PS2 About the alleged PSX (PS2 DVR) overheating issue

[niino]

There is this myth about the PSX having overheating issues floating around the internet. However, I highly doubt that's actually true. My DESR-7700 only measures around ~30 - 32 °C after playing through the first part (about 20-30 minutes) of Final Fantasy X when measured using PS2Temps shortly after gameplay.

This also seems plausible, given that the same SoC runs at ~45-55°C in a SCPH-7000X slim PS2 which has even less cooling (smaller fan with less airflow and smaller heatsink). Don't forget that even the very first EE+GS revision has a power consumption of just 8W; such chips can theoretically be fully passively cooled with little effort (which is in fact what sony did in the CECHA/CECHB PS3, where the EE+GS is just passively cooled by the RF shield).

Sure, the PSX is infamous for reliability issues, but I highly doubt that overheating issues play any role in these.

 

[MonkeyBoyJoey]

I've been curious about this as well. I have heard this before in the past but on all of my DESRs, I have not experienced this. I haven't run into anyone who has experienced it either.

The only thing I have noticed is that the factory HDDs got extremely hot to the touch. You can feel it on the top panel of the case too. I believe this may be part of the reason these drives are so unreliable. They may be running too hot and end up damaging the HDD internals.

I replaced the HDD in my 7000 test unit with a 40GB HDD and I have noticed the temps are significantly cooler. I have not measured it with a thermometer but it's a big difference when feeling it with your hands.

It's my theory that the overheating rumor may be HDD related rather than system cooling concerns.