I bought 3 PS3s for $50... how bad could it be?

While MattKC videos aren't the only topic of discussion here, they are probably the primary way people found out about this place, so here's a forum for discussing them.
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MattKC
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I bought 3 PS3s for $50... how bad could it be?

Post by MattKC »

So I figured I may as well kick off a thread about this video by writing some trivia. Actually, a good friend of mine used to write trivia in his YouTube descriptions under the header Metadata, which I thought was kind of cool. Since we're all tech nerds here, I think I'm going to steal his idea.

Here's some metadata:
  • Like a lot of my hardware projects, I've actually had these PS3s for quite some time. Like a lot of hardware projects of mine, they sat around while other projects took priority. I checked my message history and apparently I bought them in August 2021, well over a year ago. But ironically, as you can see from the dates of some of the PS3 footage, much of the work I did in this video was from August 2022, coincidentally on the anniversary of picking them up.
  • Still, this was far from the longest time between buying and repairing. I think the longest time was the Gamecube I bought in November 2019, but didn't make a video about until November 2021. Wait, how the hell did I accidentally repair something on the anniversary I received it twice??
  • What piqued my interest in getting these, apart from the seemingly good deal, was the fact that I'd never actually owned an original phat PS3 before - I'd only ever owned a slim that my dad purchased new back in 2011. It always felt like a bit of a shame, because I think the phat actually looks way better. I think Chad Warden said it best: that nice, nice slick black, that [odd whistle sound], that shit is nice.
  • Also that slim PS3 was one of the few consoles in my collection that I didn't take with me when I moved countries. Firstly, because it was really my dad's more than mine, and secondly, because it was locked to 240V, so I wouldn't have even been able to use it without a step-up transformer or power supply transplant.
  • Ironically the main reason I fixed these PS3s now rather than later was actually so I could do something almost completely unrelated. I have a spare slim PS3 that I was planning on selling because I don't need it, but I figured I should bundle a controller with it too to make the sale more worthwhile. The only snag: I didn't actually have any spare working PS3 controllers. When I played PS3, I was just using the PS4 controller as I show in this video.

    I had bought a bulk lot of "untested" controllers to pair with these PS3s shortly after buying them, which had similarly been sitting around for about a year. I could use one of those, but I'd have to go through and repair/restore them, which I was planning to do on video. And since the video of doing that wouldn't really make sense unless you had the context of me having these PS3s, I figured I had to get this out of the way first.

    ...Yes, that's really how your thought process works when you're a tech YouTuber. I wonder how much longer they would have sat around had I not wanted to sell that other PS3 right now lol
  • There's a lot of time compression in this video. As I alluded to earlier, this video spans almost 4 whole months (while also working on other projects at the same time). This is why it can be really hard keeping a consistent schedule with videos like mine, a project might take 2 days or it might take 6 months, and often there's no way of knowing until you're already hip-deep into it.
It's getting very late here and I'm falling asleep. If I can think of any more tomorrow, I'll definitely add them.
TinglesMagicWords
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Re: I bought 3 PS3s for $50... how bad could it be?

Post by TinglesMagicWords »

Every video is a crazy journey, with its ups and downs. But in the end it always makes people happy, and you should be proud of that!
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andreizabest
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Re: I bought 3 PS3s for $50... how bad could it be?

Post by andreizabest »

Fun fact. The NEC Tokin isn't actually that common of a fault in the PS3. People often missatribute, without any kind of diagnostics from the SYSCON that the caps are at fault and need replacing, and after they replace it their console will work, but only temporarily. After which the console will break again. Apparently 88% of NEC Tokin replaced consoles reported on forums found themselves broken not too long after. Faults are actually usually because of the 90nm RSX in the PS3 which is because NVIDIA used a high lead bumps to make contact between the die and the interposer of the RSX and used an underfill with 70C TG while the PS3 was designed to run at around 74-85C under load and as a result the underfill after going over it's designed TG temperature would soften and allow the solder bumps to crack causing a similar issue to the one found in the original Xbox 360. This is why with broken or even working backwards compatible PS3 will often replace the 90nm RSX with the newer 40nm RSX found in the PS3 slim since supply of the 90nm RSX is running dry and they are likely to break again.

Obviously it is worth mentioning that in the video it was reasonable to make the assumption that the caps were at fault in the bug infested PS3 using the diagnostic information so the console is going to be fine in this case.

There's this video that goes in greater depth and explain this better than I do which could be an interesting watch.
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Re: I bought 3 PS3s for $50... how bad could it be?

Post by andreizabest »

MattKC wrote: Sat Dec 17, 2022 9:51 am
  • Also that slim PS3 was one of the few consoles in my collection that I didn't take with me when I moved countries. Firstly, because it was really my dad's more than mine, and secondly, because it was locked to 240V, so I wouldn't have even been able to use it without a step-up transformer or power supply transplant.
Even though the PS3 power supplies are usually marked only for a certain voltage they are universal. Or at least wikipedia and other people on the internet claim so. Here's a quote from wikipedia.
Universal power supply

The power supply can operate on both 60 Hz and 50 Hz power grids. It uses a standard IEC 60320 C14 (IEC 60320 C8 for the PS3 slim) connector and a C13 (C7 for the PS3 slim) power cord appropriate for the region it is being used in. The power supply on the "fat" model is 380 W. This was reduced to 250 W in the 120 GB "Slim" model. PS3 Slim models have labels indicating localized input requirements for power (120 V 60 Hz for North American and Japanese models and 220-240 V 50 Hz for European and Australian models), however teardowns have revealed the Slim power supplies are still universal.[37]
Also additionally you do technically have 240V power in the US, no step up transformer required. There's this video from technology connections. I've timestamped it to the point where it explains how 240V works in the US.
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Re: I bought 3 PS3s for $50... how bad could it be?

Post by MattKC »

andreizabest wrote: Sat Dec 17, 2022 10:52 am Fun fact. The NEC Tokin isn't actually that common of a fault in the PS3. People often missatribute, without any kind of diagnostics from the SYSCON that the caps are at fault and need replacing
Interesting, I can see why people would do that given how so many peoples' response to anyone having a problem is just "replace the caps bro!" I was actually the complete opposite, I assumed it couldn't be the NEC/TOKINs because the cockroaches seemed like such a more imminent threat. It was only when I got the SYSCON errors that I started to entertain the idea.
andreizabest wrote: Sat Dec 17, 2022 10:52 am This is why with broken or even working backwards compatible PS3 will often replace the 90nm RSX with the newer 40nm RSX found in the PS3 slim since supply of the 90nm RSX is running dry and they are likely to break again.
That's interesting, I didn't know that was actually possible. And yeah that is something I've thought about, as much as I prefer the design of the phat, the improved thermals/power consumption of the slims is a massive benefit (same with the 360).

I've seen quite a few people mention that YLOD video, I don't know why it's never come up on my radar before but I'll definitely give it a watch.
andreizabest wrote: Sat Dec 17, 2022 10:52 am PS3 Slim models have labels indicating localized input requirements for power [...], however teardowns have revealed the Slim power supplies are still universal.
Lol what the hell? Why would they go to the expense of making it universal and mislabel it as region locked? That's so bizarre, but good to know at least. Still, the PS3 slim I have here is better than the one I had in Australia because it's an early model that can take CFW EZ I was stuck on HFW on my old one.
andreizabest wrote: Sat Dec 17, 2022 10:52 am Also additionally you do technically have 240V power in the US, no step up transformer required.
Oh yeah, I am aware US houses do actually receive 240V and you can have sockets installed for it for stuff like EV charging and heating, though I live in a rental apartment so I'm not sure if I can take advantage of that?
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andreizabest
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Re: I bought 3 PS3s for $50... how bad could it be?

Post by andreizabest »

MattKC wrote: Sat Dec 17, 2022 6:45 pm Oh yeah, I am aware US houses do actually receive 240V and you can have sockets installed for it for stuff like EV charging and heating, though I live in a rental apartment so I'm not sure if I can take advantage of that?
According to that video US apartments receive 3 phase power rather than 2 phase power and each individual apartment has access to 2 of those 3 phases meaning that you only have 120 degrees between each phase netting you about 208-210V potential across them which I'm not sure how useful it is. Assumming you have access to your breaker panel you could technically install it or have someone install it, although it may not make sense to do it in the first place, especially if you rarely need it and don't own the apartment.
MattKC wrote: Sat Dec 17, 2022 6:45 pm I've seen quite a few people mention that YLOD video, I don't know why it's never come up on my radar before but I'll definitely give it a watch.
That's just YouTube being YouTube, I've only seen it myself a day or 2 ago and looking at comments, a lot of them are from the last 2. So it's probably got a bump in the algorithm as of recently.
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Re: I bought 3 PS3s for $50... how bad could it be?

Post by SONIC122 »

at one point he soaks the logic board in water,you can do that? D:
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Re: I bought 3 PS3s for $50... how bad could it be?

Post by MattKC »

Contrary to popular belief, water doesn't "just kill" electronics. What happens is the salts and minerals present in ordinary tap water can conduct electricity and cause a short circuit, sending that electricity where it's not supposed to go and damaging a component on the board. But obviously this is only possible if electricity is present. If it's off, and there are no batteries, and you're reasonably sure the capacitors have been drained, there's no inherent danger to running a board under water, as long as it's completely dry by the time you turn it back on.

There is another potential way for water to damage electronics, which is those same impurities reacting with the metals on the board and causing corrosion, but this requires the board to stay wet for an extended period of time. If you dry it thoroughly immediately, the risk is very minimal, and there are things you could use (e.g. distilled water, detergent with anti-corrosion agents, etc.) to mitigate this further.
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