Xbox Series X fan loud on certain games. Do I need a replacement?

StaticDrift · May 1, 2022

For about a month now I've noticed that on certain games, the fan gets substantially louder than others. So for example, Forza Horizon 5, Halo Infinite, AC: Valhalla, Dirt 5, Resident Evil 8, and Doom Eternal, Lego Skywalker Saga (and more, all optimized X|S games) run VERY quiet on the system. Meanwhile there are some games like Fortnite, Tiny Tinas Wonderlands, Gears 5, and No Man's Sky that can cause the fan to go up 2 or 3 steps. On the former mentioned games, the fan is typically spinning at the same speed as it does when the console is idle, even over longer play sessions. On the second half of the games, the fan can go up to 3 steps louder (sometimes in specific scenarios, like in No Man's Sky when using the terrain manipulator, or in Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, looking at a vending machine) and it is VERY noticeable. So when I see people making posts online about this issue, and have other people replying saying their console is completely silent, I'm wondering if maybe these people have been lucky enough to avoid playing the games that I mentioned in the second half of my post, or if my console is actually defective. If Gears 5 is supposed to be completely quiet as if the console is idling while I'm playing it along with the other games, I will look into getting it replaced. For reference, I use a headset (not noise cancelling) and sit about 2 feet from my system as I play on a monitor. I unfortunately spent a lot of money on this system (above MSRP) so I really just want to make sure it's working properly. A bit of a nitpicky thing I suppose, but I'm very sensitive to noise. Thank you for reading!

:)

StaticDrift

Thank you for your response, I kind of figured. But yeah of course the console is on a table vertically in open air and stuff. Pretty strange that certain games make it spin up more than others!

[ A J ]

Hi, StatictDrift! Thank you for reaching out and for letting me assist you! I'm glad your console is in a well-ventilated area.

Please let me know if you have any other questions, I'd be happy to answer them the best I can.

StaticDrift

On WDL, a game with ray tracing, my console is also super quiet. I don’t think I’ve played any other games with RT but like I said it’s just the handful of games that make it loud. I don’t think any of the games are more or less demanding than others. They’re all designed to use as many resources from the system as possible. I’m thinking it might be a bug with recent software or something. Not sure.

Obsessive Power

Hi,

The Series X has a pretty efficient cooling design. If it's making a lot of noise, then there is I'm afraid, something wrong with it. It should be pretty much silent and should stay pretty much silent no matter what game you're running on it.

The Series X runs pretty hot, so good placement of the machine is essential. Do not place it in a cabinet or in a location with another heat source. Don't place the machine where there is inadequate ventilation.

Obsessive Power

Do you have firsthand experience or are you assuming? Have you played something like Fortnite on your console recently? People can play AC Valhalla or Forza and assume the console is entirely quiet on every game.

I have been playing multiple high end games on my Series X, including games with Raytracing. My machine is quite. It's quieter than my gaming PC (self built).

Assassins Creed Valhalla is a far more demanding game (on hardware) than Fortnite.

If you can hear than the fan, and it's loud, it's not a good sign.

Xbox Series X fan loud on certain games. Do I need a replacement?