RRODs and 360 location

[Mize]

Okay, my home entertainment area is a mess. I've got a Wii, PS3, DVR and now a 360 running to my Denon and not enough surface area.

If I stack my 360 under my PS3 is there any chance that the minimal obstruction of the 360 top vents increases the chance of an RROD?

Wouldn't it be nice if both the PS3 and 360 were more standard in shape (read: stackable) with air flow from front to back? As it is the PS3 vents back to side and the 360 all over to back so I dare not run both at the same time!

On another note...this 360 sucker is loud! Headphones?

 

[AlphaWolf]

There's no doubt that confining the hardware will lead to an increase in the chances of hardware failure, but if you can live without the machine for a week or so, that's really Microsoft's problem thanks to the 3 year warranty.

 

[Mize]

Well it's not really "confined" as it's on the top of the cabinet (no sides or back), but the PS3 is on top owing to the fact that nothing can balance on top of the PS3...

GTA4 is quite nice on the 360...spent a bit on Ace Combat and quite good too but a bit on the arcadish side.

 

[dobwal]

Im so scared of RROD, that my Xbox 360 sits comfortably by itself on my bar which is adjacent to my entertainment system. Its looks out of place but I rather lived with the odd ball placement than spending $279.00 to replace it.

 

[Carl B]

Well it's not really "confined" as it's on the top of the cabinet (no sides or back), but the PS3 is on top owing to the fact that nothing can balance on top of the PS3...

GTA4 is quite nice on the 360...spent a bit on Ace Combat and quite good too but a bit on the arcadish side.

I wouldn't recommend it Mize... the problem is that the PS3's chips and heatsink are located on the southern hemisphere of the console. If you already play it laying flat like a component, one day after it's been on a while lift it up and run your hand across the bottom plastic near the rear of the console. This is no big deal in and of itself of course, but I'm worried what that sort of heat sandwiching might do to your 360 given an already suspect thermal situation.

Now, if either your PS3 and/or 360 are newer revisions this will probably reduce the concern (as mine is a launch unit), but I do think it's worth mentioning that the bottom of the console is in fact where the heat builds in the PS3.

 

[AlphaWolf]

I wouldn't recommend it Mize... the problem is that the PS3's chips and heatsink are located on the southern hemisphere of the console. If you already play it laying flat like a component, one day after it's been on a while lift it up and run your hand across the bottom plastic near the rear of the console. This is no big deal in and of itself of course, but I'm worried what that sort of heat sandwiching might do to your 360 given an already suspect thermal situation.

Now, if either your PS3 and/or 360 are newer revisions this will probably reduce the concern (as mine is a launch unit), but I do think it's worth mentioning that the bottom of the console is in fact where the heat builds in the PS3.

True, if you're going to stack them you might want to separate them a bit. I use a strip of 1" Styrofoam between my DVD player and receiver (it helps a bit with sound over using something solid) on each side.

 

[Mize]

I've never heard of a PS3 heat failure so I wasn't even thinking of that. Actually the PS3 winds up with more under-clearance thanks to the 360's curvature. My real fear is the RROD on the 360. I could put them side-by-side vertical but it looks lame as it breaks the lines of my wall-mounted plasma

 

[Carl B]

I've never heard of a PS3 heat failure so I wasn't even thinking of that. Actually the PS3 winds up with more under-clearance thanks to the 360's curvature. My real fear is the RROD on the 360. I could put them side-by-side vertical but it looks lame as it breaks the lines of my wall-mounted plasma

No no, I'm not talking about a PS3 failure. What I'm saying is with the 360 failure as your concern, by resting the PS3 on top, you'd actually be exposing the 360's upper surface to the hottest part of the PS3. I just think you're going to get a lot of heat 'compression' inside the 360 with that, especially given that the top surface of the 360 will not only not have access to cooler exterior air, in fact you'll be introducing an additional (significant) source of heat.

 

[Mize]

Ah...thanks Carl. I get it. I won't run them together though. The Denon only allows 2 HDMI inputs so I'll swap the 360/ps3 and leave cable attached.