Is it better to leave the PS3 running for days on end, or give it regular rest?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Squibis
  • 33 comments
  • 5,427 views

Title

  • It is better to leave it running.

    Votes: 19 24.1%

  • It is better to give it proper rest.

    Votes: 40 50.6%

  • It does not matter either way.

    Votes: 20 25.3%
  • Total voters
    79
  • Poll closed .
S

Squibis

Messages
116
Messages
Squibis
Wanted to make this a poll, but on a cell and its not coming up...

Anyway, I've seen plenty of comments on this subject in random threads, but can't find a dedicated thread, so here goes somethin... (and if there IS one I missed, mods please lock and link. Thx!)


Is it better to leave my PS3 on for 1 to 7 days in a row, or to give it at least an hour break for proper cool down before turning back on? (side question, is an hour enough for proper cool down? 30 minutes? 3 hrs?)

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd, GO!
 
Bounkazz
Don't worry about YLoD, it's easy repairable. Hardware doesn't ware or tare, it breaks.
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Don't worry bout changing the oil in your real car, its easily fixable. :roll:

Ever hear of preventative maintenance?


/oh yeah, guess I figured out the poll from phone.
//didn't edit that out cause I didn't want an edit on a poll.
 
Squibis
Don't worry bout changing the oil in your real car, its easily fixable. :roll:

Ever hear of preventative maintenance?


/oh yeah, guess I figured out the poll from phone.
//didn't edit that out cause I didn't want an edit on a poll.
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But at the same time would you not drive your car a certain distance because it wears the motor down? I bought my PS3 to play, I bought my car to drive. Preventive maintence on the PS3? I guess that would being using canned air on it every once in awhile but I don't see turning it off or keeping it on as being destructive to it. Everything has a life span and you don't know when that is going to end. So play it, have fun and when it breaks buy a new one.
 
I view my PS3 like I view my computer. With things like that it's best to either always leave them on or always leave them off. Turning them on and off frequently isn't the best for them. My computer has been on for I'm guessing 3 weeks now. I rarely turn it off/restart it unless I'm leaving for the weekend or something.

My PS3 has been on for 5 days now. Would have been longer but I turned it off to bring it back from a friend's house.


You just have to keep your electronics well ventilated and dust free. :)


Uscbryan
But at the same time would you not drive your car a certain distance because it wears the motor down? I bought my PS3 to play, I bought my car to drive.
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Actually this sort of relates to computer usage. Driving your car to the corner store and back is worse for it than going 10 miles down the road and back. The reason is if you only ever drive to the corner store your car never reaches operating temperature and that's bad for it. It's counted as severe driving conditions.
 
Depends on what's the cause of the YLoD. But generally electronics don't really suffer from "wear"... Of course there's electromigration, but if the components are designed properly we shouldn't see any issues because of this for years? Caps wear out too though.

What actually "wears" electronics is cycling them on off, thus repeatedly heating them up and then cooling them off. This is because the solder joints are repeatedly heated and cooled, and this wears them out, so it's not wearing out the components, but rather the "mechanical" connections. At some point, repeated heating and cooling of the solder joints will weaken them and will cause them to fail, and then components to lose connection.

Of course this is concerning components being run within their specifications, if your PS3 is constantly overheating, then that's probably going to kill it way faster than a cyclic load like turning it on and off a couple of times a day.
 
Thx. Jacob, but I'm looking for an actual time line or definitive proof whether or not one is better and/or the same.


As for the "everything has a lifespan" comment, yeah, but I'm trying to find out if doing said actions will lengthen or shorten the lifespan. Durrrrrr.
 
The Yellow Light issue is normally a heat related one. But it often hits after an extended time where the processors are extremely busy. It's why people are seeing it a bucnh with GT 5. The game puts an incredible strain on the system when you're in the middle of a race.

Yellow Light issues ARE usually repairable, but it's not necessarily a simple fix, especially if you've not got any electronics experience. There are places you can find on the web which offer a repair service. If you're lucky enough you might even have one local. (I just had my launch day 60GB fixed at www.chicagogadgets.com for $50.) They won't warantee it though. May last you a year, may last you a day.

It's too early to tell, but I donno that I've heard of anyone having Yellow Light issues with the Slim. Mostly just with the early models.
 
Squibis
Thx. Jacob, but I'm looking for an actual time line or definitive proof whether or not one is better and/or the same.
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It's hard to determine, depends on humidity, temperature, sunlight, if there's a sub-standard components in your PS3 or a bad solder joint etc. Generally I don't worry about leaving any electronics turned on for extended periods of time.

Electronic components generally don't "wear out" at a rate you would have to worry about, as long as you aren't overheating them. Capacitors tend to wear out faster, but still wouldn't worry about it. I have an amplifier that I got from my dad, that he has had since he was... Well, younger, it's almost 25 years old, still works just fine except for a potentiometer having worn out.

Basically, just keep your PS3 on for whatever period of time you need it on, but make sure that it's able to dump the heat into the surrounding air, and you shouldn't run into any predictable problems.

Most failures of electrical components that can't be attributed to wear or environmental exposure (Humidity, heat, cold, vibration, corrosion etc.) are random of nature, and there's nothing you can do about that.

Edit: Figured that I might add that I base my arguments mainly on what I've been told at analog circuit design lectures at the Technical University of Denmark.
 
Squibis
Thx. Jacob, but I'm looking for an actual time line or definitive proof whether or not one is better and/or the same.


As for the "everything has a lifespan" comment, yeah, but I'm trying to find out if doing said actions will lengthen or shorten the lifespan. Durrrrrr.
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You're not going to find that.

Electronics people have been debating it for years.

There's no concensus.
 
Squibis
Don't worry bout changing the oil in your real car, its easily fixable. :roll:

Ever hear of preventative maintenance?
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Yes. But why repait something if it's working?

ThaSyn
How does one repair it then?
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Read below.

Me007gold
You don't. You replace it
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You do. Either re-heat the CPU and GPU untill the solder repositions itself, or replace the solder under the CPU and GPU. Quite simple really...
 
JacobN
It's hard to determine, depends on humidity, temperature, sunlight, if there's a sub-standard components in your PS3 or a bad solder joint etc. Generally I don't worry about leaving any electronics turned on for extended periods of time.

Electronic components generally don't "wear out" at a rate you would have to worry about, as long as you aren't overheating them. Capacitors tend to wear out faster, but still wouldn't worry about it. I have an amplifier that I got from my dad, that he has had since he was... Well, younger, it's almost 25 years old, still works just fine except for a potentiometer having worn out.

Basically, just keep your PS3 on for whatever period of time you need it on, but make sure that it's able to dump the heat into the surrounding air, and you shouldn't run into any predictable problems.

Most failures of electrical components that can't be attributed to wear or environmental exposure (Humidity, heat, cold, vibration, corrosion etc.) are random of nature, and there's nothing you can do about that.
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FWIW, this is the opinion that I subscribe to.

As long as you've got adequate ventilation you're unlikely to experience any issues from leaving it on, even for extremely extended periods of time.
 
Bounkazz
You do. Either re-heat the CPU and GPU untill the solder repositions itself, or replace the solder under the CPU and GPU. Quite simple really...
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Quite simple for someone with electronics repair experience. For others, not so much.

And it's not a guaranteed fix regardless.
 
JacobN
It's hard to determine, depends on humidity, temperature, sunlight, if there's a sub-standard components in your PS3 or a bad solder joint etc. Generally I don't worry about leaving any electronics turned on for extended periods of time.

Electronic components generally don't "wear out" at a rate you would have to worry about, as long as you aren't overheating them. Capacitors tend to wear out faster, but still wouldn't worry about it. I have an amplifier that I got from my dad, that he has had since he was... Well, younger, it's almost 25 years old, still works just fine except for a potentiometer having worn out.

Basically, just keep your PS3 on for whatever period of time you need it on, but make sure that it's able to dump the heat into the surrounding air, and you shouldn't run into any predictable problems.

Most failures of electrical components that can't be attributed to wear or environmental exposure (Humidity, heat, cold, vibration, corrosion etc.) are random of nature, and there's nothing you can do about that.

Edit: Figured that I might add that I base my arguments mainly on what I've been told at analog circuit design lectures at the Technical University of Denmark.
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Jacob is right. But I don't agree on the bold part. Here's why;

There is actually quite alot you can do against failure of electrical components. Especially against PS3 failure, in my experience.
 
dougdoberman
Quite simple for someone with electronics repair experience. For others, not so much.

And it's not a guaranteed fix regardless.
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Reheating the CPU and GPU is so simple, anyone can do it. Seriously. But replacing the solder balls on the other hand isn't, but it is guaranteed. Especially leaded solder balls. These can resist higher heats, which prevent the YLoD.
 
Bounkazz
Jacob is right. But I don't agree on the bold part. Here's why;

There is actually quite alot you can do against failure of electrical components. Especially against PS3 failure, in my experience.
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The bolded part was pretty much just my way of saying "If a component has an internal weakness or flaw, you have no way of knowing, and it's going to fail sooner or later regardless of what you do", sure, making sure your PS3 isn't overheating and isn't filled with dust that can short things out/cause more heat buildup, can extend this period. But once the blue smoke is released, the component lacks a key part and will no longer function.

Other kind of failures can probably be fixed, haven't had to try though, so I'll take your word for it.
 
JacobN
The bolded part was pretty much just my way of saying "If a component has an internal weakness or flaw, you have no way of knowing, and it's going to fail sooner or later regardless of what you do", sure, making sure your PS3 isn't overheating and isn't filled with dust that can short things out/cause more heat buildup, can extend this period. But once the blue smoke is released, the component lacks a key part and will no longer function.

Other kind of failures can probably be fixed, haven't had to try though, so I'll take your word for it.
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Yeah Ok. Good point. Blue smoke? I see quite a few PS3's come by, but never encountered blue smoke, lol.
 
I really never gave it much thought, I leave everything running, I never shut down my computer unless it has an update that requires it to restart. I have the fat launch 80gb PS3 and it runs 5 days+ a lot without it being shut off and never had any problems. I leave my TV on at all times even when I leave the house and sleep, I never had anything just stop working. Same goes for my DVR and new iPod.
 
It will last longer if you leave it off for long periods when not in use but it will also last longer by leaving it on than it will should you turn it on and off in short intervals. In other words tuning it off for an hour to let it cool then back on again can do more harm than good. Turning it off when it will be off for several hours is fine.
 
My only problem with leaving my electronics on constantly is, won't it make your electricity bill sky rocket?
 
Squibis
Bounk, preventative maintenance does not equal repair (repait)
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True.

HBR-Roadhog
It will last longer if you leave it off for long periods when not in use but it will also last longer by leaving it on than it will should you turn it on and off in short intervals. In other words tuning it off for an hour to let it cool then back on again can do more harm than good. Turning it off when it will be off for several hours is fine.
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No, only the bearings in the fan will suffer. Nothing else. Like I said, electropnics brake, they don't wear out like bearings, for example.

MuoNiuLa
My only problem with leaving my electronics on constantly is, won't it make your electricity bill sky rocket?
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Yep, lol. Especially with the "phat" PS3's. :p Quite alot too.
 
PS3 has a 2% failure rate, as long as its in an area where its properly ventilated it should run fine. The US air force uses 1800 of them as a supercomputer and they've never been turned off.
 

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