If someone asked me six months ago if the Xbox One or PlayStation 4 (PS4) had the ability to self-regulate themselves to prevent overheating. I would’ve answered with a simply ‘No’. But in a recent interview conducted at Gizmodo recently with Xbox General Manager of Console Development Leo Del Castillo. It was revealed that the:
“We can’t prevent misuse of the product,” del Castillo says, “but we can certainly expect it.” That’s done by the Xbox being aware of the temperature it’s running at, and having the capacity to cool itself down in a few ways. “The way we designed the box, we don’t actually intend it to ever have to go to most speed under normal environmental conditions. But there is overhead. So we’ll allow the fan to go all the way up to its maximum speed and if that solves the condition without the user having to do anything.”
Leo also revealed that there were plans to make this type of feature in the Xbox 360, but because of the architecture it wasn’t possible. However on the Xbox One, they have more flexibility to carry out these type of features that is has been prevalent in PC’s for decades now. Unfortunately nothing was revealed about how loud the console is when the fans are maxed out. We can only hope it’s nowhere as loud as the original PlayStation 3 (PS3). That thing sounded like a jet engine.
Sony has not released any information about PlayStation 4 (PS4) having any type of passive features similar to the Xbox One to prevent it from overheating during heat duress. This is great news for Microsoft considering overheating was a very large problem for the Xbox 360 when it first came out.