PS2 emulation: is it hard on PS3?

gordonfreemanjr

Forum Noob
I'm on CFW PS3 Slim. I have succesfully set my system up to play both PS3 games from an USB drive and PS2 ISO games off the HDD. Everything works fine.

However, I noticed that while emulating PS2 the fan is working really hard. I adjusted the cooling settings with Webman and got myself a cooling pad, but the question is different: is it worth it?

I bought myself a used PS3 to try and mess around with it a bit (I never used any PS model before, I'm a PC gamer). If emulating PS2 puts so much pressure on it, maybe it's better to avoid it? I don't want to set my system up and have it die on me in couple months due to the PS2 emulation, which I can easily do on my PC instead.

What are your thoughts on the matter? Thanks!
 
webMAN MOD's fan profile for PS2 games is different to the dynamic fan control it uses while playing PS3 games. The nature of ps2_netemu.self is that it doesn't enable any LVL2 functions, which means webMAN MOD cannot function as it does normally. As long as it keeps the CPU and RSX cool, the fan speed isn't much of an issue - but it is fixed before launching a PS2 backup. It is higher because as I said, the emulator acts as a guest OS on the firmware so disables many regular system functions. You can read more about PS2 emulation here.

Long story short; it won't damage your PS3. While the sound of the fan may be alarming, it is doing its job in keeping the system cool which is the important thing. Don't worry about it shortening the life of your PS3; official PS2 Classics from the PS Store use the very same emulator - the CFW version is in fact a modified version of this official software emulator.
 
Thanks, that's great input. @Agrippa mentioned the 40% flat setting for PS2 emulation. Is that enough? I read on some other PS forums that it should be set to 50%.

Also, should I play with the temperature display on? If so, which warmth levels are considered dangerous for the PS3?

webMAN MOD's fan profile for PS2 games is different to the dynamic fan control it uses while playing PS3 games. The nature of ps2_netemu.self is that it doesn't enable any LVL2 functions, which means webMAN MOD cannot function as it does normally. As long as it keeps the CPU and RSX cool, the fan speed isn't much of an issue - but it is fixed before launching a PS2 backup. It is higher because as I said, the emulator acts as a guest OS on the firmware so disables many regular system functions. You can read more about PS2 emulation here.

Long story short; it won't damage your PS3. While the sound of the fan may be alarming, it is doing its job in keeping the system cool which is the important thing. Don't worry about it shortening the life of your PS3; official PS2 Classics from the PS Store use the very same emulator - the CFW version is in fact a modified version of this official software emulator.
 
Thanks, that's great input. @Agrippa mentioned the 40% flat setting for PS2 emulation. Is that enough? I read on some other PS forums that it should be set to 50%.

Also, should I play with the temperature display on? If so, which warmth levels are considered dangerous for the PS3?
What I would do is try at 40%, play a game - observe the temperatures when you first launch the game (by pressing PS button in-game) and then after playing for a period, then again after a bit longer, etc. I would say as long as your temps are in the mid-60℃ range then you are fine.

If you're not happy, raise the PS2 fan speed in wMM to 45% and repeat the above steps and observe temperatures over the course of playing. Try to strike a balance between fan speed (so it's not excessively loud) and CELL/RSX temperature. As long as you're comfortably under 70℃ then you're fine. The loud fan can sound more alarming than it really is. :)
 
It sure is. First time I booted up a PS2 ISO game the fan just went full King King. I turned the PS off immedately, I thought it's going to blow :)

What I would do is try at 40%, play a game - observe the temperatures when you first launch the game (by pressing PS button in-game) and then after playing for a period, then again after a bit longer, etc. I would say as long as your temps are in the mid-60℃ range then you are fine.

If you're not happy, raise the PS2 fan speed in wMM to 45% and repeat the above steps and observe temperatures over the course of playing. Try to strike a balance between fan speed (so it's not excessively loud) and CELL/RSX temperature. As long as you're comfortably under 70℃ then you're fine. The loud fan can sound more alarming than it really is. :)
 
But dont get alarmed by the amount of fan noise, the intuition makes us think the PS3 is overheating,... but is the other way around :D
Think in it this way: a high noise means low temperature... and a low noise means high temperature

For a healthy PS3 (good thermal paste, and no other problems) the max fan speed should be around 45% as most
By looking at how sony configured the fan speeds we can deduce they considered an aceptable noise level something around 35%
But this depends of your temperatures, of course, so you can start by setting the fan speed in webman to 40% and keep an eye at the temperature while playing some PS2 games... and then decide if you want to be more permisive with noise or with temperature
 
But dont get alarmed by the amount of fan noise, the intuition makes us think the PS3 is overheating,... but is the other way around :D
Think in it this way: a high noise means low temperature... and a low noise means high temperature

For a healthy PS3 (good thermal paste, and no other problems) the max fan speed should be around 45% as most
By looking at how sony configured the fan speeds we can deduce they considered an aceptable noise level something around 35%
But this depends of your temperatures, of course, so you can start by setting the fan speed in webman to 40% and keep an eye at the temperature while playing some PS2 games... and then decide if you want to be more permisive with noise or with temperature

You mentioned keeping an eye on the system temps while playing ps2 games. Is there a way to do this while playing a PS2 game or are you saying to check it right away after a game session?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
You mentioned keeping an eye on the system temps while playing ps2 games. Is there a way to do this while playing a PS2 game or are you saying to check it right away after a game session?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Push the PS button during gameplay, the temps will appear in the top corner.
 

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