Hello, thanks for coming to this thread (maybe for helping me?)

Situation: PS3 SLIM CECH 2504A (160GB) DEAD, already reflowed, after that sent to a professional repair shop, they REBALLED the GPU.

They sent it back, everything worked well, after a SINGLE DAY PS3 DIED AGAIN!

They said it's strange because they made a long test before sending it back, I believe them.

Problem is: I installed a PWM fan accelerator little device to run it cooler (stock speed s**ks and sistem goes up to 70° Celsius)

Stock speed should be 20%, I reflowed the console, set the speed to 50% (about 50° instead of 70°) (more is very noisy) and it lasted for two months.

Sent console to repair leaving PWM at 80% because ps3 started freezing before she died again, they REBALLED GPU BUT tested it for a day without touching speed accelerator (remained 80%!!!) Well of course it was a very easy test to pass if you ask me.

Now I think about putting PS3 Slim into PC case, remove stock heatspreader and use instead TWO CoolerMaster Hyper TX3 (need some mods for fitting, only two holes on mobo for each one instead of 4 like some pc mobo) (one on each CHIP, I have a TX2 on my desktop and is very silent and efficient), based on my PC temperature and based on PS3 slim temperatures (I have another SAME MODEL CFW PS3 that says temperature data for both chips!) 2 TX3 should make it run at less than 40°C!!!

Some people already did this (or only using similar heatsink with a hole on stock ps3 case) on FAT PS3s. (gilksy on Youtube)

What do you think? Shouldn't a real reballing resist nicely to 70° Celsius? (I used the ps3 for a day at 50°C only max I suppose) Is the mobo Fu**d up? (pads damaged under gpu place?)

Before sending PS3 to the shop I tried and successfully removed IHS (the sqared little heatspreader "glued" to the real RSX to change thermal paste under it, it didn't work....

Informative video showing RSX heatspreader removal and shows ps3 slim mobo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um34y302Sk0

ps: thanks for the advice but please remain strictly on topic, I have ZERO problems with SAVEDATA, everything is in PS Plus servers.

ps2: of course the next reballing is free since they gave warranty on theyr work! (I still pay pack-sending)

After all this... Wouldn't it have been cheaper to just buy a new one?

I don't know how attached you are to your old PS3, but it would probably be easier to just buy a new one for $200. Or pay for a refurb unit from SCE for under $200.
About the only reason to repair a PS3 (and I've done about a dozen reflow/repair jobs) is to get whatever data you can off it before it dies again. You won't be able to keep your game installs, but you can at least get your saves and whatever non-protected videos and photos you were keeping on the HDD.

Have you done Reballing or Reflow!?

About a dozen or so solder reflows between 3 or 4 PS3s. I've been able to resurrect the console every time, but the duration of the "repair" varies greatly, depending upon how much damage was done to the mobo before it finally gave up the ghost.

You can almost keep doing the reflows indefinitely, but the console becomes pretty unreliable to the point of being inconvenient.

Eventually I ended up just having the three consoles that I wanted operating without having to worry about it dying during use refurbished by SCE. I've only had one of the refurb units die on me, so they're about as reliable as the average new console. 

But given that the cost of refurbs is really not that much less than the price of a new console (a $199 model), we've hit a point where it is now better to simply recycle/discard broken PS3s and replace them with new ones, as wasteful as that may be. 

Really?

That seems like a lot to go through. I'd have just bought a used PS3.