Giving the PlayStation 3 a Water-Cooled Boost

It is a common practice for technically-inclined individuals to hack away at their electronics to squeeze as much performance as possible out of them. The bragging rights are well worth the voided warranties for these types of people. It is usually desktop computers that get most of the attention, where overclocking a system can yield significant performance boosts — at least if the hardware can be kept cool enough under the additional load.

Rather than working with a modern desktop, YouTuber Zac Builds instead wanted to see how far vintage gaming hardware could be pushed. For really old systems, like the Atari 2600 or NES, this would not be a very good idea. Even if you could eke out more performance, you would only wind up with games that zip along at an uncomfortably fast pace because the processor speed directly impacts the pace of gameplay. But the PlayStation 3 (PS3), on the other hand, is really just a modern-ish desktop computer stuffed in a small box, so it has lots of overclocking potential.

But to unlock that potential, the CPU and GPU would need some serious cooling. So Zac Builds designed a complete water-cooling system for the PS3. Not all PS3 models were created the same, however. Later models had additional security features baked into their chips that prevented overclocking, but the CECH2501B model picked up by Zac Builds was ripe for hacking.

As a first step, the existing heat spreaders had to be heated and pried off to remove them from the CPU and GPU. After some cleaning, a new thermal interface was installed before reattaching the original heat spreaders with a special silicone sealant. A 3D-printed mounting bracket, made with a carbon fiber reinforced filament, was then used to attach water blocks to the chips.

A small pump circulates water between the water blocks and a radiator, which is equipped with a large, 120-mm fan. Power for the entire water cooling system was taken from the PS3’s original power supply after disconnecting a very inefficient stock fan that drew over an amp of power on its own. Not a bad trade at all!

The new hardware did not fit inside the original case, of course, so a cut was made in the top to allow the cooling system to extend outside of it. To make things look nice, a 3D-printed extension was created to cover the new hardware.

With the cooling system in place, the PS3 was finally ready for some overclocking. This required the installation of new firmware, which can be tricky. But when installed, the console got a clock speed boost of nearly 50%. In some cases, the frame rate of games nearly doubled, giving old classics a smoother and more responsive feeling. Not all games benefited so much, but in many cases the boost was noticeable.

After checking the temperatures, Zac Builds realized that water cooling may not have even been necessary. But in any case, the lower temperatures should keep this classic console in service for much longer.

It is a complex build, so if you do not want to go to all the trouble of water-cooling your own console, you can at least live vicariously through Zac Builds by checking out the video below.