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Feeling cool? How to tell if your repaired Xbox 360 has the new additional heatsink
Xbox 360We recently reported that repaired Xbox 360s were being given an extra heatsink to help aid the systems cooling. Microsoft were quick to shrug off the rumour and Todd Holmdahl, Microsofts corporate vice president of Gaming and Xbox Products Group, promptly added that hardware complaints came only from the vocal minority.
It has become clear however that new heatsinks are in fact being installed and if youve recently had your console repaired, continue reading to find out how to tell if youve benefited from the additional hardware.
MRCUR over on the official Xbox forums has provided this guide:
How to see if you have the new heatsink (without voiding your warranty):
First, you need a flashlight so you can see inside easily. Then look at the BOTTOM of the console (or the side opposite of the HD) and stick the flashlight up to the grill. If you look VERY closely at the middle area, you should see the side of the CPU heatsink. It is very tall, silver, and has a gold rod coming out the bottom and again at the top (it loops).
If you see at the very bottom, there should be a line of black little cylinders. These go from the left most area of the bottom to the right most area. If you look directly above these black (with gold lettering (at least that is what mine is)) cylinders, and directly LEFT of the CPU heatsink, you should see something that is floating above the black cylinders. You should also see a nub of either silver or gold towards the left on this floating heatsink.
You will only see it over the last TWO-THREE black cylinders. You should see the numb of silver/gold in between the last two black cylinders.
Take a look at the below picture. You should see that nub and the side of the silver through the bottom of the console. Notice how the nub is in between the last two black cylinders.
We found the above guide to be helpful if not a little cryptic and to help ease the procedure, fellow forum user Your Chagrin provided the following image highlighting exactly what it is youre looking for:
So there we have it, the new heatsinks are definitely happening and people whove recently had their Xbox 360 repaired are discovering this new found piece of hardware in their machines. Will it help prolong the life of the console? Well, only time will tell but with my console currently at the repair centre, I can only hope so!
As far as we can tell, this new heatsink can currently only be found in repaired Xbox 360 consoles. New buyers will have to wait until later this year when certain console revisions are expected to be made."