heatsink
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Want a new heat sinked 360? Look at the serial [update 1]
Recently, Ben Heck posted a tutorial on how to find out if your Xbox 360 has the new heat sink without voiding the warranty. And if you aren't familiar, the new Microsoft installed heat sinks help with overheating issues and are being installed in all repaired or newly manufactured 360s. So, they are very desirable. Anyway, his tutorial pretty much tells you to take a picture of your 360's innards via the vents on the bottom and look to see if the new heat sink is present. But we think we found an even easier (camera free) way to tell if your Xbox 360 has a new heat sink installed. Look at the serial number.Update 1: According to your reports, it sounds like our 70000 serial number theory doesn't hold up. Stupid serial numbers and heat sink stuff.
Check out your Xbox 360's heatsink without voiding warranty
Leave it to Ben Heck -- warranty thrasher and modder extraordinaire -- to point out an incredibly simple (and warranty-friendly) method of checking out your Xbox 360's heatsink. Put simply, you invert your console, snap a photo (or three for good measure) through the mesh, and compare your image with the above picture in order to determine if your box is rockin' the beefed up heatsink we've been hearing about. Go on, give it a go yourself, and make sure you report back with details of your findings (and photos for extra street cred).[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Heatsink mod cools computer, chills wine
Have you ever been sipping a 1787 glass of Château Yquem Sauternes, looked down at your little wine chiller and thought, "hey, that would make a great heatsink"? Well Gordon Johnson did, and while it doesn't stack up to the sheer weirdness of this cooling mod, the result (constructed out of copper tubing, four pennies, and the small electric cooler) is pretty ingenious anyway. For the truly dedicated, watch the video after the break.[Via hackaday]
MS responds to new heatsink in 360s
Microsoft has responded (in a manner of speaking) to yesterday's reports that the company has been installing new additional heatsinks when repairing Xbox 360s. Supposedly, these new heatsinks are appearing in refurbished Xbox 360s in the United Kingdom as a means to combat the Red Ring of Death. In response to a query from gamesindustry.biz, a Microsoft spokesperson noted that "regularly updating console components is commonplace within the industry and is a standard aspect of the business for a variety of reasons including cost reduction, improved manufacturability and improved performance." So yeah, they dodged the question. Furthermore, the representative refused to directly confirm or deny the new heatsinks, saying that Microsoft does not provide information regarding hardware updates. Uh huh, and we're sure that Microsoft won't be trumpeting the new 65nm GPUs either. Sure ....Our translation: there are new heatsinks in refurbished Xbox 360s, but admitting that would be tantamount to admitting that the 360 has a systemic flaw, something Microsoft is not keen to do.
MS installing new heatsinks in refurb 360s
The technophiles at Xbox-Scene have uncovered a tasty bit of Xbox 360 news that should serve as some relief to sufferers of the Red Ring of Death. It looks like Microsoft is employing new heat-combating measures when refurbishing broken units. Specifically, a new heatsink is being installed. The heatsink resides directly under the DVD drive, connected to one of the other heatsinks with copper tubing. Blessedly untouched by the Red Ring of Death thus far, we don't know how effective this new heatsink is, but we're hopeful that it will solve perpetually publicized 360 failures. Whether or not Microsoft is also installing the heatsink in new Xbox 360s is unknown. See video proof of the new heatsink after the break.[Thanks, Josh W]
IBM's thermal paste cooling innovations detailed
It was but a few months back that IBM was tooting its own horn in regard to a "breakthrough" technology sure to revolutionize the processor cooling realm as we know it, and while miraculous claims often vanish after their bold declarations, it looks like this invention is moving forward. While we'd already heard the typical techie hub bub that goes along with such systems, IBM is now explaining a bit more about how the process will eventually work. Essentially, researchers have created a system in which "tree-like branched trenches" are placed in the copper cap, where a newly-thinned thermal paste can be applied with half the pressure of current renditions, netting a "twofold increase in cooling performance." The micrometer-sized channels basically act as an "irrigation system" to allow the toasty particles to homogeneously escape rather than building up in the self-proclaimed "magic cross" section. We know, this still isn't spelling things out in layman's terms, but if you're truly interested in knowing precisely how IBM plans on slashing the heat emitted by your future CPUs, grab your reading glasses and hit the read link.
IBM researchers unveil next-gen chip cooling technology
That clever Mr. Moore has his law proven correct on a regular basis, but we're not so sure he was accounting for the blistering byproduct a chip emits when speeds increase and efficiency doesn't. While CPUs and GPUs alike are kicking our kilowatt meters into overdrive, IBM researchers have been developing a newfangled method to cool processors down without the need for water. The technique, called "high thermal conductivity interface technology," allows a twofold improvement in heat removal over current methods -- a "highly viscous paste" is applied between the "chip cap and the hot chip" in order to decrease thermal resistance, while the "tree-like" architecture enables the goo to spread more uniformly and attain a thickness of "less than 10 micrometers." Although the concept seems to rely on carefully structured heatsinks and thinly applied thermal paste, the proposed results of this energy-free cooling contraption are indeed impressive, and if IBM's snazzy contrivance can honestly perform "ten times better" than current applications, maybe that leap in processor efficiency can just relocate to the back burner again after all.
Microsoft crew pwns German heatsink video
After a video (and accompanying investigative post) showed up by German gaming site GameStore24.de purporting to show a severe oversight in the Xbox 360 production lines, the internet was ablaze with rumblings that the cause of the overheating 360s had been discovered: a small piece of foil placed over the thermal paste on the GPU's heatsink had failed to be removed. Apparently some 360s had the foil and some didn't. The assumption: that its presence was a result of a failure to be removed at the factory. The foil must have been some sort of protection to keep the paste from getting funky.Microsoft's John Porcaro got the straight poop right from the 360 manufacturing team. His response (and his double negative): "The video and photos posted by German blog GameStore24.de show thermal interface pads that are not installed incorrectly. They are installed per specification. This foil eliminates the need of a protective liner, which simplifies the final assembly process and minimizes shipping concerns and contamination issues." Yup, he has the charts and graphs and product names and everything to prove it. They used the wonderfully named THERMFLOW T558 which features the "conformal metal foil carrier." Porcaro doesn't explain why one of the 360s opened by GameStore24.de didn't contain the foil. Did it use the foil-less--but otherwise similar--THERMFLOW T557? Or is there a rogue factory worker on a misguided one-man mission to foil the 360's global gaming goals?[Thanks to everyone who sent this in... both parts of it.]
