No, it is not okay to put your PS3 in a small space

[JC48573]

maybe you guys need to submit your resume to sony.

[miked]

The bottom air holes are pointless anyway as the HDD sits in an fully enclosed plastic box once the little cover is on the bottom with no air flow from the rear fans able to reach it.

I forgot to mention that. Also it sits on small rubber feet so they are not 100% blocked off, and with how small the "vents" are I cant imagine that its restricting the airflow any amount, if at all.

[Niode]

The bottom air holes are pointless anyway as the HDD sits in an fully enclosed plastic box once the little cover is on the bottom with no air flow from the rear fans able to reach it.

I forgot to mention that. Also it sits on small rubber feet so they are not 100% blocked off, and with how small the "vents" are I cant imagine that its restricting the airflow any amount, if at all.

Why restrict it at all if you can help it? There's no fans or holes on the bottom of the PS3 so you might as well just lay it down. There's no reason to have the PS3 stood on it's end.

[miked]

Well I actually do have mine laid horizontal right now. I was just trying to say that my 40gb model had a different fan arrangement than modmans 60gb and I really have no idea what happened to this thread after that. *shrug*

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

The bottom air holes are pointless anyway as the HDD sits in an fully enclosed plastic box once the little cover is on the bottom with no air flow from the rear fans able to reach it.

I forgot to mention that. Also it sits on small rubber feet so they are not 100% blocked off, and with how small the "vents" are I cant imagine that its restricting the airflow any amount, if at all.

Why restrict it at all if you can help it? There's no fans or holes on the bottom of the PS3 so you might as well just lay it down. There's no reason to have the PS3 stood on it's end.

Because heat flows up.

Science class 101: Hot air rises, cool air falls.

Therefore: Cold air comes in the bottom and hot air goes out the top. The way the 60GB PS3 is designed hot air can pool and recirculate against the sealed end of the Blu-Ray drive. Whereas when it's stood up the hot air flows freely out through the fan under the raised portion of the BD drive, and colder air gets in and out easier preventing recirculation of hot air.

[CRTGAMER]

Well I actually do have mine laid horizontal right now. I was just trying to say that my 40gb model had a different fan arrangement than modmans 60gb and I really have no idea what happened to this thread after that. *shrug*

Heat rising has some merit, but the fan does force where the air goes though.
Anyways everyone has their idea, sorry for the fires.

[MrPopo]

The bottom air holes are pointless anyway as the HDD sits in an fully enclosed plastic box once the little cover is on the bottom with no air flow from the rear fans able to reach it.

I forgot to mention that. Also it sits on small rubber feet so they are not 100% blocked off, and with how small the "vents" are I cant imagine that its restricting the airflow any amount, if at all.

Why restrict it at all if you can help it? There's no fans or holes on the bottom of the PS3 so you might as well just lay it down. There's no reason to have the PS3 stood on it's end.

There's always space. I've got my PS3 and both my 360s standing on end because I don't have the space to have them horizontal on my shelving unit. The unit is fully open on all four sides from an air-flow perspective, but I just don't have the horizontal footprint available.

[AppleQueso]

I seem to recall from somewhere that thermal imaging revealed that there really isn't much, if any difference between vertical and horizontal orientations as far as airflow is concerned. The key is to just make sure the thing's got room to breathe, really.

[Niode]

I seem to recall from somewhere that thermal imaging revealed that there really isn't much, if any difference between vertical and horizontal orientations as far as airflow is concerned. The key is to just make sure the thing's got room to breathe, really.

Hot air rises because of convection. This principle isn't in action (as much) when fans are involved. Air will simple follow the path of least resistance, IE the direction the fans are blowing. Negative air pressure in the case will suck air in, positive will push it out. You want a balance of both. Otherwise the case will just suck dust into and eventually get clogged up. The best kind of cooling results from a fan that purely exhausts and draws cool air in through negative air pressure. The PS3 has a large fan located in the central area of the case at the bottom

it works similar to how a GPU cooler works. It doesn't make a massive difference whether or not the case is flat or vertical, however, when it's vertical you are blocking vents. Why block the vents?

[AppleQueso]

I can't imagine those tiny things around the HDD spot would make any difference whether they were blocked or not.

Hell I'd even wager that they are only there at all for aesthetic purposes.