend years designing their consoles, and in the end, the memory doesn't have proper contact with the heatsink and it's get quick to 90degreesC, it's a pretty scary territory especially for a console, that something else than all the reviewers pointing their heat reading devises at the sides of the panel, even Digital Foundry did that, I was like seriously, why not measure it on the other side of the room, can't wait the XBOX Series X findings .. can't do better than that
reply
Guido
Potentially the 100w draw from the wall closing the game is related to their fancy new instant resume of playing, leveraging cpu to write down on the sad all the snapshot of the game you had just closed. Don t know if this possibly had been considered to explain this. (Probably you already turned off wireless connectivity so I ll mention it but usually your job is pretty spot on, greetings from Italy!).
reply
Potentially the 100w draw from the wall closing the game is related to their fancy new instant resume of playing, leveraging cpu to write down on the sad all the snapshot of the game you had just closed. Don t know if this possibly had been considered to explain this. (Probably you already turned off wireless connectivity so I ll mention it but usually your job is pretty spot on, greetings from Italy!).
reply
Craig
What the PS5 needs are downward-facing vents on the intake side panel and upward facing vents on the exhaust panel. What is happening here is the exhaust panel is trapping/swirling backwards some hot air and creating a hotter, above ambient pocket that sits in between the panels which the intake to partially draws from.
But it's too late to make a change like that, imagine the uproar from buyers.
reply
What the PS5 needs are downward-facing vents on the intake side panel and upward facing vents on the exhaust panel. What is happening here is the exhaust panel is trapping/swirling backwards some hot air and creating a hotter, above ambient pocket that sits in between the panels which the intake to partially draws from.
But it's too late to make a change like that, imagine the uproar from buyers.
reply
Brett
i would be interested to see what the thermals were like on the previous design (PS4) since that was proven to be quite reliable even though i thought the thermal solution wasn't that good. I thought it was worth noting about dust filtration and cleaning (or did i miss that on another vid, i don't remember seeing it). The PS4 was rubbish for cleaning and had no filtration at all.
reply
i would be interested to see what the thermals were like on the previous design (PS4) since that was proven to be quite reliable even though i thought the thermal solution wasn't that good. I thought it was worth noting about dust filtration and cleaning (or did i miss that on another vid, i don't remember seeing it). The PS4 was rubbish for cleaning and had no filtration at all.
reply
Christoph
Biggest problem so far is the lack of Monitors/TVs supporting HDMI 2.1. Also... even if you could get 4K120, performance wouldn't be enough to reach 120fps anyway, making 4K120 a pipedream in itself. The lack of 1440p support makes this worse since you cant cat 1440p120 either. As it seems, the only thing you can get is 1080p120.
Is there a video coming testing this?
reply
Biggest problem so far is the lack of Monitors/TVs supporting HDMI 2.1. Also... even if you could get 4K120, performance wouldn't be enough to reach 120fps anyway, making 4K120 a pipedream in itself. The lack of 1440p support makes this worse since you cant cat 1440p120 either. As it seems, the only thing you can get is 1080p120.
Is there a video coming testing this?
reply
Anyon
GamersNexus I'm afraid your testing methodology is flawed, as you omitted other critical data, such as humidity, barometric pressure, gravitational pull, and of course a full metallurgical analysis of each of the relevant components. Additionally, the Coriolis effect should be taken into account when the thermal couplers were applied. Honestly, I expected better from GN.
reply
GamersNexus I'm afraid your testing methodology is flawed, as you omitted other critical data, such as humidity, barometric pressure, gravitational pull, and of course a full metallurgical analysis of each of the relevant components. Additionally, the Coriolis effect should be taken into account when the thermal couplers were applied. Honestly, I expected better from GN.
reply
gamersnexus
What about in the future you guys get another ps5 and test the on die temps but shows what improvements the customers can do? Like buying thermal pads and maybe replying their own liquid thermal in case Sony have applied it really bad.
I'm thinking a lot of thr rx 5700xt video you guys did with the washers and stuff.
reply
What about in the future you guys get another ps5 and test the on die temps but shows what improvements the customers can do? Like buying thermal pads and maybe replying their own liquid thermal in case Sony have applied it really bad.
I'm thinking a lot of thr rx 5700xt video you guys did with the washers and stuff.
reply
Add a review, comment
Other channel videos
