Buying a PS3 (planning ahead)

I'll soon be able to afford a PS3 of my very own.

I was curious about upgrading the hard drive and found some stuff on google. You can swap out the drive with any 2.5" SATA drive right out of the box. I plan on doing this with one I found on newegg. The PS3's native SATA controller is SATA150, not SATAII. So, I'm gonna save the extra money and buy the 40GB version of the PS3 and move to a 120GB 7200rpm drive right away. I had concerns about the software in the PS3 as far as formatting and such. It turns out the OS is stored on the PS3's hardware. After popping in a new HDD, the PS3 will format the new drive automatically. Simply awesome.

Here's my total hardware cost -

40GB PS3 (retail + tax) = $425.99
Hitachi 120GB (newegg) = $115.28 shipped
Extra controller (retail + tax) = $53.24

Total = $594.51 USD

It's not too bad, even though I don't get a game. However, I will still get 5 Blu-rays by mail from BestBuy. I hope they're still offered next month. I know they're mediocre movies, but whatever...they're free. I really don't know which game I'll buy first. The new games coming out look so good, I can't decide!

I hope if anyone else is looking to buy a PS3 they also consider this option. I should be able to recover some of the cost by selling the 40GB drive that it comes with. I also eliminate having to backup game saves and other data by installing a bigger HDD right away.

Can't wait!

Just remember that with the 40GB you will get 2 fewer USB ports, no flash card reader, and most importantly, no PS2 game support...

Noted. Thanks Fuhzy.

I prefer to play my ps2 games on the ps2 to not use the lense! but yea dont go for the base version bluetooth rocks !

and if you get the offer in the states you can get 5 free bluray movies

5 free blu rays WTF ?? I GOT SCREWED

lol you got your receipt and box still? Go down to eb games and grab a form.

I had to buy 2 ps3s to get my offer cuz the 1st one crapped out cuz it was off ebay and the second was bought so I didnt have to send it in and it worked

thx im workig my ass off to get 5 blue rays for free

I don't think that HDD is a good choice.

I would go for the 250GB or soon to be 320GB drives. With that much density, performance is on par with a small 7200rpm drive and you get a ton more space.

also the 80gig is the better value too.

Your getting a 6ft hdmi cable (40bucks), motostorm (60 bucks) and a card reader and 2 extra usb ports. And it plays ps2/ps1 games which alone is worth the extra 100bucks

The 40gig only comes with composite cabling and a spiderman 3 movie.

But if your going to get a ps3 try and snag a 60gig. Best out of the 4 versions.

Haha Motostorm sucks though...

All things considered, I'm sticking to my plan. I'd prefer the 7200rpm drive, even though benchmarks show there's only a marginal improvement as of yet. I really don't think I'll fill a 120GB at any astounding rate or anything. The only thing that concerns me with a higher rpm drive is any possible heat issues. Hopefully, I can find a good aftermarket cooling system sometime soon. The only ones I know of have bad reviews.

As for the other things, I don't feel a need to have a card reader. Should I cange my mind, I can pick a USB one up for about $10. Same goes for a USB hub if I find myself having many USB devices. Sure the 80GB can play PS2 games, but I'd be playing through software emulation anyhow. I have a functional PS2 if I want to replay any of my favs like Gran Turismo 4. I haven't checked if there still is any brand new 60GB versions around, but I kinda doubt it. I'm about %96 sure that the 80GB version does not come with a HDMI cable, so that's an added expense either way.

Thanks for all the input!

It does come with an hdmi cable

I got my 80gb yesterday, didnt see an hdmi cable.

hmm the ones that zellers sell do because i've had to set up one for a customer