Hardware Is my PS3 too hot?

[Psionic Roshambo]

I keep my PS3 (launch model) well ventilated and the temp in the room is usually about 74F or 23.3C for you Celsius peoples.

The thing still gets blazing hot (due to the 90nm process on which the Cell was made at the time.) newer models should run much cooler since they are now at about 45nm requiring much less power to run the same circuits at the same frequencies.

I suspect that if I was not insanely paranoid about it (taking breaks, keeping my house cool, well ventilated.) the thing would YLOD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_(microprocessor)

 

[the_randomizer]

I keep my PS3 (launch model) well ventilated and the temp in the room is usually about 74F or 23.3C for you Celsius peoples.

The thing still gets blazing hot (due to the 90nm process on which the Cell was made at the time.) newer models should run much cooler since they are now at about 45nm requiring much less power to run the same circuits at the same frequencies.

I suspect that if I was not insanely paranoid about it (taking breaks, keeping my house cool, well ventilated.) the thing would YLOD.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_(microprocessor)

Same here, I keep it well-ventilated and free of anything that might inhibit the airflow, so I've got that covered, never had a single YLOD, system lockup or what have you. I wonder how the PS4 will be with heating/thermal dissipation.

Spoiler

I personally like using Celsius better

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

Same here, I keep it well-ventilated and free of anything that might inhibit the airflow, so I've got that covered, never had a single YLOD, system lockup or what have you. I wonder how the PS4 will be with heating/thermal dissipation.

Spoiler

I personally like using Celsius better

PS4's CPU could almost be passively cooled, 1.8Ghz CPU's are not that hot (before some one says "but it has 8 cores!!!" remember phones are now packing 4 cores and are pretty close to the same speed (many phone CPU's clock in at over a 1Ghz) and those devices have almost no cooling.

There are two parts where I would worry about heat issues on the PS4.

The RAM being 8GB's of GDDR5 could be a problem but that depends on what speed they are running it at. Slow and cool or fast and hot?

The GPU is not breaking any speed records either at 853Mhz they are keeping the clocks well in check (the GPU is capable of over 1Ghz with proper/expensive cooling.) but it will still get pretty warm.

All in all the PS4 should be way more reliable than the PS3 was at launch (I consider this a great thing.) the HDMI issue is kind of disturbing to me since I have seen other devices in the past with HDMI issues and it took a long time to get those fixed.... (when I worked for the cable company I was often sent to houses with troubled equipment... I think the company wanted to see if I would actually rip my own hair out.)



TLDR: I think heat will not be much of an issue for the PS4.

 

[trumpet-205]

PS4's CPU could almost be passively cooled, 1.8Ghz CPU's are not that hot (before some one says "but it has 8 cores!!!" remember phones are now packing 4 cores and are pretty close to the same speed (many phone CPU's clock in at over a 1Ghz) and those devices have almost no cooling.

You CANNOT use clock speed to gauge heat output or performance. Phones may be packed with 4 cores, but has significantly less transistor counts than the one used in console or laptop PC. More transistor means more potential of heat output.

The RAM being 8GB's of GDDR5 could be a problem but that depends on what speed they are running it at. Slow and cool or fast and hot?

That won't be a problem. It'll be cooled with thermal pad, like modern GPU.

tl

Did you replace the PSU inside PS3? Launch model of PS3 uses an very inefficient PSU. Inefficient means dumping more heat inside PS3.

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

You CANNOT use clock speed to gauge heat output.

Sure you can, not by itself of course but it IS part of the formula like it or not.

Overlockers run the exact same parts at much higher clocks by cooling them better.

Just as a fantastic example.

To put it another way, with out knowing a CPU's speed you would not be able to calculate it's thermal output at all.

Wattage plays an important factor but this is decided by your manufacturing node (nm size) and length of the circuit (Ohm's law for resistance.) more transistors equals longer paths of course but the CPU in the PS4 is the same CPU that runs netbooks (also passively cooled devices ironically.)

Perhaps I should have used Netbooks as an example VS phones but I was trying to make the PS4 look better... Netbooks tend to run the same CPU at higher frequencies...

Here for a good example of how cool the PS4 will run.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113280

This is a almost the same core that is in the PS4, half the cores at way more than 2X the speed. (we can get into switching resistance VS workload spread across cores VS die area if you like...) The CPU is rated at 100 watts, this means that if you can keep the CPU at 100% load for a few minutes the CPU will put out 100 watts of heat and your cooling will need to be able to dissipate that heat.

Please note that the 100 watt's includes the GPU as well so you will need to be playing a game on this core to hit that 100 watts, a game that uses 4 threads and the GPU maxed out.

Put another way the PS4 is running more cores but much slower with a higher die area (easier to cool a larger surface area.)

Sony picked the parts correctly, sorry if you felt that the PS4 should have been some sort of computing monster and got disappointed in the process. Instead of building a 599 US dollar monster machine that lost hundreds of dollars per machine sold they built a nice game system that will very likely turn a profit in the first year.

 

[trumpet-205]

tl

Facepalm.

Your rebuttal has nothing to do with your previous statement. You can use clock speed to gauge performance and heat output only when everything else is equal. AMD Jaguar core used in PS4 does not equal to 4 core SoC used in smartphone nor AMD Piledriver core used in APU. You cannot compare apple and orange.

You trying to say that PS4 can be passively cooled because smartphone did it, that's absolutely not true. Nor is it true that APU has anything in common with AMD Jaguar core used in PS4. AMD Jaguar is an embedded design that targeted toward sub-30 W market. Not 65+ W used in laptop and desktop.

 

[Psionic Roshambo]

Facepalm.

Your rebuttal has nothing to do with your previous statement. You can use clock speed to gauge performance and heat output only when everything else is equal. AMD Jaguar core used in PS4 does not equal to 4 core SoC used in smartphone nor AMD Piledriver core used in APU. You cannot compare apple and orange.

You trying to say that PS4 can be passively cooled because smartphone did it, that's absolutely not true. Nor is it true that APU has anything in common with AMD Jaguar core used in PS4. AMD Jaguar is an embedded design that targeted toward sub-30 W market. Not 65+ W used in laptop and desktop.

Well take from it what you will... There is only one fan in the PS4's case and it is cooling both the GPU an CPU... Not sure how much more simple it can be put than that.

Pics here.

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/PlayStation+4+Teardown/19493

I would post more but I don't want to overload you... and have you TL again.

 

[tbgtbg]

Cell: 64°C
RSX: 68°C

Those are right about where my slim seems to usually be. I was worried at first because those are higher than I usually get on my 360, but apparently the PS3 just runs hotter. Never crashes on me or anything, only real issue is after using it then turning it off you get an occasional popping/cracking sound as it cools back down.

 

[JFTS]

I have a similar problem. My fat PS3 is too hot and way too noisy. Especially in the summer, I can't play a game like Metal Gear Rising even for 5 minutes. I decided to get it serviced and I was wondering, if the technician opens the thermal paste, CPU or whatever needs checking, does that affect the HDD? Can someone point me to a guide on how to make a complete backup?

 

[Foxi4]

I have a similar problem. My fat PS3 is too hot and way too noisy. Especially in the summer, I can't play a game like Metal Gear Rising even for 5 minutes. I decided to get it serviced and I was wondering, if the technician opens the thermal paste, CPU or whatever needs checking, does that affect the HDD? Can someone point me to a guide on how to make a complete backup?

There's no need for backing up the HDD, the process does not affect data integrity.

As far as the fix is concerned, I recommend switching from the standard 15-blade fan to a 19-blade fan to improve the airflow (they're licensed by Sony and were introduced in later models) and spreading fresh thermal paste over the chips - that should sort out both problems in one go.

As for backing up content, you can do it one of two ways - you can use the built-in backup manager or you can simply create a copy image of the drive, there's a number of applications that can do that.

 

[JFTS]

Thanks for the answer. My only concern with backup is, will the built-in backup manager create an exact copy of my CFW PS3 or will it backup only the "official" folders created by the system?

 

[codezer0]

In my gaming room it is pretty cold, I guess 15 degrees Celsius. I played Dead Space for 2 hours and these are the values I got for the RSX and Cell:

Cell: 64°C
RSX: 68°C

I'm sure the values would increase beyond 70°C in the summer, perhaps reaching 80°C. Are these expected values?

'T3h C3ll' and RSX were made to tolerate higher than usual temperatures. Not R9 290X level hot temperatures, but yea.

All things considered, that's not too bad. Only way you're really going to drop the temps substantially in a PS3 is to liquid cool it. I would entertain doing that now... except that it seems like the routes to do it have since been discontinued. I know Koolance stopped selling their ready made kit ages ago. Even so, I would be genuinely interested in learning of a way to do it.

 

[Wisenheimer]

Those are completely normal operating temperatures for the CPU, that's why they're in the specs sheets. Silicone varies in temperature resistance, the CELL is very resistant to high temperature since it's hot by design.

The CPU/GPU temp is not the problem on the PS3. What is a common problem, not just with the PS3 GPU but also with the GPU's in many laptops, is that it is BGA soldered onto the boards can become brittle with high GPU temperature, resulting from thermal expansion and contraction and eventually cracking, possibly even developing new cold joints if the GPU gets hot enough.

The newer PS3's use more thermally efficient designs, so they should not get quite as hot, but it can still be an issue. The best thing to do is try your best to keep the GPU cool, which means in part that you might want to avoid use in any environment higher than room temperature, keep the inside dust free, give lots of space between the vents and do not place in a contained environment like a shelf, et cetera.

Also, on the old PS3's, I suggest replacing the thermal compound. I am not sure if the new ones are any better. The old PS3's were ticking time-bombs, although not operating them above room temperature, not shutting them off after gaming until they had a chance to cool down, replacing the thermal paste, and keeping good ventilation are likely help prevent YLOD.

 

[Foxi4]

*Snip!*

As the man says - very sound advice. Keep the system clean and properly maintained, give it plenty of room for ventillation, use quality paste if the old one needs changing and if all that doesn't help, swap the standard fan for the 19-blade one that was introduced later - that should keep the evil YLOD monster away.

 

[trumpet-205]

Problem with PS3 is lack of ventilation. Excluding Super Slim, you can drill a hole above blower fan, which should make it 5-10C cooler.

Very early PS3 FAT also uses very inefficient PSU, which dumps a lot of heat inside. Swapping it with a cooler one will lower overall temps.

 

[Wisenheimer]

Problem with PS3 is lack of ventilation. Excluding Super Slim, you can drill a hole above blower fan, which should make it 5-10C cooler.

Very early PS3 FAT also uses very inefficient PSU, which dumps a lot of heat inside. Swapping it with a cooler one will lower overall temps.

I wanted to play a few PS3 games, so I bought one off ebay for $12 and fixed it with a rework heatgun, which was pretty simple.

So I decided I could maybe make a little profit doing it. Let me tell you, I'm not sure it was a good idea. Those old PS3's had terrible design and manufacturing flaws, and when they break, people who often have no idea what they are doing open them up and try to fix them (or remove the disks that inevitably get stuck in the drive). The last one I got was after a week of having to walk the buyer through the process of actually being able to accept a paypal payment, and it arrived in two pieces with the card cable ripped off, the bluray drive tampered with, and the power button snapped off. Even after reflowing the GPU, it is pretty worthless because the bluray drive is not receiving power through the 5V cable. The bluray drives themselves are absolute garbage, little wonder they switched to a new type in the superslim.

 

[Coto]

the fan speed runs extremely slow while ps3 gets hotter and hotter by default (thanks sony). I added a cheap fan mod so the internal fan speed can be adjusted directly.

this allowed me to play ps2 classics for three days without turning off the ps3.

temps: CPU at 46º and RSX 55º, ps3 slim 2001, the one with the PSU problem. (psu dies because poorly designed airvents)

edit: i've read somewhere that RSX is always 5º higher than CPU by default, possibly because of design.

 

[epicboy]

the fan speed runs extremely slow while ps3 gets hotter and hotter by default (thanks sony). I added a cheap fan mod so the internal fan speed can be adjusted directly.

this allowed me to play ps2 classics for three days without turning off the ps3.

temps: CPU at 46º and RSX 55º, ps3 slim 2001, the one with the PSU problem. (psu dies because poorly designed airvents)

edit: i've read somewhere that RSX is always 5º higher than CPU by default, possibly because of design.

Sorry for reviving such an old thread but I'm worried about my ps3. Fat cechL. Cpu was always ~10° hotter. And recently I put new thermal paste but it's still running pretty hot. Fan is at 55% and watched an episode of a tv show and the cpu was 70° when I was done. With RSX being around the 50s. Should I be worried?