So I applied thermal paste to both the 360 and the PS3. Here's my experience.
Damn MS for making that case! The tabs holding that case together were not designed with sanity. Who makes a tab held on the right side with a tiny hole to apply pressure to a jutting out corner on the opposite side. It was hell taking off. Aside from that the X clamps were awful and I wish the thermal paste they used would dissolve instead of acting like glue. The old paste was well leaked over onto the board and I had to leave it since it wouldn't come off easy. Thankfully it is non conductive. With artic silver I was worried I applied too much but made sure my dots were relative to the size of the chip I was placing them on, no short circuits yet so I think I'm good. I got everything back together right and the thing is running much cooler than it was previously after the HDD reset that originally go the thing operating after over a year in the closet.
The 40gb PS3 is a little different than the original 20gb/60gb models all over the internet with instructions. A few different screw placements. The biggest difference being the fan housing. Now made with plastic instead of metal and fastened to the heat shield. Instead of taking that off the heat sinks I had to expose the whole motherboard to access them. That motherboard was also on there really tight, the old paste was like cement and I thought I was going to snap the thing in two. The thermal paste on there was excessive, thick strips surrounded the heat sinks edges. Thankfully it came off easy and I only left some of the edges where it was hard to remove and dissolving it would just coat parts I didn't want to coat. I'm worried I used too little paste or that it didn't press down hard enough but that board is pretty tightly adhered so I hope its fine.
It operates now and the fan was far quieter at the start but after playing a bit it kicked into overdrive, throwing out a ton of heat. Turns out the system can't breath at all in its enclosure under their tv, after removing it and having it run on its side out in the open it ran cool. I'm worried I could have done a better job but now I'm thinking any PS3 would have trouble in that environment. I'm surprised it didn't YLOD already since all the vents were clogged with thick dust. It was bad, really bad.
I'm still worried though, but the space the PS3 was in was a cheap wood entertainment system, bottom shelf on the floor with a cord hole in the back the size of a plum. Up against the wall too much too. It only has 3 inches of clearance on both sides and back and about 4 on top. It's a death trap. No matter how good of a job I did it'd have problems right?
Before the PS3 everyone was nice to me :(
