Both the Xbox Series S/X and PlayStation 5 are nearing the first two weeks of availability. While the vast majority of consoles from both manufacturers have been trouble-free, Microsoft has had a few problems and it now looks like Sony is having a couple as well.
On the Microsoft side, aside from fake vape smoke, the biggest issue is the ‘clicking’ DVD drive. This occurs when you place a disc into the drive and it sounds like it is rattling inside the drive as it spins.
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On the Sony side, the issues appear to be a bit more extensive with the first item that popped up being the PS5 queue bug that was stopping games from being downloaded. There is now a fix available for this bug thankfully but it did make for a few frustrating days for early adopters that were forced to hard-reset their consoles.
There have also been isolated reports of the disc-drive clicking in a similar fashion to the Xbox console but the bigger issues looks to be tied to the GPU.
@AskPlayStation
Big issues with Witcher 3 on PS5 – Reinstall didn’t fix it and other cable/tv didn’t fix it either. Also having graphical problems with FIFA21 and the console is much louder than on review videos. Could this be a hardware (GPU) problem? pic.twitter.com/rMvEs3qOwZ— Fiona Lhx (@FionaLhx) November 22, 2020
A sizeable number of users on Twitter and Reddit are reporting GPU-artifacts plaguing their consoles. While this does not appear to be a widespread issue (yet) it does look like there are more than just a handful of consoles being impacted.
The exact cause of the issue is not fully known, other than it appears that the GPU is defective but is it from a bad yield of the chip, overheating, or damaged during shipment? That we do not know yet. For those that are seeing this issue, the good news is that most of those who reported the problems were able to get a new console from Sony relatively quickly.
Every time there is a new hardware launch, there will always be an isolated number of devices that are defective. While the early teething issues are starting to show up, the bigger question is if the GPU issue for Sony is only a few units or indication or a larger problem.