Proper way to apply thermal paste to the 90nm RSX (Reality Synthesizer)?

Very interesting just the kind of info i needed to know. I always worry thinking it's the RSX heating up as that's the most fragile component. I say gears because it's pretty much the same effect as changing gears.

As for PS2 it makes sense now thank you very much

Also you're saying it's related to what you're doing so then why does the fan stay at high speed during XMB. In your theory it seems the PS3 judged what is processing intense and adjusts fan accordingly.

Do you have any info how the PS1 games work on PS3, is it hardware+software emulation or completely software based? Personally i think it would be software.

 

It's directly related to what the PS3 is doing internally, not what you are doing with the PS3. Obviously certain games use the CELL BE more than others. Some other games do use the GPU more for effects, etc etc.

If you let the PS3 run for a while at the XMB you will notice it will slowly and gradually quiet down until the fan is back to normal speeds (well at least if cooling is working properly it should). If you have problems like a clogged heatpipe on the heatsink assembly, heat dissipation will not work properly and you will have the fan being too loud. Remember, the PS3 has thermal sensors inside the chips, not inside the heat sink so it can only react to the temperature on the chips.

Such faults (clogged heatpipe) are something you can only repair through replacing the whole heatsink assembly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_pipe

PS1 emulation runs inside a PS2 emulator (!!!) which emulates a PS2 running a PS1 game in what SONY calls "PS Compatible mode".

 

I've done pretty much all there is to do in terms of maintenance except changing heat sink assembly. How would i know if my heat pipes are clogged? i do think it could be quiter considering the amount of work i've done, but for a launch model it isn't bad.

And that's weird because newer PS3's lack PS2 Compatibility but still support PS1 o.0

 

Well when a heatpipe is clogged, it will perform poorly as it's the flux of the coolant fluid inside of it what make it better than a copper bar of the same shape... (lol)
So if the PS3 is having the fan run too loud it's possible that the heatsink is faulty.


About the emulator, it's not so weird because they don't need to emulate the whole PS2 for that to work. They emulate just the "PS1" part of it. The point of that was likely just reuse the code they had from the PS2 BIOS to make them need to work less on the PS1 emulation. A real PS2 don't emulate a PS1 because it actually IS a upgraded PS1 with a different GPU. So the stuff the EE chip runs while the PS2 is running a PS1 game is a PS1 GPU emulator.

The rest of the PS1 "emulation" which is hardware based, do hide PS2 specific hardware to avoid conflicts.

 

Hmm, so is there any test i can do to be able to see if a heat pipe is clogged? i got another 60gb so can use the heatsink from that, but really don't know if it's any good either.


Been playing a lot of PS2 games today, i think you're right about the FAN as it's on around level 4 now quite loud but it really isn't that hot compared to fan 2-3 on a game. Sat on XMB for about 20 minutes still didn't drop fan speed.

 

On something like a processor on a console, how you apply the thermal compound, or even what type you use (arctic silver is just a brand, no name silver based compounds yield the same thermal conductivity at half the price). Is not going to make any noticeable difference.
The machine is designed for an end user application, thus it has to be able to operate in many different environments, not a lab, so in a real world situation it's more down to the thermal efficiency of the heat sink rather than the thermal paste or how you apply it..

its like isle pod filters on cars, you only see a performance increase because you want it to happen..



It's electronics, just because it's a console, doesn't make it any different/magical, sorry..

 

Also heat pipes are hollow, most aren't even under pressure.
they are hollow, so they don't retain thermal mass, just pass it on to the dissapator (heatsink).
they are a pipe to get more surface area without retaining much heat, if they where solid or filled with something, the heat would move too slow and become ineffective at the task (they wouldn't pull the heat off the source fast enough)

 

Interesting info thanks, is there anyway to test the efficiency of a heat pipe?

 

@LeHaM I was saying that the standard white thermal compound is enough for the PS3 as it has pretty god heat spreaders on the chips. There's no need to use silver based thermal compound as you will not reap any benefit from doing so. There's detrimental effects as if you let it slip under the BGA packages you will have problems as that thermal compound cause parasite capacitances to increase.

@onza120 I don't think there's a test for that as each system use a different thermal desing. Maybe observe how each heatsink assembly behaves with a thernal monitor device ? You know, there's these thermal sensors which measure temperatures at a distance with a infra head detector device...

 

You're likely to leave bubbles with the credit card method. A small blob, or a line (depending on the package under the IHS) is the best method to use and then have the pressure of the heatsink to spread it flat.

Going to use this method when I apply new paste to my SCPH-10000 next week. Has always worked a charm on PC.

 

Don't put paste on the PS2. It DOES NOT NEED ANY. I have a couple of 10ks and they work fine without any. As long you don't damage it's thermal pads you should not even need to tamper with it..

 

Oh, from what I was reading on here I assumed that paste was used by design. If it isn't then I'll not bother dissembling it then. Thanks for the heads up.

 

I totally agree. I applied thermal grease while trying to repair my SCPH-10000. No sense in this.

 

That's what I was trying to say haha

everyone is looking at this wrong, the issue is that sony used a kind of thin PCB. We are only cooling one side of the chip, the problem occurs when the underside of the chip isn't being cooled fast enough(bga area) and because the PCB isn't very thick, it can draw that heat out enough, so it builds up..

the best method would be a LGA conversion, the added socket will add some more mass thus drawing the heat out from the underside of the package..

Also using a card to spread thermal paste is no different to using the heatsink to spread it. This isn't a BLODDY space shuttle, margins are pretty loose, why? This is a consumer product!

As for the heat pipe, the pipe isn't what you should be looking at, it will be the braising (soldered joint) between the copper pipe and heat spreaders. I've seen a few PS3 heatsinks with cracked joints in the pipes..