With the beginning of E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) starting a little while ago and with the latest Xbox One news, you may be enquiring on whether or not to take a venture into the console gaming universe. Or perhaps you already own an Xbox One, but are looking to get just a little more performance out of it.
The number one cause in decrease of computing performance is heat. PCs and consoles will work to their maximum performance as long as they stay under their Tjunction limit.
If you’re like me, you may place your Xbox One in a small cubby hole of a living room or office credenza. Inside that small space, the Xbox may have trouble removing the heat from its internals and therefore cause an increase in temperatures.
PC gamers will know that fixing overheating can be as simple as adding additional fans, changing thermal paste, or adjusting settings, but consoles are extremely limited in this customizable setting. To give users the best chance of getting maximum performance, Antec recently announced a new type of cooler, something that is hard to come by, a console fan cooler.
Welcome to my review of the Antec X-1 Xbox One cooler. Throughout this review, I will discuss the design, functionality, and my final thoughts. I would like to thank Antec for providing me with this product.
Design
Microsoft’s Xbox One offers a newer style that is unlike that found on the Xbox 360. The Xbox One uses a large internal heatsink with a single cooling fan that exhales heat through the top of the unit.
To assist with heat exhalation, Antec’s X-1 cooler uses a single blower style fan that sucks hot air out of the system and blows it out the back of the console.
On the front of the X-1, Antec uses the same glossy black finish that is found on the front of the Xbox One, allowing it to be blend into the front of the Xbox. Unless you knew the X-1 was sitting on top of the Xbox One, it would be hard to spot.
On the top of the cooler, you’ll find a rubberized material pad that can be used for a controller holder, game holder, or quite frankly anything you wish to put on top of it. Also found on the top is the Antec branding and a digital temperature gauge that displays the internal and external temperatures of the Xbox in Fahrenheit. To symbolize that the fan is running, a bright blue LED will appear.
Lastly, to power the X-1, Antec provides a single USB to MicroUSB cable that then connects to the rear of the Xbox for power. Don’t worry about losing a USB port on your Xbox as Antec offers a pass-through port on the back. The cable, however, is incredibly short and can be difficult to plug in if your Xbox is not easily moved.
Functionality
After you’ve connected the short USB cable, you’ll need to carefully place the X-1 onto the Xbox. To hold onto the Xbox, the X-1 has slanted body lines that rest on the Xbox’s slanted body lines. While this makes a seamless look, the cooler can be easily shifted if bumped or even lightly touched.
Antec states that at 86°F the cooler will kick in and begin cooling the Xbox One. However, during usage, I found it kicked in at any temperature in the 80s. Unless I had my ear right next to the X-1, I could barely hear the X-1’s fan running and that’s thanks to the blower style fan.
Lastly, when it came to the Xbox’s performance, I didn’t really notice any major improvement. Sure the Xbox ran cooler and it most likely kept more dust out of my system, increasing its longevity, but the games still played at maximum resolution, there was no screen tearing, and overall was the same experience. Plus, with the Xbox fan still having to do most of the work until 80F, it still tends to offer a louder whine from the main cooling fan.
My Final Thoughts
Antec’s new console cooler is a step in the right direction on what is needed for console gamers, but it just might not be there yet. It offers a great way for you to place items on top of the Xbox and is styled beautify, but for $29.99, it’s a stretch on whether it’s a necessity item. If you are a gamer who plays on the Xbox for most of their gaming sessions then the X-1 cooler is for you, but if you’re just an average movie watcher, the money might be better saved towards your next movie.
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