Easy to say that when you only have one picture.... Where's the picture with it vertical?

Mine is horizontal, but that's purely for visual reasons.

The PS3 just looks so damn beautiful standing up..*sob*

If a console freezes or messes up is you stand it up an alternate way it doesnt seem like it will last long at all D:

Ease to say with only one pic if you realise HD area is the hottest one.

Blu-ray discs don't scratch, so that's not a problem. I've had my PS3 vertical for a year and a half and haven't had problems.

Maybe I'm looking at these pictures wrong, but according to the scale, isn't the PS3 cooler while vertical, I mean purple is cooler than blue, and the vertical one is mostly purple, while the horizontal is mostly blue....

Also, I question the reliabilty of the source pictures, who knows what they could have had the PS3's doing before the took the picture.

Source is reliable. They tested all consoles (X360, PS3, Wii) for about 45 min in every position. In both position they used same game (Motorstorm, Crackdown, Zelda) so no difference in strain. You should rather check avarage, min and max temperature than colours. (Purple on one pic isn't equivalent of purple on another one, check the legend on the left)

Horizontal                                           Vertical

Avg. temp. - 25,33 deg C                    27,86 deg C

Max. temp. - 36,97 deg C                    55,69 deg C

Min. temp - 22,13 deg C                      24,50 deg C

http://polygamia.pl/pierwszy-raz-w-polsce-konsole-w-nieco-innym-swietle

It was raported also on PS3fanboy.com

http://www.ps3fanboy.com/2007/11/28/ps3-too-hot-try-keeping-it-horizontal-thermal-image-guarantee/

What's the main cause of games freezing though is it because the system is over heating or is it something else? and if it is because of the system over heating then this really confuses me because everyone is saying that laying it flat down horizontal is best when it comes to cooling the system but when I stood it up vertical I don't think it ever froze.

mine is set horizontal and runs great has'nt overheated yet.

Both should be fine.

Personally I can't help but feel horizontal is better for the disk drive (only in terms of reducing the probability of failure).

Vertical I suspect may be better for WiFi connections as a I think it gives a better signal if I remember correctly.

I also think Vertical looks nicer so am constantly tempted to switch from horizontal to vertical.

I doubt it should be making a noise vertical vs horizontal so I would consider checking whether its certain disks and whether they are slightly warped...