PS3 fan kicks on high: room temperature or incorrectly applied thermal paste?
 

Two weeks ago I decided to open up my PS3 (40 GB CECHG) to replace the thermal paste. As I expected, the old one was hard as concrete. Applied AS5 and reassembled the PS3. But, it didn't really make a difference :( , the PS3 still kicks on vacuum cleaner mode after 10 minutes of gameplay . Now I'm thinking: since I didn't really spread around the paste and only relied on the pressure of the heatsink to do the job, could it be because of that? Or is it the room temp (which is around 29-30 C/ 84 F) unbearable for the system? . I really don't wanna take it apart again.

P. S. : The air coming out is pretty warm which IMO is a good sign that the heatsink and the fan are pulling the heat out of the console. I'm pretty sure it's worse when the fan kicks on high but the air coming out is actually cool.

@itudy The temperature last weekend in my home was about 32c and I was playing final fantasy XIII-2 12 hours non stop and the ps3 was quiet, so I don't think it's the room temperature.

Read this and you should be ok: http://psx-scene.com/forums/f177/ove...l-paste-92793/

ok, before you posted the reply, I've taken apart my PS3 one more time and reaplied the proper amount of paste. A little bit better results but still if it's not below 28 C, the fan will kick on high in 10-15 min. When I saw that I had to take the IHS I was like "nope, no thx" ... so doing that is a big no-no because i usually screw up things. do you have a PS3 slim?

mate I have two consoles here with the same problem, both CECHG03. In the past I've also had the same problem on other CECHG03 models. It would appear that these are the worst to fall victim of the crazy fan.

The thermal paste under the GPU has become dry and needs replacing, the problem is 95% of people will not even try and remove the IHS from the GPU. Me being one of them I have tested it on a bricked board and it was not easy and made a right mess.
I have been told the best way is to heat the IHS to 150oC and then using like a razor working from the CPU side remove each corner where it is glued down.

I hoping a mate of mine will get back in touch with me who is very experienced with the PS3 and all the reballing etc and if so I will do it under his supervision.

Maybe try and find someone who could do it for you, if you are in the USA then racer0018 might be able to help you.


OK just an update, DO NOT use a razor to remove the GPU IHS, use a blunt tool and do it from the CPU side.

@itudy I have a slim.

@DarkMessiah well obviously it runs much cooler. The PS3 Slim takes a maximum of 100 W, compared to my CECHG04 which draws 280 W on max.

BUT, I got great news. I've taken it apart for the 3rd time (you know how they say... the third time is with luck) and reapplied thermal paste. This time , I've spread it uniformely across the CPU / GPU. And now, after ~ 1hr of alternating UC2 and KZ2, I can barely hear it. And also, as you can see on the picture I've attached, there is a chip I've highlighted. That one had a thermal pad which wasn't making proper contact with the chip and the metal case (which houses the motherboard) and I've decided to put AS5 underneath and on top of the thermal pad, so it would stick properly to the chip, and transfer heat.

@itudy I glad everything worked out.