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it worth it picking up a backwards compatible ps3 off ebay?

A

adamy

Banned
basically i already own a ps3 slim which i keep in living room but wanted the ability to play blurays, ps3 games, ps2 games, and ps1 games in the guest room

is it a terrible idea to pick up a used backwards compatible ps3 off ebay? been checking out various auctions for CECHA01 and have been tempted at times but worried about potential ylod issues.

how unreliable were these things? if i run into issues down the road, are the typical problems an easy fix? thanks in advance!
 
Kudo

Kudo

Member
adamy said:
basically i already own a ps3 slim which i keep in living room but wanted the ability to play blurays, ps3 games, ps2 games, and ps1 games in the guest room

is it a terrible idea to pick up a used backwards compatible ps3 off ebay? been checking out various auctions for CECHA01 and have been tempted at times but worried about potential ylod issues.

how unreliable were these things? if i run into issues down the road, are the typical problems an easy fix? thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

I'm not an expert on Homebrews but maybe you could buy new one and just use CFW to enable the backwards compatibility?
Not sure if this is possible but sounds like a better option than gambling on century old models.
 
P

purseowner

Member
I did exactly that. It YLODed first day I had it. Unreliable as hell - sure you can go in and replace the thermal paste but you're only delaying the inevitable. Pick up a slim and a PS2 if you want the backwards compatibility.
 
G

GamerMax73

Member
I suppose the question is, how long will it keep working for? That's the problem with older tech, especially launch era consoles.

How about a cheap-ish PC running ePSXe and PCSX2? Would an Intel NUC play PCSX2 fine? Small enough to sit next to a PS3 Slim? Then again, if you go down the 2 device route maybe a PS3 Slim and a PS2 Slim would be a better combo?
 
eXistor

eXistor

Member
Definitely not. I work at a gamestore and we've long stopped accepting these models for the sole reason that they're almost always gonna die on you. That said, I personally have a launch 60gb PS3 and it still works fine, but that's anecdotal at best. Don't do it.
 
M

MaximumSpider

Banned
I don't think it's a good idea to buy one on eBay.
I have been thinking of sending in my PS3 on eBay to be downgrade so I can also use the PS2 emulator. That's probably an equally terrible idea though lol.
 
T

The_Lump

Banned
The few people I know who had the OG PS3 still have them in working order. Literally everyone else I know with a later model has had it YLOD on them and they've had to replace it. It's anecdotal of course, and it seems the consensus is that all but the very latest models are dodgy as hell. Bottom line is there is a risk there and it's just safer/cheaper to buy a PS2 if you want to play PS2 games.
 
N

Nictel

Member
I picked one up about 6 years ago for this reason. It works fine still though incredibly loud. In retrospect, half the games are better on PS2 because of comparability issues and the other half has gotten a HD remake before I had a time to play it. So yeah other solutions are better.
 
S

surrogate

Member
Probably not worth it. My 120gb slim decided to stop functioning properly last week (will only display properly through the multi-out, HDMI is corrupt), so I had to drag the 80gb fat with a dead optical drive out. After two days, I couldn't stand how loud it was and picked up a 250gb superslim off craigslist for $80.
 
Elven_Star

Elven_Star

Member
I think it depends on your luck. My launch 20GB (replaced the HDD with a 320GB) is working perfectly well. In your shoes though, I wouldn't take the risk.
 
Shai-Tan

Shai-Tan

Banned
my 60gb backwards compatible ps3 got a ylod and I lost all my ps2 saves (FF XII, DQ VIII, was on the last level of God Hand, in various places in different Ratchet & Clank games, etc)

edit: the worst thing about it is it can happen with no warning
 
B

bonkeng

Member
The best solution is get a ps2 slim and a ps3 superslim.

I'd bet they'd cost roughly the same.

Totally not worth the risk for a ylod candidate FatPS3.
 
O

offshore

Member
catbrush said:
The North American launch PS3s are reliable. The European launch PS3 and later revisions are less reliable.
Click to expand...
Can't comment on the North American versions, but yeah, the European ones are atrocious. When my original 60GB died, I went through six from the Sony refurb pool.

A shame too, as they were a great machine at the time. But don't go anywhere near them nowadays unless you accept that sooner or later... kaboom. lol.
 
S

stan423321

Member
Kudo said:
I'm not an expert on Homebrews but maybe you could buy new one and just use CFW to enable the backwards compatibility?
Not sure if this is possible but sounds like a better option than gambling on century old models.
Click to expand...

There are 3, PS2-wise, types of PS3s that I know of. The PSN PS2 emulator runs on all of these and can technically be injected with other games, but it pretty much sucks for most of them. The earlier two versions which run discs have way better compatibility with these, especially the one we did not get in Europe at all with basically all the core parts of PS2 included wholesale.

That said, the whole thing is subject to the infamous solder issue. So grabbing a PS2 sounds like a better idea, to NTSC gamers at least - as a PAL one, I just don't know if anything makes sense.

Of course this may be problematic due to TVs screwing with non-HDMI input. What a mess.
 
S

Speevy

Banned
The backwards compatible PS3 is not a great way to play PS2 games.

If you want an enhanced experience, use an emulator.

If you want an authentic experience, use a PS2.


If you want a jet engine, buy a fat PS3.
 
W

WooHooAlex

Member
You can track down a PS2 for pretty cheap these days. If you already own a PS3, I'd go that route. Much cheaper and safer option.

I got a PS2 slim with controllers, memory cards, accessories and 25 games at a garage sale last month for $25. Couldn't pass it up.
 
S

stan423321

Member
A reminder, since some people tend to forget it: all PS3s within a region have exactly the same PS1 compatibility.

It's been emulated since the start, heck, there are theories that later PS2s used some sort of CPU emulation for them.
 
M

Mike Golf

Member
In my time owning a 60 GB BC PS3 I only had a single YLOD when my dorm room had no AC in the middle of Texas Summer. At about its 2 year age mark its disc drive died then at 7 years it had a shutdown from an unknown error that I never got feedback on when Sony had to replace it with a new 60GB BC unit after I sent it in.

I've had that new unit for 2 years now and no issues. If you want to play PS2 titles on an HDTV and either don't have component inputs on it or your TV just doesn't handle 480i well or has a poor scaler/de-interlacer than it can be worth it. The image output from the PS3 is pretty good in regards to its de-interlacing of 480i titles, sadly of which the majority of PS2 titles are. It's not perfect, although I haven't seen a de-interlacer which is, and you'll still catch combing interlace artifacts but it does the job.

If the cost of second hand BC is too high consider finding a CRT with component inputs for cheap if you have the space; this is how I still play all of my PS2 games even though I have a BC PS3. I'd be more willing to play them on both but Sony won't allow transferring saves from the PS3 tp the PS2 memory card, their official adaptor only reads and transfers saves from a MC.
 
N

NewDust

Member
I would be verr wary on buying them without having one in my hands first. I think a considerable amount of BC PS3's have ylod'ed and have been repaired just to be resold.
 
H

horkrux

Member
catbrush said:
The North American launch PS3s are reliable. The European launch PS3 and later revisions are less reliable.
Click to expand...

They are all equally bad. All models with PS2 BC are getting too hot for their own good.

I wouldn't buy them to play PS3 games. You'd be pushing your luck at this point. I've bought three BC models on ebay (I'm from Europe and getting a proper CECHA model is just a pain in the arse) and they all seem to work fine (no previous YLOD) despite being used frequently, so it's not like buying one was unreasonable. But whichever model I'm going to keep isn't going to see another PS3 game for the end of its life, that's for sure.
 
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