We bought an XBox 360 Elite for the kids joint Christmas present two years ago and it is constantly in use.

Last year we bought Modern Warfare 2 and I was looking at the statistics for that game and personally I have played in total SIX DAYS! (I must get out more! lol)

For value for money and longevity not to add the variety in gaming (Bioshock 2 probably my favourite game when not killing the children in split screen MW2!) it takes some beating.

I am tempted by the PS3 for it’s ability to 3D but first I should buy a 3D TV but as I haven’t even seen a 3D film I don’t think that it will be soon.

The original PS3 models consumed about 200W, and thus generated a lot of heat that was the issue of YLOD (and RROD on the 360).

The slimline PS3’s consume about 80-100W depending on the model, and therefore generate a lot less heat so overheating issues aren’t really a problem any more. If you are going to run any risk of the YLOD with the slim’s, it is the 160GB & 120GB versions that are going to give the highest chance of failure in this way. The 320GB model, I have not heard of any YLOD issues (although some people have bought the lower capacity versions and changed drives over, so may look like it is a 320GB that has gone South).

The problem with modern day electronics is that they have been designed to run faster in a smaller form, and in a lot of cases run hotter, but dissipate heat faster due to larger heatsinks being fitted to hot running components inside the outer cases. The only problem with using larger heatsinks is that they may be all well and good at dissipating heat when clean, but if they are covered in a even a thin layer of dust, the heat dissipation properties is lowered by upto 75%!!! People will clean the outer cases of dust and ensure that any mesh openings are clear, but without cleaning the interior out (especially fans & heatsinks), you are only helping very little.

@Mike Herrington wrote:

Cheers Darren,

Much appreciated. Are the mini-cooling fan stand (things) any good, do they aid?

Mike

They won’t make much difference on the PS3 TBH. All it will do is to draw more dust in through the vents where the fans aren’t. There is not a lot of free space inside the case!

I opened my 60GB “fat” PS3 up earlier & cleaned it completely (first time I had done so in the 4 years I have had it!) and couldn’t believe how much dust was inside it!!! I have seen less in a tumble drier filter after a full load of woollen jumpers have been in it!!! On taking it apart, I was shocked on actually how big the cooling fan was in it!!! It is approx 2/3rd the footprint of the damn thing!!!! No wonder it draws so much dust in through the vents on it & sounds like a jumbo jet taking off after a few minutes. After cleaning it out, it took 30 minutes before the fan actually sped up & after a couple of hours, it still hasn’t got faster than the first stage.

Going to do the 360 next :o)

This is nice information about for my PS3 too, thumbs up!

@D.W. wrote:

The original PS3 models consumed about 200W, and thus generated a lot of heat that was the issue of YLOD (and RROD on the 360).

The slimline PS3’s consume about 80-100W depending on the model, and therefore generate a lot less heat so overheating issues aren’t really a problem any more. If you are going to run any risk of the YLOD with the slim’s, it is the 160GB & 120GB versions that are going to give the highest chance of failure in this way. The 320GB model, I have not heard of any YLOD issues (although some people have bought the lower capacity versions and changed drives over, so may look like it is a 320GB that has gone South).

The problem with modern day electronics is that they have been designed to run faster in a smaller form, and in a lot of cases run hotter, but dissipate heat faster due to larger heatsinks being fitted to hot running components inside the outer cases. The only problem with using larger heatsinks is that they may be all well and good at dissipating heat when clean, but if they are covered in a even a thin layer of dust, the heat dissipation properties is lowered by upto 75%!!! People will clean the outer cases of dust and ensure that any mesh openings are clear, but without cleaning the interior out (especially fans & heatsinks), you are only helping very little.

Superb info bro.