I've got a PlayStation 3 that I use largely as an HTPC / blu-ray player. It's one of the older ones (the 60Gb model) that, from my understanding, is less power-efficient - and therefore presumably hotter - than the newer models.

The problem is that the fans start to spin up, making it relatively loud. Has anyone heard of any good solutions to make it quieter?

I have seen pictures of the PS3's thermal paste, it is a white (presumably silicon based) goop. Looks like if you slapped some high quality paste on there (AS5 or Tuniq TX2, I'm a fan of the latter, it does better than AS5) then it would cool the chips down a couple of degrees. Also there are 2 types of fans, there is a 17 blade and a 15 blade model, I'm not sure if those are the numbers exactly, but you might want to look into opening your PS3 and finding out which one you have and researching getting the other one off of eBay or the like. Also, dust might be causing air flow issues, those are the only 2 things I can come up with.

All good advice so far, thanks! Do you think that it shouldn't be too big of a deal to open up the system and do the mods? I'm not afraid of breaking the warranty (got my PS3 on eBay) as much as breaking the system by accident in the process.

It's tricky, since you have to crack the case.

You want to take the intake and exit slot areas and Dremel them out carefully(finishing with a nail file very carefully is recommended so as to not mar the looks). This will literally double the airflow, which means less noise. Other than that, your options are limited.

The 60GB model is the best, no doubt about it. I refuse to not be able to play my PS1 and PS2 titles.

Can't say, I have never opened a PS3. It looks harder than a 360. But if you follow some online tutorials I don't think it should be too difficult.

The 40/80gb systems made after fall 2008 produce a LOT less heat and noise than the 60s. The difference is like comparing a Pentium 4 3.0+ ghz system to a modest Core2 Duo.

If you're the kind of person to visit this site, you probably won't be happy with a 60gb after you've seen one of the newer ones.

I've had 3 PS3s, an original 60gb, the first 40gb and a Nov 2008 40gb. If I remember correctly, the newer 40s moved the fan directly on top of the GPU. Now they never spin up into leaf blower mode.

PS- All PS3s play PS1 games, it's just that newer ones don't play PS2 games. If you need PS2 games, consider one of those new slim PS2s. Having two Playstations is not ideal but if you're into silent PCs that's just the way it is.

Question - do you know if the August 2007 PS3's have the better cooling design? I see that they're the last PS3's to have 4 USB ports instead of 2, and I think that would be my biggest reason for sticking with the 60Gb version. That said, it's not a complete deal-breaker, and I might try switching to the newest versions, anyway.

No, I think it was with the Fall 2008 models where the significant noise reductions came in. Those were the 2nd generation 40gb. The 1st generation 40gb had much less heat but still made too much noise because the fan was primarily cooling the more efficient chip.

This link has the model details:
http://www.edepot.com/playstation3.html#PS3_Model_Differences

I haven't seen any newer models but am curious to hear how people compared the 65nm/65nm units to earlier ones. If the PS3 slim models are real and will soon be dropping to 45nm or smaller chips, then there may be some further improvements in the near future.

double-edited for mistakes

I think I have one of those (purchased in January 2008). It's an 80gb, 4USB's, card reader slots, and software-only PS2 emulation. It's definitely still a leaf blower. I measured it once with a Kill-A-Watt, and IIRC it idles at around 180W. In a way, this model is kind of the worst of both worlds -- no hardware PS2 emulation, yet still as noisy and hot as the original 60gb.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! Maybe I'll try to trade up my 60Gb one for a newer 40/80Gb... I use my PS3 mainly for home theater purposes, but maybe the cool features of the 60Gb version would be better for the PS gamers, especially those who like their PS2 games.

How do i hook up my PS3 to the internet? I have a wireless internet connection in my komputer, so how do i hook my ps3 up to the internet? Do i have to buy a router or something? And my ps3 is not near the computer so no usb cable
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Not positive but it's something like settings menu > connection > connection mode > wireless > automatic should be fine and it will either connect or give you a list of nearby wireless networks I believe. Very simple setup as I recall.

my advice? sell that thing now! 60 models are dying left and right
(disc failure)

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=150137&page=27

good luck

I highly recommend openening up that case and cleaning it out!

A couple weeks ago I took the time to really get ALL the dusk out of my VGA heatsink, and i lost over 8C from that alone. I was pretty shocked. It didn't even look liek that much dust, but it's amazing how much the dust hinders the heatsink's intended function.