The PS5 seems to have copied the very bad habit of laptop manufacturers of using different parts in the same product; some PS5 consoles produce little more than a whisper, while others are quite loud.

Apparently this is because Sony uses at least five different fans in various PS5s, and you won't know which one you're getting until you buy the console. This information comes from the French technical publication Les Numériques, and is reported in English by our sister site Tom's Hardware.

A journalist at Les Numériques was puzzled when he noticed that two PS5s (one provided by Sony, the other purchased from a retailer) produced different levels of noise, even though they were running the same game. It turned out that two completely different fans were the culprit.

Nothing more to say. Fans with more blades tend to be quieter than fans with fewer blades. Therefore, while all fans should (theoretically) keep the PS5 running at a safe temperature, some fans operate more quietly than others. Further investigation revealed that Sony may have used at least five different types of fans in various PS5s.

There is absolutely no way of knowing which fan will be installed before the PS5 is put into operation, and unless it is uncomfortably loud, it is unlikely that Sony will replace the unit as long as it is operating normally.

The good news is that there is no indication that fan-related failures are widespread on the PS5. Whether your unit is nearly silent or a bit noisy, your games should run just fine. Of course, it is always better to have a quiet system, and it is frustrating not to know in advance which one you will get.

Incidentally, Tom's Guide has a review unit from Sony that is virtually silent. Specifically, as I write this, I am actually using it across the living room, and I had to get within a foot of the console to be able to hear the sound.

As Tom's Hardware points out, Sony is not special in this regard. Laptop makers have a bad reputation for wildly inconsistent use of parts, even in their high-end machines. Keyboards, touchpads, and even SSDs are sometimes provided by different third-party manufacturers. In other words, some laptops are simply better than others, despite being sold at the exact same price.

It is difficult to say why Sony did this and what they plan to do next. The normal hardware supply chain has been in a bit of disarray since COVID-19 in layman's terms, and it is possible that no single fan manufacturer could accommodate all of Sony's orders. Perhaps in the future all PS5s will be silent. Or perhaps this will be the most efficient manufacturing method for years to come.

In any case, if you were able to get your hands on a PS5, consider yourself lucky now. Just as Microsoft did for the Xbox 360's "Red Ring of Death" or as Nintendo did for the Joy-Con's drift.