Thermalright Xbox 360 heatsink spotted at Computex?

When everything looks like a netbook, anything out of the ordinary sticks out like a festering wound at Computex. One such sore thumb came from the Thermalright display, which saw a number of new cooling devices basking in the glory and just waiting for photographers. While most items at the booth were generally uninteresting, this particular image shows off one TR-360 -- something we can only assume is a replacement heatsink for the Xbox 360. All we've got right now is the picture above along with one other in the read link, but here's to hoping Thermalright gets around to sharing more information soon.

[Via Xbox-Scene, thanks Xant]

[Flashpoint @ Jun 4th 2008 2:12PM]

something is wrong with my NetBook.

3 Flashing Red Rings

...of death

[Andy @ Jun 4th 2008 2:14PM]

Why would a console need a replacement heat sink? Or are they hoping to get it included in the 360? And would it not void your warranty to change it?

[DWells55 @ Jun 4th 2008 2:19PM]

Because the Xbox 360 overheats if you so much as look at it funny.

No, they're probably aiming this at console modders or other people in need of a new heatsink.

Yes, but the people willing to swap out a heatsink are generally the ones who don't care about their warranty or have already voided it.

[Blaine Oliver @ Jun 4th 2008 2:32PM]

To me, i would like to know its not going to RROD rather than think, its ok its under warranty. As long as they dont wipe off my doodles i think it will be ok :)

[Ray @ Jun 4th 2008 2:44PM]

I'd rather see better heat management in my Wii.
Not like it crashes or anything, but Wiiconnect24 gets the thing so damn hot I'm scared something will break one day.
It's because Wiiconnect24 runs when the system is off, but the fan doesn't.
As a matter of fact, I think my Wii DID get fucked up from overheating. All my menu sounds are distorted but games still sound fine. Must be a firmware issue or something. Maybe doing an update will fix that...

[gamefoo21 @ Jun 4th 2008 2:47PM]

This is for the people that can't resist modding their console to make it better and better.

As for Xboxes constantly overheating... Odd... My Elite hasn't crashed on me, well there was that one time before I updated and popped in a HD-DVD and it stalled for a second then kicked me back to the dashboard. Then there is the Core that served faithfully 16hours a day, 7 days a week, for a year and a half until someone got upset they couldn't beat a game, and told us it "vibrated" off the desk. The elite we have on demo now sits playing games the same 16hours a day or atleast paused.

Want to talk about pumping hot air, our PS3 displayer sounds like a hoover and nothing but hot air comes out of the dual 120mm fans that are exhausting from the cage. The design of the cage is a good one as there is alot of openness to draw fresh air through. That unit gets hot, to be fair though, the 360s on display were open air, mine sits in a open shelf with proper cable routing, and it does pump some warm air out, but three 3.2ghz processor cores and a rather powerful vpu make heat.

Stuffing a modern console in a closed entertainment unit(aka leaving it with no way to exhaust the heat) and then crying a river because it over heats, is very similar to calling tech support and complaining about how your computer shut down, while there is a black out in your area....

[Aaron Wanker @ Jun 4th 2008 2:59PM]

I agree with Gamefoom, I keep my 360 Premium in an unventilated cabinet of my entertainment center, but I pull it out when I play, and I have had no problems with overheating. The only issue I have had, is when I accidentally tried to move it without shutting it off... but that was my fault completely.

[Aaron Wanker @ Jun 4th 2008 3:00PM]

sorry Gamefoo, I screwed up your name...

[Pochi @ Jun 4th 2008 3:08PM]

"...but I pull it out when I play..."

"...I accidentally tried to move it without shutting it off... but that was my fault completely."

Okay...

1) It is ventilated when you use it. So the fact that you keep it in an "unventliated cabinet" when it needs 0 ventilation really makes that a non-point.

2) You should be able to move your console when it is on without worrying about breaking it.

[FrankTheCrank @ Jun 4th 2008 3:09PM]

360 is janky....ha!

[Aaron Wanker @ Jun 4th 2008 3:22PM]

@ Pochi

1) I was just giving a thorough, yet succinct description of the condition in which I keep my 360, knowledge is power!

2) I'm not sure you know, but when an object is spinning at high speeds resists externally applied torque. So, if the 360 is on (I believe I was at the dashboard, not even playin the game yet), and I try to move the console, the disc will resist the torque I applied, and hit the tray, causing some serious scratching of the disc.

[Pochi @ Jun 4th 2008 4:13PM]

Dude... I have moved many a spinning optical drive in my time (ever hear of a laptop?) and they never annihilate my CDs/DVDs. THe 360 seems to be the rare exception to that rule of "don't built a product that destroys your consumer's media."

[jonnyb1952 @ Jun 4th 2008 4:25PM]

@pochi

a laptop is designed so that it can be moved while the disc is spinning. An xbox 360 is not

[Flashpoint @ Jun 4th 2008 2:31PM]

What's funny is that most consumers don't realize that the Xbox 360 and the PS3 are basiically medium range computers in the sense that they draw tremendous amounts of electricity. The PS3 for example draws almost as much electricity when watching a movie as when its idle.

Is it any wonder that the PS3 is the size that it is?

Is it any wonder that the 360's power converter is the size of a pillow?

[bohsocks @ Jun 4th 2008 2:41PM]

A pillow? A pillow?! I'll concede a shoebox... but a pillow? You crazy.

[Ray @ Jun 4th 2008 2:46PM]

Idea: run a 360 reactor through a pillow for instant electric pillow.

[Joshua Walters @ Jun 4th 2008 3:39PM]

Hopefully MS is paying attention, and hopefully this doesnt use the AWFUL xclamp system.

Ive replaced the xclamp on two systems now, and BAM, no more Red Rings.

Im beating MS to it and doing it on every console I see now. If $6 and 1/2hr is all it takes to keep a 360 from Red Ringing, its the best investment I have ever made.

[BigD145 @ Jun 4th 2008 3:42PM]

It sounds like Microsoft needs to sell the individual components of their console and allow 3rd party companies to make alternatives. Consumers could price themselves as low as they want or stick to brand loyalty in order to build their console. But wait, isn't that what a console ISN'T and what a computer IS?

[nikster @ Jun 6th 2008 9:28PM]

How about just building a giant, working heatsink and/or a giant, variable-speed fan into the 360?

I was interested in the 360 but I live in a tropical country and reports are that you basically need to keep the 360 in an air-conditioned room or you'll get the RROD in no time.

Is building a cooling system that works too much to ask?

[crispy @ Jun 4th 2008 4:12PM]

What the hell GameFoo. That's like saying I shouldn't cry when my car dies from driving my car on the road. The xbox360 is supposed to go in an entertainment center, where else am I going to put it? If my 7.1 amp, dvd player and cable box can all survive in there than the xbox360 should be able to as well.

I think the developers didn't think enough of the probable environment that these machines were going to end up in and did not design them accordingly. They are simply built too fragile. Make it bigger, I don't care, I have room on the shelf, but make it where it can move more air through itself.

[CaptainMalarkey @ Jun 4th 2008 4:23PM]

I think the 360 has come a long way since it started. I've actually had more PS3's returned with faulty disc drives than 360's returned over the past few months at the shop where I work.

[legios @ Jun 4th 2008 4:30PM]

I have experienced the RROD from overheating. In addition, just the other day, my 1 yr old closed the glass door on the cabinet where my Xbox is located. I didn't notice (too busy rocking Rock Band), and the next thing I knew the system shut down and I had 2 blinking red lights. Fortunately, it worked again after I let it rest for a while.

You would have to pry my 360 out of my cold, dead fingers before I would give it away. I use it as an extender, DVD player, and for games.

However, I live in constant fear that it is going to fail. The darn thing sounds like it's trying to cool the sun half the time. They really need to redo the thermal design.

[Flip @ Jun 4th 2008 5:23PM]

I don't know what bricked it, but my Xbox 360 elite gave me the red ring of death recently. I was not pleased. Apparently the failure rate is lower than 30%, but still there. Maybe I should have gotten the 60 gig PS3 :-/

[Eli Gundry @ Jun 4th 2008 5:57PM]

Was the original 360's heatsink passive? Cause that would explain a lot.

And kickass heatsink, btw.

[tekdemon @ Jun 6th 2008 7:45AM]

The heatsink itself has no fans on it, but the exhaust fans are directly behind it and connected to a duct system, so it's not really passive. You can actually see the duct right next to the thermalright heatsink (the plastic shroud that goes over it on the right).

The problems with the RROD aren't overheating in the sense that it'll cause crashes or whatnot. The problem is that the original heatsink retention clip puts a good deal of pressure on the motherboard to begin with, and apparently the PCB gets so hot that it becomes somewhat easier to bend. What ends up happening is that the solder balls that connect the chips (CPU and GPU) to the motherboard eventually end up being pulled off of the motherboard because of the bending, and also because the solder job might not have been the greatest to begin with.

Anecdotally keeping an xbox 360 in the upright position may put more strain on the motherboard.

What I ended up doing was basically performing the retention clip mod prophylactically, after only using my xbox for an hour or two total before the mod, along with changing the thermal interface materal over to Arctic Silver MX-2. So far so good, but time will tell.
On the downside if something goes horribly wrong with my xbox now my warranty is already toast, but hopefully my mods will prevent it from RRODing within warranty.

[roflercopterer @ Jun 5th 2008 3:22AM]

This heatsink + lian li 360 case ftw