Yellow PlayStation Blues

Hey, what’s up.  I am finally taking a break from gaming.  Sadly, not by choice, but by mechanical failure.  I have been with my loving PS3 for only 2 and 1/2 years and it already crapped out on me.  I have the “Yellow Light of Death (YLOD)”. 

I took my beloved PS3 apart and cooked it with a heat gun as was suggested on the forums.  This trick actually worked, but a few weeks later I am back to where I was before. 

I believe I went wrong by having it in a cramped entertainment stand back when I first got it.  One time it got so hot that it melted a candle.  So after that I always tried to keep it out in the open and let it get enough airflow.  But it was either too little too later or it was just a bad egg from the get go. 

The sad thing is, Sony doesn’t have a great warranty plan on this stuff.  It would have cost me $175 to get it fixed.  After that I may still have problems with whatever machine I get back.  So rather than put up with it any further I decided to sell my junk PS3 or Ebay to someone who will want to take the time to hack away at it and I am going to get a PS3 slim.

I figure I’ll be much better off that way.  The slim has a slower processor and consumes less energy, so it will be less likely to burn out.  The slim also turns itself off if you let it get too hot. 

I did some research to see if there is anything else I can do to keep the cool.  They sell a device called the intercooler, which is a system of fans that hooks up to the back of the PS3 and is supposed to help with cooling.  But I kept seeing a lot of negative posts about how this device would actually restrict airflow instead of improve it.  I could find no significant proof either way so it seems better to pass on the intercooler. 

Another question, is it better to put your PS3 in a vertical or horizontal position?  I saw a lot of posts for and against both setups, but no proof either way.  So if anyone has proof of what the coolest position is, let me know.

But my plan is to put the PS3 on top of a rack, in the horizontal position in my entertainment stand.  It will be sitting up about 2.5” to 3” and have about 4” to 5” of headroom, with plenty of open space at the sides and back.  It’s also suggested that you vacuum out your vents frequently, so I will make sure I do this every couple of weeks. 

So anyhow, thanks for reading my post and please share your experiences with your system.