So...

Just to note :

My PS4 is one I bought of eBay (so not really too sure how old it actually is, but the box is the driveclub box) so no warranty I guess, which is why I don't feel too bad about what I just did.

Just to double note...just cos this went well-ish for me, don't do it if it's not your thing (I like tinkering with stuff)

When I was playing more demanding games on it (specifically, Infamous first light, ground zeros, Witcher), after about 5-10 mins of playing, the fan would kick in, pretty much full speed. It was honestly like playing with a hair-dryer on full blast in the room. I have the PS4 set up on the top of a table, with loads of space/airflow around it, so I was pretty sure it shouldn't be "that" bad.

So after a bit of reading, I decided to crack it open and have a look inside. Cleaned out some of the dust (there wasn't that much) and see if that solved anything. It didn't really.

So then, after some more reading, I decided to re-do the thermal paste on the chip/heatsink.

Following the guide at ifixit I took it apart, and the thermal paste was applied really really badly. It seemed like there was a LOT of it, and there was more around the chip than on it. It was also really un-even.

I cleaned it up, applied some new, put it all back together, and it still works. yay.

Have only played a little bit since I did it, but so far, so good. The fan is still kicking it, but not as full on as it did. So now when it's really giving it some, it sounds like that hairdryer is on about half speed.

Certainly not as quiet as some people's PS4s seem to be, but a lot better than it was.

It's disturbing to hear that the thermal paste was not applied properly, given that launch PS3s eventually started suffering from the Yellow Light of Death due to the past drying up. It would be frustrating to see Sony repeat the same mistake. Re-applying the thermal paste was only a temporary fix in PS3s. They all eventually died for good. My PS4 sometimes gets pretty loud. I just hope it doesn't buy the farm any time soon.

Quick update.

It's been a few days, and it's still alive (so thankfully I didn't kill it) and still running a whole heap quieter tan it used to.

Just played an hour or so of The Witcher, and didn't want to throw it out of the room.

Just a side note , the paste wasn't as bad as some I have heard about (or as bad as the PS3 stuff). It hadn't dried out too much or anything, it just seemed like a pretty terrible application.

Mine has been dead quiet (launch console) except on very rare occasions. Guess I got lucky.

It amazes me how trouble people have with consoles. I've never had a console die on me (yet) and these reports of loud ps4 fans have me baffled. I have launch ps4 and have rarely heard the ps4 get loud even on witcher 3. Does having an ssd make a difference for heat?

You don't hear about the 99% of people who are happily playing their consoles without a single hitch or hiccup along the way. Saying that your product works as intended doesn't exactly make for stimulating discussion, after all.

Sounds pretty cool you were able to fix this on your own with positive results. I have to wonder since you purchased this 2nd hand does that mean the system didn't come with any sort of warranty? Could you purchase one of those online warranties I see advertised on psn to get it covered just in case it breaks down? By opening up your system to apply the thermal paste was there any void tape or sticker that had to be broken for you to open up your system?

Thanks for the tip duder, I'll keep that in mind if mine goes crazy. It's a shame quality control isn't better on those things.

I'm a sucker for extended warranties for gen1 product lines. So far they've come in handy. Hopefully the Xbone and PS4 won't needed them, but funny things happen around kids and the occasional well meaning adult.

Mine is 3x louder than my PS3 any game I play sounds like a rocket is taking off. When I first got it it was completely quite and has got progressively louder. I clean it regularly with a vacuum and it's in an open space. Oh well at least I'm wearing a headset so I cant really hear it.

Mine seems to start loud and then get quieter so that makes me think my unit goes hell for leather during the boot up and then reassess its shit.

@i_stay_puft: Yeah, there are a couple of warranty/void stickers over a couple of the screws on the back. Although, I have seen, it's not too hard to buy new ones of those online......

Part of me thinks, I should maybe re-sell this one, and try my luck with a new one. See if I can get a mythical "silent" ps4.

Shopto have them at £280 at the mo, and ps4s are still going for 250 ish on eBay.

But the risk is, I just end up getting another loud one.

My "fix" hasn't made it super silent, but it is a ton better than it was.

Also, I think maybe I was a bit hung ho with assuming there was no warranty, I think I am/was still covered on the original 12 month Sony thing. (But them again, I'm not sure how likely they are to say a loud ps4 is a REAL issue that's covered)?

I was not trying to humble brag. I was just comparing my experience. I even asked if my putting an SSD in made a difference. Sorry if I offended you.

Thats probably why it was sold on Ebay lol. It's more than likely a launch console as they are way more likely to have manufacture issues than newer ones.

I bought mine day one and the console still runs great, the controller is another story. Right stick broke playing warframe (holding it down to run) and my new one's touch pad is starting to click (Set it to map in the witcher 3 on PC) but it's not a real problem yet.

It's slightly worrying that consoles from launch are starting to play up already. I got my day one, but haven't really used it all that much because of being busy. It's pretty quiet, but randomly kicks into gear. It once happened on the main menu.

As with any complex machine, there are always some duds. When you are talking about a few million manufactured machines the amount of duds, for even a really nicely designed machine, can be rather large.

Its nice to know that a loud fan that isn't caused by dust can likely be attributed to what that fan is trying to cool, rather obvious , but still helpful. Its nice that PS4 is a bit easy to take apart then PS3. I had to take my PS2 part ALL THE TIME, to clean it. My PS3 was rock solid and I never had to open it once, I will hand it to Sony the early models cost $600 but there were built solid.

I have bought my Playstations very early on, and one thing I notice is how "unadorned" PS4 is in comparison.

PSX = Parallel Out, Serial out, Composite (YRW), RFU dc out, and A/V Multi port

PS2= Drive Bay Port, AV/Multi Out, Optical Port; (front) 2x UBS, 1x Firewire, 2x controller ports, 2x memory card ports

PS3 60GB = Ethernet, A/Multi Out, HDMI, Optical Port; (front) 4x USB ports, SD/MultiMedia Card, CompactFlash Type I/Type II, Microdrive, Memory Stick/PRO/Duo

The PSX might sound lightly adorned on that list, but that was a lot of ports for the time, and unless you had a Game Shark or were daisly chining two PSXs together with that "combat cable" the ports were useless. Sony always put a bit too much on the first model that they woudl later take off, expect PS4. I think PS4 has come out rather vanilla, but likely will stay pretty much the same even when slimmed down. I think the original 60 GB PS3 was ridiculous, because who need three different types of SD card readers and four USB ports?