PC Savants has been reballing PS3, Xbox, Laptops, and other game consoles since 2011.
This service includes a complete PS3 refurbishment and the installation of a PS3 slim 40nm RSX processor to cure RSX related YLOD errors. Thermal pad replacement with 12.8 W/mK pads. PS3 is cleaned of dust and the exterior lightly polished to remove most surface scratches. We use high quality replacement parts and Thermal Interface materials with high W/mK heat transfer ability.
We are so confident with our repairs we offer a 1 year warranty on all repairs, even if its been opened and heat gunned. Most other shops only include a 30 to 180 day warranty. Our consoles will be working in 3 years, which is why we provide the longest warranty, and also provide discounts if your warranty expires.
Console will be completed as soon as humanly possible, usually within 5 Days, but could take longer depending on how many consoles we are working on at the time. If you console has other issues this will also cause a delay. We had to put a 40 day handling time because we've had customers wait 2-3 weeks after purchase to send us their console and eBay starts counting our return date as soon as you buy the listing.
Your PS3 will ALWAYS be worked on while on a board jig to prevent mainboard flex, ESPECIALLY when Delidding a processor. We NEVER delid a processor with the board on our laps or on a table where the mainboard can flex and break solder connections. This is how you get an intermittent problem that nobody can fix.
WE SERVICE ALL CONSOLES. OPENED AND SEALED. WE CAN FIX ANY MODEL PS3 REGARDLESS OF ITS CONDITION.
INSTRUCTIONS:
Purchase auction and send us a message and we will give you the shipping address.
Properly package your item and ship to the provided address. You should wrap the edge of your console in bubble wrap to protect the edges. Loose items always come in damaged. If you shake the box and can feel the console moving around you packed it wrong.
YOU MUST INCLUDE A SHEET OF PAPER WITH: Your FULL NAME, EBAY USERNAME, CONSOLE SERIAL, MODEL NUMBER, and a brief description of the problem.
FAILURE TO INCLUDE THIS INFORMATION COULD RESULT IN YOUR CONSOLE BEING LOST. We have a dozen consoles delivered to us each week and have no way of telling if your console is one that needs to be worked on or disassembled for parts.
DO NOT SEND CABLES OR CONTROLLERS UNLESS INSTRUCTED. IT WILL RESULT IN ADDITIONAL SHIPPING CHARGES
Please remember your console will need 2-3 additional days for testing, if problems arise your console will be delayed.
Contact us if you want to use Ebay to ship your item to us and get the shipping discount they offer.
SERVICE INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING:
CELL/RSX
Defective 90nm Processor removed and replaced with a 40nm processor using LEAD solder. The 40nm is the coolest running processor available and is just as reliable as the 65nm.
CELL Delid and Undervolt. Serviced with high quality Thermal Paste.
RSX Delid and Undervolt. Serviced with high quality Thermal Paste.
RSX Core Voltage modified to 0.95V on 40nm using Sony's official method.
THERMALS
All thermal pads replaced with new 12.8 w/mk pads. We use pads the same size and thickness and only in the same places Sony put them. We never put them on the CELL, RSX or TOKINs.
Internal Heat Spreaders (IHS) on each chip and heat sink surfaces will be cleaned of residual adhesives, fluxes, and other residue.
CLEANING
Clean residual fluxes on board. Plastic shell and internal components brushed clean and sprayed with compressed air to remove dust. Exterior wiped down and given a light polish.
CMOS
Replace internal system battery (CMOS) with an easily user replaceable CR2032 battery that is rerouted to the top of the board.
POWER SUPPLY
Inspect and replace leaking Power Supply capacitors. Verify proper output voltages. We will inform you if you have a ZSSR power supply that should be replaced.
NEC TOKINs
NEC TOKINS replaced at user request, or if power related errors are present, for an additional fee. We will inspect them with an Oscilloscope to verify proper operation.
UNDERVOLTING
ALL systems will be undervolted unless requested. Undervolting is a safe way to lower tempatures and extend the life of the CELL/RSX processor. We undervolt the console to target a maximum in game tempature of 66C at 28% max fan speed. On some systems the CELL cannot be undervolted. Some will beat this range and others will not but the majority hits these targets.
BURN-IN / TESTING
We have switched to mainly testing in GTA V as it has the best combination of CELL/RSX usage for testing. We run multiple, 3-5 hours long, burn in sessions over 2-3 days. We allow our systems to go through multiple heat soak cycles of running for a few hours, then letting it sit, and doing it again.
ADDITIONAL SERVICES:
If you require other services not listed here we can probably do those as well. Please contact us for more info.
OVERCLOCKING
Overclock the PS3 RSX processor to increase the frame rate by around 10-15%. May slightly decrease the life of the processor but thats subjective. Running the chips with a higher than needed voltage will decrease the life of the chip more than a small overclock. The addition of the undervolt makes this argument moot in our opinion. We've seen 40nm chips set as high as 1.1V while weve never seen one that will not run perfectly fine at 0.900V. 200mV might not seem like much to a processor that is a lot. The overclock only applies while in game and can be easily disabled if you experience any problems.
TOKIN REPLACEMENT
We use BRAND NEW high quality, Low ESR KEMET or PANASONIC Tantalum capacitors, bought directly for authorized US resellers, and phat consoles receive an additional set of MLCC capacitors for additional signal filtering. We've repaired plenty of Frankenstein consoles and more than half of them had +15 year old tantalum capacitors from a slim console. You're buying used parts that have already surpassed their finite lifespan of 1000 hours.
$80 per 4 TOKINs, $150 for all 8. Includes RIP-Felix designed Tantalizer boards.
BLURAY
Clean and service BluRay drive. Remove all dirt and dust, clean laser, lubricate laser drive rails, and gears. Drive tested to confirm that PS1 PS2 PS3 and BluRay discs operate correctly.
$15
CLEANING
Exterior plastic pieces washed with detergent, including the metal shell around the motherboard and heatsink assembly, plastic lightly polished. All of the dirt in the vents will be cleaned. This helps to remove residual cigarette smoke smell.
$15
HEATSINK POLISHING
Heatsinks sanded with polished to a mirror finish. This process takes nearly an hour to do complete.
$30
TOP COVER POLISH
Top cover sanded with 600-3000 grit sandpaper, polished and waxed. This process takes more than an hour to complete.
$45
HARD DRIVE UPGRADES
Up to 1TB mechanical drives or SSD hard drives available. We have new and used drives available.
EXTENDED WARRANTY
Increase warranty from 1 to 2 years.
$100
WARRANTY:
We are so confident in our work we guarantee this console will operate without issue for a period of 1 year or we will fix it for free. You pay shipping. Obviously, this only covers components we replaced like the RSX or TOKINs.
If you open this console without our permission you VOID all warranties. If warranty/security seals are missing or damaged the warranty will be VOIDED. Please contact us first if you need to open your console We are ONLY doing this due to a few dishonest buyers that opened their units, broke the console, then tried to tell us they never touched it. We can tell if its been opened.
We also offer discounts if your console is out of warranty.
WHY YOU NEED THIS SERVICE:
This service replaces the 90nm RSX processor in PS3 PHAT models, that have a manufacturing defect, with a 40nm RSX processor from a PS3 slim or super slim. This can be done to any PS3 but it is intended for backwards compatible models.
ALL 90nm RSX processors are DEFECTIVE. Almost every GPU created from 2005-2008 was defective, these were put in all game consoles, laptops, and desktop GPUs. It was a engineering/manufacturing error. We only use PS3 slim and super slim processors as they are not affected by these issues.
The YLOD (Yellow Light of Death) is a general fault that can occur from any component in the system from failing. This service will stop YLOD errors from the RSX processor. In FAT consoles with 90nm processors +75% of all YLOD errors are caused by faulty RSX processors.
We only charge a $80 fee if the system cannot be repaired but that would be rare for us. We can replace any chip on the board including full CELL swaps.
FACTS YOU NEED TO KNOW BEFORE ORDERING:
These console are 20 years old. There is always a small possibility your console will be a paper weight after this process.
BGA assemblies and most circuit boards are not designed to be reworked multiple times. Your board will be subject to temperatures close to 250C (482F), components can fail at these temps, regardless of their age. Most systems have had some crazy things done to them with heat guns in an attempt to fix them. Heat gun repairs can cause all types of additional damage to the board and its components.
COMMON TERMS:
CELL - PS3 CPU
RSX - PS3 GPU
IHS - Internal Heat Spreader
Delid - Removal of IHS attached to CELL or RSX with adhesive.
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