Ps3/4 dilemma

[Alsatian1]

Hi people, hoping for a bit of advice please...

Had my fat ps3 40gb from launch and it has the yellow light of death and gives up the ghost on me constantly. I'm fairly sure there is no point in getting it repaired as repairs for this are usually temporary from what I have read.

So my quandry is... Do I buy a new ps3 to continue playing my games, get a used one and hope it's been well looked after, or just get a ps4 seem as how the ps3 will start to lose support and game development anyway now?

And before anyone says 'get an xbox' I'm really not interested. I don't mean to offend it's just that I've never wanted one and still don't especially as the new one is ultra expensive, and has loads of features I don't want or need. The ps4 does as well to be fair but seems the least faffy of the two.

Any advice?

 

[lou5590]

from what i can gather, the slims and super slim ps3 are less likey to yyod. that being said, you can repair your ps3 for pennies really (no im not talking about the towel method) iv just bought a phat ps3 for 10quid with the yyod, in total which includes the ps3 its cost me 28.90 to fix im sure youv looked into how to repair it.

as for getting a ps4 or ps3, id bite the bullet and get a ps4, as you said, support will be getting phased out for the ps3 in the near future so why not go next gen ..

btw before anyone says, iv always been an xbox guy but even i can see what a machine the ps4 is

 

[Alsatian1]

Thanks for your response. Out of interest what method was used to fix yours? I've read that even sent off to be professionally repaired it is only temporary as it's something to do with crappy soldering? You probably know more than me on this. I wasn't planning on getting a ps4 so early on, but ps3 has decided to break since gta5 (for some reason) and has put me in this indecisive position. If it was straight backwards compatible there would be no question I would get one.

If you think my fat ps3 can be saved though I would really appreciate your input on how to do this.

 

[lou5590]

Reflow the solder, there's a guide on ifixit. Basically you take apart your ps3, clean all the dust off specially from the fan and air ducting, then u have to remove the metal heatsink, clean off the thermal paste remove thermal pads heat the entire board till its warm to touch, then identify the two big chipsets(big silver ones in the middle of the board) and 7smaller black chips (right by the large chips) then put it on a flat surface so it doesn't move and in a circular/zig zag movement heat up the chips for about 20minutes or so never staying in one place. This reflows the solder cause the main cause is cracked solder due to age/heat, so the solder basically covers the cracks. Then u need to leave it till its stone cold. Don't move the board at all then reapply thermal pads and thermal paste and reassemble in my opinion its worth trying for 20quid especially if you don't have the money for a ps4 right now

 

[Jazzist]

Just bought a PS4 myself with Killzone, first console I've bought since the Wii, graphics are a bit better Haven't played a game in years but since I have such a good home cinema it seemed a bit wrong not to make use of it fully and see what a proper console can do.

As for your problem it depends on whether or not you want or can afford a PS4. If you're happy with the PS3 for now why not have a go at fixing it? If you want a PS4 then you could put the PS3 repair money towards it

One problem if you have a PS3 is that there is no backwards compatibility which would have been really enticing to existing owners I think.

 

[Alsatian1]

Reflow the solder, there's a guide on ifixit. Basically you take apart your ps3, clean all the dust off specially from the fan and air ducting, then u have to remove the metal heatsink, clean off the thermal paste remove thermal pads heat the entire board till its warm to touch, then identify the two big chipsets(big silver ones in the middle of the board) and 7smaller black chips (right by the large chips) then put it on a flat surface so it doesn't move and in a circular/zig zag movement heat up the chips for about 20minutes or so never staying in one place. This reflows the solder cause the main cause is cracked solder due to age/heat, so the solder basically covers the cracks. Then u need to leave it till its stone cold. Don't move the board at all then reapply thermal pads and thermal paste and reassemble in my opinion its worth trying for 20quid especially if you don't have the money for a ps4 right now

Thank you, I'll look the guide and give it a go. If I balls it up its no big deal as it's virtually unusable anyway right now. I shall report back on how it goes

Just bought a PS4 myself with Killzone, first console I've bought since the Wii, graphics are a bit better Haven't played a game in years but since I have such a good home cinema it seemed a bit wrong not to make use of it fully and see what a proper console can do.

As for your problem it depends on whether or not you want or can afford a PS4. If you're happy with the PS3 for now why not have a go at fixing it? If you want a PS4 then you could put the PS3 repair money towards it

One problem if you have a PS3 is that there is no backwards compatibility which would have been really enticing to existing owners I think.

The backwards compatible thing would have sold the ps4 to me straight away, but I'm sure Sony and Microsoft have their reasons for not doing it. As I've said above, I will attempt to fix it, see what happens and go from there.

 

[lou5590]

Thank you, I'll look the guide and give it a go. If I balls it up its no big deal as it's virtually unusable anyway right now. I shall report back on how it goes

you will need to buy thermal pads, i found some on ebay that you have to cut yourself, they where only 2.50 something...so i bought two, tbh good thermal paste will be the most expensive but you can pick it up for a tenner just make sure u clean the old thermal paste off the chips and the heatsink and clean up all the dust if need be, look at where to drill your case for added cooling

oh and the backwards compatibility thing... my skeptical reasons is so sony can introduce a 'slim' version with backwards compatibility, probs market it with some 'the error xyz wont happenever again' so people trade in there old machines and fork ut an extra 100 quid or so for the new one