Xbox One X - Loud varying fan, overheating even after paste replacement

Associate
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Hi all,

I bought an early Xbox One X secondhand. It works mostly fine, but playing any sort of graphically demanding game turns it into a hairdryer. I've replaced the paste 3 times with varying amounts and different thermal pads. No matter what I do, I can't get the thing to shut up. The console itself doesn't feel hot or even warm, it has great ventilation and tons of air coming out the back, but no matter what the fan is varying it's speed constantly between 70-100% if I had to guess a level. It's like it can't decide between 90-95% so it keeps cycling between the two every second or half second. Sitting on the home screen or watching 4k content it is silent, but demanding games make it crank.

I'd been living with it like this since I bought it back in the winter, but recently with the warmer weather it started to shut down with the overheating/poor ventilation message. I thought maybe the thermal pads I used were too thick and the heatsink wasn't making good contact so I went with thinner pads and that doesn't seem to have helped. I also tried doing a clean install of the OS thinking maybe it was a software bug.

Does anybody have any ideas? Could the fan be faulty? It seems like odd behavior for a bad fan since its definitely moving a good amount of air and is spinning freely. It's almost like the console thinks it's overheating, but it doesn't feel or seem like it actually would be.

I consider myself pretty technically inclined when it comes to electronics like this, but I'm stumped. I don't want to keep sinking money and time into this console, but I also want to play it.

Thank you in advance!
 
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OP
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3 Jul 2020
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It's starting to look that way. I just tried to play on a cooling pad with the case off and couldn't make it through one game of PUBG. I stripped it down real quick and the heatsink is almost burning hot. So I guess it's making good contact, but for some reason the APU is toasting itself. The fan is definitely working with a ton of airflow.
 
Man of Honour
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My Xbox One X has sounded like a plane taking off for a long time depending on what game I'm playing; some stuff just doesn't trigger it (Snooker '19) but COD: Warzone and F1 make a helicopter sound quiet.
Never thought about re-pasting or anything though; its never died on me or cut of so I assume its not over-heating.
 
Soldato
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There must be a bigger issue than simply paste for that console, unfortunately. Mine is very quiet and runs reasonably hot. For comparison, it is much quieter than a PS4 Pro and runs cooler too.
 
Soldato
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Tbh it sounds knackered. I have 3 one x’s and all are silent or no more than a feint whoosh. Even my launch day model is silent. My Pro sounds like it’s about to jump into a new dimension though....
 
Associate
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Tbh it sounds knackered. I have 3 one x’s and all are silent or no more than a feint whoosh. Even my launch day model is silent. My Pro sounds like it’s about to jump into a new dimension though....

This. I have seen very few X one X’s that aren’t near silent.
My PS4 pro on the other hand is so noisy that it makes me play it less than I would normally.
 
Soldato
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I did mine recently and didn’t put enough paste on, I went in PC-style with a very thin layer but that caused the fan to go mental. I re-applied a slightly thicker layer and all is well again.
 
Soldato
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Mines a launch day project Scorpio and the fans are fairly loud. No where silent as others suggest.

I did send it away couple of years ago for repair under warranty but it came back the same.
 
Soldato
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So mine never crashes or anything but in certain places in certain games the fan will go to max. (Already taken it apart and re-thermal pasted it.) The times i've noticed it go to the max are when i talk to the Drifter in Destiny 2 and at the menu screen in COD Warzone when the characters are walking forward towards you. The funny thing is, the fan doesn't get anywhere near close to these moments when playing the actual games themselves. I hear it get louder just nowhere near the max. Its odd...
 
Soldato
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This. I have seen very few X one X’s that aren’t near silent.
My PS4 pro on the other hand is so noisy that it makes me play it less than I would normally.

I only play the Pro with my GSP 600's on and they have incredible noise isolation. However, it's still really audible unless the sound starts to ramp up...

I'd say the Xbox seems to be a little bit of a lottery, where you're unlucky if you get a loud one.
 
Associate
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I know this is an old thread, but I had same prob as OP. Done pads and paste but still overheating. Noticed a little moisture on the cpu, turns out the vapour chamber had a pin hole in it. Got 2nd hand one off ebay and now it works
 
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