Unless a rod bearing is completely ferked, most of the time, when the oil is thick (read cold) it will be quiet. Its only once teh oil thins out that the noise will present itself.
I recently had a 3SGTE at my place with what turned out to be a seized oil relief valve - it managed to basically spin a fresh set of bearings in under 2000kms. No noise until warm, and only audible at between 2-2.5k RPM.