Does anyone here have this "issue"? I mean something like this: http://samjlevy.com/?p=450 It seems like it's commom to all PS3 Slims out there, a cracking noise of the plastic casing because of thermal expansion / contraction generated by the heat, during playtime or after it's turned off. Anyway, some people suggests to use those notebook base coolers underneath the PS3 to get rid of it and to help improve cooling? What do you guys think of that? I've read on one message board saying that it shouldn't be doing those popping / cracking sounds, because plastics are not supposed to do that. What i did on mine, since i bought it, was making 4 little "feets" of felt so it gets 3cm higher of the rack surface to improve air circulation underneath. Some people use legos, bottle caps,... Anyway, even with that it does one or two of these noises during playtime.
The new firmware update allows it to make popcorn...that's the noise you heard lol In all seriousness, even my fat ps3 made the occasional popping noise so I wouldn't be too worried about it unless you start hearing it every 5 minutes. Ryan
That's just the included wood-burning stove. They decided to downgrade from electricity to power the grill in order to "save money".
A notebook cooler isn't really gonna improve the cooling at all, especially when the PS3 doesn't even have a fan on the underside.
Notebook cooler would help cool the plastic. On the bottom. Whether that's a warm area or not, I don't know. It'll do something.
I've never had that problem. Then again I live in Canada and the PS3 slim is in the basement where it's like 17 degrees.
I'd like to assume those popping sounds are the result of thermal expansion of the plastic but I don't like my electronics popping at all.
I've raised my slim off the surface too, helps cool the bottom down a bit more. It does get quite hot, but I've never noticed any cracking/etc. After how many hours of gaming would you say it happens? Do you have your PS3 in a pretty cool (or very cold) place that would make even the slightest heat cause expansion?
Was at a friends and noticed the cracking/popping sound as he was showing me some stuff on the PS3, he said it had been happening off and on for awhile and that he tried his best to keep it cool but nothing helped. Never heard of this problem before then, but I must say it doesn't sound good for the lifespan of a slim at all.
It seems like a common situation to all PS3 Slims out there. Just google it and you'll see. It happens usually after 1 hour or 2, but it's not all the time. It really sounds like plastic, a bit like the noises that happened eventually on CRT Tv's and monitors. I'm not really worried about it, i'm just curious if your PS3 slims do the same thing. I've read that it might be the screws being to tightly fixed and with the heat they extend a bit, plus the type of plastic that contracts with the heat. Using a notebook cooler, in my opinion, would only cool the plastic underneath so i don't think it's worth the trouble. Plus it could increase the dust inside. The extra feets i made really help the air circulation underneath and with the PS3 not being directly on the rack surface, the heat doesn't get accumulated on it. Anyway, it's really warm here in Rio this month and i'm playing only with the air conditioner turned on.
My PS3 slim does that too, not very often though. Maybe once every other time I use it. I have to qualify that by saying that I don't use my PS3 as a gaming system very much anymore - I mainly use it to play DVDs/Blu-rays and to watch Netflix. Actually, I wasn't sure if it was my PS3 that was doing it or something else in my room (the ceiling in my room sometimes makes a similar noise) until I saw this thread. It occurred to me that I've heard that noise when I've taken it to other places, so it must be the PS3. Anyway, I've had my PS3 for over a year now and it still works fine, so I'm not really worried about it. It was making a loud whirring sound (probably the disc) for a while, but it seems to have stopped that.
Another thing is I got the vertical stand off ebay for $1 so that kinda helps keep it cool as well. The heat doesn't just sit there like it would horizontal.
I think i proved last night that it's just plastic thermal expansion. Like i said previously, it's really warm here in Rio this month. Last night i played GT5 for about 2 hours without the air conditioner on. And what happened? Just one light popping noise after 15 minutes the console was on (didn't even had started playing GT5 at that time) and after that, nothing. If the problem was heat accumulation, it would surely do more noises. My guess is that it depends on the ambient temperature, so with the heat inside the console, the plastic ends up reacting to the different temperatures (inside and outside). Plus i've read on various sites (like this one HERE ) that the PS3 Slim cooling is amazingly well done, with a big fan (comparable to the top of the line PCs) and great heat dissipators. After 2 hours, the fan was very quiet, working at the commom speed and the air expelled at the back was just as normally warm as when i had the air conditioner on.
I actually bought a wall mount for my PS3 after my blu-ray drive died in my slim. I didn't have it ventilated that well because I had the PS3 where my kids couldn't reach it. Now I have it mounted on the wall behind my TV and my PS3 Slim stays much cooler. The thing that I have noticed my PS3 Slim starts to do, and it only does this once, but within the first 5 minutes of booting my PS3 Slim, the screen will blank out for 2 ~ 3 seconds and then it will come back. I don't know what is causing that but I'm waiting for the day that it just doesn't come back at all OH: at least I still have about 2 years of warranty on the unit . . . -Disjaukifa
