You’ve read mostly game, movie, and comic reviews here at MOARGeek but we’re hoping to do more hardware reviews as well. One of the first we’ve been able to get our hands on is a product which claims to cool down your Xbox One, which should presumably prolong its lifespan. Read on for the Antec X-1 Cooler review.
Design
The Antec X-1 Cooler is a pretty non-descript piece of rectangular black plastic. The top of the device has a display on the right hand side to show the temperature monitors, and the bottom has a fan which sits directly above the Xbox One exhaust vent. While the front and back rest right on your console, the sides are cut to provide some more airflow even though the fan draws the hot air up and out the back of the cooler. One thing to note, if you have your system set up in an enclosed entertainment center, this device might not work well for you as the hot air goes out the back of the cooler and in the case of an entertainment center unit would most likely cause a higher air temperature that sits around the Xbox One which would be drawn back into the console.
The X-1 Cooler is powered by USB, and comes with a microUSB cable which you can connect to your Xbox One USB port for power. You don’t have to worry about losing a USB port though as the back of the cooler also has a USB port to replace the one it uses for power.
Finally the top of the device has a rubberized, non-skid platform which you can use to put your controllers, headset, or other accessories. All in all, the device looks right at home when it sits on top of the Xbox One and at a glance it doesn’t look out of place at all.
Performance
The Antec X-1 Cooler is easy to install, simply place it on top of the right side of your Xbox One, plug it into a USB port, and away you go. Two temperatures are shown on the cooler – the Xbox One exhaust temperature and the second is the ambient air temperature.
The cooler contains an integrated thermal controlled switch that activates the cooling fan when the console reaches 86°F/30°C. When the fan does kick in, it is pretty quiet and most times I can’t even tell if it is running or not – which is a good thing as you don’t want a super noisy fan when trying to game or watch a movie.
Now to answer the question I have no doubt you’re all wondering – does it work? Antec claims the X-1 Cooler can lower the temperature of your Xbox One by up to 30%. I tested quite a few scenarios which included playing a game or watching a video for half an hour to an hour and then putting the X1 Cooler on my Xbox One. Without fail, after a while the recorded Xbox One exhaust temperature dropped between 5° and 10° F.
As to how much of a difference that actually makes on the internal components of the Xbox One I can’t answer, but it is obviously pulling more air through the console than the console pulls by itself.
Price/Value
Priced at $29.99USD, the Antec X-1 Cooler is definitely affordable if you are concerned about your Xbox One running hot for extended periods of time.
Wrap-Up
If you game or use your Xbox One a lot, it can’t hurt to try and keep it as cool as possible to help prevent component burn out. While there are no real claims to backup just how effective something like the Antec X-1 Cooler is at prolonging your console’s life, there is no question that it does assist in increasing the airflow through your Xbox One, thus keeping it cooler.
[button type=”link” link=”http://amzn.to/1fsUm51″ variation=”btn-danger” target=”blank”]Purchase from Amazon[/button]***We were sent a review unit of the Antec X-1 Cooler for the purposes of this review.
Last Updated on November 28, 2018.
