Hardware PS3 CPU GPU thermal paste reapply

[d.d.d.]

Have any of you done it? And if so, how much did your temperatures drop?

(My PS3 slim starts out at about 40c for CPU & GPU and after about 5~10 minutes of gaming it hits 66~71 on either one which is why I'm likely going to reapply the thermal paste. It is regularly dusted, has a dust cover, is properly elevated, and has a fan blowing on it in an air-conditioned room which is why I'm presuming the thermal paste is not working since the temperature jumps so quickly.)
(Hoping this was the right section for this thread...)

 

[d.d.d.]

Well I redid the thermal paste and now without being elevated nor without a fan directly on it, it still hits between 66~71C. So I'm presuming that with elevation & a fan it will be a little lower in temperature.
I really was expecting a bit better temps TBH. ;_;

(Oh and the JP PS3 slim had a really unpleasant surprise - the bluray (data?) connector is completely under the drive and the ribbon is likely inserted to the motherboards' ZIF socket prior to the drive being installed - and then the drive being assembled in a few more pieces. If that wasn't there, it would have been completely simple to open, dis+re-assemble the PS3 slim.)

 

[trumpet-205]

What is your room temperature? Don't just judge your CPU+GPU temperature without knowing the room temperature.

 

[d.d.d.]

(I missed this reply.)
So on a test of room temp (before and after I redid the thermal paste), the AC was set to max cold (16c), and a separate external thermometer shows it was about 19c. This didn't affect the heat levels of the CPU/GPU.
This PS3 has always been hot but I never knew how hot until I put CFW+MM on there.

I'm not sure what else can be done. I'm considering a case mod at this point. Or even water cooling if a case mod doesn't work.

 

[Silterpy]

Have any of you done it? And if so, how much did your temperatures drop?

(My PS3 slim starts out at about 40c for CPU & GPU and after about 5~10 minutes of gaming it hits 66~71 on either one which is why I'm likely going to reapply the thermal paste. It is regularly dusted, has a dust cover, is properly elevated, and has a fan blowing on it in an air-conditioned room which is why I'm presuming the thermal paste is not working since the temperature jumps so quickly.)
(Hoping this was the right section for this thread...)

i have the same problem.
i have a phat 2nd gen(2 usb port, none BC) 80gb ps3 after changing the thermal paste, used arctic cooling mx-2, my cpu goes to 80c and the rsx(gpu) goes to 60c with in 5 minutes.
i found out that the seller sold me fake mx-2, so i got my money back and am now waiting for some arctic silver 5 to arrive in the mail, i asked a friend of mine to send me some from the mainland(i live in the azores)
my room is a couple of degrees hotter(5~10 depending on the weather) then the rest of my house. in the living room (it's 5~10 cooler then the rest of the house) its the same thing

 

[d.d.d.]

Frustrating ain't it?
Well, on the package of MX-4 I got it shows that a GPU for a PC the high-end of the temp spectrum was about 78c and with MX-4 paste it could be 73c. So I presume that the temps of 66~71 aren't so bad after all, it just is a bit unsettling when I see other users' PS3s around 40~50c...

And BTW, Azores? That looks pretty remote, but the pix on Wikipedia look nice.

 

[Foxi4]

66~71C when under stress doesn't sound that bad, actually. There's a few things you can do to improve the situation - make sure that your paste application method is correct (a dab on the center of the chip, then spread it across the chip with a piece of plastic, like a credit card until you have an even surface) and that the fan is working properly. You could also exchange the fan with one with more blades (the standard is a 15-blade, but there are 19-blade ones available), use a faster motor or experiment with copper shims.

 

[d.d.d.]

66~71C when under stress doesn't sound that bad, actually. There's a few things you can do to improve the situation - make sure that your paste application method is correct (a dab on the center of the chip, then spread it across the chip with a piece of plastic, like a credit card until you have an even surface) and that the fan is working properly. You could also exchange the fan with one with more blades (the standard is a 15-blade, but there are 19-blade ones available), use a faster motor or experiment with copper shims.

I did that method for applying the paste and gave a thorough cleaning to the fan and insides of the unit (though there was hardly any dust in it at all - I keep a pretty clean AV room).
I'd heard about 19-blade fans but AFAIK, they're only available for fat PS3s. I'm considering a console mod like this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?annota...&feature=iv&src_vid=Q-5gYbYbvXk&v=cElkfMbBoEw

It may be overkill to do that, but I really want to keep this CFW capable system alive.

 

[trumpet-205]

i have the same problem.
i have a phat 2nd gen(2 usb port, none BC) 80gb ps3 after changing the thermal paste, used arctic cooling mx-2, my cpu goes to 80c and the rsx(gpu) goes to 60c with in 5 minutes.
i found out that the seller sold me fake mx-2, so i got my money back and am now waiting for some arctic silver 5 to arrive in the mail, i asked a friend of mine to send me some from the mainland(i live in the azores)
my room is a couple of degrees hotter(5~10 depending on the weather) then the rest of my house. in the living room (it's 5~10 cooler then the rest of the house) its the same thing

Don't use AS5. AS5 needs 200 hours of curing (running it stressed for 200 hours to reach optimal performance).

Frustrating ain't it?
Well, on the package of MX-4 I got it shows that a GPU for a PC the high-end of the temp spectrum was about 78c and with MX-4 paste it could be 73c. So I presume that the temps of 66~71 aren't so bad after all, it just is a bit unsettling when I see other users' PS3s around 40~50c...

And BTW, Azores? That looks pretty remote, but the pix on Wikipedia look nice.

66-71 is actually normal temperature for PS3 Slim.

 

[tbgtbg]

Yeah, that's about what my slim seems to run at, high 60s low 70sC. Doesn't really change if my room gets cold from the AC or if I point a fan at it (unlike my falcon 360 where these factors can drop the temps 5-10C, but it's already running ~10C cooler than the PS3)

 

[Silterpy]

Don't use AS5. AS5 needs 200 hours of curing (running it stressed for 200 hours to reach optimal performance).

yes i know it takes 200 hours to cure but its AS5 or some cheap Chinese thermal paste that would probably do more harm then good

 

[d.d.d.]

Don't use AS5. AS5 needs 200 hours of curing (running it stressed for 200 hours to reach optimal performance).
66-71 is actually normal temperature for PS3 Slim.

That was the reason I went with MX-4 instead of AS5.

66~71C is normal???????? Shite, that's really hot though. My PC under stress never hits that high (but it has proper ventilation/fans). The super slim I just picked up obviously doesn't run CFW for an internal sensor reading but, with a thermometer at the back, it barely hits 45... not entirely accurate I know but doing the same on the slim would hit about 60+.
So if I'm really dying to make the slim PS3 run cooler, how about removing the case, and placing it in a small PC case with good fans etc??? There's also making a hole and putting a PC fan on it... Any other ideas?

 

[trumpet-205]

66~71C is normal???????? Shite, that's really hot though. My PC under stress never hits that high (but it has proper ventilation/fans). The super slim I just picked up obviously doesn't run CFW for an internal sensor reading but, with a thermometer at the back, it barely hits 45... not entirely accurate I know but doing the same on the slim would hit about 60+.
So if I'm really dying to make the slim PS3 run cooler, how about removing the case, and placing it in a small PC case with good fans etc??? There's also making a hole and putting a PC fan on it... Any other ideas?

Thing is, with PS3 Slim fan spins at low speed most of the time. There isn't much holes for air to move in either, so that's why 66-71 is normal.

You can definitely drill some holes to improve air flow.

 

[Foxi4]

Thing is, with PS3 Slim fan spins at low speed most of the time. There isn't much holes for air to move in either, so that's why 66-71 is normal.

You can definitely drill some holes to improve air flow.

Not only that, it's hard to compare average x86 temperatures to PowerPC temperatures, especially the custom CELL. Even IBM's specifications for the CELL processors show that the high temperature trend is nothing unnatural for this architecture (the documents mention an 85 degrees Celsius operational temperature with a heatsink attached) - it's absolutely normal for it to be hot (which kind of makes it difficult to implement in commercially-available products like the PS3 - the CELL is really more of a laboratory use CPU), so hot in fact that the average x86 CPU would just melt if it operated at such temperatures.

 

[trumpet-205]

Not only that, it's hard to compare average x86 temperatures to PowerPC temperatures, especially the custom CELL. Even IBM's specifications for the CELL processors show that the high temperature trend is nothing unnatural for this architecture (the documents mention an 85 degrees Celsius operational temperature with a heatsink attached) - it's absolutely normal for it to be hot (which kind of makes it difficult to implement in commercially-available products like the PS3 - the CELL is really more of a laboratory use CPU), so hot in fact that the average x86 CPU would just melt if it operated at such temperatures.

Well I'm not too worried about chip itself goes bad. I don't know about FAT or Super Slim but Slim was designed so that air cools CELL/RSX chip first, then goes through PSU to be vented outside. IMO it is a bad design to feed hot air into PSU. If anything Sony should've went with external PSU.

 

[Foxi4]

Well I'm not too worried about chip itself goes bad. I don't know about FAT or Super Slim but Slim was designed so that air cools CELL/RSX chip first, then goes through PSU to be vented outside. IMO it is a bad design to feed hot air into PSU. If anything Sony should've went with external PSU.

I agree, internal PSU's are a thing of the past and keeping it outside both lets you slim down the console and lower the overall case temperature. That being said, making an external PSU for your PlayStation 3 actually isn't all that difficult and does provide additional room inside the case for improved heat distribution... or an extra fan. I've seen fancy mods using PC-grade PSU's being used effectively.

 

[d.d.d.]

Well, since I've redone the thermal paste, I keep an exceptionally clean AV room + PS3, if it gets to my regular temps, then it should be just fine, right??

Even so, I think I'd like to do a H/W mod to try and get it cooler just for peace of mind AKA alleviate paranoia.

 

[d.d.d.]

I agree, internal PSU's are a thing of the past and keeping it outside both lets you slim down the console and lower the overall case temperature. That being said, making an external PSU for your PlayStation 3 actually isn't all that difficult and does provide additional room inside the case for improved heat distribution... or an extra fan. I've seen fancy mods using PC-grade PSU's being used effectively.

Do you have any links for a slim psu mod?

 

[Foxi4]

Here's one with a PC PSU used instead of a PS3 PSU (better stability on the power line and external cooling ), it will also show you which cables to extend in case you want to use the PS3's stock PSU instead and put it in a separate case (It's only four wires as far as I remember).

It's quite a bit of a hassle but I believe it'd do its job fine.

EDIT: Fixed broken link, I must've forgotten to put it there the first time around.

 

[d.d.d.]

Here's one with a PC PSU used instead of a PS3 PSU (better stability on the power line and external cooling ), it will also show you which cables to extend in case you want to use the PS3's stock PSU instead and put it in a separate case (It's only four wires as far as I remember).

It's quite a bit of a hassle but I believe it'd do its job fine.

Thanks (but am I missing the link?).