Opening the PS3

~~LGC~~ · 01-09-2007, 02:27 PM

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DISCLAIMER: This tutorial is for information purposes, and I am not responsible or can be held responsible if you screw up your PS3 by following this tutorial. Make sure the PS3 is unplugged from mains power AT ALL TIMES. Mains power is dangerous! Dismantle the Playstation 3 console and follow this tutorial at your own risk!

Enough of that, onto the tutorial! Taking the PS3 apart is a long and involved process, so make sure you have at least a couple of hours to do this if it’s the first time. Also make sure you have proper lighting and the right tools.

To view a larger version of any of these pics, just click on them.

You will need:

-Torx screwdriver

-Phillips head screw driver

-Small flathead screw driver (for removing the rubber foot)

-Somewhere with plenty of space that is well lit and that wont build up static electricity. (Mainly anywhere but carpet)

So, here we have a brand spanking new PS3…..all ready to be taken part…..

On the left side of the console you will see a few rubber feet. The first screw to be removed is underneath the rubber foot circled in red in the pic below. The foot can be pried out with a small screw driver. Then underneath is a Torx security screw. You will either need a Torx screwdriver, or a flat head screwdriver that will fit in the screw.

Once the screw is removed, slide the top of the case to the left. It may require a bit of force to slide if your opening the console for the first time. After the top slides as far as it will go, lift the top and it should come off as seen in the pic below:

After the top is off, there will be another cover. You will need to remove the 7 long screws circled in red.

After the 7 screws are removed, gently lift up the back corners of the top half of the console. There are 2 small clips near the back you may need to undo with a small screw driver. Now the top of the console should just lift off (with a bit of gentle force) and you will see the guts of the PS3.

First, the power supply (The silver box on the left) has to be removed. Remove the screws circled in red, and take out the plug, the power supply will just lift out.

Also, take out the mains plug in the back of the power supply. The power supply should now be completely disconnected from the PS3.

After the power supply is removed, the Bluetooth board (in the 60GB models, it also has wireless). Unscrew the 4 screws and unplug the ribbon cable and the board will just lift out:

Now to remove the Blu-ray drive. This is relatively easy. Lift the drive up about 2” and you will see a really wide ribbon cable connecting the drive to the motherboard. Unplug it. There will also be a plug near the front of the Blu-ray drive. Unplug it aswell. The drive will then just lift out.

Now you will (hopefully) see the same as what is in the pic below:

Next, we have to remove the small circuit board that has the Reset and Eject buttons. This board is attached to a small metal bracket. Remove the 4 screws holding the board and the metal bracket and unplug the small ribbon cable. The board should now easily lift out.

Now remove the screws circled in red in the pic below.

After the screws are removed, gently lift out the whole motherboard along with the back panel like the pics below: Make sure you have taken out the plastic cover with the HDD sticker on it! Otherwise the clips on it will get bent!

After the bottom of the PS3 case is out of the way, you can admire the huge-*** cooling system on the bottom of the motherboard.

After your done oogling at the hugeness of the fan, remove the plastic back panel. The are 4 small plastic clips (2 on either side of the motherboard) tht you need to lift to take off the back panel.

Check out the size of the fan! (It looks a lot bigger in real life)

Anyway, back to the tutorial. Flip the motherboard back over. Unscrew the 4 screws (circled in red) holding 2 metal brackets down. Once these screws are undone, take off the 2 metal brackets.

It will now look like this:

After that, flip the motherboard over again. Now gently pull up on the heatsink. Be gentle here. The cooling system will lift up off the CPU and GPU and come off completely. A bit of force will be required here as the heatsink will be stuck down to the CPU and GPU with white thermal paste.

On the bottom of the heat sink and on the CPU and GPU will be white thermal paste. This is used to help transfer heat from the chip to the heat sink. Do not touch or eat this stuff! Don’t bother cleaning it off either, unless you have fresh thermal paste to put on it again when you reassemble the PS3.

After you get the heat sink off, you can lift up the metal shielding. Be gentle with this as the shielding as it is very thin and bending it could possibly cause the shielding to short out something on the motherboard when the PS3 is reassembled.

Now flip the motherboard over again, and remove the metal shielding on the other side and you will now see the naked motherboard:

Top side:

Bottom side:

Congratulations! You now have a completely disassembled Playstation 3!

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~~l Gob l~~ · 01-09-2007, 06:39 PM

.....wow...okay then nice post...moddin it is going to b the hard part...the stupid thing just came out and ppl are already bashing it up. (smashmyps3.net)

**XboxPlayer** · 01-09-2007, 06:43 PM

what do you get out of opening it ?

**l Krafty l** · 01-09-2007, 06:47 PM

A look inside the ps3?

GOFAST0808 · 01-09-2007, 10:45 PM

Nice tut

***superaison*** · 01-10-2007, 12:16 AM

no wonder the insert bad word here is so bad word gay and big, pointless parts and pointless huge *** heatsink, bigger than my stomach *and im fat*....please, throw your ps3 away.