Continuing in our reports on theories on the dreaded Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death (aka hardware failure), here’s some useful information from Ben Heck on Xbox 360 hardware revisions and some tips on what to look out for.
Ben Heck delves into an Xbox 360 Elite’s heat sinks and pipes and the DVD drive scratching issues. His early July Elite system included an additional heat sink. Because the Elite is in lower supply in the market, there’s a better chance that you’ll be likely to get an Elite console with the hardware revision than buying a Xbox 360 Premium console which may have been on shelves longer (hence an older system).
Some tips from Ben Heck:
- Ben Heck shows you how you can probe your Xbox 360 without voiding the warranty to search for the added heatsink, the hardware patch supposedly added to repaired or newer Xbox 360s. No need to crack open your 360 to check it out. Just stick a digital camera to the vents on the bottom of the 360, as he demonstrates and see if you can “see straight through to the side of the DVD player” that means there’s no heat sink.
Other tips from BenHeck:
- Whichever model 360 you have, lay it down rather than set it on end. (Horizontal better than vertical)
- If you want a 360 and are worried about the ROL, get an Elite.
- “I can’t say for sure but it stands to reason newly manufactured Premiums probably have improved heat sinks as well. I recently bought a Core in late June – for personal use since I had an extra hard drive – so maybe if I get really brave I’ll take a look inside that. If even THAT has a new heat sink we can rest assured about other recent models.”
As he discovers in the more recent posting, his Core Xbox 360 does not include the heat sink. Ben Heck also mentions that the cooling design of the PS3 performs better than the Xbox 360. So give your 360 a checkup and see if you can spot the heat sink. Let us know! I should have a repaired Premium Xbox 360 coming next week, so watch for my probe on it soon!
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Ben Heck, probing the bottom of the Xbox 360
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You’ll see this if you don’t have a heat sink.
