I think I may need to get an Intercooler for my 360. When I play XBLA games and demos the console works fine. However, when I play Fable 2, specifically, the game freezes up. The disk looks fine, no scratches or smudges. The console is in a well ventilated area, standing vertically, and a few feet away from the power brick.
My first though was that it was the game. I read stories of Fable 2 freezing issues, but I play for an hour or so and BAM!, it freezes. After I restart the game I can go for about 10 minutes before another freeze.
I just read some some reviews of the Intercoller and apperantly thay have had some reported problems as well. Of course, those reviews were from 2006. Any of you guys use an Intercooler, and if so any issues?
I just use a mini tower fan next to mine. I set it on low whenever I use the Xbox, blowing into the vent holes. It’s pretty quiet (the 360 is louder than the fan when the disk is spinning), and I haven’t had any freeze up problems.
I had looked at the intercoolers, and they just dropped the temps listed by 3 or 4 degrees, so I figured a fan was just as good, and cheaper.
I bought one for my brother and it has worked for him when his XBox360 was constantly overheating before. He had used the a like labtrash mentioned before but his set up was a lot clumsier.
I keep mine horizontal, and I just put a laptop cooling pad under it (like this one), no idea if it helps or not, because I never had heat problems to begin with. Preventative maintenance, don’t ya know.
The problem with the Intercooler, as I see it, is, what happens when the cooler breaks, if you don’t notice it for a while (can happen easily if you use gaming headphones like I do)? Now you’ve got this inert chunk of plastic blocking your air vents. Problem goes from bad to worse.
Have you tried installing the game to the hard drive and playing from there? Not having to run the DVD drive might help some with the heat issues.
I’ve heard of problems with the Intercooler rusting the 360 where they touch - dissimilar metals and all - but what you’ve got sounds like you’re a few months away from the Red Ring of Death. Enjoy them, but the replacement’s pretty easy.
A fan in front of the device is likely to be helpful.
I’m not 100% sure of the airflow process inside the xbox, but if it’s like I think it is, it should go cool air from the front bottom and warm air exhaust from the top rear. Setting the device horizontally might interfere with this dynamic.