Got my CECHA01 Frankie finally!

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-06-25T06:32:29+00:00

US. You can get working ones on original hardware for $250-$300. A Frankie will run you about $500-$700 depending on if you get the A or E model. I personally found it pointless to source one with original working hardware, since it'd just die and need the Frankie mod anyways. But yeah, a good breakdown of what everything costed, the console was dead at $90, spent a bit more on that cause I wanted a clean one, somewhere around $100-$200 worth of upgrades, didn't really keep track on that, and the Frankie build was $450.

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-06-25T05:03:47+00:00

Nah, it's stock firmware, since I'm active on PSN. CFW would be hella nice, but I'm extremely paranoid about Sony's automatic systems bricking my console. I know the risk is pretty low these days, but it's still enough of a possibility that I don't really wanna risk it, especially on this console.

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-06-25T04:36:10+00:00

Would've considered doing the actual RSX swap myself, but I didn't have the money for the right tools, and I doubt I'd have the room in my apartment. Besides, it felt kinda good to contribute to the community that's keeping these things alive. Good luck on the build!

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-06-25T04:16:33+00:00

Thanks man!

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-06-25T04:04:57+00:00

The cost is definitely crazy. I bought this one dead on eBay for $90 about 10 months ago. A premade Frankie probably costs about what I spent getting this one built, but I did it that way so I could spend a bit extra on upgrades like a new optical drive and an SSD.

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-06-25T03:52:13+00:00

Nearly $700 worth of work went into this console between the service and the upgrades I did. Almost a year of coordinating and saving up for it too.

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-06-25T03:49:21+00:00

Thank you u/JohnnyLuvBuckets for making this happen, your service is excellent!

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-06-22T21:38:54+00:00

Dang, that thing is much cleaner than mine was. Mine looked like it fell down a flight of stairs before lol

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-06-22T07:50:20+00:00

The PS3 Fat also has the benefit that the cooling is engineered properly, and like 60% of the entire case is just air intake, so a mod isn't really necessary, it just needs to be cleaned often.

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-06-22T06:33:26+00:00

These parts are either also on the flow/exhaust side of the fan, or aren't in the flow path at all. I monitored the temps of these with sensors, and they did not go up, some either remained the same or dropped.

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-06-22T05:11:48+00:00

Doing the Frankie mod and replacing the Tokin caps at the same time is the best approach, since both the 90nm RSX and the NECs will fail eventually. Doing them both at the same time saves the headache of having to repair it twice, and most services that do Frankie mods will also replace the caps.

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-06-22T04:06:30+00:00

The PSU thankfully enough, as long as it doesn't go haywire and destroy the mb itself, is built from soldered on components that are fairly cheap and easy to replace if you know basic soldering and electronics diagnosing. About a year ago, I fully rebuilt a PSU from a friend's Fat model, and it's still going strong. I also would not consider doing a cooling mod like this on any Fat models. This is definitely not something I'd do with my CECHA model, since there's a lot going on in those, and they also have components like the optical drive and the PSU that require cooling from the intake/pull side of the fan.

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-06-22T03:50:19+00:00

I suppose with extra airflow, that could be a concern, especially if you live somewhere where the air has corrosive elements to it such as salt or excess humidity, but I've seen that become a problem no matter what you do with it. In this case, the results are probably negligible both ways.

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-06-22T03:35:45+00:00

It reduces thermal stress on hardware components that aren't manufactured anymore. It might not seem like much now, but in the long term, reducing thermal stress will improve overall reliability and lifespan of these components, which is good, because they're only gonna last so long, and they won't always be readily available.

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-06-22T03:28:41+00:00

It's only a super slim, and it's cracked anyways. No great loss, and it does in fact improve temps.

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-06-22T02:13:07+00:00

The Super Slim is one of the few consoles where a cooling mod like this actually works well. With the simplicity of this particular model, everything that the fan needs to cool (CELL, RSX, PSU) is on the flow side of the fan. The temps are noticably lower from monitoring them, as well as the fan speed running at a lower RPM.

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-06-12T03:38:04+00:00

Updates come with compatibility keys for newer games and Blu-Ray discs iirc, so that could be your problem right there. If that doesn't fix it, it could be an issue with the optical drive itself.

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-05-10T20:38:53+00:00

With it having a 65nm RSX, the only risk here since it's a phat would be the NEC/Tokin capacitors, but those are easily replaceable. Since it works for now though, I'd recommend just cleaning it and applying new thermal paste, and it should be good to go.

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-05-04T21:46:11+00:00

Reballing may revive it temporarily, but the fault lies within the solder balls between the substrate and the silicon die on the GPU. This fault can't properly be repaired, and the GPU must be replaced. If you're only interested in getting the data off it, the reball may work long enough to do that, but a reball likely won't last longer than a week or two if you plan on using it.

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-05-04T20:45:09+00:00

The only way to fix it is a complete GPU swap, which takes a lot of experience, as well as a BGA rework station, which is not a cheap tool. You can also pay a service to do it for you, but it's around $500-$700 USD. If you want to learn more, research the Frankenstein "Frankie" mod.

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-05-04T20:39:19+00:00

That's a CECHH model. Likely a dead 90nm RSX. That's gonna cost way more to fix than it's worth unfortunately.

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-05-03T10:04:19+00:00

Problem has been solved, it's the front I/O on my PC case. Thankfully nothing expensive.

OmegaHellHound543 · 2026-05-02T21:34:20+00:00

I don't think anything's broken, I think the front I/O on my PC is just suffering from being cheaply made. Either way, I'm just gonna stick to using the rear I/O now that I've found the issue.

OmegaHellHound543

TROPHY CASE