The PlayStation 5 probably has two versions of the main fans »Vortex
The editors of the French magazine Les Numeriques could not sleep that there were so many conflicting insights into the reviews of the PlayStation 5 and the impressions of its use at the expense of the noise of the entire device. While someone claims that the console doesn’t show anything in a significant way, even when it’s under heavy load, others talk about an annoying noise, which may not be able to match the hum of the PS4, but could mean in the future. acoustic problem. Therefore, Florian Agez from the mentioned portal did not hesitate and started to dismantle the editorial console, which Les Numeriques received directly from Sony, and his own piece, which he bought as an ordinary customer. To his surprise, a few minutes after starting his own analysis, he found out that both devices have a different design of fan blades, which he then subjected to further testing and came up with very interesting results.
The difference in the processing of fans is shown by several photographs, which show significant differences. The fan, marked with the letter B in the photo, corresponds to the one removed from the console in front of it by Sony’s Vice President of Mechanical Design Jasuhiro Ótori in a video from this October. The curved blades give an elegant impression, add robustness to the whole fan and underline its dimensions, which have become one of the factors why the whole device is so large. The second fan, labeled A, has the same dimensions, but the blades do not extend to the center drum and appear to be less efficient.
Another source of unpleasant sounds can also be the so-called coil whine – ie the whistling of the coil in the source, to which some pieces show and others do not change.
In reality, however, this second fan is quieter at high speeds, although the difference is not very marked. Measurements of the French portal revealed that when playing Demon’s Souls, fan B makes a noise of 43 dB, while fan A produces 39 dB. But to make it not so easy, at low speeds – typically when working in the menu – fan A can hear the whistling of the bearings, making it slightly noisier for a change than the B model. , although of course these are considerably amplified recordings, so that the differences are clearly visible.
The magazine also states that it does not currently know how to use a bar code or serial number to find out which fan is in the set. At the same time, however, Les Numeriques points out that Sony is most likely not doing anything illegal by fitting various commercial hardware to its commercial equipment while the component is doing its job. And this should apply to the described fan variants regardless of the amount of noise emitted. Moreover, it is not just fans – another source of unpleasant sounds can also be the so-called coil whine – ie the whistling of the coil in the source, which some pieces show and others do not change. Therefore, to demonstrate randomness and non-existent templates, Les Numeriques editors disassembled all five available PlayStation 5 consoles (one editorial and four custom) to find that two had a quieter fan and three a noisier version.
In the end, however, they point out once again that they certainly did not reach conclusions that would be advisable to distort. Although one of the variants is a bit more hear, the differences are not great and the PlayStation 5 is still a very quiet console. The magazine also has no data on the basis of which it could at least estimate the percentage distribution of both variants of fans, and probably no one will be clear until Sony’s statement. In any case, this is an interesting, though not entirely unique, issue, which is also associated with the new consoles. And, please, you do not take this as an impulse to start disassembling your own console – think of the warranty and the fact that in the event of damage to the console, no store in the Czech Republic will most likely exchange it for a new piece in the near future.
