360's freezing/overheating
- Thread starter Bad_Boy
- Start date
It seems to be, but what's the alternative? The thing generates a lot of heat and it has to go somewhere.one said:
(Also, not only is the PSU this huge brick that needs to be up off the carpet, but the cords that plug into it are thick. I felt like I was plugging in a clothes dryer.)
.Sis
Joe DeFuria
Legend
Sis said:
Indeed...this seems to just be a trend. Consumer electronics in general, and high-end stuff in particular.
My last two set-top boxes (Digital receiver from Sony, and DVRs from Scientific Atlanta) both spit out more heat and have fans. They too need "space". Older boxes just didn't need it.
I think the solution: hotter, louder, more "demanding" boxes at launch...quieter, cooler, and more "forgiving" later in the cycle is about the best these companies can do. The early adopters (fans) are going to be the ones more tolerant and willing to accomodate the machine so that they can play and experience it.
Once the price comes down to "mass adoption" levels, the box really needs to be more forgiving.
The hard-core fans don't want the console's power and ability comprimised because of something they have control over. On the other hand, the masses don't want to have to deal with inconvenience. So you engineer it so that it may be initially demanding, but then (hopefully) with process improvements, by the time it's ready for mass adoption it's not an issue any more.
Joe DeFuria
Legend
DSN2K said:
Based on the heatsinks...the CPU:
http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=2610&p=4
http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=2610&p=6
MrWibble said:
I don't think I've ever heard of a N64 dying. I mean the thing runs cool and has no moving parts. Maybe it got lightning damaged?
I'm actually sorta surprised more Gamecubes haven't died. The optical lens in there cranks around quite crazily. But it also runs quite cool and is obviously a lot simpler than PS2 or Xbox.
swaaye said:
I was getting some weird graphical corruption when I first got Zelda. It started off as minor texture corruption (text looking wrong, certain graphics not appearing), and (after a couple of reboots) got to the point where hardly anything was visible. I swapped games around a bit and after a couple of boot-ups it stopped working entirely.
I replaced it (technically I never paid for the first one, it kind of got borrowed from the office before the place I was working closed down... ahem... either way I didn't mind buying a cheapo replacement at that point, even though I wasn't intending playing it much longer) and all the games I had worked fine - so it wasn't a fault with the carts or anything..
No idea what caused it... I've never heard of anyone else with the same issue...
Some people might consider this bogus info, or at least rumor quality, but I came home a while ago from a shopping trip (Batman Begins on DVD! 
), and one of my stops was one of the larger PC stores in town. They had problems with their computer-based cash register system (rather ironic), and while I was talking to one of the cashiers he mentioned a guy at MS he talked to had said there were a lot of problems with the launch x360s.
Because he'd apparantly been sworn to secrecy he couldn't go into details (which explains why he even told me about this in the first place), but he did mention that "thousands" of units were affected/faulty, and implied that apparantly it was quite a mess over at MS because of it. It would also take until april (or even may, I can't recall) until these things would become readily available, he claimed. If true, people better get used to semi-permanent waiting lists...
), and one of my stops was one of the larger PC stores in town. They had problems with their computer-based cash register system (rather ironic), and while I was talking to one of the cashiers he mentioned a guy at MS he talked to had said there were a lot of problems with the launch x360s.Because he'd apparantly been sworn to secrecy he couldn't go into details (which explains why he even told me about this in the first place
), but he did mention that "thousands" of units were affected/faulty, and implied that apparantly it was quite a mess over at MS because of it. It would also take until april (or even may, I can't recall) until these things would become readily available, he claimed. If true, people better get used to semi-permanent waiting lists...
Are any non-NA buyers here who are intending to buy XB360's now thinking of waiting until they feel reliability can be improved? Or is everyone happy to accept it's one of those things and buy with that unknown risk of a failed box and perhaps 2 months wait?
Ona sidenote the wait for replacements is silly. They ought to be replaced the next shipment at the store, ahead of outstanding preorders.
Ona sidenote the wait for replacements is silly. They ought to be replaced the next shipment at the store, ahead of outstanding preorders.
Joe DeFuria
Legend
Slay said:
Um, I'd say it's rather impossible to tell, and it'd be foolish to speculate on which "part" is failing in any given heat related problem.
scooby_dooby
Legend
dizzyd said:
Yep, It says right on the little card that comes with it.
Something to the effect of "We have extended our normal 3month warantee to 2 years, so that you can bring in your X360 for servicing free of charge, which would normally cost $119 CAD each time"
Somethin along those lines.
Well in PC land most freezes are CPU related. I would think it more likely a power delivery problem than heat, because one can only hope they wouldn't design the system with such sensitivity to heat.
GPU instability usually shows up as graphics artifacts, such as pixels that are messed up or screwed up model/enviroment geometry. 360's GPU isn't exactly a typical GPU however.
GPU instability usually shows up as graphics artifacts, such as pixels that are messed up or screwed up model/enviroment geometry. 360's GPU isn't exactly a typical GPU however.
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I'm reminded of the kiosks with the graphics problems that some reckoned looked like overheating issues. I guess that news along with these current crashes shows the machine is running pretty close to it's thermal limits. Even if you're not getting crashes, is there a problem of long-term damage to chips? I know vaguely that running things cooler increases reliability and durability.
gmoran said:
With past consoles I would agree with you, but times have changed.
Could you imagine trying to lock a multi-core 3.2GHZ with 500MHZ GPU equipped PC into a small box with no ventilation? I'm pretty sure anyone on this forum would say you were crazy if you tried.
And that's essentially what we are dealing with here, a multicore 3.2GHZ computer with a 500 MHZ GPU. It's going to need all of the airflow and cooling a similarly equipped PC would require. People may have an expectation that these things will work in tiny enclosed spaces, but it's time for people to change their expectations.
If you expect a console to match or exceed a high end gaming PC in abilities it's time to expect it to need all of the ventilation and cooling requirements of said PC as well.
seismologist
Regular
Seems that Microsoft has ackowledged that there's a problem
http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/23/technology/personaltech/xbox.reut/index.htm
http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/23/technology/personaltech/xbox.reut/index.htm
seismologist said:
I'd like to hear a real number myself, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the internet is greatly exaggerating the scope of problem. I've heard as many or more people without an xbox360 complaining about the overheating issues than I have heard from people who actually own the units.