PS3 disassembled on video

We know you're probably sick of hearing about gadget disassemblies, and we know we already hit up that one PlayStation 3 getting taken apart and everything. But, see, this Japanese site did it on video, and we have to tell you it's extremely graphic and wonderful. And considering the fact that it takes two guys cumulatively nearly fifteen minutes to oh so ceremoniously pull this bad boy apart, it's really no wonder Sony's monster of a console will set you back a half a grand (or more).

P.S. -Be sure to hit up part three, that heat sink is one of the most elaborate and impressive we've ever seen.

[Thanks, Gustavo]

Watch - part 2
Watch - part 3
Watch - part 4

[humpty @ Nov 12th 2006 7:35AM]

Sweet disassembly prOn.. i guess that voids their warranty.

[KineticOnline @ Nov 12th 2006 7:39AM]

I still think a sledgehammer would have been alot faster and alot more enjoyable

[Andrei @ Nov 12th 2006 7:41AM]

Now i'd like to see a video of them putting it back together and... making it work

[humpty @ Nov 12th 2006 7:50AM]

Holy shit.. did you guys see the size of that fan? O_o

[Timerider @ Nov 12th 2006 12:05PM]

Thats what I thought.

[strider_mt2k @ Nov 12th 2006 7:55AM]

Just for the record Engadget:

I will never never never EVER be sick of hearing about and/or seeing gadget disassembles.

Ever.

[strider_mt2k @ Nov 12th 2006 7:57AM]

Larger fans don't have to spin as fast to move air so they are usually much quieter.

[Scooter @ Nov 12th 2006 8:16AM]

what strikes me is how deep the HDD is buried, which will make it particular hard/expensive to replace. Perhaps Sony imagines it won't be replaced, at least in a hurry. This could limit its options to compete on content downloads.

[NeCrom-X @ Mar 10th 2008 3:21PM]

Hard drive is replaceable from external door you don't have to open the system scooter.

[Adam @ Nov 12th 2006 8:42AM]

Am i right in thinking that was the PSU inside the PS3?

If so i'm suprised they kept it in there.

[humpty @ Nov 12th 2006 8:54AM]

scoot: there's an access cubby just for the HDD; you dont have to take the whole thing apart to upgrade the HDD.

About, the PSU, its incredibly small for something supplying 380 Watts (max); this is Sony pushing their consumer electronics experience.

[Blake @ Nov 12th 2006 9:08AM]

i feel sorry for those who bought an xbox 360, I feel the ps3 and the wii are the only 'true' next-gen systems. Xbox 360 is old news now.

[Watership @ Nov 12th 2006 9:13AM]

Blake, one look at Gears of War and I think you loose all credibility saying the 360 is old news.

[Scott Neary @ Nov 12th 2006 9:19AM]

Thats no moon...thats a space station.

Actually, I've never understood fanblades like this. Most new high end video cards have the same style fan blades (like a fully feathered prop at 90 degrees). I can't believe that these are more efficient than an angled, or curved (roughly 45 degree) fanblade like my cpu cooler's fan. Seems like this one would just be beating the air instead of slicing at it, resulting in very little airflow. But hey, I'm no engineer.

[Ochre Moose @ Nov 12th 2006 9:31AM]

Right you are, that is one impressive heat-sink--pretty impressive, actually. One look at that monster, though, and I can see why Apple never bought into the cell processor. Imagine trying to stuff that into a powerbook. i~ya.

[squeezee @ Nov 12th 2006 9:57AM]

Scott Neary: These are blowers not regular fans, they're trying to force air across the heatsink from frontback.

Ochre Moose: The cpus in the 360s xenon or the PS3s cell are probally the worst general purpose cpus you could find, in-order cpus with no branch prediction, nobody would use these in a regular pc.

It is interesting to see that theres no active cooling and no large heatsinks on the power supply though.

[gee @ Nov 12th 2006 10:04AM]

can someone please tell me what exactly is so interesting about unpacking and taking apart a game system. its a computer...it gets packed for shipping....end of story. maybe its just me but thats about as interesting as watching paint dry. straight boredom i guess

[tekdroid @ Nov 13th 2006 6:42AM]

if you have to ask...

;)

[Dave @ Nov 12th 2006 10:12AM]

I want it!!!

[BuGG @ Nov 12th 2006 10:21AM]

Nice looking heatsink. But after a year those fins are gonna be seriously clogged with dust. Thats when it will start to overheat. What do they expect us to tear it apart to clean out all the fins?


BuGG

[Karen @ Nov 12th 2006 10:22AM]

Gee,
It's curiosity.

Thank you, Engaget.

[Dave Pevsner @ Nov 12th 2006 10:42AM]

for the sake of those of us with no hard drive(and thus, running a LiveCD with no support for flash videos), please post up some still pictures.

[Reggie @ Nov 12th 2006 10:53AM]

That customized heatsink and fan is well done!

[steve @ Nov 12th 2006 11:33AM]

@ Scott Neary: if you think that style fan blade is inefficient, take a look at the blades of a turbocharger for a car(just google it), it's very, very similar. That is actually a good design to move a lot of air, horizontally through the box.

@BuGG: I would have to agree with you. It looks like the design requires a LOT of active cooling, meaning that as soon as the blades of the heatsink become clogged with dust(wich will exist in any environment, aside from a clean room). This would most definitely lead to an overheat. I'd give these things less than a year before we start seeing a lot of overheating issues, baring any hardware failure. This is even worse than the 360 design. Even though the system pumps air into the case, it's pretty much a passive system on the cpu/gpu heatsink. This cuts down on dust buildup. I dono, looks like this thing is gonna be trouble.

[acceptablerisk @ Nov 12th 2006 11:50AM]

@gee
They aren't just unboxing it, they're disassembling it. Some of us weirdos have a compulsion to take apart everything around us just to see what's inside. We like these videos because it lets us see inside hardware we don't have or can't afford to accidentally destroy.

As for that heatsink. It is slick looking but I hope there's a replacable intake filter on it. Because with vaning that fine, it'll fill with dust and crap out pretty quickly.

[ark_v2 @ Nov 12th 2006 12:00PM]

Damn! That thing is more secure than a safe!
Now reassemble it :)

[uclatommy @ Nov 12th 2006 12:20PM]

Wow, they gang raped that ps3. The heatsink was freakin sweet. Its going to be a pain in the ass to mod-chip this badboy.

[futurepastnow @ Nov 12th 2006 1:37PM]

I love seeing these disassembly photos and videos, looking forward to seeing a Wii dismembered.

You know, I think this trend is causing companies to spend time and money prettifying the guts of electronics- the PS3 is much better looking inside than the PS2 was.

[Leomar @ Nov 12th 2006 1:43PM]

It you look at the second and third videos you feel like you are watching a nuclear weapon being disassembled. The X360's wasn't as nearly as sophisticated an didn't have a whopping fan like the PS3 has but there sure isn't a power brick.

[nutterguy @ Nov 12th 2006 2:05PM]

Imagine the size of it if it didn't have that massive bluray drive and a smaller heatsink, cos that heat sink is MASSIVE. I don't think I have ever seen a heatsink so big....

[PreGHz @ Nov 12th 2006 2:23PM]

Even with the Blu-Ray drive, PSU, and small moon/heatsink in there, you guys have to admit that it's pretty decently sized and designed. And fortified. It's like they're trying to fend off a Trojan siege, what with all those layers and stuff.

I know I'm gonna eat my words, but man, this thing has an amazing build quality.

Also, I'm not sure about the fan getting clogged. It doesn't necessarily draw air in, and the heatsink does most of the cooling. I'm not sure how to describe it, but one of those fans on a video card draws less dust than the conventional 45 degree angle case fans on computers.

Also, the way they have it set up, it doesn't look like the dust could hang around, as it gets funneled in through one side, and pushed out the other. Just like my G5 iMac. Anyone who has opened up one of those bad boys would know what I'm talking about. It's been running non-stop for two years and I still can barely see any dust build up.

[myscrnnm @ Nov 12th 2006 2:27PM]

"Imagine the size of it if it didn't have that massive bluray drive and a smaller heatsink, cos that heat sink is MASSIVE. I don't think I have ever seen a heatsink so big...."

We'll have to wait a few years before they can do that kind of stuff. First of all, the only way to make the Blu-ray disc drive smaller is by using a top-loading drive, like what the PlayStation 2 SCPH-70000 series has. And the heatsink can't be any smaller with modern technology. We have to wait until Sony is able to obtain Cell microprocessors made on a smaller fabrication process to get smaller heatsinks without the system overheating, because the less nanometres used in a manufacturing process, the more energy-efficient the system will be.

[Sam Haakenstad @ Nov 12th 2006 2:28PM]

I have to say, that makes me more comfortable buying the PS3 for its price. Its still really high, but for the price you are getting a well put together machine.

[CM @ Nov 12th 2006 5:11PM]

It's a centrifugal blower, not a regular fan. It's designed to push air from the middle to the outside. That's why the blades don't look like those of a regular fan that pushes air from one side to the other.

I don't think dust should be much of a problem, since this blower is designed to move a large volume of air at lower speed, and there's plenty of intake area. What this means is that the speed of air moving past the intake shouldn't be so large, and thus dust shouldn't tend to get sucked in so much. If so, it'll probably clog the intake before the fan.

Probably the fan is variable speed, so as it gets clogged, it'll run faster to make up for it. You'll know you're in trouble when it gets too loud.

[PreGHz @ Nov 12th 2006 5:13PM]

Well put, CM.

[jc @ Nov 12th 2006 5:14PM]

this is hilarious, it takes 3 japanese people to unscrew a screw. haha, not being racist, thats just what the video shows

[Andir3.0 @ Nov 12th 2006 5:48PM]

You can open a door on the side and slide the HDD out. I don't know why that wasn't the first thing they did, but watching the video, I'm going to say these folks have never taken anything apart before, or they are about half a cell short of a full brain.

[steven @ Nov 12th 2006 9:46PM]

Gears of War, nuff said

[tekdroid @ Nov 13th 2006 6:52AM]

internals look fantastic, but expensive for little ol' Sony looking to keep costs low. I bet they are very keen to reduce the weight/size/component costs in future revisions.

[Lord Dark Moon @ Nov 13th 2006 3:01PM]

Those dual pipe blocks and that heat sink/blower combo is pure GENIUS! So far the PS3 is demonstrating its pedigree (i.e. Sony�s years of consumer electronics experience). Makes the Xbox 360 look like child�s play. Let�s hope it lives up to that brilliant hardware design!


--------------
LDM
Water-bending Master
http://www.eternal-champions.com/images/ldm_master_builder!.jpg

[brows @ Nov 19th 2006 6:00PM]

I gotta say, that's the fanciest heat sinking solution i've ever seen, i love how people (mainly american xbox 360 users might i add) are taking the piss out of ps3's large heatsink and fan, but quite simply people, the cooler it is, the faster it is, everybody knows it.

I'm really impressed with how complex the entire thing is.

bravo sony.