There's been a lot of talk over the last few months about the breakdown rate of the PS3. Of course the longer aproduct is out, the more likely it is to break. If you have a release date model, you've probably had it going for 3 years now, so of course there's always a greater chance of breakdown. So this is to find out just how well your console has been running.

This is finding out how long your PS3 lasted from purchase to first breakdown.

If you have had a breakdown, it would also be useful if you could elaborate further below on:

• When you bought it
• What model it was
• Where you bought it
• Whether it was covered by warrenty
• If it broke down following being repaired

If you've never had a breakdown, let us know when you bought it.

I'll go first: I have a UK release date model that has never broken down, so nearly 3 years

It is on about 3 or 4 hours a day, although it does seem to be getting quite loud recently - hang in there baby.

EDIT - RESULTS

Well it appears that according to these totally unscientific results, the vast majority of those who have a PS3 has never had a breakdown. This is of course, the least useful statistic as this survey did not/could not pose options for when they were bought except in the comments (which some have left).

However, surprisingly, it seems that if your PS3 is going to break, the most likely timeframe is during the first 6 months of ownership (according to these results). However, this still only accounts for a small percentage of breakdowns. I could summise that this high number breaking down could be down to some fanboy anti-PS3 action - this could be supported by the fact that so few break down in the following 6 months - although this would be highly speculative.

Beyond this first year period it appears that the 1-2 year period seemed to cause a high likelihood in breakdowns, and the 2-3 year period also seems to have a high incidence of breakdown. We could therefore assume that PS3s are most likely to suffer breakdowns during the 1-3 year age.

There are also a pleasantly high number of PS3s lasting over 3 years before breaking down. My own PS3 lasted over 3 years before it experienced it's first malfunction (blu-ray drive failure), indicating that there is an excellent reliability rate for PS3s.

Considering that the survey was started just after it the PS3s 3rd Birthday (for the US), these results go to show just how reliable the system is.

For further research, a study into useage times vs breakdown rates would be interesting. the conversation i had with repair shop (anacdotal evidence) also seemed to suggest that certain games were more likely to cause YLOD breakdowns - including Heavy Rain and Modern Warfare 2. Whether the game itself was putting greater load on the CPU causing YLOD or whether the timeframes people were playing the game for helped cause YLOD failures.

PS3 40 GB
1.5 years and still going strong

My original ps3 was a 60gb NA version purchased july 2007 from Gamestop. It YLOD'd Sept 2008. It wasn't covered by warranty so I ahd to pay sony $150 and they sent a refurb. The refurb 60 gb YLOD'd June 2009 and they asked for $150 again.

This time around, I just borrowed my cousin's ps3 and played that till sept 1st when the slim launched. I got a slim from amazon. BC is gone but I choose reliability. Here's to hoping this one lasts.

yes I had a BC PS3 60GB Model I owned for nearly 3 years, sadly it started playing me up just before Christmas, it kept on freezing on me and beeping at me(due to overheating issues), so it did not get YLOD or BD problems, but i sold it off quick before it did, and I had to buy a new ps3 slim to replace it.

60gb. first time it had problems it was covered by warranty. skipping ahead. after the 5th breakdown and its second time not covered by a warranty(another $200 to get another)...
i went and got a slim and its doing good so far, hopefully no first breakdowns for it :)

never

60GB, it lasted a year and a month. The refurb has lasted slightly longer than my original one.

Sounds like similar issues to me, I have a 60Gb BC model, and mine keeps freezing then taking forever to load sometimes, i got it on the UK release day, so one more month and it's 3 years old.

Can't bare to give it up, my partner is a photographer and we use the card reader to check out her photos in huge HD. i rarely use the BC like to know it's there. Besides, i just prefer the look of this one. It's nice to know there aint that many around comparitively.

I've now moved it into a more open space, it's not neat, wires everywhere. but it's running better than it was.

60 GB B/C, it broke down exactly 2 year and 8 months after buying it in April 2007. It wasn't covered already, so I had to shell out 150€ for Blu-Ray repairs >_>

watch out a lot of 60's have been dropping lately(on here), to be honest the slim model looks alot better close up, and i actually like it more than my old ps3 phat, it seems to be running sweetly now. All you can do is hover it out regularly, keep it in a wide open space, don't have it on for too long and keep your fingers crossed (either that or get a ps3 slim lol)