Simple Tips to Cool Down your Xbox 360

In a bid to get the product to market ahead of the competition, the Xbox 360 was rushed to completion far too rapidly. A 30 percent product failure rate (via the red ring of death) is the legacy of this haste. The Xbox 360 is a frail device because of it's many built in 'bugs'.

It's small and an inadequate cooling system cannot keep up with heat generating components that are packed into a small space. One or more of it's design 'bugs' can spring to life when it overheats, which eventually kills your machine. Therefore, to avoid the ring of death, it is important to keep your Xbox cool.

Simple precautions for keeping your Xbox cool is the topic of this article.

While most people aren't going to duct-tape cooling vents shut, they will find other ways of effectively doing the same thing. These usually involve putting the Xbox on very soft and shaggy surfaces such as pillows, rugs, sofas or beds.

Exercise care in where you place the Xbox as it needs to be in areas with plenty of ventilation. What this means is that confined spaces such as bookcases, cabinets, or racks are not a home for the Xbox. Placing the Xbox in a closed in area while exercising great care to keep the cooling vents open doesn't make any sense. This sort of behavior happens naturally as a result of our desire to arrange things neatly together in order to save space.

By tipping it on it's side, the Xbox can be better ventilated because more surface area is exposed for cooling. You can also point a small fan at your console for additional cooling.

Sources of heat such as stoves, heaters, very warm electronics, furnaces and radiators should be avoided. In addition to these obvious sources, be careful not to place your Xbox next to a window that gets direct sunlight.

As important as it is to keep the Xbox ventilated, the cooling requirements of the power adapter or power brick can't be overlooked. It is a very natural thing to set the power brick on the floor. But if you place it on a shaggy carpeting, cooling air currents will be obstructed. The best location is on a level and elevated surface with plenty of exposure to the air.

If you wish to avoid heating problems in the future, use the suggestions in this article on your Xbox when it is new. However, it certainly wouldn't hurt to try them if you are experiencing the red ring of death for the first time. Hopefully this first time heat build up didn't do any lasting damage.

Be Sociable, Share!

•