PS3 Fan Noise, Finally a solution

I’ve had a PS3 for years now, it really has become the media hub of my living room, it does everything most people need from a living room computer, I’ve even tried most of the other options available, from a custom built HTPC, to a Mac Mini using the EyeTV tuner, however the advantage the PS3 has over all other options is it’s stability.

Only very rarely does my PS3 lock up or become unresponsive, possibly once or twice a year, compared to my HTPC that’s brilliant, it’s also simple to use considering what it does, my wife can now navigate the menu system of the PlayTV software without guidance!

To be honest it almost perfect, the only drawback is the noise the PS3 makes after being on for a few hours with PlayTV running, I replaced my original 60GB launch model with a later 80GB model last year in the search for less noise, ironically all I got was a cheaply made stripped down version which was just as noisy!

I finally decided to bite the bullet rip it apart and see if I could ‘tweak’ my PS3, hoping it would still work when I reassembled it and that, hopefully, it might be less noisy.

Now this modification isn’t for the faint hearted, it requires the full disassembly of the PS3, the fan and cooling system are positioned at the very bottom of the case.

After I had opened her up, I noticed how the cooling system had been radically changed compared to my original 60GB model ( which I also had taken apart for ‘research’ purposes ), the heatsink looked like it was very poor quality, the jointing surfaces were far from smooth and compared to some high quality PC heatsinks I’ve used before it all looked very cheap.

After studying the parts of the cooling system and trying to establish the airflow paths around the cooling system, I decided what my PS3 needed was more ventilation, this, in essence meant ’sculpting’ an extra intake on the lower front part of the case, and adding extra vent holes at the hottest part of the case, which is directly below the heatsink.

It’s difficult to describe, so I’ve added a couple of images, ok so I know it doesn’t look very good and the vast majority of PS3 owners would be horrified at what I’ve done, but you will just have to trust me that it has at least worked!

The fan noise is now perfectly acceptable, even on a really warm day, there is still some fan noise, but I estimate that the fan speed is one or two steps lower than before, which means using PlayTV to watch a film, even one with quiet scenes, is now much more enjoyable!