Microsoft: "No Comment" on Upgraded Xbox 360 Heatsinks

Microsoft does not confirm nor deny new Xbox 360 hardware cooling

Following yesterday’s discovery of new cooling measures inside Xbox 360 consoles, questions to Microsoft regarding its hardware changes were met with intentionally vague responses.

“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,” a spokesperson said to GameDaily. “We do not provide details on these updates."

Users who received repaired consoles back have been reporting a revised heatsink with a heatpipe extension to help better cool the GPU.

It is believed that improved cooling is an effort to address widespread reports of Xbox 360 hardware failures. Microsoft has always remained guarded on the topic of the reliability of its Xbox 360 console, including on possible revisions to address quality issues.

When asked if the Xbox 360 Elite would include any additional measure to improve reliability, Microsoft employees said on multiple occasions that the latest version of the console, HDMI output aside) would be identical to the Premium and Core packages.

However, after disassembling the Xbox 360 Elite, enthusiasts found epoxy surrounding the CPU and GPU chips, leading some to view that as an effort to address issues of warping PCBs. Despite the added epoxy, the Xbox 360 Elite consoles are also prone to the Red Ring of Death hardware failures.

Reference:Marcus Yam,dailytech