caseyse
Head-Fier
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2012
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Quote:
[size=10pt]The first thing everyone should do when purchasing a new or used vintage PS3 for ripping SACDs is to replace the thermal paste on the RSX (Graphics Processing Unit) and CELL (Central Processing Unit) chips. Arctic Silver is great and will last several years. The paste used by Sony was good for about 2 years before it dried out causing the chips to overheat. The paste dries out largely from age not use. Once the PS3 begins to overheat, the hundreds of tiny balls of solder used to attach the RSX and CELL chips to the circuit board begin to crack and/or grow “tin whiskers” causing the PS3 to fail. [/size]
[size=10pt]While you are in the PS3 replacing the thermal paste, I would recommend also replacing the 15-blade fan with a 19-blade fan you can purchase on eBay (e.g., Whisper Fan). That would be plenty to keep your PS3 alive for ripping SACDs for many years. I purchased a couple brand new vintage PS3 machines only for ripping SACDs, and when I pulled the heat sink off the chips (RSX and CELL), the paste was completely dried on both machines, rendering the heat sinks worthless. Had I used them as-is, they would have overheated and eventually died.[/size]
[size=10pt]If you are also a hard core gamer and plan to tax the RSX and CELL chips for hours under heavy load, or if you're just a geek that likes to modify things, you can optimize the cooling further by replacing the thermal heat pads on some of the other chips and drilling holes in the bottom of the case to allow another avenue for cold air to enter the case. Also, some of the oldest PS3 units came with a very inefficient (67%) power supply (ZSSR5391A) that adds heat to the case. For about $20, a higher efficiency (83%) power supply (APS-226) can be purchased on eBay that will reduce the temperature of the PS3. I also added a cheap 60GB Samsung SSD to further reduce heat (it doesn't speed up booting). [/size]
[size=10pt]I've ripped over 150 SACDs on my vintage PS3 and it should be good for many years to come (other than having to replace a burned out blu ray diode some day in the future.)[/size]
[size=10pt]The first thing everyone should do when purchasing a new or used vintage PS3 for ripping SACDs is to replace the thermal paste on the RSX (Graphics Processing Unit) and CELL (Central Processing Unit) chips. Arctic Silver is great and will last several years. The paste used by Sony was good for about 2 years before it dried out causing the chips to overheat. The paste dries out largely from age not use. Once the PS3 begins to overheat, the hundreds of tiny balls of solder used to attach the RSX and CELL chips to the circuit board begin to crack and/or grow “tin whiskers” causing the PS3 to fail. [/size]
[size=10pt]While you are in the PS3 replacing the thermal paste, I would recommend also replacing the 15-blade fan with a 19-blade fan you can purchase on eBay (e.g., Whisper Fan). That would be plenty to keep your PS3 alive for ripping SACDs for many years. I purchased a couple brand new vintage PS3 machines only for ripping SACDs, and when I pulled the heat sink off the chips (RSX and CELL), the paste was completely dried on both machines, rendering the heat sinks worthless. Had I used them as-is, they would have overheated and eventually died.[/size]
[size=10pt]If you are also a hard core gamer and plan to tax the RSX and CELL chips for hours under heavy load, or if you're just a geek that likes to modify things, you can optimize the cooling further by replacing the thermal heat pads on some of the other chips and drilling holes in the bottom of the case to allow another avenue for cold air to enter the case. Also, some of the oldest PS3 units came with a very inefficient (67%) power supply (ZSSR5391A) that adds heat to the case. For about $20, a higher efficiency (83%) power supply (APS-226) can be purchased on eBay that will reduce the temperature of the PS3. I also added a cheap 60GB Samsung SSD to further reduce heat (it doesn't speed up booting). [/size]
[size=10pt]I've ripped over 150 SACDs on my vintage PS3 and it should be good for many years to come (other than having to replace a burned out blu ray diode some day in the future.)[/size]
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