Customer Reviews

PlayStation 3 Intercooler

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(46)

 

 

1. It does not steal power from the PS3. It plugs into the PS3's power receptacle and the Power Cord plugs into it. The AC power "passes thru" to the PS3.

2. It moves the PS3's power switch to the front of the unit for easy access. Which you'll need, see below.

3. It is loud.

4. It can be difficult to attach to the PS3. You must be careful not to break it or the air slots on the PS3. It snaps into place and you are warned to be careful when doing so as it is very easy to break things.

5. It doesn't turn off when you put the PS3 in standby mode - pretty lame. So, when you put your PS3 to sleep for the night (standby mode) the fans on this thing continue to run. That is why they moved the power switch up front. You have to power it, and the PS3, off to turn the fans off.

6. I couldn't live with the extra noise and the inconvenience of having to get up and manually turn the PS3 off in order to turn the fans off. So, I took mine off and it is now sitting in the closet, unused.

Good design for the fans, but bad implementation (having to manually turn it off). If you use this system, you can say goodbye to using your controller or your Blue Ray controller to turn the system on/off.

There have been no official reports of the PS3 overheating so until that happens, why waste money, as I did, on fans which may or may not be needed.

Save your money and buy a game instead.

The idea behind this product, and the implication that doubtless drives many people to purchase it, is that you need an external means of cooling your PS3. You buy something like this because you want to protect your very expensive investment, but that's assuming there's a problem with the console overheating in the first place. I don't believe that's the case--I've seen these things played for hours at a time without a cooler, and most of the consoles on display at local retailers, which are on for many hours, are not cooled externally.

Besides being (probably) unneccessary, however, the Intercooler is poorly designed. The thing is bulky, though maybe that can't be avoided. It's terribly loud as well--loud enough that you may not be able to use it on a PS3 if you're playing it late at night with the sound muted so you don't wake up the family. There is a dial to adjust the fan speeds, but even on the minimum this thing sounds like some kind of mutated hairdryer.

It has it's own on/off switch, which also acts as a master switch for the PS3. If you switch off the intercooler the console goes off as well, which could be a major issue if a game is saving or something. Sleep mode for the PS3 works only if the Intercooler is still on (and roaring), and you can forget about turning the PS3's power off from your controller.

Bottom line--this is a pretty poor product. Don't let the fear of a PS3 meltdown drive you to get ripped off by one of these things--just leave the console in a well-ventilated area and let the system cool itself off the way it was designed to do.

In theory this should be a good product, right? Here's the setup: One big fan on the back, two tiny fans on the top, and two really really tiny fans also on the top, and finally variable speed control. But wait, why does it have its own power switch? This switch acts like a "master" switch so every time you want to switch the PS3 on or off, you have to walk over to the console and flip this new switch (oops, make sure your PS3 is properly shutdown first and the hard drive is done writing because it is essentially like ripping out the electric cord). Yes, the switch is a dumb design when they should have just made that switch only control the fans and pass-through the power to the PS3 so it can use its own power control software. But that doesn't matter, its not like you could forget to turn it off. This device makes some noise and a lot of it. Remember the general rule: the smaller the fan the more noisy it seems to be. Fine, I'll compromise a little noise for saving the PS3 from all that evil heat... no, this thing doesn't pull heat out fast enough (oh yeah, that's because these loud small fans are too small!) In summary, save your money and avoid this seriously stylish piece of junk. Great idea, it's too bad someone didn't test a prototype first.

After reading the previous bad reviews, I had to say something. As an Electrical Engineer and someone who does electrical circuit and mechanical design, this is not a bad product. I knew before I even hooked it up that it would add an additional level of noise! It's something that I've learned to tune out and doesn't really bother me. What many don't realize is that heat is a semiconductors worse enemy. Just because the PS3 doesn't warn you, it doesn't mean that an accelerated degradation of the internal components is not taking place. The nice thing about the unit is that I can allow it to run a few minutes after shutting the system down. This prevents the internal temperature from rising due to residue heat once the PS3 is powered down.

I bought this thing and the first two things I noticed were:

-Its WAY too loud.
-I can't leave the PS3 in standby mode.

Then after 3 weeks I hear this HORRENDOUS noise coming from the PS3. The large fan on the cooler was making noise like a bearing was going out.

Suffice to say, don't waste your money.

EDIT - Talked to Sony Repair about these things based on what I had heard at my local Gamestop. DO NOT USE THIS DEVICE.. The use of it will void your warranty on your PS3. They apparently draw too much current and cause the power connectors in the PS3 to burn up.

Anyone who owns a PS3 who knows a little about it's architecture, knows that the heat is dispersed very effectively away from the CPU and GPU. While it will be very hot on the side where the disc tray is the system itself will remain cool. This Product displaces that heat and draws it back over the CPU and GPU which are why the fans are needed in the first place making it counter productive to say least and is the only way this machine will come close to over heating unless you put it in a box, or cover it in a blanket. If you are smart and you want your PS3 to last then do not buy this product. It's not as bad as their 360 intercooler apparently but still a waste and more likely to do more damage then good.

I bought this unit thinking it may be a good idea since my XBox 360 had nothing but problems. At such a low cost, I thought it could only help, boy was I mistaken. It snapped on ok and only fit decent, with parts slightly cocked off to the side. Color matches and it looks factory enough, with the power switch relocated to the front, but that's where the positives end. The unit is loud. Since I watch Blue-Ray movies on my PS3, I also have a surround sound hooked up to take advantage of my theater experience. The unit is so loud, I find myself having to turn up the volume to help eliminate the sound and that's with it on the other side of the room. Then it got worse. One day it really started making a louder noise and I had to bang the side to get it to its already lower sound level. It would stay that way, but only temporarily. I never really had issues with my unit overheating, but bought this thing thinking it could only help. Well its bad, and you can't turn off the system with the remote any more. Now it collects dust and sits off tot he side, but will probably find its way to the trash can very soon.

Don't listen to other people talking about how this will fry your PS3. XBOX360 has an AC/DC converterbox in the power cable which in turn runs through the intercooler this is why the XBOX360s die or fry. The PS3 has an internal power box. The PS3 intercooler (NYKO) is just utIlizing,sharing what is already there(the PS3 power cord ) this is the same prinicable as pluging two things into a surge protector plus each fan only uses about 2 watts I don't see sony using a power cord that is within 10 watts of overloading

REVIEW UPDATE

after reading another person review I noticed something, all there info was based on reviews for xbox and xbox 360 how can they review something on stories they herd for a difrent system. By the way I checked with NYKO and they said this:

Nyko has not had a single occurrence of an Intercooler for PlayStation 3 damaging the PlayStation 3 console. In the unlikely event that any Nyko products damages the console it was designed for, Nyko will promptly replace both the Nyko product and the hardware damaged.

Good review by Kenneth Gardner "Kenny Gardner"

And keep in mind that, since no one mentioned it, product manufacturers supposedly do their research regarding their products. And in this case the having a fan blow above optimum levels of air that will most likely have dust flying all over the PS3 components is not advisable.

You risk damage to: 1-the lens 2-pre-mature mustiness (dust) on the cooling fins etc..

Keep you money unless an official product endorsed by Sony that will maintain your warranty.

I bought the Intercooler with my PlayStation. I'd heard they put off an incredible amount of heat and was concerned about it. However, the Intercooler is disturbingly noisy. The bearings in the fans go out quickly. and then you have an annoying useless shell encasing your PlayStation. Topping this all off I discovered that while the PlayStation does put off an incredible amount of heat, this is because it's pulling that heat safely off the 8 processors and venting it. Just don't keep your PlayStation in an enclosed entertainment center and it'll be fine. Oh, ... and don't waste your money on the Intercooler, just buy another game or movie.

Oh .. and if anyone from Amazon actually reads this .... why am I reviewing a cooling device that's categorized as a GAME !!!!