Topic: XSX overheating

Hi all!

Has anyone else experienced this? I bought a used launch XSX 2 weeks ago and for the first week it ran fine, but it has been overheating for the last couple of days. I noticed slight stutter in games every now and then, as well as the console feeling very warm (not hot) to the touch.
Granted, a week ago I slapped custom skin stickers on it and removing them seems to have already helped. Also, placing the console in a better ventilated area improved the situation. I keep wondering, though, if there is more I can do to help my XSX run efficiently and prolong its life. Any tips? How do you guys clean you XSX?

So far I have zero issues as I cannot even hear the fan over the Gameplay however my system is out in the open behind the TV. Do you have any stickers over the top of the system? It is kind of strange that it could build up dust to makes it overheat in just a year time...

No, no stickers on the top. The console itself is whisper quiet. I can see some dust on the fan, but I imagine it'll be difficult to clean through these small holes. I read somewhere that using a vacuum cleaner is a bad idea, same with compressed air. Using and external fan also seems to be regarded as mostly messing with the intended airflow in the console. Guess now that I have removed the stickers and gave the console more air to breathe I will run more tests and see if this is enough.

@gollumb82 well if the fan is whisper quiet that may be the issue. When the gameplay starts to stutter if it is related to overheating the fan should sound like a motorway. It may be that the fan is not working propely for some reason (not dust)

Ok, I'll try putting it horizontally. As for the fan, I don't know. I had an XSX that I got at launch and had it for 6 months (before selling it, buying a PS5, selling it and buying an XSX ) and the noise level of the fan was the same. Whisper quiet. And I had zero issues with my launch XSX.
Thanks for the input and tips guys. Hopefully it'll be enough to keep my console cool enough for me to be able to enjoy it for a long time.

It's not a weird question. I read online that undervolting resulting from plugging your console into a surge protector can cause such issues. Mine is plugged into the wall.

Thanks for the input, anyway. Let me do some more tests today now that I've removed the stickers and put my Xbox horizontally (and in a better ventilated area). I'll get back to you guys tomorrow.

Having played FH5 and Cyberpunk 2077 for 4 hours straight I can say that removing that custom skin and making sure the console has enough room to breathe were certainly good ideas. However, it seems I might have overreacted a bit. The game that made me consider overheating in the first place is Omno. A great Game Pass gem. There's one "but" here: the game has optimization issues and has stutter/lag in some situations, which I mistook for overheating symptoms (granted, I experienced similar issues in FH5- in online play, probably the culprit, and CP2077- well, it's Cyberpunk after all).
Sorry for the confusion and thanks guys for your input/tips. The topic can be closed.

I'm glad that you found the solution. Mine is a launch unit, zero issues. It's standing vertically below the TV in an open TV cabinet but not much dust can come in with the TV shelf above. Whenever I turn the PS4 on, it's scary.

I had a similar issue and made a thread about it a while back. Turns out having the console vertical was what made it overheat, because it's harder for the intake to get air unless you have it really open. I set it to horizontal, hasn't overheated since.

@SplooshDmg no the series x doesn't have a built in surge protector.....lol mine is plugged directly into a surge protector and it has never over heated. in fact my series x has never experienced any issues at all

FWIW, I have mine horizontal, don't use a surge protector, and the power supply died in the middle of FH5. Though, it wasn't overheating, it just spontaneously died..... soooo....I might try the surge protector the PS5 is on when it comes back...

@NEStalgia With all those HDDs and consoles dying because of the random spinning and failing power supplies, have you ever considered there is an electricity problem in your house? 😅

@2chanaddict It's in for repair. They moved it up to processing so I imagine in a week or so I might have it back. I was lucky and for some reason I still had 2 weeks warranty despite being 5 days past the 1 year date of purchase/delivery. I don't know how it would have gone otherwise!

@BlueOcean It SEEMS like it must be, but I can't really tie any particular problem to it. Ironically an hour or two AFTER the x died the power had 4 brownouts, one a momentary blackout. We do get that kind of problem often, but it's a grid problem I can't do much about. And other places, think of the south with all the hurricanes and Midwest with the big big thunderstorms, we get all that too but not as often and not as severe 80% of the time, so I can't imagine other places don't have worse power conditions. And it depends on the electronics quality. I have some electronics running from the 80s that have withstood 30+years of all the junk the grid can throw at it....

I used to put all the electronics on UPS units just in case, but then xsx I've heard has a surge protector internally on the PSU which then you don't want an ups before it. Plus with all the upset I have around, they cost a few hundred in batteries a year because they only last a few years, but now the upset themselves keep dying and I've stopped replacing them. Too many of them, to frustrating to keep unwiring and rewiring in cramped dusty spaces, and too expensive to keep rebuying units and lead batteries.

I have one on the network equipment though for actual uptime.

I've seen things broken by our brownouts and surges tough. That's how I started buying all those upses, bit mostly cheap Chinese electronics like kitchen small appliances and things. Good quality electronics should handle that without problems. And surely the 1x saw worse than x did in one year in the same socket (and cord.) Definitely a viable train of thought though.

@NEStalgia May I ask where in the US you live? Perhaps call an electrician to check the house electrical installation, just in case. Not much you can do about the grid and those PSU don't fix anything.

@BlueOcean I'm never too specific on the internet, but northeast, much too close to the NY metro, thus the Forza like starting grid.

The internal wiring is ancient, but as such it's also nicely simple. Basic wires, basic breakers... Not much to cause electronics issues. There are some things like a laser printer and some appliances with a PID temp controller that can cause visible pulsing in dimmable led lights i.e. Line noise, can't really insulate that, I've tried isolators, and true isolators are expensive industrial gear. but basically it creates line noise like Ethernet over Power does. The PC psus I've lost did happen to be active pfc, and I've always believed that's part of it. "Normal"people don't pay for that. I was trying to keep them as cool running as possible as gaming rigs.

The kitchen stuff that blew out (plus an ups over the years or two) definitely blew with the grid sags and surges. Usually a power outage that probably has a sag or surge on fail or restore, and they were just messed up after the power was restored.

Still, the x didn't blow out with any kind of power event, but after a few hours of play in the middle of a race while syncing to the cloud. No power events at the time, but it's weirdly coincidental that there were multiple power events on the grid right after it broke.

It's also weirdly coincidental that the UPS o did use for consoles freaked out days before and was clicking constantly and I had to disconnect the battery to get it to stop (the UPS unit is bad). But the x isn't even connected to that and the PS5 is! Plus the x is on the game socket the 1x was for years without issue.

I did start using econ instead of instant on most of the time. Technically the PSU is still energized either way to handle the power events and wireless. But maybe it's more stable in instant on? PS5 is and PS4&1x we're always in standby.

I notice there's a lot of power grid events that happen in the middle of the night. Probably maintenance of some kind.

@NEStalgia I definitely recommend using power saving mode. What's the point of instant-on when Series X boots up so fast? Unless you have low-speed internet and you want to download Halo Infinite but you don't if I remember correctly. I'd still recommend you having an electrician checking your house at least once.