If you own an old Xbox 360, then getting more useful life out of it means giving it tender loving care. Any Xbox that predates the slim, is a very fragile device and treating it the wrong way can get it red ringed. This article will cover a couple of things you can do to keep your console running strong.
The number one enemy of micro electronics is heat. The smallness of these devices means they are very poor at dissipating heat. This is because they have little surface area for cooling into the surrounding air. Their small size also means that internal heat is concentrated in a small mass so their temperature can rise very rapidly. That is why cooling systems are always used with these devices.
The components inside of your Xbox 360 are no exception to this. The console has a cooling system that is only marginally effective. Over a lifetime of use, these components will have had a lot of exposure to high temperatures. High temperatures degrade micro chips over time so long hours of Xbox usage especially with games that place a heavy work load on the GPU and CPU will "wear out" your Xbox.
Another issue with heat is how it causes warpage of the motherboard. Repeated warpage stresses and weakens the solder joints. When one or more of these joints break, your Xbox ceases to function.
The most important thing you can do to reduce heat exposure is to keep the console from overheating from the outset. Therefore gaming time needs to be restricted to one or two hours at a time. Keep the environment cool, ventilated, and dust free. There is another practice you can try after you've finished a gaming session. Let the console idle for twenty minutes at the Xbox dashboard before turning the power off. The fans will continue to run allowing the Xbox to cool even further since no new heat is being generated at this time.
Failure to do this means that a lot of left over heat from your gaming session gets trapped inside the console. This heat eventually dissipates but takes longer to do so which increases the exposure time of your console to heat. This additional time does add up over the life of your Xbox.
If you make a habit of using the two tips discussed here, the useful lifetime of your Xbox 360 will be extended. You will also see fewer occurrences of the two red light error. Another benefit is that you will reduce the risk of getting the red ring of death.
The number one enemy of micro electronics is heat. The smallness of these devices means they are very poor at dissipating heat. This is because they have little surface area for cooling into the surrounding air. Their small size also means that internal heat is concentrated in a small mass so their temperature can rise very rapidly. That is why cooling systems are always used with these devices.
The components inside of your Xbox 360 are no exception to this. The console has a cooling system that is only marginally effective. Over a lifetime of use, these components will have had a lot of exposure to high temperatures. High temperatures degrade micro chips over time so long hours of Xbox usage especially with games that place a heavy work load on the GPU and CPU will "wear out" your Xbox.
Another issue with heat is how it causes warpage of the motherboard. Repeated warpage stresses and weakens the solder joints. When one or more of these joints break, your Xbox ceases to function.
The most important thing you can do to reduce heat exposure is to keep the console from overheating from the outset. Therefore gaming time needs to be restricted to one or two hours at a time. Keep the environment cool, ventilated, and dust free. There is another practice you can try after you've finished a gaming session. Let the console idle for twenty minutes at the Xbox dashboard before turning the power off. The fans will continue to run allowing the Xbox to cool even further since no new heat is being generated at this time.
Failure to do this means that a lot of left over heat from your gaming session gets trapped inside the console. This heat eventually dissipates but takes longer to do so which increases the exposure time of your console to heat. This additional time does add up over the life of your Xbox.
If you make a habit of using the two tips discussed here, the useful lifetime of your Xbox 360 will be extended. You will also see fewer occurrences of the two red light error. Another benefit is that you will reduce the risk of getting the red ring of death.
No comments:
Post a Comment