PS3 heat dissipation

  • Thread starter Thread starter thefraggle
  • 15 comments
  • 8,816 views
Messages
776
United Kingdom
Guildford
Messages
GTP_thefraggle
Yesterday My PS3 fat died. I know I know we are all sad for the loss i have suffered. It is being taken away tomorrow and is going to be repaired. My unit has NEVER been consealed inside something. It has Never been enclosed or had its airflow limited. it sits out in the open and has a good 6 inshes of free space around it in the open. When I say 6 inches I mean it sits ontop of another piece of equipment that is not switched on. The closest thing to it is a wall befind the unit which as i say is a good 6 inches. Bare in mind it is the exhaust at the back of the unit.
Anyway my point of this post is this. I am thinking of removing the plastic grills from my unit to allow more airflow in order to try and prolong its life when it returns. I am confident that if i do this then I can allow a good 40% better air flow which should surely help with heat. What do people think?
 
I wouldn't suggest you don't modify the replacement PS3 at all otherwise you'll get no help from Sony if it ever junked itself again. It gets pretty hot underneath the PS3 so you could elevate it about an inch by putting a block at each corner or make a stand from perforated steel which is what I've done.
 
Neal
I would suggest you don't modify the replacement PS3 at all otherwise you'll get no help from Sony if it ever junked itself again. It gets pretty hot underneath the PS3 so you could elevate it about an inch by putting a block at each corner or make a stand from perforated steel which is what I've done.

How about putting it vertical? Would that help it keep a bit cooler? My friend has his PS3 "standing" & his fan never goes into that "high rpm panic cooldown" (that it sounds like).

I don't have space for my PS3 to stand, so it's horizontal. Unfortunately my PS3 is doing the noisy fan sound from time to time (depending on game), I should add that his apartment is always much warmer than my apartment, so I think letting it "stand" ventilates it better. :)
 
Last edited:
sorry to hear that!

there are only two reasonable things you can do with a repaired YLOD PS3, sell it as YLOD PS3 or throw it away. ;)

YLOD will come again, that´s 100% sure. I have just heated my YLOD PS3 up with a hairdryer, then I could copy my savefiles and the PS3 worked a couple of days. when you open up the PS3 and make the whole show with the heatpaste etc., the PS3 will work maybe a couple of weeks or some months, when you are lucky!

so take it as it is: an YLOD PS3 is broken and can not be fixed!👎
 
I've always wondered by they put a giant fan on the bottom where the bottom of the console where it has no vents on the bottom of the case. If one were to cut open the bottom plate and attach an air filter, how much cooler would the ps3 be?

What about sticking an ice pack underneath? :lol:
 
How about putting it vertical? Would that help it keep a bit cooler? My friend has his PS3 "standing" & his fan never goes into that "high rpm panic cooldown" (that it sounds like).

I don't have space for my PS3 to stand, so it's horizontal. Unfortunately my PS3 is doing the noisy fan sound from time to time (depending on game), I should add that his apartment is always much warmer than my apartment, so I think letting it "stand" ventilates it better. :)

Standing it vertically would allow more heat to radiate from the two largest sides (top & bottom) but it then restricts the vents on the side you're standing it on so I'm not sure which is best. I had a 80GB PS3 fat and the fans would go into hairdryer mode after about 15 minutes no matter what I did to it (including pointing a large room fan at it...which itself was noisy!) so I sold it and bought a new PS3 slim which has never had loud fan noise.

I think the best thing to do is follow the instructions in the manual and make sure it is not in an enclosed area at all and keep the vents clear by vacuuming them.


I've always wondered by they put a giant fan on the bottom where the bottom of the console where it has no vents on the bottom of the case. If one were to cut open the bottom plate and attach an air filter, how much cooler would the ps3 be?

What about sticking an ice pack underneath? :lol:

It's about airflow through the machine so cutting a hole in the bottom cover could mean warm air isn't being pulled away from components in part of the PS3.
 
I heard several people ague that putting it vertical lets the heat linger around the bluray drive which ain't good.
 
Neal
...
I think the best thing to do is follow the instructions in the manual and make sure it is not in an enclosed area at all and keep the vents clear by vacuuming them.

Thanks! I've been doing that since I got it :)

AOS-
I heard several people ague that putting it vertical lets the heat linger around the bluray drive which ain't good.

:O I never thought of that!
 
Standing the PS3 vertically is worse for heat dissipation than keeping it horizontal so don't make any changes there.

I wouldn't modify what the repair people give you back because it will likely have a 3 month warranty and you will have no recourse if you have tampered with it. However after that period I would change the thermal paste and that should be enough to keep it running.
 
It isnt being fixed by sony as it is 5 years old. My PS3 can only be ventilated in one other way so I will be doing that upon it's return. When I said cut holes in it I simply mean remove the plastic grid over the air vents so it is an open hole rather than a vent which if you look at the size of the plastic used in the gris would allow about 40-50% better airflow.
 
My PS3 stands on four little legs, about 2cm (made with lego bricks lol) and it helps. Also if you need a console and not a grill try to put a small fan in front of it expecially in summer, because if you move the warm air over and under the console away it wont go in the "high rpm panic cooldown" mode.
 
It isnt being fixed by sony as it is 5 years old. My PS3 can only be ventilated in one other way so I will be doing that upon it's return. When I said cut holes in it I simply mean remove the plastic grid over the air vents so it is an open hole rather than a vent which if you look at the size of the plastic used in the gris would allow about 40-50% better airflow.
It doesnt matter how old your ps3 is Sony will fix it. Just not for free.
 
Mine pretty restricted, but I angled it so the rear and top is clear which works fine. It only ever gets hot when playing DVDs (Presumaby due to upscaling to 1080p since bluray is quiet as a mouse).
 
What about keeping it out of the sun? I have mine at a window and when the sun shines on it it gets considerably warmer. I can't move it cause the HDMI cable is so short.
 
What about keeping it out of the sun? I have mine at a window and when the sun shines on it it gets considerably warmer. I can't move it cause the HDMI cable is so short.

Is that "windows 7 or vista" :nervous: I bought a small cheap 5" fan that I run when I'm using my "FatBoy" standing vertical I have it blowing in where the usb ports are checking with a thermometer it seems to help some,temp at hottest spot hits 120 F.
 
Back