The Sony PlayStation 3 was a truly marvelous piece of technology. From the innovations that were brought forth from introducing Blu-Ray as a standard, to the CELL Processor, to the massive catalog of games you could play with the first models having backwards compatibility with PS2 and PS1 Games, it's a machine that even today is still recognized as one of the most powerful consoles of all time. Unfortunately the PS3 (Mainly the early Fat Models) suffers from overheating issues. This guide is going to show you exactly how you can keep your original FAT Model PS3 alive for a very long time. Please note this guide will still work regardless of what model you have however it's primarily aimed at the 60GB Hardware Based BC PS3. Either one of these solutions will aid you in keeping your PS3 System alive for a long time and for the best results I highly recommend doing both. Now, Lets get started.

PART ONE - Hardware Solution

When Sony shipped the original 60GB and 20GB PS3 they used very cheap thermal paste. As a result this has turned many PS3's into a ticking time bomb. If you wish to keep your PS3 operating for the long run, you need to replace the thermal paste inside of the console. For this I recommend picking up Artic Silver 5 Thermal Paste, a microfiber cloth, and cleaning alcohol. Once you have all of the necessary supplies you are ready to begin. Below I have linked videos that show the entire process in detail.

Watch this first - Console Disassembly


Watch this last - Applying New Thermal Paste


PART TWO - Software Solution

The Second thing you will need to do is to adjust the fan speed on your PS3 Console. For some odd reason the stock fan settings on the older PS3's are for lack of a better word complete garbage. The reason most PS3's overheat is a combination between thermal paste drying up and improper cooling causing the RSX and or CELL to literally cook themselves. The first thing you will need to do in order to improve your cooling via fan speed is you need to install custom firmware on your PlayStation 3. I understand this isn't something that everyone will or wants to do and even if all you do is just apply new thermal paste you're still extending the life of your system for quite some time. However if you want to keep your PS3 running well into the distant future and beyond then I highly recommend applying this method in combination with replacing the old thermal paste. Below I have linked two videos. One which shows how easy it is to get custom firmware installed on to your PS3, the second shows you how you can improve the cooling in your PS3 via adjusting the fan speed for optimal performance and cooling.

Watch this first - Installing CFW


Watch this last - Configuring your Fan Settings via Webman


Personally I recommend setting the fan to Auto at 55° C in webman. Make sure that the setting "Enable dynamic fan control" is checked with a green check mark. Once done just save and reboot. If you've done all of that then congratulations you now have a PS3 that will last you for many years to come. Contrary to popular belief you can own an original model PS3 and not have to worry about YLOD. You just need to take proper precautions to ensure overheating doesn't happen. I hope this guide has helped you. May you enjoy your PS3 for many years to come.

Update:
It has come to my attention from multiple members of the community that the "NEC" Capacitors are also very much to blame for YLOD issues. If you're a complete beginner I DO NOT recommend attempting this part yourself as it is requires some intermediate to advanced level of technical skill. If you're interested in learning more, I have a link below for an excellent tutorial that was written on the matter.

https://www.psx-place.com/threads/tutorial-nec-tokin-capacitors-replacement-ylod-fix.25260/

Props to the following peeps,
@zfreeman
@Dark Ronin
@CORE

 

[YOUCANTSTOPME]

There's also the fan mod with a potentiometer so you can increase the fan speed via hardware so it always spins faster. This is what I've done before. Lots of guides on how to do this.

My biggest piece of advice to people with these older fat PS3s is at minimum, replace that dried out paste BEFORE it gets YLOD - not after. And remember, less is more with thermal paste.

Edit: The PS3 came out in 2006 - so your paste could be up to 14 years old!

 

[wiired24]

There's also the fan mod with a potentiometer so you can increase the fan speed via hardware so it always spins faster. This is what I've done before. Lots of guides on how to do this.

My biggest piece of advice to people with these older fat PS3s is at minimum, replace that dried out paste BEFORE it gets YLOD - not after. And remember, less is more with thermal paste.

The pea method works wonders when applying thermal paste. And yeah hardware based fan mod is great. Otherwise, software is good as an alternative

 

[zfreeman]

NEC/TOKIN Capacitors Replacement

 

[YOUCANTSTOPME]

NEC/TOKIN Capacitors Replacement

Very interesting. If this is often the true reason for YLOD then this would imply that simply changing the thermal paste isn't the magic YLOD preventer everyone thinks it is. Obviously still good preventative maintenance of course.

 

[Dark Ronin]

This is USELESS. No amount of fresh thermal paste on IHS will prevent YLOD, cause you have to remove heatspreaders from both RSX and Cell and change paste between crystal and IHS. That's a way too dangerous even for skilled technicians. That'll do the job for a certain time. Next, NEC replacement for a solid group of 470mF capacitors, four at row for a single NEC. Third and most usefull, reballing both chips (most preferrably RSX) with Sn/Pb solderballs and good flux.
CECHG's and younger definitely won't worth reballing, but for CECHA/CECHB - you have to put yourself into it, cause this two totally worth to be saved as they're best in terms of components, fully BC with high quality audio codec.

 

[wiired24]

This is USELESS. No amount of fresh thermal paste on IHS will prevent YLOD, cause you have to remove heatspreaders from both RSX and Cell and change paste between crystal and IHS. That's a way too dangerous even for skilled technicians. That'll do the job for a certain time. Next, NEC replacement for a solid group of 470mF capacitors, four at row for a single NEC. Third and most usefull, reballing both chips (most preferrably RSX) with Sn/Pb solderballs and good flux.
CECHG's and younger definitely won't worth reballing, but for CECHA/CECHB - you have to put yourself into it, cause this two totally worth to be saved as they're best in terms of components, fully BC with high quality audio codec.

I respectfully disagree that it's useless. While there may be some benefit in replacing the NEC, it's well known at this point that changing the thermal with new paste, and proper cooling can and will keep a PS3 alive for quite some time. And even if this wasn't the "best" solution in terms of 100% fail proof longevity it's still alot better than doing nothing at all. As I've literally done this exact method to multiple systems and noticed significant improvements in temps on both and not one has gotten YLOD.

 

[Dark Ronin]

That's just like doing 20% of things that needs to be done. I say that again - no amount of fresh liquid paste ABOVE IHS will make your rock solid dry paste UNDER IHS conduct more heat at any rate. You have to remove them and change the damn paste there!
It is safe to assume that you've deal with little to none fat PS3's. Cause otherwise you would have know that setting tempc at 56C in webMan will make your PS3 sound as it's about to become a rocket engine - loud as hell.
If you really want to prevent YLOD, you MUST remove both heatplates and change paste under them.

 

[wiired24]

That's just like doing 20% of things that needs to be done. I say that again - no amount of fresh liquid paste ABOVE IHS will make your rock solid dry paste UNDER IHS conduct more heat at any rate. You have to remove them and change the damn paste there!
It is safe to assume that you've deal with little to none fat PS3's. Cause otherwise you would have know that setting tempc at 56C in webMan will make your PS3 sound as it's about to become a rocket engine - loud as hell.
If you really want to prevent YLOD, you MUST remove both heatplates and change paste under them.

Look I think it's cuter than Baby Yoda that you're essentially trying to hijack my thread but you're not doing anyone favors, And yes I've owned several FAT Model PS3's not like it really matters to you anyways. And yeah like duh?. It doesn't take a genius to figure that out. But you know what. A loud system is better than a dead system. Also, enabling dynamic fan control like I explicitly said to do in my guide will keep the PS3 from constantly running at max speed so your noise argument is more or less bullshit. Yeah it gets loud but it doesn't always stay that way 100% of the time. Unless you set your fan to manual which I never said to do in the first place.

 

[CORE]

The Heat Spreaders are Glued underneath CPU in particular and Glue is an Insulator so it traps the Heat I have experience in this matter myself including adding additional Fans and System Fan 100% sounds like a Jet and Temps where still climbing PS2 Backwards Compatible Model 60GB.

Still a Good Tutorial though but IHS is the main culpret it not as simple as 360 RROD there runs great risk in damaging CPU/GPU Removing or rather Delidding but it is absolutely Necessary once the Paste underneath drys up your going to need a Delid.

Newer Models im unsure about but @Dark Ronin is Correct I have done over 72 and 11 I F***ed up removing IHS but Consoles where useless anyway unless successfully Delid and cleaned including breaking Seal of Glue. Heat Gun or Hair Dryer with Oil Spatula or similar and patience is key AND ABSOLUTE CAUTION when doing the procedure.




x4 Fans powered via USB blows air in vent front.

System Fan 100%

Nyko InterCooler x4 Fans exhaust rear.
Nyko InterCooler Fan exhaust top.

Arctic Cooler MX4 Fresh paste.
HDD made external less heat.
PSU Mod external less heat.

After all that still too damn hot unfortunately My PS3 was first failure and the rest did not belong to me I still want a PHAT and will need to Delid all over again atleast this time I know but still risky.

Temps CPU 80 Degrees and climbing
GPU between 50-65 Degrees.

 

[dekuleon]

NEC/Tokin capacitors are the real culprit.

Reballing/Heating the CPU/GPU would actually give some life for the old capacitors because they'd be heated together.

 

[zfreeman]

If I'm replacing the IHS of the CPU, do I remove the silicone for more heat dissipation, or keep it intact?

 

[Dark Ronin]

No one is hijacking your thread, lol. It just makes no sense as your tutorial usefullness is little to none. Yeah, it's good for newbs and those who believes in "quirky-mirky-thermal-paste!" spell and wish to open their consoles and make things right with their own hands, but it won't give you even 30% assurance of YLOD preventing as it just don't fix the root of problems, Stop play dumb there, no one like to play beside howling Boeing. If this measures fixed some of your consoles, it's absolutely argueable that they will fix others.
Look, I've dealt with more than 500 ps3 already, including all sorts and revisions of fats, slims and superslims, so I just damn certain of things I'm talking here, Stop behave yourself as if I try to steal some credit from you, your TUT is good for some things like disassebling, modifying FW and changing thermal paste, but nothing above that! It won't prevent YLOD!

 

[Dark Ronin]

If I'm replacing the IHS of the CPU, do I remove the silicone for more heat dissipation, or keep it intact?

Silicon won't hold that much amount of heat to be considered as a threat, so leave it be. Moreover, it helps to stabilize IHS above crystal.

 

[Wuigi]

@zfreeman If you want to remove the IHS of the CPU I recommend the spatula on the left of this set:
https://www.amazon.com/-/de/dp/B0746JMH4J/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&keywords=printer+spatula&qid=1577887285&sr=8-1
It is perfectly thin, and at the same time has no sharp edges so you won't scratch the part beneath the IHS if you are catious.
The NSC guy spent probably hours to get his tool ready, I tried it myself and it always broke because the material is not suited for it.
The razor blade worked well for the GPU though.

 

[wiired24]

No one is hijacking your thread, lol. It just makes no sense as your tutorial usefullness is little to none. Yeah, it's good for newbs and those who believes in "quirky-mirky-thermal-paste!" spell and wish to open their consoles and make things right with their own hands, but it won't give you even 30% assurance of YLOD preventing as it just don't fix the root of problems, Stop play dumb there, no one like to play beside howling Boeing. If this measures fixed some of your consoles, it's absolutely argueable that they will fix others.
Look, I've dealt with more than 500 ps3 already, including all sorts and revisions of fats, slims and superslims, so I just damn certain of things I'm talking here, Stop behave yourself as if I try to steal some credit from you, your TUT is good for some things like disassebling, modifying FW and changing thermal paste, but nothing above that! It won't prevent YLOD!

The thing is, out of the FAT PS3's that I myself have personally owned, the methods I've described to this point have always worked well for me. However with that being said, I do appreciate you and others taking the time to add your own insight and experiences into the thread. I will be updating the original post soon to also reflect some of the other suggestions that have been made by members of the community. We all love the PS3 and just want to help others in keeping theirs alive for the long run.

 

[Dark Ronin]

And pardon my tone. I totally understand your intention in helping the community. I didn't mean to sound rude or impolite, so if I somehow assaulted you - sorry for that. You're right, I'll be glad to help you filling this tutorial with some usefull tips.

 

[wiired24]

And pardon my tone. I totally understand your intention in helping the community. I didn't mean to sound rude or impolite, so if I somehow assaulted you - sorry for that. You're right, I'll be glad to help you filling this tutorial with some usefull tips.

You're fine man. I think we all are just super passionate when it comes to tech we care about. Its my hope that they in the future this thread will legitimately help others save their consoles before it's too late. Because for many of us the 60GB PS3 wasn't just the best PS3 model. It was arguably one of the best consoles of all time.

 

[MercilessDeth]

I have a launch 60 GB that gave me the YLOD about 6 or 7 years ago. I got it running long enough to get the data I wanted over to a superslim.

Might have to look into these more detailed repairs at some point, I'd like to get it up and running again as it truly is the king of the PS3 product line. From a casual glance the repairs seem involved, but I have the proper equipment and it doesn't look outside of my wheelhouse (I do a fair bit of component level repair as a side gig).

I'd probably grab another unit or two to practice on first though as mine is in impeccable cosmetic condition... I'd hate to hit a snag on it for sure

 

[depaul]

Thank you very much for this guide.

My PS3 slim is almost 10 years old. never gave me any problem, only I've replaced my HDD once.

Question : Is there a proven method to reduce fan noise? Will cleaning the fan reduce the noise? Otherwise ; is there some fan model that are quieter than original fan?

Thanks.