Exploring The 360's Crashing and Heat

GameDailyBiz has a piece up looking into the crashing and overheating problems that have plagued the Xbox 360 since the system launched. A new crashing problem seems to be associated with the most recent update to the Xbox Live software, while german forum-goers think they may have identified the overheating issue. From the article: "The way it's installed now by MS the GPU chip makes contact with the protection foil instead of the heat transfer pad. This can of course cause cooling issues for the graphics chip as for optimal cooling performance there should just be a thin layer of thermal pad between the GPU chip and heatsink."

Comments

Re:Tragedy Becomes Farce

[SnprBoB86]

No need to "brag", but I will simply state that I have been playing my 360 pretty reguarlly since I got it in the first week of January (see my gamer card: http://live.xbox.com/member/SnprBoB86) and have had not a single bad experience.

The system is located in a relatively hot room and is positioned vertically, but I have not experienced a single crash or scratched a single CD. I know three other people with Xbox 360s and only one of them reported that he experienced some crashes, but only when playing this one particular hockey game.

Holy crap these people are morons

[pythas]

The foil IS PART OF the heat transfer material. Intel uses it on the pentium 4s, I've seen it on Dell servers as well.

Just another case of idiots on the internet pulling out the "jump to conclusions" mat.

Re:Holy crap these people are morons

[MicktheMech]

I like the part where there's this worry that the foil will somehow block the heat transfer. Right. If you believe that, wrap your hand in tinfoil and stick it in a fire.

1. Your example is primarily covective/radiation, where the heat transfer in question is primarily through conduction. It isn't a very good analogy.
2. The issue isn't the conductivity of the foil, it's the contact surface. When you have imperfect contact it works like an additional resistance. If you measure the temperatures of the two surfaces you'll see something like a disconinuity between the two. Thermal paste conforms to each of the surfaces, reducing the effect of the contact resistance. Remember, convection is generally negligible for small characteristic lengths. Radiation is also a small factor when you're looking at the temperatures inside of a computer.

Re:Sad day indeed

[Donjo]

I just purchased my 360 not long ago and I had to search long and hard for it. I wanted to get a premium package but they were nowhere to be found in retail stores and I was finally able to find an EB that had a single core system left. I know a lot of people that never had problems, yet I know quite a few people that had problems with their PS2 release consoles and the DVD drive that came with it. Every launch console has problems and people who are against the console tend to hype it.

Re:Tragedy Becomes Farce

[thehickcoder]

only one of them reported that he experienced some crashes, but only when playing this one particular hockey game.

This is an example of Microsoft's greatest coup. By getting the vast majority of the computer-using population used to its buggy software, we now expect software to crash and are happy when it only crashes some of the time. You are making the GP's point for him. Good software should not crash. Period.

Re:new user notes

[Burpmaster]

Name another console (non-portable) with a headphone jack.

3DO. It had a headphone jack at the bottom of each controller.

Re:new user notes

[Anonymous Coward]

It is very loud. This is probably my biggest complaint with the console. That said, my PS2 is roughly the same volume, maybe even louder.

WTF? The PS2 isn't even half as loud as the 360. If yours is even louder it's got a serious problem.

I haven't seen anything on the PC that looks as good as PGR3, DOA4, Kameo, GRAW, Full Auto, and occasionally PD0.

FEAR, AOE3, Quake 4, B&W 2, X3 Reunion, TRD3, Half-life 2 LC just to name a few.
As for the 360 games you mentioned, PGR3, Kameo, PD0 are jaggy-filled nightmares (no anti-aliasing or AF) and PGR3 runs at a mere 600p - it's not even high-def. Full Auto suffers incredible slow-downs when in 720p mode. DOA looks like it could have been done on the original Xbox (there isn't even self-shadowing on the fighters), and GRAW suffers from a complete lack of AF and poor framerates in single-player mode while having no AA in multiplayer (as well as even worse slowdowns).

This is the first videocard upgrade I've really been disappointed with, and it's solely because nothing has come close to the X360 I've had for months.

It's more like you obviously haven't played a PC game in months. That, or you're just another Microsoft astroturfer.