How to replace the thermal compound on your PS3

Very good video's man thing is i dont own the first generation of the PS3 i have the slim version any video's of taking that apart? My PS3 is loud as hell when i play for over an hour think its full of dust or something but i know i will have to replace the compound in my soon. So hook me up with some videos on the slim

Its pretty similar. Flip it over and you will see the big screws, look under the eject and power button and you may see the 3 torx screws, that was about the only difference and there is no inner cover. The layout inside is pretty much the same and straight forward. But I am no expert because like i said I have 3 small black screws left over.

yeah im sure once i take mine apart ill have more than 3 small black screws left lol. But i think this sunday im going to take mine apart an at least clean it. For some reason the playstation is a dust magnet i pull so much dust out of the vents its not even funny. Just have to find my thermal compound that i have

As you disasemble the PS3 take your time, don't force it. Use a good flashlight. I recommend using various cups (the wifes tupperware) to put the screws in as they come out so they don't get lost/mixed up. A jewlers set of screwdrivers and a magnet help. I usually will take periodic pics with my cell phone to reference for the rebuild in case my memory gets fuzzy. If you are just cleaning it remove the circuit board to get to the cooling fan motor and ports. That is the only way to really get it clean. Replace the thermal compound since you are that far into it. Don't crack the circuit board open from the protective casing. That is where people get too rough trying to pry it apart. That is only necessary if you need to reflow solder to correct the YLOD. during the rebuild ensure that the wireless antennae is reconnected firmly to the wireless circuit board. failure to do so and you will notice difficulty/poor signal if they are not reconnected firmly. I will look for a disassembly video for the slim.

I'm resigned to the fact that I will be replacing the old fatty at some point, so when I get the YLOD it won't be a big blow. I've gotten many good years of service out of this one. I think I got it June of '06, which is pretty impressive service time from a piece of tech. Hell, I get a new phone every year.

so i got a question can you use thermal pads instead of thermal compound. its just about the same thing as the compound

Paste is usually more effective at conducting heat than a thermal pad. A thermal pad is generally utilized when the paste wouldn't be thick enough to reach from the heated surface to the heat sink. The advantages of a pad are ease of installation, no guess work on getting an even layer on the cpu. disadvantages are the pads have stiffeners in them to keep their form and this results in the pads having a lower capacity to transfer heat than the grease. You can have difficulty in finding pads at local computer parts/repair stores and pads are fairly new on the market. FWIW AMD processors now come with thermal pads instead of compound.

Well thermal pads are easy to come by for me i work at the geek squad and they got tons of the stuff there. But i think ill go buy a tube of compound just to be on the safe side.

X-DGMr3coilZ-X wrote:

Well thermal pads are easy to come by for me i work at the geek squad and they got tons of the stuff there. But i think ill go buy a tube of compound just to be on the safe side.

If you can't find the paste I'll send you mine. Don;t use the cheap Dynex crap that Best Buy sells.

I wont have any cash till next friday so hold off till then. How much did you want for it?

Got some arctic silver and going to give it a run this weekend.

Good luck. If you have a video camera, set it up on a tripod and film the disassembly. Many of the machines look different on the inside and it will save you from having spare parts upon reassembly. In fact, I took a colored sharpies and colored the screw heads before I took them out to make sure I put them back in the right place. Some of the screws have the same head, but are different lengths so it can be confusing.

I was actualy thinking about doing that. ( colored sharpie )

I just F#cked my PS3 up. Getting to the GPU and CPU is not that hard and putting it back together is not hard. BUT lift the black tab UP if you want to get the F#cking data band out of the mother board connector. BLACK TAB UP! Thanks to my wife I now have a new PS3. Does anyone know how to get a game out of the drive?

That sucks. Did you break the black tab off completely on the data ribbon seat?

I broke the connector off the mother board. About half the curcuits are still attached.

Bummer dude. Those little tabs are super delicate and hard to figure out. I've broken many. What game are you trying to get? You should be able to plug the old HDD into an external case and read it on a PC.

Tring to get Boob Ops out. If I can get the game out I will have a good BR drive if anyone needs one.

usandthem1 wrote:

I broke the connector off the mother board. About half the curcuits are still attached.

Shes done unless you have access to another connector and a really steady hand at fine soldering. Is the data ribbon that broke the one connected to the blue ray drive and that is what is keeping you from ejecting the game?

She is done. Yes, The connector is the one thats attaching the BR drive to the MB. Without power to the BR drive I can't get the disc to eject.

Tear your new PS3 apart and plug the old drive into it......

Here is a link to doing a force eject of a disk. Hope it helps.

Thanks, but I got it. I took the metal case off and took the top of the drive case off. Then I was looking at the top of the disc. Would you help me keep a look out for anyone needing a good BR drive?

SN0WR1DER wrote:

Tear your new PS3 apart and plug the old drive into it......

. I've done enough damage today. LMAO. Now I wait 8 hours to download all the shit I had on my old PS3.

usandthem1 wrote:

SN0WR1DER wrote:

Tear your new PS3 apart and plug the old drive into it......

. I've done enough damage today. LMAO. Now I wait 8 hours to download all the shit I had on my old PS3.

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend tearing into the new one. It has a vaild one year warranty that you would void, and after having to buy a new one I don't think the wife will be happy to see you ripping the new one apart also. Changing the hard drive out is very easy, doesn't void the warranty, and would prevent you from having to redownload everything so that may be feasabile.

replacing the hard drive doesnt void the warranty does it? its a very simple procedure if i remember correctly.