Is it worth it to buy a new PS3 in 2023?

[MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai]

So recently I´ve been thinking about replacing my old fat 80 GB PS3 with a new model. Mostly because the damn thing sounds like a freaking jet engine whenever I boot it up and I also have a sneaking suspicion that it´s gonna get borked soon (I´ve been thinking the same about my PS2 tbh).

I´ve found some place that sells a used 320 GB and 500 GB models and I´ve been wondering if I should even bother buying them. I do have a nice PS3 library and also been thinking about buying some games from PSN store, but then again I don´t know how long the store will last since SONY might pull a plug on it like Nintendo did recently for the 3ds and Wii shops.

Now normaly I would go for emulators, but the problem with playstation 2 and 3 games is that they are extremely difficult to emulate on a computer due to the consoles  unique hardware which many games took an advantage of, so that´s a no go for me.

 

So I wonder if I should just go for it or spend my money on other hobbies, what do you guys think?

[vyruss]

I bought one just recently for the sake of playing through OG Demon's Souls, can hardly hear it at all.  What outfit do you plan to get your new console from?

[MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai]

1 hour ago, vyruss said:

I bought one just recently for the sake of playing through OG Demon's Souls, can hardly hear it at all.  What outfit do you plan to get your new console from?

Oh just a small shop in my hometown, you wouldnt know it.

[vyruss]

Fair enough.  I'd say go for it on the fact that you've got a library built up.

[MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai]

22 minutes ago, vyruss said:

Fair enough.  I'd say go for it on the fact that you've got a library built up.

Nice and what about PS2? I haven´t found a place apart from Amazon that has them, do you think that one is worth it?

[vyruss]

Were you looking for Slim or Phat PS2?  Also depending on the problem your PS2 might potentially be having its a simple fix.

[El Juancho]

PS3 emulation is really good now so i dont think it is worth it (if you have the money to buy a good PC ofc). Emulating modern consoles is super worth it compared to playing in original hardware IMO, uncapped fps in some games, higher resolution, a ton of cool mods, netplay, custom controls, ultra wide etc. I personally prefer to play very old consoles on real hardware, like the nes, snes, gba, genesis and n64... (n64 emulation is hot garbage, there are a lot of problems still)

Edited March 28, 2023 by El juancho

[volleyvalley]

I'd say go for it, but if I was you, I'd get the PS2 myself, because I grew up on it and would love to experience those titles once again.

[GibFrag]

If you get a PS3, I suggest getting the later made models vs the earlier ones as the earlier models are more prone to issues in my experience. As for PS2, you could go either way with the slim or fat model. I have had a few of both and all of my fat models eventually stopped reading certain discs (after years of use), while the slims have played them just fine and are still kicking. The fat models have better mods than the slim, but the slim has quite a lot of mods you could do to the hardware as well depending on model #. I prefer the fat models because that’s what I had first, but I also mod my consoles anyways so the disc issue wasn’t a problem in the long run. 

[MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai]

1 hour ago, El juancho said:

PS3 emulation is really good now so i dont think it is worth it (if you have the money to buy a good PC ofc). Emulating modern consoles is super worth it compared to playing in original hardware IMO, uncapped fps in some games, higher resolution, a ton of cool mods, netplay, custom controls, ultra wide etc. I personally prefer to play very old consoles on real hardware, like the nes, snes, gba, genesis and n64... (n64 emulation is hot garbage, there are a lot of problems still)

PS3 probably has but PS2 still has problems with certain titles like Ratchet and Clank games.

[Nikoxenos]

I got the slim for reliability but it doesn't play PS2 games, just PS1 and PS3. Same with Super slim... no PS2.

[Azuris]

20 hours ago, MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai said:

So recently I´ve been thinking about replacing my old fat 80 GB PS3 with a new model. Mostly because the damn thing sounds like a freaking jet engine whenever I boot it up and I also have a sneaking suspicion that it´s gonna get borked soon (I´ve been thinking the same about my PS2 tbh).

I´ve found some place that sells a used 320 GB and 500 GB models and I´ve been wondering if I should even bother buying them. I do have a nice PS3 library and also been thinking about buying some games from PSN store, but then again I don´t know how long the store will last since SONY might pull a plug on it like Nintendo did recently for the 3ds and Wii shops.

Now normaly I would go for emulators, but the problem with playstation 2 and 3 games is that they are extremely difficult to emulate on a computer due to the consoles  unique hardware which many games took an advantage of, so that´s a no go for me.

 

So I wonder if I should just go for it or spend my money on other hobbies, what do you guys think?

 

Open it up, free the Fans, maybe replace the BR-Drive and the HDD with a SSD.

 

It will run like new.

 

But yes, the Games a very cheap to get, Graphics aren't bad imo and you can have cheap fun.

[MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai]

5 hours ago, Azuris said:

 

Open it up, free the Fans, maybe replace the BR-Drive and the HDD with a SSD.

 

It will run like new.

 

But yes, the Games a very cheap to get, Graphics aren't bad imo and you can have cheap fun.

Fuck no I ain´t doing that, you know how hard opening one of those suckers is (I gues you do?).

 

Besides I already took it for repairs and the guy that cleaned it said, that while the dust was cleared the console would still sound like a jet engine.

[Azuris]

17 hours ago, MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai said:

Fuck no I ain´t doing that, you know how hard opening one of those suckers is (I gues you do?).

 

Besides I already took it for repairs and the guy that cleaned it said, that while the dust was cleared the console would still sound like a jet engine.

 

Imo it was pretty easy to open the PS3, the Screws were all pointed out on the Case.

More Srcrews than a PC, but the Disc Drive is similiar to exchange.

 

The Hard Drive is just a little Door :)

A new Fan seems to cost about 13€, but herei do not have any Experience how difficult it is to exchange it.

 

[Devalaous]

 

On 3/29/2023 at 8:43 AM, MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai said:

PS3 probably has but PS2 still has problems with certain titles like Ratchet and Clank games.

 

PS2 emulation has been amazing for quite some time, and PS3 emulation is pretty good too. And you've gotten the Ratchet and Clank games backward, all six on the PS2 run near flawlessly on the recent builds of PCSX2 (ive been playing all of them in the last few months), while the PS3 RC games aren't quite perfect yet. One of the more recent daily updates to PCSX2 even added more fixes to some of the RC games, and now the background for the pause and map screen isnt wonky when upscaled.

[MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai]

29 minutes ago, Devalaous said:

 

 

PS2 emulation has been amazing for quite some time, and PS3 emulation is pretty good too. And you've gotten the Ratchet and Clank games backward, all six on the PS2 run near flawlessly on the recent builds of PCSX2 (ive been playing all of them in the last few months), while the PS3 RC games aren't quite perfect yet. One of the more recent daily updates to PCSX2 even added more fixes to some of the RC games, and now the background for the pause and map screen isnt wonky when upscaled.

Oh shit that's great to hear :D !

 

What version of PCSX2 were you playing on and do you need a beefy PC to play the games without any stutters and slowdowns?

[Devalaous]

I only ever use the Nightly builds of PCSX2 (1.7.4293 as of tonight), as its had a total rework of the UIs and renderers. Performance can vary with the PC, my brother's PC is stronger than mine, yet it has slowdowns on RC1 with the Vulkan renderer, and runs frame by frame on Open GL, while my weaker machine runs Vulkan fine. He had to switch to Direct3D 12 to get it running fast, so there's definitely some tinkering needed to find the best settings for your PC.

 

On the PS3 side, ive only tested Quest for Booty on RPCS3, and it seemed to run okay, graphics seemed fuzzy though, and the water looked off.

 

As for system requirements these days:

https://pcsx2.net/docs/usage/setup/

https://rpcs3.net/quickstart