Hello everyone
Following on from my previous worries about the Wii overheating very occasionally, I gave some thought to how I could prevent any problems in the future.
The main problem, as I see it, is that when the console is consistently pushed to it's limits, over a long period of time, this combo can result in high heat emmission from the GPU which can't be expelled by the (weak) internal fan fast enough. Hence, the system will seemingly hang/crash (as it has done to a few people). It also may be the reason why some people have experienced GPU failures resulting in returns to Nintendo for repair/replacement.
Note, that I believe you need
two conditions to be fulfilled here, both intensive workload for the GPU, along with "sustained over a long period of time"...
...which means that graphic
unintensive games like WiiSports can be effectively played forever...
...whereas graphic intensive games like Heatseeker (on Ace setting where there are many more "objects" flying around that all need to be processed) may give a system hang
if the GPU continues to have high demands placed on it for a long period of time (> 1 hour continuous).
It also implies that if you're on a graphic intensive level for maybe 1/2 hour, but then for the next 1/2 hour the GPU doesn't have to work as hard, then you probably won't have a problem (remember, this is all educated guesswork from me that I think makes sense......it isn't something from a nintendo press release or anything
).
The point of this is ?.......
Well, one way to try to help things is to improve the airflow through the unit. This can be attempted easily and cheaply by buying one of the many USB fans/console stands available from Ebay.
This is the one I bought from a US ebay shop:
The cost including shipping came to the princely sum of £4
Shipping itself took 10 days (which is about standard for international orders it seems, as HK items also usually take about 10 days to get to me).
Contrary to the crap blurb on the packaging, it has NOTHING to do with making things "run more smoothly". It's only function is to provide more cooling to (hopefully) prevent system hangs.
As you can see from the second piccie, it's a snug fit, is powered by USB and also has a through port (so that overall, you're not "losing" any ports from the Wii itself), has a bright led to indicate it's on (I'm half tempted to mod that to a blue one
), and (most importantly) has an off/on switch as well.
Now, the USB ports on the Wii are only powered down when it's unplugged/in red standby mode. In yellow or in green/on mode, the USB ports have a current, so the switch on the fan is useful if you want to leave WC24 on, but have the fan off at the same time.
A big issue on these fans is how loud they are. I took the liberty of taking some readings (all at 1cm from the front of the console, meter set to slow response, C weighting):
Wii on (in home screen) --- the internal fan is actually quite weak. The rear exhaust doesn't even have what I would call a breeze jetting out....more like a gentle "silent fart" in intensity
. Additional noise =
+1dB.
Wii with this external fan switched on --- this fan is a lot stronger....I would say at a rough guess (from the amount of air being expelled) 4-5 times more powerful than the internal alone. Sound Level now =
+9db.
So that's a noisy fan in comparison
. However, to put things into perspective, I took another reading ---> When you turn the Wii on, you hear 2 "zzzzzzzzz" sounds as the disc drive intialises. Well the noise level of the disc initialising sound on it's own (external fan off) is a whopping
+13db. So the fan is somewhere in between your Wii when powering up, and your Wii when fully powered up in terms of noise.
Does this make a difference in practice ?......
The most important issue is to how this affects playing. Well, if you're like me and usually only get a chance to play at late night (and therefore use headphones to listen to avoid waking others
) then fan noise isn't an issue. Similarly, playing normally
sans-headphones, but playing a loud game like Heatseeker (with lots of explosions) it again isn't really an issue as the TV drowns it out quite well. However, I also had a quick go at Zelda, and there are areas in the game where little is happening and you're simply moving between areas or exploring and then,
yes, the noise
is quite intrusive.
What about temperature reduction (after all, that's why I got it ) ?......
Since getting it, the Wii hasn't hung once (bonus)......but then again that's not really conclusive evidence as there was no guarantee it would have hung again anyway (as I said at the beginning, system hangs are a rare occurrence on the Wii). Judging by the airflow with the fan, it's logical to suggest that it must be doing at least
some extra cooling because more air is now moving through the unit. Additionally, the air expelled from the Wii itself after the fan has been on for 1/2 an hour
does seem to be slightly cooler for a time so I'm pretty sure it's doing it's job quite well.
Pros:
Very cheap.
Looks like it is part of the Wii.....blends in very nicely with the console.
Doesn't require additional power as it's powered from the existing USB port.
Has an on/off switch to allow you more control over it's use (yes, I know, it's only an on/off switch, but no other fan I've seen has one and it
is very useful
).
Provides about 4-5 times more airflow through the unit (at a rough guess).
Effectively doesn't "use up" any ports as it has a 'through port' in it.
Cons:
Very loud - whether it's intrusive or not depends on what game you're playing / what you're doing.
Overall:
Looking good so far and is great vfm too.....only time will tell if it's
really effective though.....i'll keep you all posted on any developments (it may turn out to be useless at preventing systems hangs after all and so just be a waste of £4
).
Meanwhile, here's
another review (video) of a different model (which, btw, actually sounds a LOT louder than my one)...