Now that the PlayStation 5 is officially out in the US and Japan, users have been busy sharing their own experiences with the console. The great news is that the overwhelming majority of users don't seem to be having any problems or issues with their next-gen hardware, and are simply having a good time with shiny new games and super-fast loading times.
It's the kind of thing you love to see on a console launch day, but I also love to hear from multiple sources that the PS5 fan is, in fact, really very quiet. After six years dealing with an increasingly loud PlayStation 4 fan, I'm absolutely delighted to see from early reviews and new customers that the PS5 can indeed run games without sounding like it's going to explode. Yes, we'd heard from Sony this would be the case, but hearing it from reviewers and fans is a different thing entirely.
Take a look at the PS5 video from YouTuber Champ Chong below. In a handy noise test, he boots up Spider-Man: Miles Morales on PS5 and has a quick swing around New York City while the console itself stays completely quiet save for a gentle whirr from the fan, which is obviously to be expected. For comparison, I've been playing the new Spidey on my PS4, and it's... not quiet. Not even close.
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In another example, YouTuber Krazy Pedals just uploaded a video of the stunning-looking Demon's Souls running on their console. Despite clearly being an incredibly demanding game, the most noise coming from the PS5 is, once again, nothing more than a soft murmur. If the TV hadn't been muted in either of these instances, you wouldn't hear a damn thing from the console - that's the way it should be.
Of course it's worth pointing out that these are brand-new consoles playing launch games, which means the fan is obviously a lot less likely to splutter and struggle as it runs. The good news is that Sony seems to have prepared for this eventually, and has plans to release system updates that will allow the PS5's massive fan to work different depending on how demanding the game in question is.
"Various games will be released in the future, and data on the APU's (Accelerated Processing Unit) behaviour in each game will be collected," PlayStation's Yasuhiro Otori explained last month. "We have a plan to optimise the fan control based on this data."
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In other words, Sony should be able to analyse the data it receives on PS5 games, turning up or lowering the intensity of the fan accordingly. If that keeps my PS5 nice and quiet, you'll hear no complaints for me - just the sweet sound of a console running quietly.
Featured Image Credit: SonyTopics: PlayStation 5, GAMING, News