Troubleshooting

To find a list of common hardware fixes, check out the PlayStation 3 Troubleshooting page.

Upgrades

  • Hard Drive: The 2.5" hard drive in the PlayStation 3 can be upgraded to 1 TB. With other modifications it is also possible to use 3.5" Sata/IDE HDDs as internal storage.

Background

There are several models of the Sony PlayStation 3. The model featured here came with a 60 GB hard drive. This is the original "fat" PS3, not to be confused with the PlayStation 3 Slim.

The original models of the PS3 were backwards compatible with the PlayStation 2, but later revisions dropped that functionality. When the PS3 was first released, it was one of the few devices that could play Blu-ray discs. Some people bought PS3s just to play high-definition movies in the beginning, then used it for games as they got cheaper.

The most often replaced PlayStation 3 parts include the thermal pads, hard drive, and power supply.

Identification

The PS3 is a curvier console compared to the PS2 and PS4. "PlayStation 3" is written on the top of the console. The model number can be found at the bottom of the device.

Additional Information

Wikipedia: PlayStation 3

PlayStation.com

PS3 History

PS3 Model Comparison