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As you can see from the graph, the Xbox 360 Cooling Station lowers the console's temperatures 3-4 degrees, which may not seem like a dramatic improvement. But the difference between a component’s maximum recommended temperature and a catastrophic thermal meltdown, can often be just a few degrees Celsius. To highlight that point, I got the missing track and disc read error again, not more than an hour and a half into the Forza 2 test without the Xbox 360 Cooling Station, and the room at 82°.

 

 

I don't know if I would entirely agree with Intec's claim that the Cooling Station's two fans are “ultra-quiet.” Using a Galaxy Audio CM-130 SPL Meter a little over a foot away from the front of the Cooling Station registered a steady 52.0 dBA. Add that to the noise the Xbox 360's fans make when they ramp up to full speed when the heat is on during a long gaming session, and you've got a setup that may not be as loud as some PC gaming rigs with multiple high-speed fans, but it's not exactly ultra-quiet, either. Still, with a typical gaming session going through your speakers or headphones, noise from both the Xbox and the Cooling Station probably won’t be much of an issue anyway.

 

Opening up the Cooling Station (you'll need a small Phillips head screwdriver from a Jeweler's screwdriver kit), you'll find its construction quite unremarkable, but effective. All the wires are cleanly soldered to the circuit boards and hot-glued at various points to keep things neat. The two 60 x 15mm cooling fans inside are from a company called On G Hua—model number HA6010H12S-Z, with an 022A/12V DC rating. Intec doesn't list their specs on their site. After an extensive search on Google, Yahoo! and Ask.com on both the company name and fan model number, I drew a blank, so I have no idea what the CFM rating is for the fans.

 

 

Impressions and Conclusion

 

The Intec Xbox 360 Cooling Station has a number of things going for it, while needing a few improvements.

 

First, it's easy to set up and compliments the Xbox 360's styling, while helping to lower its operating temperature. Since it doesn’t draw power from the 360’s power supply, you don’t run the risk of frying something. If you have memory cards for your 360, storage slots are conveniently located directly in the stand to store them. You've got a generously long cord on the AC adapter—an area where many accessory manufacturers often come up short (no pun intended). And then there’s the lifetime warranty.

 

Personally, I think the green lighting looks cool. But some folks may not, and may even prefer to turn it off. Unfortunately, it’s an all-or-nothing deal with the glowing, green LEDs on the Xbox 360 Cooling Station, as there’s no separate switch for turning the illumination off. Depending on where you have your Xbox 360 located, you may not want or be able to stand the console upright in the vertical position. In which case, the Cooling Station won't be of much use to you.

 

You may also find it a bit of a hassle to reach behind the Cooling Station and fumble with the tiny power switch—especially if you have the console inside a cabinet. A much better solution would have been for Intec to mount the switch on the front of the Xbox 360 Cooling Station, for easier access. In fact, the Intec logo on the front of the stand would have made a perfect green LED power button! Although the Cooling Station lacks the convenience of being able to be turned on and off along with the Xbox, one upside to the separate power switch is that you can leave it running after you've turned off your Xbox 360, to help cool the console down.

 

Speaking of cool, although it probably would have meant making the stand a little bit wider, I would have rather seen Intec use a pair of 80mm—rather than 60mm fans. Larger fans can move more air into the console for even better cooling power, while turning at slower RPMs with reduced noise, than two smaller, high RPM fans. Of course if you’re handy with a soldering iron, it’s an easy enough task to swap out the current fans for some high-performance 60mm fans that may also be a tad quieter as well. If you frequently use your Xbox 360 for more than gaming, you’ll undoubtedly appreciate whatever additional quiet you can get.

 

Ultimately, how well the Xbox 360 Cooling Station works for you depends on the ambient temperature of where you have it located, and how much room is around it. Obviously if the console is inside a cabinet with little or no air circulation, or you're playing on a 95º summer day for eight hours straight with no air conditioning in the room, you run a greater risk of overheating the console and seeing those red rings light up, whether you have the Cooling Station installed or not.

 

Although it won't work miracles for a unit that's already too far gone, with a street price of $15 - $25 and a lifetime warranty, the Intec Xbox 360 Cooling Station is cheap insurance that could tip the scales in your favor against overheating and the Red Rings of Death.