Reference
Every model, board revision and known weakness.
For modding, three console groups is all you need, and that is what the rest of the site uses. This page is the layer underneath — for buying a specific console, matching a modchip to a board, or working out why one SCPH-750xx behaves differently from another.
18 models · 10 fat · 5 slim · 3 exotic · build a guide for your console
If you are buying one today
The models least likely to give you trouble.
- SCPH-90000Most dependableThe last one
- SCPH-39000DependableThe reliable fat
- SCPH-79000DependableLightest brick slim
Go in with your eyes open
Documented weaknesses, not necessarily bad consoles.
- SCPH-10000Expect problemsLaunch model
- SCPH-15000Expect problemsEarly revision
- SCPH-30000Expect problemsFirst worldwide
- DESR-5000 / 7000Expect problemsPSX
- Audiovox VOD10PS2Expect problemsIn-car PS2
- SCPH-18000Known weaknessesLast PCMCIA
- SCPH-30000RKnown weaknessesRevised 30000
- SCPH-35000Known weaknessesJapanese revision
- SCPH-70000Known weaknessesFirst slim
- KDL-22PX300Known weaknessesBravia TV
Quietest in normal use
Before you account for the optical drive, which dominates everything.
- SCPH-79000Silent
- SCPH-90000Silent
- SCPH-70000Quiet
- SCPH-75000Quiet
Two things worth understanding first
Chassis numbers are a community convention. V0 through V18 is not a Sony designation, and it does not map cleanly — some numbers cover several SCPH ranges and some are skipped entirely. The GH-xxx board code identifies the actual internal design far more precisely, which is what matters when you are matching a modchip. Both are listed here because both turn up in listings.
Deckard and the FreeMcBoot block are different things. Deckard is the PowerPC 405 that replaced the original MIPS I/O processor, and it arrives at the SCPH-75000 — not the 79000 or 90000 as many guides claim. It affects PS1 compatibility. The FreeMcBoot block is a separate revised BIOS in SCPH-90000 units built from late 2008, date code 8C onward, and it affects how you get in. A console can have one, both, or neither.
Noise, heat and the power brick
The single biggest change is fat to slim. Every fat console has a full-size fan and a sliding tray, and you hear both; the slims are near silent, and the flip-top lid removes most of the mechanical noise a tray makes. Among the fats the SCPH-50000 is the quietest, because it runs cool enough that its fan has less work to do. The SCPH-39000 is the opposite trade: deliberately well cooled, and noisy because of it — which is part of why it survives where 30000s do not.
The power brick is a wash, thermally. Fats keep the supply inside; slims from the 70000 to the 79000 move it out to a brick, which keeps that heat out of the case entirely. The SCPH-90000 brings it back inside and still runs cool, because by then the silicon draws little enough that it does not undo the gain. You get one ordinary mains cable and slim-console thermals at the same time, which is a large part of why it tops the reliability list.
Modding changes the noise picture more than the model does. The optical drive is the loudest component in any PS2, and once you load games from a hard drive, an SD card or the network it never spins again. A fat console with an internal drive is quieter in practice than a slim still reading discs — so if noise is what you care about, the storage choice matters more than which console you buy.
The full table
18 models · click a row or its▶to expand
| Expand | Series | Chassis | Boards | Years | Bay | I/O proc | Power | Noise | Reliability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SCPH-10000Launch model | V0 | GH-001 | 2000 | — | MIPS | Internal | Loud — noise 2 of 5 | Expect problems — reliability 1 of 5 | |
| SCPH-15000Early revision | V0 | GH-003 | 2000 | — | MIPS | Internal | Loud — noise 2 of 5 | Expect problems — reliability 1 of 5 | |
| SCPH-18000Last PCMCIA | V0 | GH-008 | 2001 | — | MIPS | Internal | Loud — noise 2 of 5 | Known weaknesses — reliability 2 of 5 | |
| SCPH-30000First worldwide | V1, V2, V3, V4 | GH-004, GH-005, GH-006, GH-007, GH-010 | 2000 – 2002 | Yes | MIPS | Internal | Loudest — noise 1 of 5 | Expect problems — reliability 1 of 5 | |
| SCPH-30000RRevised 30000 | V5, V6 | GH-015 | 2001 – 2002 | Yes | MIPS | Internal | Loud — noise 2 of 5 | Known weaknesses — reliability 2 of 5 | |
| SCPH-35000Japanese revision | V5, V6 | GH-015 | 2001 – 2002 | Yes | MIPS | Internal | Loud — noise 2 of 5 | Known weaknesses — reliability 2 of 5 | |
| SCPH-37000Interim revision | V7 | GH-017 | 2002 | Yes | MIPS | Internal | Loud — noise 2 of 5 | Mixed — reliability 3 of 5 | |
| SCPH-39000The reliable fat | V7, V8 | GH-017, GH-019, GH-022 | 2002 – 2003 | Yes | MIPS | Internal | Loud — noise 2 of 5 | Dependable — reliability 4 of 5 | |
| SCPH-50000The best fat | V9, V10, V11 | GH-023, GH-026, GH-027, GH-029 | 2003 – 2004 | Yes | MIPS | Internal | Audible — noise 3 of 5 | Mixed — reliability 3 of 5 | |
| SCPH-55000Final fat | V11 | GH-029 | 2004 | Yes | MIPS | Internal | Audible — noise 3 of 5 | Mixed — reliability 3 of 5 | |
| SCPH-70000First slim | V12 | GH-032-11 | 2004 – 2005 | — | MIPS | Brick | Quiet — noise 4 of 5 | Known weaknesses — reliability 2 of 5 | |
| SCPH-75000First Deckard | V14 | GH-036, GH-037, GH-040, GH-041 | 2005 – 2006 | — | Deckard | Brick | Quiet — noise 4 of 5 | Mixed — reliability 3 of 5 | |
| SCPH-77000Cost-reduced slim | V15 | GH-051, GH-052 | 2006 – 2007 | — | Deckard | Brick | Quiet — noise 4 of 5 | Mixed — reliability 3 of 5 | |
| SCPH-79000Lightest brick slim | V16 | GH-061-12 | 2007 – 2008 | — | Deckard | Brick | Silent — noise 5 of 5 | Dependable — reliability 4 of 5 | |
| SCPH-90000The last one | V18 | GH-070-42, GH-072-42 | 2008 – 2013 | — | Deckard | Internal | Silent — noise 5 of 5 | Most dependable — reliability 5 of 5 | |
| Audiovox VOD10PS2In-car PS2 | — | — | 2009 | — | Deckard | Internal | Quiet — noise 4 of 5 | Expect problems — reliability 1 of 5 | |
| KDL-22PX300Bravia TV | — | — | 2010 – 2011 | — | Deckard | Internal | Quiet — noise 4 of 5 | Known weaknesses — reliability 2 of 5 | |
| DESR-5000 / 7000PSX | — | — | 2003 – 2005 | — | MIPS | Internal | Loudest — noise 1 of 5 | Expect problems — reliability 1 of 5 |
On the reliability scores
These are community consensus about what tends to fail, not measured failure rates — nobody has that data for twenty-year-old consoles. They lean on documented, specific faults: the disc read errors the SCPH-30000 family became known for, the laser weaknesses the revision lists flag on the SCPH-50000 and SCPH-70000, and the power transformer recall covering SCPH-70000 units built between August and December 2004. A low score means know what you are buying, not avoid it — a fat console with a tired laser is a fine purchase if you intend to fit a hard drive and never use the drive again.