Microsoft's forthcoming games console/home entertainment hub, the Xbox One, should be able to save itself from overheating, according to the company.
The Xbox 360 became infamous for its problem dealing with heat. This manifested itself in the infamous Red Ring Of Death syndrome, whereby millions of units were bricked through normal operation.
According to Microsoft, this won't be an issue with the Xbox One. Speaking to Gizmodo, Xbox General Manager of Console Development Leo del Castillo claimed that the console can sense the temperature it's running at and cool itself down accordingly.
One way is through the fan, which won't run at top speed by default. Rather, it has the capacity to spin a lot faster due to heat build-up - perhaps because one of the cooling vents is blocked or the console is in tight area.
Beyond that, the Xbox One actually has the capacity to reduce its power usage. According to del Castillo, "Xbox One can actually dial it back to a lower power state, so low in fact that it can in a mode that uses virtually no air flow."
Obviously this raises the question of performance during games, but obviously this flexible approach would be beneficial during situations that don't require heavy CPU usage, such as during video playback.
As a last resort, del Castillo claims that "if we get to the point where that is no longer enough, we have the mechanism, the interface, to deal with that." What this means is unclear, but we'd speculate that it could incorporate a warning pop-up or even the console being forced into some kind of safe mode.
Whatever the solution is, it seems that the Red Ring Of Death syndrome is a thing of the past. Now all Microsoft has to concern itself with is furiously back-peddling over its numerous contentious Xbox One policies.
Now read our Xbox One vs PS4 comparison.
