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UPDATE: Fixed my PS4 Pro Fan Noise!!

rəddəM

Member
I'm pretty sure that TLoU2 will be the end of my OG CUH-1000 5+ years old standard PS4 that I completely didn't cared about until recently this year when I opened it up, cleaned it and replaced the thermal paste with the cheapest one money can buy.
This fucker refuses to die.
 

bitbydeath

Member
Why even bother with a lid? Just throw that shit away and turn it into a convertible.

images
 

Nickolaidas

Banned
Randomly refuses - no idea why- open in an image program and try re-saving as a different file type, or just do a tiny crop and resave - usually fixes it. I think it's a meta-data it doesn't like problem .. not file size ..
Yeah, making a new picture file in Photoshop and copy pasting the original inside a layer of the new pic file eliminated the problem. My guess is that my mobile creates JPG files which are more-or-less incompatible with NeoGAF's … 'seal of approval' where picture files are concerned.

Save As-ing the original JPG file into another file/type of file didn't work either. Only making a new file worked.
hate to break it to ya but some new thermal paste isn't gonna make up for the shit airflow.

Why even bother with a lid? Just throw that shit away and turn it into a convertible.

images
I do not understand why many people mock the picture above as a solution. It legitimately works. Removing the lid altogether helped my Pro quite a lot in the past with some games and would reduce the fan noise by 25% at least.

Sorry OP but i'm confused.
Why did you cut in it and not take it apart?
Okay. Here's the story.

My Pro would get really loud after a year and after I started gaming in my then-new 4K TV.

Removing the lid would help sometimes, but the fan would still be very loud.

I consulted the internet (sitcom laugh follows) and saw that plenty of people would solve this by drilling or cutting holes in the lid to help the PS4's fan get air inside the console faster and less obstructively.

I opened my PS4 Pro, changed the thermal paste and cut a hole in the lid in order to have it closed but still helping the fan get the air faster inside. I placed a metallic anti-dust screen (the size of the fan hole)

4IpLKbr.jpg


to prevent a lot of dust from getting inside. Oh, I also cleaned the heatsink (the hard to see side, not the one shown after you remove the power supply) and replaced my Delta fan with a Nidec one.

I closed up my ps4 pro and it was going well for two months until it started acting up again. The fan went just as worse at it was before I opened it for the first time.

I re-opened it and re-applied the thermal paste. This time there was no change at all and the fan started going apeshit from minute one.

I consulted the internet again and found out that thermal pads have to be replaced every single time you open your pro because … and I quote:

"PS4 thermal pads are one-shot solutions only. You have to replace the pad if you ever remove the heatsink from its mounted position, because the heat of the operating CPU will have caused the thermal pad to conform the top. Don’t underestimate the importance of PS4 thermal pads when cooling the CPU is on the light spot. So, once you move the heatsink there will be new gaps between the surfaces. So never forget: If you dismount the heatsink, replace the thermal pad and remove all debris."

So this time I opened the Pro, I used Arctic Silver ceramique for thermal paste (which has some features which help a lot with the Pro), replaced both the VRAM and the semi-conductor thermal pads with Arctic ones, and closed the hole of the lid with … a coaster (because it was JUST the right size). I didn't cover the hole because I thought I was wrong about the air flow. I did it because it muffled the sound of the Nidec fan (ironically, Delta fans make more of their high-pitched noise when covered, while Nidec fans make more noise when exposed) and made the Pro quieter in a way.

Now my Pro is as silent as it was when I first opened it. Hopefully it will stay that way for more than 2 months. My personal guess is that the thermal pads have gone bad when I first opened it, and not replacing them caused them to not work properly from them on, eventually losing their properties and overheating my Pro.

We'll see.
 
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Nice job OP!

I "cured" my Pro by removing the old paste and replacing it with liquid metal. Fortunatly I had no spills of the metal on the circuits and so far my Pro is still working. It reduced the noise by 50% I reckon. I only changed the cpu paste, not the memory pads.
 
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Nickolaidas

Banned
Nice job OP!

I "cured" my Pro by removing the old paste and replacing it with liquid metal. Fortunatly I had no spills of the metal on the circuits and so far my Pro is still working. It reduced the noise by 50% I reckon. I only changed the cpu paste, not the memory pads.
Always awesome to hear a fellow PlayStioneer deal with possibly the biggest issue of the PS4 (Pro).
 

Max_Po

Banned
so taking the top off takes away the noise? I did the termal-paste replacement on my PS4-normal and a few weeks later the noise came back.

I hope you have better luck Op.
 

Nickolaidas

Banned
I solved my issue by putting the console in the other room and running an hdmi through the ceiling.
It's not just a noise issue, it's a console longevity issue. The fan going apeshit isn't normal - it means the console gets a lot hotter than it should, which means its lifespan gets lessened. Taking the console to the other room doesn't solve this problem.

I want my console to be both quiet and healthy. I expect nothing less.
 

isual

Member
Nice. I did a thorough opening, cleaning and replacement of my ps3s thermal paste and it didnt work as effectively as i would want. I still get the beeping red light.

Ps4s are not that difficult to teardown, clean and replace the thermal.
 
Threads like this are more helpful if you bother to explain and point out the steps taken to fix it with pictures. I don't know what the semi-conductors and ram chips look like in the console and i'm sure there are others who have no idea what that is.
Please next time accompany a diagram or any image to show what was changed.

EDIT:
Sorry OP i'm not knocking you or anything. Just stating my opinion. Apologies if may post came across as hostile. It is not my intention.
 
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Done a vid to show you but is sounds noisy here up close and volume up but where I sit 2 meters away I can't hear it.


Do you have a link a video to show how to attach an external fan like a Noctua fan?
I would be interested to mod my console like this if the external fan makes a noticeable difference to dissipating heat and reducing the noise.
 

Nikana

Go Go Neo Rangers!
Threads like this are more helpful if you bother to explain and point out the steps taken to fix it with pictures. I don't know what the semi-conductors and ram chips look like in the console and i'm sure there are others who have no idea what that is.
Please next time accompany a diagram or any image to show what was changed.

If you can't indentify those on your own, with all do respect, you shouldn't be opening a console.
 
If you can't indentify those on your own, with all do respect, you shouldn't be opening a console.
You know in IT there are many things that you learn and you do this by consulting knowledge articles (which shows you exactly what to do) or by asking colleagues.
If one day i decide to be a car mechanic and ask the same question are you going to tell me i have no business opening up a car?
There is always time to learn and in such cases, a step by step guide (accompanied by images) to know what it is you need to do is very helpful.

Its all fine and dandy to post about fixing something but its more beneficial to the gaming community to post illustrations on how you did it. Especially since there are so many PS4 Pro's out there with the same noise issue. We all would like to know what was done in this case.

EDIT:
Also this is the first time i heard about replacing the thermal pads on the semi-conductors. Some youtube videos only refer to replacing thermal pads on the RAM chips.
 
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I done my paste before. OG Pro is shit. Because having it to bits a few times I knew what I had to do based on a similar kind of video. There was no how to. But I understood because I'd had it to bits. I REALLY don't want to take it to bits because the hardest part was closing it. But if you want I will.
 
Nice. I did a thorough opening, cleaning and replacement of my ps3s thermal paste and it didnt work as effectively as i would want. I still get the beeping red light.

Ps4s are not that difficult to teardown, clean and replace the thermal.
Not done any of my PS3's.

But im keen to do my PS4 Pro. Its getting so loud and loud so often that i'm beginning to worry and its during any game really. Even playing Pro Evo 20 my PS4 Pro gets really loud. I don't even dare to launch God Of War. I'm too afraid my console is going to shit the bed. Have had my Pro shutdown games and occasionally Division 2 gets long pauses for like 5 seconds when the fans reach high RPM

So now i'm waiting on the stuff i ordered:
- Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut thermal paste
- Can of compressed air
- (x2) Thermal Grizzly Minus 8 thermal pad packages

When i get all the above i'm going to open it up and replace what needs replacing. Only issue is i'm not sure what the semi-conductors look like so i will have to look that up on youtube or google.
 

Nickolaidas

Banned
Threads like this are more helpful if you bother to explain and point out the steps taken to fix it with pictures. I don't know what the semi-conductors and ram chips look like in the console and i'm sure there are others who have no idea what that is.
Please next time accompany a diagram or any image to show what was changed.

EDIT:
Sorry OP i'm not knocking you or anything. Just stating my opinion. Apologies if may post came across as hostile. It is not my intention.
No harm no foul, my dude.

This thread wasn't meant to be a DIY guide, it's actually a continuation of a previous thread of mine where I voiced my frustration over the ps4's fan noise.

Now, to answer your questions ...

No, I too haven't seen a single person telling me to replace the thermal pads on the semi conductors, but they were dirty and a couple of them were torn. And since I was advised to replace thermal pads after opening the ps4, I changed those as well.

Which are the semi conductors? They're the 0,8x0,8 black chips (6 of them in a straight line, right next to each other). In the pic below, they're surrounded by the blue square line.


WfmwKeO.jpg

Now, the VRAM are easier to located. They're the 8 large chips surrounding the metallic X which is screwed to the motherboard.


GPOcsPm.jpg

Notice that the thermal pads are not stickied to the semiconductors and the VRAM, but they're stickied to the heatsink. Also, the pads meant to be in touch with VRAM are smaller than the vrams themselves.

Personally, when I replaced them, I stickied them on the chips rather than the metal plate in order to be sure that I've placed them in a good position, and not miss half the vram chip. Did the same thing with the semiconductors.

So in short. I took out the pads stickied to the metal plate, gently cleaned the vram chips and the semiconductors with soft cloth (the semiconductors with a batonette), a drop of alcohol, and rubbed off the thin sticky layer on top the vram with my finger (gently). You can check if the filfth has been removed with some light reflecting the chips.

Then I placed thermal pads which I cut and measured myself BEFORE removing each pad's protective membrane on each side and placed them on each chip, slightly squeezing each pad to make sure it would stick to the chip and not fall off if I turned the motherboard upside down.

For a good guide on how to open the ps4, I used this video.



Just an advice: Do not put paste on the heatsink as well as the cpu, just put paste on the cpu. Also, if you're not experienced with thermal paste, I strongly advise to NOT use liquid metal and use arctic silver ceramique instead, which is harmless if it touches the motherboard.

Hope this all helped! Good luck!
 
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No harm no foul, my dude.

This thread wasn't meant to be a DIY guide, it's actually a continuation of a previous thread of mine where I voiced my frustration over the ps4's fan noise.

Now, to answer your questions ...

No, I too haven't seen a single person telling me to replace the thermal pads on the semi conductors, but they were dirty and a couple of them were torn. And since I was advised to replace thermal pads after opening the ps4, I changed those as well.

Which are the semi conductors? They're the 0,8x0,8 black chips (6 of them in a straight line, right next to each other). In the pic below, they're surrounded by the blue square line.


WfmwKeO.jpg

Now, the VRAM are easier to located. They're the 8 large chips surrounding the metallic X which is screwed to the motherboard.


GPOcsPm.jpg

Notice that the thermal pads are not stickied to the semiconductors and the VRAM, but they're stickied to the heatsink. Also, the pads meant to be in touch with VRAM are smaller than the vrams themselves.

Personally, when I replaced them, I stickied them on the chips rather than the metal plate in order to be sure that I've placed them in a good position, and not miss half the vram chip. Did the same thing with the semiconductors.

So in short. I took out the pads stickied to the metal plate, gently cleaned the vram chips and the semiconductors with soft cloth (the semiconductors with a batonette), a drop of alcohol, and rubbed off the thin sticky layer on top the vram with my finger (gently). You can check if the filfth has been removed with some light reflecting the chips.

Then I placed thermal pads which I cut and measured myself BEFORE removing each pad's protective membrane on each side and placed them on each chip, slightly squeezing each pad to make sure it would stick to the chip and not fall off if I turned the motherboard upside down.

For a good guide on how to open the ps4, I used this video.



Just an advice: Do not put paste on the heatsink as well as the cpu, just put paste on the cpu. Also, if you're not experienced with thermal paste, I strongly advise to NOT use liquid metal and use arctic silver ceramique instead, which is harmless if it touches the motherboard.

Hope this all helped! Good luck!

I thank you so much kind sir. I just got home now and my newly delivered thermal paste and compressed air can is waiting for me.
I'm going to wait until amazon delivers my thermal pads and then follow this guide along with consulting other YouTube videos.

Thank you again and I hope a mod can sticky this post. Amazing stuff
 

Nickolaidas

Banned
60% Less noise, It still loud then :p
Jokes aside, I now have to turn down the volume when playing ffxv to make sure the fan is working.

I thank you so much kind sir. I just got home now and my newly delivered thermal paste and compressed air can is waiting for me.
I'm going to wait until amazon delivers my thermal pads and then follow this guide along with consulting other YouTube videos.

Thank you again and I hope a mod can sticky this post. Amazing stuff
Just make sure to have the right screwdrivers too. The video I've linked tells what screwdriver you need in the description (ithe pro uses slightly different screws than the original ps4).
 
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Nickolaidas

Banned
Smiley, something I've neglected to say.

As I said, the thermal pads touching the vram chips were smaller than the vram, leaving a good deal of the chip exposed.

I cut MY thermal pads in the exact dimensions of the vram chips, in order to cover them whole and not leave any part of the chip exposed, like this:


dNFjziy.jpg
 
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xool

Member
Smiley, something I've neglected to say.

As I said, the thermal pads touching the vram chips were smaller than the vram, leaving a good deal of the chip exposed.

I cut MY thermal pads in the exact dimensions of the vram chips, in order to cover them whole and not leave any part of the chip exposed, like this:


dNFjziy.jpg
Neat !

XboxOneX not being shy with the thermal pads either (source) :


uwfOpCe.jpg


If you don't have any just use Blu-Tak (/jk) .. seriously though - appears to be some sort of putty .. can't go wrong with the thickness I guess

Here's a side view (source) :


lPGI7Zt.jpg


Nomnom - probably spearmint ..

[anyone know the brand/type?]
 
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Nickolaidas

Banned
I took the top off a couple of months back and ran the regular rocket engine fuel games. Didn't do shit.
Then, my dude, you either have to dive in and perform some badass surgery, or have someone perform for you.

A PS4 is NOT supposed to run like a jet engine.
 
Every PS4 Pro or PS4 Owner: DO THE CONSOLE DEEP CLEAN.

These are my words to all who are suffering fan noises and excessive heat. DO IT. Open your console, change your thermal paste and apply fresh new (good) thermal pads. Slap it back together and enjoy the near silence.

I did mine over the weekend and my console sounds and runs like its brand new. Red Dead 2, Division 2 and especially (for some weird reason) PES 2020 would kick my fans into beast mode and i would need headphones to drown out the sound and even then i can still hear the fans through my SteelSeries Arctis 7 headset. Now (and this was the holy shit moment) during Red Dead 2 i don't hear the fan. In fact the console doesn't sound like its turned on at all. It was raining during this time and i heard ambient noises in my house and the outside rain more than the console. Division 2: Fans kick in at about 25% of its max speed every 20 or so minutes and for a brief period before it settles back down to what i guess is low low speed that i can't even hear them.
PES 2020 is the same. Fans kick in for a brief moment every 30 minutes or so otherwise my Pro operates silently.
Its honestly like i got a whole different console.

The process:

What did i use:
Thermal Paste: Krynaught Grizzly
Thermal Pads: Kryonaught Minus 8

Throughout the cleaning process i used the compressed air to blow out dust from every nook and cranny that i could aim at. I stopped at chemist earlier in the morning to pick up 100 percent Isopropyl alcohol + small box of Q-tips + packet of Lint-free wipes. Removed the console top and bottom and noticed dust build up on the insides of the bottom and top covers of the console. Cleaned that with a soft cloth then proceeded to unscrew the insides. I applied the thermal pads to all capacitors and memory chips when i opened the console. My heatsink was covered in a block of dust so i brushed that out and used compressed air can to blow the rest out.

*IMPORTANT: When you need to remove the power supply there is a connector that goes to the main board. THIS CONNECTOR IS SO SECURE AND REALLY HARD TO REMOVE SO BE CAREFUL. A google search showed me that alot of people have issues removing this connector. Just remove whichever end you find easiest to remove. I removed the part which was easiest to remove and that part is where its attached to the power supply, not the main board. The main board connector was so secure i couldn't even move it despite tugging on the wires which is not advisable so i left that end of the connector. I found the connector attached to the power supply at least moved a little when i tried to remove it so i just kept wiggling it back and forth until it loosened. From here on out everything else was smooth sailing. Then i got access to the fan I cleaned every individual fan blade with Q-tip and again used the compressed air to to finish off the rest of the dust all around the fan. The fan is so easy to remove. Just 2 screws and the whole housing with fan comes out. Cleaned off the crappy thermal paste and replaced with the Grizzly. Cut the thermal pads to size (cut them slightly larger than the memory chips and capacitors so they overlap slightly) and screwed everything back together.

Now was this change intimidating? Yes but i followed 2 different videos during this process and it took me about 45 minutes. It helps that the youtubers did such an amazing step by step video on how to clean your console insides. Now that i know how to do this i can probably complete everything in 10 minutes.

Only problem is when i put my Pro back together i noticed i have 3 screws that i missed putting back LOL but i kept them in a seperate container and stored them away. This should last me long enough until PS5 drops and then i will look to retire my PS4 Pro but this deep clean should last me another year before dust builds up and pushes up the fan speeds.
 
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TLZ

Banned
Every PS4 Pro or PS4 Owner: DO THE CONSOLE DEEP CLEAN.

These are my words to all who are suffering fan noises and excessive heat. DO IT. Open your console, change your thermal paste and apply fresh new (good) thermal pads. Slap it back together and enjoy the near silence.

I did mine over the weekend and my console sounds and runs like its brand new. Red Dead 2, Division 2 and especially (for some weird reason) PES 2020 would kick my fans into beast mode and i would need headphones to drown out the sound and even then i can still hear the fans through my SteelSeries Arctis 7 headset. Now (and this was the holy shit moment) during Red Dead 2 i don't hear the fan. In fact the console doesn't sound like its turned on at all. It was raining during this time and i heard ambient noises in my house and the outside rain more than the console. Division 2: Fans kick in at about 25% of its max speed every 20 or so minutes and for a brief period before it settles back down to what i guess is low low speed that i can't even hear them.
PES 2020 is the same. Fans kick in for a brief moment every 30 minutes or so otherwise my Pro operates silently.
Its honestly like i got a whole different console.

The process:

What did i use:
Thermal Paste: Krynaught Grizzly
Thermal Pads: Kryonaught Minus 8

Throughout the cleaning process i used the compressed air to blow out dust from every nook and cranny that i could aim at. I stopped at chemist earlier in the morning to pick up 100 percent Isopropyl alcohol + small box of Q-tips + packet of Lint-free wipes. Removed the console top and bottom and noticed dust build up on the insides of the bottom and top covers of the console. Cleaned that with a soft cloth then proceeded to unscrew the insides. I applied the thermal pads to all capacitors and memory chips when i opened the console. My heatsink was covered in a block of dust so i brushed that out and used compressed air can to blow the rest out.

*IMPORTANT: When you need to remove the power supply there is a connector that goes to the main board. THIS CONNECTOR IS SO SECURE AND REALLY HARD TO REMOVE SO BE CAREFUL. A google search showed me that alot of people have issues removing this connector. Just remove whichever end you find easiest to remove. I removed the part which was easiest to remove and that part is where its attached to the power supply, not the main board. The main board connector was so secure i couldn't even move it despite tugging on the wires which is not advisable so i left that end of the connector. I found the connector attached to the power supply at least moved a little when i tried to remove it so i just kept wiggling it back and forth until it loosened. From here on out everything else was smooth sailing. Then i got access to the fan I cleaned every individual fan blade with Q-tip and again used the compressed air to to finish off the rest of the dust all around the fan. The fan is so easy to remove. Just 2 screws and the whole housing with fan comes out. Cleaned off the crappy thermal paste and replaced with the Grizzly. Cut the thermal pads to size (cut them slightly larger than the memory chips and capacitors so they overlap slightly) and screwed everything back together.

Now was this change intimidating? Yes but i followed 2 different videos during this process and it took me about 45 minutes. It helps that the youtubers did such an amazing step by step video on how to clean your console insides. Now that i know how to do this i can probably complete everything in 10 minutes.

Only problem is when i put my Pro back together i noticed i have 3 screws that i missed putting back LOL but i kept them in a seperate container and stored them away. This should last me long enough until PS5 drops and then i will look to retire my PS4 Pro but this deep clean should last me another year before dust builds up and pushes up the fan speeds.
Can you post the 2 videos please?

I wish there was a device that sucked up dust. I'd just place that next to the console to avoid all that dust build up.
 
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Starhowl

Member
I highly recommend not opening your Playstation 4 yourself, as you would loose warranty.

Simply send it in for repairs instead! ;-)
 

nkarafo

Member
Heh, i did similar mods to my old 360 fat console. At some point i had the whole case opened, got rid of the pathetic air circulating system it had and added two big 120cm fans above both the CPU and GPU coolers.

The console was about 50% cooler and it still got an RROD.
 

DeepEnigma

Gold Member
I highly recommend not opening your Playstation 4 yourself, as you would loose warranty.

Simply send it in for repairs instead! ;-)


 
S

SLoWMoTIoN

Unconfirmed Member
You'd figure their pro version of their console would have the basic thermal paste necessary to run properly. The fact you have to do all this is shit ngl. Ps3 flashbacks.
 
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