Xbox 360 Overheating Caused by Protective Foil on Heatsink? *Updated* Options

[vspazv]

This is not a manufacturing oversight. They just assumed the foil would be more thermally conductive. Intel did the same thing on every P4 socket 478 heatsink they shipped except they placed thermal compound on both sides of the foil.

[kday]

This is not a manufacturing oversight. They just assumed the foil would be more thermally conductive. Intel did the same thing on every P4 socket 478 heatsink they shipped except they placed thermal compound on both sides of the foil.

He is absolutely right. This foil was intentional. Foil like this used to be very common. The foil is placed on the heatsink so in case the heatsink ever needs to come off, you don't need to clean it/apply a new coat of thermal paste just to put it back on.

People here obviously don't know their hardware.

[sumdude]

Heh, guess they got too much hype and rushed the hell out of the orders and been caught up on so many security features to keep hackers away that they didn't work on the hardware issues. I doubt they even tested the consoles before they went out to market. Btw if I sound like I'm BSing on it. My computer's UPS woke me up and basicly unplugged my desktop losing all my unsaved stuff. So I'm basicly tired and pissed from it.

[hjhbg]

don't believe every shit some 'experts' write.

http://www.aavidthermalloy.com/products/options/tapes.shtml

[modthebox.tk]

If it is all bull than why are some 360s overheating?

It is either this or a glitch in the way the CPU/ and or the GPU handles energy given to it.

Or there is something else we haven't thought of yet.



This post has been edited by modthebox.tk: Mar 10 2006, 12:46 PM

[hjhbg]

there are also phasechange-pads with an aluminium foil as carrier, just search google.

[luther349]

i dont thik foil is gona couse a majer heat issue as long as its on top of the thermel past. removing it whont help mutch but adding more past might if it happons to not have enough. as always they posted this befor relly taking a closer look at it. all 360s right now are under warrenty and we have no reasion to open them up unless your working on a chip or other mod. so if your 360 is not working like its supposed to send it to ms to get fixed.

[Norbs]

Okay i will end this now,

That foil is part of the thermal pad, i come across them all the time in the computer field. Mainly under GPU coolers. Some people think this is better then just paste. Idk, I never did trust the pads, go an pick you self up some arctic silver http://www.arcticsilver.com/ this is some of the best on the market. go with the Arctic Silver 5, its 99.9% pure silver and about 5-8$ a tube witch can be used on 5-10 Gpus/cpus/heatsinks.


If you still over heat after this, there is more to the story.

[GR8R-X]

That foil is part of the thermal pad, i come across them all the time in the computer field. Mainly under GPU coolers.

Definately have to agree with you and the couple of other guys that bought it up..

I've seen similar to this, as well as a rubber-based one that can be removed/added/fold/roll without any damage to it (was used one a real low power CPU), very cool stuff.

The TIM (thermal interface material, Intel's words, not mine) on P4's looks very much the same, foil on both sides. Lets you remove the heatsink without to much damage to the thermal compound. You can also remove the TIM entirely, but it's not likely to stick back on very well.

Besides, it looks a lot like aluminum, conducts heat pretty well.. Wouldn't cause to many probs and I'd suggest it's designed this way.

Also, I don't get this sentence from the article;
"... a plastic protective foil on top of the thermal compound."

Plastic foil? Cool.

[GR8R-X]

After watching the video I'm even more convinced that it's supposed to be there. He uses the same amount of force to remove the foil from the indented areas (assumedly heated more due to extreme contact & compression) as he does for the last few mm.

This would suggest that it wasn't a protective layer, as it would come off easier. Ask yourself, is it easier to remove the backing on a sticker or the sticker itself from another surface? The backing (and front, if double sided) of most thermal tape is very easily removed, stops you from destroying the thermal compound, as the guy has done when remove the foil in the video.

[hat]

Yet more FUD incited by those who don't work in the field.
The tape is part of the thermal pad as started by a few posters above.

Why did this make the front page?

[MrPike]

I have seen a thermal pad with such kind of foil in an IBM Thinkpad Laptop. I am quite sure it's supposed to be there.
But everyone loves MS-bashing-threads, right? I for on am getting tired of it.

[twistedsymphony]

definitely FUD

I specifically bought a thermal compound/foil pad for my liquid-cooled PC so I can easily remove the water-block when I upgrade/flush out the system...

...that foil is completely appropriate and is supposed to be there.

Sure Arctic Silver 5 will work much better, but if MS is is doing refurbs and swapping out bad components it would make sense that they'd make the heat syncs easy to swap out, it'd make another component they could salvage if they had a dud mobo.

[PuckX]

He is absolutely right. This foil was intentional. Foil like this used to be very common. The foil is placed on the heatsink so in case the heatsink ever needs to come off, you don't need to clean it/apply a new coat of thermal paste just to put it back on.

People here obviously don't know their hardware.

Yet more FUD incited by those who don't work in the field.
The tape is part of the thermal pad as started by a few posters above.

Why did this make the front page?

Exactly.... why did this make the front page? This technique has been and is still used by Dell, HP, IBM and many other companies. It's a thermally conductive metallic strip, used in servers around the world. But I suppose MS makes them put it there as part of some bigger conspiracy . Quick call my lawyer!!

MS Bashers are getting really old. This isn't news at all.

This post has been edited by PuckX: Mar 10 2006, 02:50 PM

[nightmare84j28]

So if the foil is suppose to be there why hasnt this guy got them?

I've had the joy of opening 3 different xbox 360's so far, none of the three had this foil on teh 'sink.