PS3 cooling fan.

[spaceship]

I inherited a defective PS3 a while ago which I had repaired (faulty blu-ray drive).

After about 20-30 mins of use the fan ramps up and is so loud I have to turn the sound up. I don't know if it always did this but it's obviously a heat issue as it goes on and off as it cools the system down etc.

I've had a look at some of the external fans but they don't look as if they'd do much.

Anyone had any experience of them or know of one which is effective? Either that or know of a fix for the noise fan/insufficient cooling?

Cheers

[Crafty_]

I think the early machines do have fans that cut in quite often. Mine does, but a friends machine (still a 'fat' model) rarely cuts in - his machine gets really hot.

If the fan is that noisy, maybe its knackered and needs replacing ?

[cw2k]

My PS3 fan has always ramped up to full speed after about 30 minutes. First fat models are said to have the better fans that keep it cooler and quieter. The later fat models have a poorer quality fan that doesn't keep it as cool so it is more likely to go to full speed.

[freecar]

Replace the heat sink compound, if this deteriorates the processor doesn't transmit its heat to the heat sink very well.

[M@verick]

I'm having this problem with an original PS3 (bought on launch day) -my problems are definitely heat related (see other post on cooling) and I'm on a bit of a mission to remedy this. I'll soon be replacing the fan for a 19 blade "talismoon" fan and am going to replace the thermal paste on both CPU and GPU with artic silver MX2 (this is apparently the best stuff for this application) -also try making little feet a couple of inches high and placing the PS3 on the
, the machine draws air from the front and underneath (presumably designed to stand on side primarily) so giving it a little more Airflow underneath seems to delay the time till the fan ramps up. Some people have reported success by placing the PS3 on one of those fan assisted laptop coolers.

If none of the above works for me I'm going to start bdising my PC build parts bin and either build custom air cooling or water cool the thing. Will report back.

R.

[spaceship]

Meant to say, mine is one of the first 'fat' models.

It also lives in the horizontal position. It used to sit vertically and it still did it then.

Thanks for the replies so far.

[spudgun GB]

I have the same issue fella and I swear it was a software update that started it all off. The fan never hardly ever came on then there was a software update and now watching every film sounds like it has a helicopter taking off in the background.
I sympathise and your not on own. I ended up buying a new blu ray player because of it.

[Egg Chaser]

freecar said:

Replace the heat sink compound, if this deteriorates the processor doesn't transmit its heat to the heat sink very well.

This.

My fat PS3, which I recently replaced the laser on, had been having the same problems as yours. After 15 minutes or so it would reach the high fan speed setting. I spent quite a while looking into which fans etc were best, but the general concensus was that extra fans didn't make a difference to a PS3 that reached it's highest fan speed setting easily.

So I researched a bit more, and apparently the thermal paste that Sony use tends to dry up after a couple of years, meaning it doesn't transfer the heat as effectively. As you said OP, it's the original 'fat' PS3, so this is the likely cause. To replace the thermal paste you'll need to completely disassemble your PS3, but it's all just screws and clips, so it's relatively easy if you find a comprehensive guide.

Fortunately mine seems to have stopped overheating now, so I haven't needed to do it (yet).

ETA - Another symptom of dried up thermal paste is cold or warm air being blown out of the vents instead of hot air. If it's blowing cold or warm air out whilst it's on the high fan speed setting, it shows that the heat isn't being transferred from the processor very well.

Edited by Egg Chaser on Saturday 7th April 22:33