Hardware Stock thermal paste, is it good enough after 7 years?

[democracy]

Wondering if I should bother replacing the stock thermal paste... I have read recommendations to do it after 6-7 years... But then I also read comments from those who have re-applied thermal paste that temps did not improve at all... In fact, I don't think I've read any comments stating that there was a significant improvement having re-applied new thermal paste...

Then I see there that there are fan mods such as adding an additional fan to the chassis but I would think that mod made more sense before webman fan control was available.

Is the webman fan control the best option to prolonging the life of a PS3 slim and skipping the thermal paste re-application? I see replacement fans are cheeps to come by. Worried about the removal of old thermal paste to, looks like it can be quite rough... Would'nt that clean-up process possibly put stress on the "balls" for the cpu and rsx? Just my gut tells me that this could do more harm than good.

 

[Ryccardo]

Generally speaking, and without knowing what the original was/how well it was applied/in which environment the console was stored and used/what its replacement is going to be/how well will it be applied, I would say go for it (I replaced it on my 10 year old desktop PC, it was rather dried up and in excessive quantity)...

...then again, the Slim isn't infamous for poor soldering or overheating, especially with an aggressive fan setting (like Webman's default); alcohol, qtips, and a flathead screwdriver if really stubborn can remove thermal paste without any significant force...

 

[DinohScene]

I'd say replace it.
Just to be safe.

It can never hurt!

 

[fatsquirrel]

I'd say replace it.
It can never hurt!
It can never hurt!
It can never hurt!

OH OH OH, HOLY YOUR HORSES

Have you never seen what atrocities people do with thermal paste? If you don't do it right it can be even worse than without it.

 

[Wuigi]

I once applied a little too much thermal paste on my super slim and only in Beyond Two Souls it crashed spectaculary with incorrectly drawn stuff etc.
After applying only a very small amount and spreading it evenly it didn't happen anymore so make sure you do that in the first place.

 

[DinohScene]

OH OH OH, HOLY YOUR HORSES

Have you never seen what atrocities people do with thermal paste? If you don't do it right it can be even worse than without it.

Anyone a bit competent could apply thermal paste.
It's not rocket science.

 

[Burnt Lasagna]

...What is your current temps? If they look something like this data, then don't bother changing the paste.

 

[democracy]

...What is your current temps? If they look something like this data, then don't bother changing the paste.

this is great, thanks!

If I set it to manual 45 - 50%, temp stays 60 and below (but boy is it noisy...)

But in my mind makes more sense then to possibly disturb the placement of the cpu and rsx chips.

Are there any 3rd party caaes that expose the innards to the air?

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

 

[Burnt Lasagna]

I wouldn't bother with custom case mods. The PS3 runs hot by design and the Slim models are already reliable as-is.

Setting a custom fan speed is more then enough.

 

[democracy]

I wouldn't bother with custom case mods. The PS3 runs hot by design and the Slim models are already reliable as-is.

Setting a custom fan speed is more then enough.

Thanks m8 and thanks to all who replied!

Sent from my SM-G955F using Tapatalk

 

[Panzer_Baboon]

I have a launch 60GB console that doesn't get very loud with fan speeds, plus it probably has around 250 hours of use and always stored in the box when not in use. I've been contemplating opening mine up, but I'm not sure I'm willing to risk accidentally messing something up in the process. I watched a video on how to do it, but it looks rather tedious with all if those tiny ribbon cables.