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Comment by ethbro | Hacker News Reader

I'd be charitable and say that gaming chips run hot because cooling systems are "optimized", not for performance reasons.

And by optimized, I mean shoehorning the smallest / cheapest solution in there that barely meets cooling needs.

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Consoles are pretty serious about effective cooling. There is definitely price pressure, but that's not a one-sided thing -- you need to make sure that the unit lasts long enough, and that its cooling system doesn't generate too much noise for the environment (typically a quiet living room). And then you need headroom for envrionmentals (e.g., being stuff into the back of an entertainment unit next to other equipment). The current generation of consoles are quiet compared to the last generation, and more powerful.

Cooling "needs" have to take into account the whole product and user experience, not just keeping a single chip from melting down.

I think all the console makers learned a lesson from the Red Ring Of Death. No one wants to be having a massive portion of their systems become useless hunks of scrap because of poor thermal design not dissipating enough heat and causing the solder to crack.

RROD cost Microsoft a billion dollars, maybe two billion. That doesn't scream "Please shave the cooling system down to the absolute minimum cost on the next console" to the hardware team.

The XBone cooler is a pretty decent one, because the alternative is a ton of warranty work, plus lawsuits and bad press. And worse, a bad customer experience.

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