Keeping it cool

[Bullett]

As we all know little fingers and expensive AV kit don't mix. So I have put mine in a cabinet under the tv with doors, solid oak. I got the maker to put in lots of 2" ventilation holes but the kit is still getting pretty hot especially the PS3 (it's fans really crank up and it's a 1st gen 60gb so sensitive to heat).

I think I need to install some silent fans to suck the hot air out the back, I was thinking silent PC fans unless there are AV specific components to use. I also want to switch them on/off via the IR on the remote (Harmony One) probably as part of the activity so the PS3 fan doesn't run if I'm not using the PS3.

[JustinP1]

A couple of things:

You could put something together USB powered from the PS3, that way it would fire up with the PS3 and shut down automatically.

However...

...I have a day 1 PS3 and it croaked this week.

The 'Yellow light of death' is apparently caused by the heating and contraction of inferior quality solder. If you search for 'PS3 YLOD' you'll get about 400,000 result worldwide and even a link to Watchdog who highlighted the design flaw. This happened to me with a PS3 with reasonably light use, and totally exposed to free-flowing air.

Therefore, you may be weeing in the wind anyway because it does seem that the problem is not due to overheating per se but the inherent internal heat then cooling causing fractures.

[Bullett]

Like the USB power idea.

But yeah, I realise I'm on borrowed time with my PS3 I just didn't want to encourage it. Likewise I don't want the amp/humax/media box to have a reduced life either.

[roverspeed]

I am pretty sure that the PC fans run on 12 volt where as direct output from USB's 5v.

You could build a 12v circuit and have a thermostat like below

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=31698

To control the fans.

[Bullett]

roverspeed said:

I am pretty sure that the PC fans run on 12 volt where as direct output from USB's 5v.

You could build a 12v circuit and have a thermostat like below

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=31698

To control the fans.

You are totally correct. USB is 5v and fans run on 12v.
However, they do run and the usb in the ps3 does power it ok and after a quick test the temps seem to stay lower (at least I couldn't hear the ps3 fans ramp up) running the fan at 5v makes it near as silent as damn it.

I need to upgrade my prototype and have an extended test session but initial tests are good.

[saw2]

This has lots of useful info:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/av-stands-cabinets-...

I have gone this route and it definitely helps though my 60Gb PS3 still cranks up from time to time - ordered a slim this week so hopefully that will be better.

[freecar]

The fans will run fine on either 5 or 12v and they are quieter on 5v.

[Bullett]

Well, it managed for a bit then the PS3 ramped up its fans. Better than with no forced airflow but not really usable.

Bigger/fasted fan required and probably a bit of better airflow management.

[JustinP1]

Bullett said:

Well, it managed for a bit then the PS3 ramped up its fans. Better than with no forced airflow but not really usable.

Bigger/fasted fan required and probably a bit of better airflow management.

Actually, from what I can tell you, you could have an office fan pointed at the thing, and it would not stop the fans ramping up.

As an update to the 'Yellow light of death' scenario I mentioned a couple of days ago had where mine died from the heating and cooling of the solder, I took my PS3 apart last night.

That's not for the faint hearted.

I stripped it down totally, down to the motherboard, and with a hairdryer, carefully heated up the cell and GPU in the hope that this would reflow the solder.

What I was shocked by was that there was oodles of hard crusted thermal paste around the chips and the heatsink. Worse than that, the paste that was between the chips and the heatsink was not only gone hard, they had applied far too much, and too much of quite a poor quality white paste.

I cleaned them off and reapplied a proper thin coat of good quality silver based thermal paste, put it back together...

...and hey presto. It sparked up straight away!

Also, I have no doubt that it is not going to have the same heating issues.

I've put a few dozen PCs together, and I know that if the heatsink isn't on the processor correctly and the thermal paste isn't properly applied, it does not matter what airflow you have around, or even into the system, it is not going to get the heat away from the chip, and as such the fans will fire up as a matter of course as a very inefficient effort to try and get more air to the heatsink and the overheated chip.

However of course, if the heatsink isn't properly taking the heat away from the chip, then that still won't work.

I would hasten to add that a 'slimline' PS3 or indeed any model which is not from the first year or so of production won't be like this as the design was different, the chip did not heat up as much, and also better paste and solder was applied. However, in a nutshell, from by experience, I would add that if your PS3 is one of the very original ones, I would guess thermally it will be in the same poor state as mine. Fanning it really won't make any difference whatsoever.

Edited by JustinP1 on Friday 17th December 10:46

[Bullett]

Well it's a backward compatible 60gb from the first year. It's always been very quiet before now, not silent but not distracting. However it was in a totally open AV rack, glass and steel, bottom shelf. I'm loathed to take it to bit until something goes wrong.

Opening the cabinet cooled it down so the airflow is certainly helping, I'm just not sure I'm going to be able to move enough air to keep it quiet without making the cooling fans too noisey.

Ho hum.