Ben-DutkaBy now, you're fully aware of the specs associated with the new PS3 Slim: 33% smaller, 36% lighter and 34% less power consumption. But it seems Sony may have understated the latter statistic by a significant amount.
According to GameZine (citing a recent report from magazine PCM Gears), it seems the PS3 Slim has, throughout the course of testing, averaged around 50% lesser power consumption than the original 60GB PS3. The original model really sucked up the electricity – as many new owners were shocked to find when they saw their power bill – but this new Slim won't have anywhere near the level of impact. After five minutes of DVD playback, the PS3 Slim sat at 42C, compared to 45C on the 60GB PS3, and the power consumption was down from 152W to 75W. For Blu-Ray, the temperature was around 38.5C compared to 47C on the 60GB model, and power consumption on the Slim was only 86W, down from 160W. So you've got a 50% reduction and a 46% reduction. However, we assume that based on Sony's press release, that 34% number came from comparisons to the latest 80GB model, which must certainly draw less power than the original 60GB console. Either way, the PS3 Slim will definitely be less of a drain on the electric meter, and that's a 100% positive bonus.
And by the way, although the official launch date is September 1, we've learned that the Slim lacks a street date and hence, many retailers already have it on store shelves. You might want to check that out this weekend.
I am so tempted to buy this Slim, although I own a PS3 already. I am a sucker for energy efficient electronics.
I have a question for the technicians out there. Why does playing a blu-ray use less power than a dvd? I thought the blu-ray spins more revolutions because it has more data over the same 2 hour movie time.
nah, you're thinking of capacity creating more reading space, but its other way round.
DVD spins at 8x while Blu-Ray spins at 2x. Therefore, blu-ray takes longer to read but doesn't require as much power to spin the disc since it goes much slower.
This explains the longer load times for blu-ray compared to DVD as well.
Well, I had a reply all typed out and then went back and checked the article again. The power consumption during DVD playback is lower than it is during BluRay playback. The lower temperature of the Slim unit during BluRay and higher during DVD has to be related to some other factor, such as whether the system was working hard enough to cause the fan to kick into high speed, or perhaps the rotational speed of the DVD being higher than the BluRay made a difference? Either way There is definitely less power use during DVD playback.
@Dancemachine,
You've fallen into the trap of propaganda against BluRay. BluRay discs spin more slowly, but the data is packed six times as dense. so with every rotation of the disc the BluRay read head reads six times more data than the DVD does in a single rotation of the disc.Don't forget that the raw data rates of a BluRay drive reading from a disc are far higher than DVD spinning at the same rate. Also the tracks on a BluRay disc are much finer, and packed more closely together. So the track to track latency is lower for BluRay because the head doesn't move as far as it does on a DVD. Random access on a BluRay is slower than a DVD partly because of the sheer size of the disc in terms of the number of tracks, and partly because the disc spins more slowly. However once it's reading, the BluRay is faster than DVD.
@ Dancemachine
I thought 8x on a DVD was equal to 2x on Blu. I might be wrong but even though Blu discs spin slower that doesn't mean it takes more time to load.
To me, the reason Blu movies might take a while to load depends on the player, memory installs of content, setup of java BD by the studio, and if the movie is a straight to menu movie or direct to movie setup.
@ Highlander
Hell ya it's back!
@TheHighlander
You're always giving great answers an explanations and through that we can tell that you're very tech savvy. I have a question about my ps3 that, hopefully, you can answer. I have my original 60gb and it's been working fine since day one purchase. I usually play the system every other day, if there's no new games out for it. At an average hour of playtime per day, it would have to be around 8+ hours. Usually when I'm playing, the fan is pretty quite but after a couple of hours, or even going on line, the fans kicks in overdrive. The same thing happens when I'm playing my ps2 games. I also notice that the system becomes very hot during these times. Is there something wrong with the system? Should I perhaps give it more breaks? I'm just worried that it may overheat so I've rarely turned it on as of late. If my 60gb with bc so if it messes up I'll probably commit suicide. Thanks!
standing the console up at the back top of the console where the largest surface area for the vents is, can you place your hand there without burning it?
if you can it should be fine.
if you cant than theres a problem and i would let sony know.
as this is exactly what happened when my bluray drive kicked the bucket, the vent was so hot i couldent touch it and the drive went belly up.
I have a couple of 60GB systems at home and they are space heaters aren't they? When I play a DVD or put in a PS2 game, my system's fan kicks into high speed mode as well.
The cooling system is designed to remove as much heat as possible. The better it works the warmer the exhaust is. If your fan stops working well, it will remove less heat from your system and the system (the casing) itself will become warmer.
Any computer with a cooling fan will adjust the fan speed depending on the system load. when you start a new application there is generally a spike in activity that causes heat sink fans to speed up, and eventually as the workload settles back down, the fans may slow. This is normal.
When the Cell is busy and the RSX is busy the system has to shed anything up to 300 watts of heat. The difference between a PS3 under a heavy load and PS3 under a light load isn't as much as you'd think. Even sitting idle in the XMB (not stand by) causes the Cell and RSX to draw a decent amount of power.
The best advice I can give for the care of your PS3 is;
a) Make sure that the vents are clear of debris and fluff. This is especially true of the inlet vents on the front edge of the system. There are also small vent holes near the hard disc access hatch. All of these should be clear of any obstruction.
b) You also need to give your system room to breathe. If you can make sure that the area around your PS3 is clear of anything for a couple of inches at least so that air can flow freely into the system. The exhaust vents need to be clear also. If they're not, it can prevent the system from venting the heat.
c) Turn your system off when it's not in use.
Your PS3 is designed to handle this heat. PS3 60GB systems have been soak tested by running 24 hours a day in warm environments without significant failure rates. If a PS3 gets too warm, it shuts down – to prevent damage – this is what it's designed to do. The most frequent PS3 component failures are the BluRay drive (sometimes the laser diode simply doesn't last as long as expected) and hard disc drives (flaky hard discs are not unique to PS3). It's not impossible for PS3 to have a heat problem, but it's very unusual.
@blank user and TheHighlander
Blank user, thanks for advice. I tried what you asked and no it's not to hot where it burns. So I'm guessing is cool. Thanks for the tip.
Highlander, thanks you for the great response. You put me at ease. I was pretty sure that fan did as such, I just needed reassuring from a genius. I did as you said and have greater faith in my system. I mean it's Sony for crying out loud. Than again one can never be to sure. Thanks again! x 1 zillion! 😉
Another point the greenies can add to the PS3 being the most energy efficient and greenest machine. Keep up the good work Sony.
So if I get a slim I can turn my refrigerator back on? /sarcasm
LOL
as opposed to placing it in the fridge like most have to do with their 360's.
;P
use 360s as toasters
Haha
Man my 360 can get so hot and so loud! makes the entire room f***ing hot!
my friend took the plastic cover of the xbox nd replaced it with a metal one…he then cracked an egg over and it proceded to play a game for about two hours and when he was done the egg was fully cooked
Damn!!! for real? that thing cooked an egg? damn.
Damn, i should have invested in an xbox. that way i could enjoy a hot snack without moving a muscle whilst i'm still playing COD.
the only thing that the xbox does that ps3 cant is cook food and i dont expect the ps3 to ever do tht
I want……..I'm gonna sleep
i just bought one. now i have 3 ps3s. this is my favorite. its a lot smaller than i thought. amazing piece of technology
Yea and Xbox is a piece of something else.
Awsome! thats cool. Another point for sony
I plan on getting a PS3 Slim soon.
i thought the 40 gb was the current 80gb with a bigger hdd when they dropped the original 80 gb's with the b/c and 4 usb slots. which would be the same with the 160 gb's, i believe they just took the 40 gb model and put different hdd's in.
I'm pretty much sold on the slim. I'm getting one this friday or next at the latest. I'm going to keep my 250gb ( 40gb originally ) boxed up somewhere safe. I can't bring myself to sell it. I'm looking forward to less heat, less noise, and less power consumption. ….. Oh, and less money.
Hey where can you get PS3 Hard Drive Disc's? I cant find em.
you use any gb size 2.5 inch notebook drive. so you go to best buy or something of that kind and buy a hard drive for a laptop not a desktop. you will also need something to back up your current files to transfer to the new hdd, other wise it will be like a new ps3.
2.5" sata 500 gb drives can be found at Amazon or Newegg and plenty of other places
PS3 takes any standard 2.5-inch SATA hard disc. You'll often see them described as laptop hard drives. They generally come as either 5400rpm drives or 7200rpm. Theoretically the 7200rpm drives run warmer so the advice is to go for the marginally slower 5400rpm drives.
Standard PS hard discs (3.5-inch) are too big, and the 1.8-inch hard discs that you find in some mini-laptops are too small. The drive must be a 2.5-inch hard disc. It has to uses the SATA interface standard, not PATA or IDE.
You can buy the bare drives from any number of online retailers such as NewEgg or TigerDirect. Sony also has a good guide on how to perform an upgrade if you choose to upgrade your PS3's hard disc.
Oh I didn't know that! thanks for the info guys. I'm gonna upgrade mine to 500gb(when I get the money).
where can i find ps3 hdds? one word: EBAY! and if you need a hand just check youtube. there's a few vids.
advice.
DO NOT! use a 7200 RPM HDD, 2 of my mates replaced there HDDs with a larger 7200RPM one and both overheated and YLOD with in 6 months.
i rang sony and asked them myself about 7200 and they told me you can use them but its not advised.
the ps3 runs bloody hot as it is, increasing the speed to a 7200 is adding fuel to the fire.
Western Digital Scorpio Blue 320GB SATA 8MB Cache 2.5 inch Internal Hard Drive OEM
Is this hard drive good? Will it fit my 40gb model ps3?
Last edited by Titch1794 on 8/27/2009 9:39:40 AM
Let me advertise that we have a thread for switching the PS3 HDD in the forums, in the Playstation 3 section a sticky at the top – check it out if want tips and ask questions if you have any, forums are much more tidy to discuss things like this.
Just got back from a local BestBuy up here in Canada. The new Slim is in. Got it restoring the system as we speak.. I suffed a 500gig drive in there.. it's a Western Digital which also supposed to sip less power…
Anyways, this thing is super quiet compared to the original 80 gig it replaces. Gonna miss all the connectivity and backward compat. but I feel so much better knowing Im using so much less juice to run it.
Now if they could reduce the manufacturing size of the GPU this will be a true lean, mean, and green.. gaming machine.
UPDATE.
I played 1943 for 2 hours last night. In that time the machine did get hot and ended up whining somewhat louder than when it was first turned on. In contrast, the Fat PS3 I upgraded from, got even hotter, hummed even louder, where by the 360 sounds like an out-right steam radiator/vaccum cleaner on full blast.
And yeah, you can't just pop in the previous system's HD. It will require you to download the 2.8 update using your computer, then installing it off a usb drive of some kind by pressing the 'start' and 'select' buttons silmutaneously.
I got my Slim yesterday at Gamestop. I plan on transfering my 500GB hard drive from my originaly 60GB PS3 into the Slim and begin using that as my primary PS3 while the fattie gets moved to the bedroom to be mainly used as a Blu Ray Player.
Oh, interesting note. I like that the controller that comes with the Slim also has the matte look to it as well instead of the gloss finish like the others. Anyone else notice that?
lol. my first gen ps3 dual shock is shiny, but i think that's due to wear and tear..
One thing I have to say, this new model is made really well. I mean it's solid. even the new "push" buttons are tight. Not "clicky" like some early impressions out there.
Props to Sony.
did gamestop and best buy frak up or something???
because last time i checked, it was the 27th… so iunno… the release was the 1st right??? so why does the land of the blue shirt's and the 360 fanboy stop have em out for sale now??
You can switch the drive, but I doubt you will be able to keep the data on it. The slim will likely format the drive and you probably won't be able to restore a backup file made on one PS3 to another PS3, even if the actual drive is the same.
Make sure you copy all the files on the drive (e.g., saves) in addition to running the backup.
You will be able to re-download everything but saves in any event.
Oh, and remember to sync your trophies.
@Canuck
Sony never said September 1 was a "hard" date, only that people could expect to see them in stores by the first week of September. There is no street date.
Last edited by Fane1024 on 8/27/2009 4:33:15 AM
I think that's just the most recent version of the dual-shock for PS3 as I bought a second one just a few weeks ago and it was a bit lighter then the first one I bought (I got that one the week they finally came out) and is also not glossy either.
nice
But I still love my 60GB
me too 😉
that's probably why i won't buy a slim, at least not for a long while
energy AND temperature reduction? that's rare. normally making electronics smaller makes them produce more heat. i am intrigued, perhaps if i can find a few spare bob i'll pick one up… and pet it and love it and call it bubbles.
Usually the electronics produce more heat with a size reduction? Can you show me some details on that?
Some members of this site who have already picked up a Slim have mentioned that it runs pretty warm. LimitedVertigo is one
Last edited by Jawknee on 8/27/2009 1:11:08 AM
That would be correct, the itty bitty beast is quiet warm in the rear. It's quiet as a kitten though.
Weird. I never noticed an increase in my electricty bill because of my 60gb. Maybe after I get a Slim I'll notice a difference cause I've had my 60gb for awhile now. Never thought to check my bill.
Same here