Reviewed by Barry Little - July 30, 2007

Manufacturer: Intec, Inc.

Model: 8646

Price: $24.99 at Amazon.com

Whether you have a highly-overclocked Quad-core SLI or Crossfire rig, or Microsoft’s Xbox 360, heat is your number-one enemy. One of the advantages of the PC as a gaming platform, is the wide range of user-installable air and water-cooling gear available to help keep temperatures at sane levels. But unless you’re willing to pop open and mod your 360 for better cooling (and void the warranty in the process), you don’t have nearly as many options. Fortunately, there is one simple and inexpensive solution—the Intec Xbox 360 Cooling Station.

About Intec, Inc.

Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Miami, Florida, Intec is one of the leading video game accessory manufacturers worldwide. Intec products are sold in more than 10,000 retail stores across the U.S., Canada and Europe, including Best Buy, GameStop, EB, Wal-mart.com, Toys R Us, KB Toys and Hollywood Video.

Intec manufactures controllers, sound systems, carrying cases, memory cards, expansion packs, racing wheels, game screens and connectivity accessories for all the major gaming platforms. Intec has one of the broadest lines of accessories with more than 200 products, and continually maintains the top positions among all video game accessory manufacturers.

Intec's products are based on its proprietary designs and manufactured at the company's manufacturing plant, managed by Intec personnel at Intec's U.S. and overseas offices. Intec also operates a 250,000 square foot distribution facility in Miami, FL, with EDI ordering and 24 hour turnaround for orders.

A sampling of some of our on-going accomplishments include: being the first company to design a screen and sound system specifically for PS2; releasing the first wireless A/V selector and the first controller with status LED and connector LED.

Our focus is on QUALITY and DESIGN. Each and every one of our product goes through a multi-stage quality assurance process in order to deliver top-quality gaming performance. Our designs incorporate high-performance gaming with the most innovative technology available. So far, Intec has amassed 68 patents for design and functionality... further evidence that proof is in our products!

The Xbox 360 and RRoD: An Issue of Heat

The notorious Red Rings of Death (RRoD)—the fatal hardware error condition that occurs when the LED quadrants on the 360's power button glow red—has gained quite a bit of notoriety in the media and gaming community. Forums buzzed with angry and frustrated gamers who were going through an unusually high number of replacement Xbox 360 units. Consumer confidence in the product and in Microsoft who at first, seemed unwilling to even admit there was a problem—was quickly going down the tubes. With their hard-won grasp on the market against Sony and Nintendo at stake, Microsoft finally had to face facts that the problem was a lot more widespread than they wanted to believe, and admitted that over 11 million of the consoles sold in the last 19 months were defective. Microsoft initiated an upgraded warranty and repair policy aimed at the RRoD problem, which will cost the company over a billion dollars.

Although Microsoft remains tight-lipped on the manufacturing defect responsible for the Red Rings of Death, there's little doubt in the minds of thousands of Xbox 360 owners everywhere.

Heat is the culprit.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 isn't just the hottest console on the market figuratively—but literally. Play your favorite game on an Xbox 360 for more than a few hours and you can't help but notice just how hot the air venting out of the back of the console is, or how warm the unit is to the touch. Remove your game disc from the DVD-ROM drive after a lengthy playing session, and it feels like it's been in a toaster. I don't find it surprising that the 360's DVD-ROM drive could malfunction and scratch game discs under such circumstances—another issue with the Xbox 360 that is almost as common as the RRoD and equally as frustrating.

Much of the problem lies in the design of the Xbox 360—and the low-profile rubber feet used, which allows them to “blend-in” with the console's overall sleek, sculptured appearance without being too much of an eyesore. Unfortunately, whether you orient the console horizontally or vertically, the feet leave very little space for air circulation between the surface that the 360 is resting on, and the ventilation holes—which definitely isn’t good from a cooling standpoint.

Microsoft has planned a 65nm die-shrink for the Xbox 360's CPU (processor) and GPU (video) for an upcoming revision of the console. This will have a number of important benefits:

Of course, an upcoming die-shrink doesn't do much for the millions of people who have an Xbox 360 with the hotter-running 90nm CPU and GPU, who continue to play their favorite games with one eye on the 360's power button, waiting for the RRoD Axe to fall. But that's where Intec's Xbox 360 Cooling Station comes in.

Packaging

The Xbox 360 Cooling Station comes in your standard, retail-outlet oriented blister packaging, allowing you to get a good look at the product. The Xbox 360 green and white motif on the front and the unit's design makes it hard to miss while perusing the console accessories section of your local game or electronics super store. You probably won't pay too much attention to the marketing blurbs, but the Lifetime Warranty is always an attention-getter—especially since accessories in the 360 Cooling Station's price range rarely have more than a one-year warranty.

On the back you'll find a much slicker and dramatic-looking photo of an Xbox 360 being cooled by the 360 Cooling Station, more gamer-oriented marketing slogans; and Intec's take on how the Cooling Station can make your 360 look and run a lot cooler with it, than without it. And of course, a friendly reminder that they'll repair or replace your Cooling Station 360 for as long as you own it.

Once you've cut open the blister pack and remove the Xbox 360 Cooling Station, you'll find that it's accompanied by a typical AC-DC power adapter and a small instruction sheet that is practically superfluous, considering how easy it is to set up and use the Cooling Station. Still, when it comes to the most techno-phobic consumers who might buy the 360 Cooling Station, any written instructions—no matter how simple or unnecessary they may seem—are better than none at all.

The Xbox 360 Cooling Station

Measuring 11 x 6.5 x 2.0” the Xbox 360 Cooling Station is made of heavy plastic molded in the same off-white color as the Xbox 360 console, with a chrome Intec-logo faceplate. Part pedestal, part cradle, the Cooling Station has a series of ventilation holes along the sides, back and the cradle section where the Xbox 360 sits. Look closely, and you'll see the dual fans beneath the cradle ventilation holes. A pair of clear, textured, plastic lenses are mounted on the front and sides of the Cooling Station, hiding the LEDs that give the Cooling Station a bright, green glow when powered on. There are two slots on each side of the unit where you can store up to four Xbox 360 memory cards. Around back, you'll find a small switch for turning the unit on and off, and the jack for the power adapter.

Turn the Intec Xbox 360 Cooling Station over, and you'll see that it's supported by four feet with rubber pads that are molded into the bottom of the unit. These raise the Cooling Station high enough from whatever surface it's sitting on, to allow sufficient airflow for the fans. You'll also find the required FCC compliance sticker and the signature Intec hologram label the company uses on all of their gaming gear.

One of the main selling points of the Intec Xbox 360 Cooling Station is that unlike other products, it draws power from its own AC adapter and not directly from the Xbox 360's power supply. Coolers that draw power from the 360's power supply are not recommended by Microsoft, can void your warranty on the console if they determine one of these products has been used, and have caused a firestorm of complaints and controversy almost equal to the Red Rings of Death issue. The 7.5' cord on the Cooling Station's AC adapter should be more than long enough to allow you to set it up with your Xbox 360 almost anywhere.

Set Up & Testing

As I said earlier, setting up the Intec Xbox 360 Cooling Station is simple:

1. Make sure that your Xbox 360 Console is off, and that the power switch on back of the Cooling Station is in the off position.

2. Plug the supplied AC adapter into the socket below the power switch, and the opposite end into a standard wall outlet—preferably a surge protector power strip.

3. Sit the Xbox 360 console vertically (upright) in the Cooling Station's mounting cradle.

4. Slide the Cooling Station's power switch to the On position. The fans should turn on and the lights on the front and side of the stand should light up green.

5. Turn on and play your Xbox 360.

For the review,  I'm using an Xbox 360 Premium Console (with the 20GB hard drive), connected to a SAMSUNG 244T 24” LCD display via an Xbox 360 VGA cable, and a set of Logitech Z-5500 Digital 5.1 Speakers connected to the Xbox with a Toslink (digital optical) cable. Forza Motorsport 2 is the game of choice for putting Intec's Xbox 360 Cooling Station through its paces.

Forza 2 was chosen not just because it's become my latest gaming obsession, but because it really gives the Xbox 360 a good workout much like my other all-time favorite on the PC—The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion. Even with the Xbox sitting on a table with more than enough room around the console and power brick for proper air circulation, the unit still gets mighty toasty after a long Forza 2 playing session. While I haven't experienced the RRoD in the relatively short time I've had the 360, I did get the visually anomaly where all the detail on the track you are racing on suddenly disappears and goes completely black. Then the game freezes, and you get a disc read error message. This has happened to me twice. When it happened, I noticed that the air coming out of the back of the Xbox was really hot. Fortunately, my Forza 2 disc wasn't scratched or damaged during either incident, but it was also warmer that what I would think is normal when I removed it from the drive.