Hardware Nintendo Switch meltdown....?

[HtheB]

That Switch looks just perfectly normal.
I got my Switch just like that out of the box...
I was actually wondering why no one noticed the curved design... Was I the only one?

 

[Mr. Wizard]

The only time I played on my TV with it and taking it out afterwards. It was maybe 50-60C directly over the SoC, else it was fine holding. So I have no idea how they manage to bend them. Did they sit on them or something?

60c is quite high. I doubt it was that hot.

Technically, a temperature above 43C (110F) would be sufficient, given enough time, to give you 2nd degree burns. However the required timescale is so long that it isn't quite reasonable (3.6 hours at 43C).

With 49C, the time required for 2nd degree burns drops to 4.8 minutes.

With 65C, the time required is just 0.9 seconds.

These timescales will vary if the thing causing burns is air, flames, hot oil, hot steel, etc.

I've had some HDDs at 48c and the metal outer casing is too hot to comfortably handle for any extended period of time. I've seen SSDs in portable enclosures get to 70c, hot enough to fry an egg.

 

[Clydefrosch]

come on, this is so clearly faked, i'd barely see user error as a feasible explanation for that.
this was deliberately bent

 

[kumikochan]

come on, this is so clearly faked, i'd barely see user error as a feasible explanation for that.
this was deliberately bent

Ofcourse it is. Because it didn't happen with you it clearly didn't happen and is fake. Fanboy logic. It did happen with me thp and mine is a bit warped where the heatpipe is

 

[Mr. Wizard]

come on, this is so clearly faked, i'd barely see user error as a feasible explanation for that.
this was deliberately bent

Probably sat on it lol.

#switchgate

http://www.iphonehacks.com/iphone-bendgate

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Ofcourse it is. Because it didn't happen with you it clearly didn't happen and is fake. Fanboy logic. It did happen with me thp and mine is a bit warped where the heatpipe is

Does your fan work? Was the dock in a cabinet of some sort?

 

[Retrojunkies]

mine gets rather hot when playing docked, to be fair it hasnt got enough room to vent, a tiny gap at the top and fans near the bottom.

i think the speakers would be better possitioned at the front and not sure if its me but the headphone quality is shit, i have tried multiple earphones and even on full its very quiet.

ohh im "bashing" again for pointing out flaws with such an "innovative" product LOLz

can already see the fanboys defending, blaming the users, claiming its not real, i really love nintendo fanboys, even when the faults are slap bang in your face, they continue to defend.

cant wait for sony/ms to release their next console and see them desperate to find faults, and disregard anything nintendo faults.

 

[kumikochan]

Probably sat on it lol.

#switchgate

http://www.iphonehacks.com/iphone-bendgate

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------


Does your fan work? Was the dock in a cabinet of some sort?

My fan works just fine and isn't positioned in a closed off space. Mine is only docked

 

[ItsMetaKnight]

Looks fake to me.

 

[Mr. Wizard]

a tiny gap at the top and fans near the bottom.
i think the speakers would be better possitioned at the front

The fan exhaust is at the top, the fan intake is at the rear bottom, the speakers are on the front.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

mine gets rather hot when playing docked, to be fair it hasnt got enough room to vent, a tiny gap at the top and fans near the bottom.

i think the speakers would be better possitioned at the front and not sure if its me but the headphone quality is shit, i have tried multiple earphones and even on full its very quiet.

ohh im "bashing" again for pointing out flaws with such an "innovative" product LOLz

can already see the fanboys defending, blaming the users, claiming its not real, i really love nintendo fanboys, even when the faults are slap bang in your face, they continue to defend.

cant wait for sony/ms to release their next console and see them desperate to find faults, and disregard anything nintendo faults.

The fan is on the top as someone mentioned, and there are vents on the back. Speakers are below the screen, you can see a small slit on each side.
But I agree with you, it gets pretty hot. Not uncomfortably hot, but it does make me worry how long it will last. Plastic doesn't conduct heat very well so that big metal heatsink on the inside doesn't have a lot of other ways to dissipate heat besides the little fan, which clearly isn't doing a very good job. It is quiet though, I'll give them that. Haven't noticed any fan noise coming from it a single time.

Not that I'm worried about it bending from heat (well, a little bit, after reading these reports, although I still have trouble believing they were caused by heat), I'm more worried about components dying prematurely.
I had a laptop in the past that on a slightly different model using a NVidia GPU (mine had an AMD) was known for all sorts of defects being caused by heat, everything from the wifi adapter and other components breaking to the system having a complete meltdown and stopping functioning at all. Mine didn't have any of those issues, being the less hot version, but had overheating issues that started occurring after a year or two, and even happened when doing something as simple as watching a YouTube video in 720p, sometimes even in 480p. I sent it in for the same issue 3 times and after the 3rd time I could request a refund, so I did (it was almost 5 years old by then, almost at the end of the warranty period, it's nice how many rights you get when it comes to warranty returns here)

I would not want issues like this happening to my Switch after a couple of years because of inadequate cooling. But at least I know that if it does, I'll have a warranty to fall back on.

And indeed, the headphone volume is a tad low. I'm sure they did this on purpose to protect children's ears as the speaker output is quite loud, surprisingly loud in fact. Every other one of their handhelds has been the same, but this one seems a bit louder with headphones than their older handhelds, so it's just about sufficient for me. On 3DS and DS I always wished for a little bit of extra oomph when using headphones and the Switch has given me that. Still it's nowhere near the headphone volume of the PSP.

 

[Retrojunkies]

yea but ear phones with other devices have a setting to prevent it exceeding a point to protect little ones, but to be forced by default to have low volume quality regardless if its on full is another shit problem.

if your sat in a room with a tv on, and your switch is on full, you can barely hear the fucking thing over the tv so you think its best to unplug them, but then you end up in a battle with the mrs because she is trying to watch her soaps pmsl.

 

[sarkwalvein]

The fan is on the top as someone mentioned, and there are vents on the back. Speakers are below the screen, you can see a small slit on each side.
But I agree with you, it gets pretty hot. Not uncomfortably hot, but it does make me worry how long it will last. Plastic doesn't conduct heat very well so that big metal heatsink on the inside doesn't have a lot of other ways to dissipate heat besides the little fan, which clearly isn't doing a very good job. It is quiet though, I'll give them that. Haven't noticed any fan noise coming from it a single time.

What makes you say that?
Did you watch the video I posted before, with someone makeing actual measurements?
The die doesn't go over 50°C, which is healty for a GPU that is rated up to 80°C of operating temperature, and way below than e.g. the measured 72°C on the PS4.

What makes you think that such a low temperature would make components fail prematurely?

 

[The Real Jdbye]

What makes you say that?
Did you watch the video I posted with actual measurements?
The die doesn't go over 50°C, which is healty for a GPU that is rated up to 80°C of operating temperature, and way below than e.g. the measured 72°C on the PS4.

What makes you think that such a low temperature would make components fail prematurely?

As plastic is a poor conductor of heat, the fact that the Switch gets hot on the outside means the internals will be even hotter.
In less than optimal conditions, such as when the dock is placed in a media cabinet with walls on 5 sides, which will be how many people use it, it may get much hotter than what was demonstrated in that video.
And if the Switch can really get hot enough to warp the plastic then that's certainly plenty of reason to be concerned about the longevity of the components.
I'm especially worried about the battery, it's the part most sensitive to heat, and there's a big metal shield leading heat right to it.

 

[sarkwalvein]

As plastic is a poor conductor of heat, the fact that the Switch gets hot on the outside means the internals will be even hotter.
In less than optimal conditions, such as when the dock is placed in a media cabinet with walls on 5 sides, which will be how many people use it, it may get much hotter than what was demonstrated in that video.
And if the Switch can really get hot enough to warp the plastic then that's certainly plenty of reason to be concerned about the longevity of the components.
I'm especially worried about the battery, it's the part most sensitive to heat, and there's a big metal shield leading heat right to it.

Hmmm... that is true, but I think putting a console inside a cabinet is nonsense.
I wouldn't do that to any of my consoles, neither to my computers, that is... murder.
Comparable to leaving a bird inside a cage in the middle of the summer sun, that type of murder. Poor console.

 

[Retrojunkies]

i would agree also, feeling how hot mine is and how tiny/compact it is, its not getting enough room for cold air to cool down.

unlike a ps4/xbx1 it has alot more room for heat to spread and cold air to vent.

 

[sarkwalvein]

i would agree also, feeling how hot mine is and how tiny/compact it is, its not getting enough room for cold air to cool down.

unlike a ps4/xbx1 it has alot more room for heat to spread and cold air to vent.

Yeah, but also I wouldn't put my XB1S inside a cabinet at all.
Those things need to breath. Don't let them suffocate to death! Show some care for the poor thing!

 

[Retrojunkies]

Yeah, but also I wouldn't put my XB1S inside a cabinet at all.
Those things need to breath. Don't let them suffocate to death! Show some care for the poor thing!

thing is most people do because most people have their tv stand and it has either a draw or a shelf.

as long as it has enough room to breath and the console has proper cooling fans to create and draw cool air and extract hot air it should be ok.

but my switch, is not in a shelf, its actually located on the tv stand at the side of my tv because the shit wireless joycons find it hard to keep connected and im only 5 feet from the tv, id hate to put it behind a glass door because it would probably cause more problems, and it gets rather hot especially when playing docked.

i think the main issue is again ts design and i think the compact crap plastic dock does no favors either, your basically inserting it into a small confined plastic case.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

Hmmm... that is true, but I think putting a console inside a cabinet is nonsense.
I wouldn't do that to any of my consoles, neither to my computers, that is... murder.
Comparable to leaving a bird inside a cage in the middle of the summer sun, that type of murder. Poor console.

Where else would you put it though? The Switch might be small enough to fit behind most TVs, but the same can't be said for most other consoles.
Plus putting it behind the TV greatly increases the chances of the JoyCons acting up. Unless you have a TV with a taller than normal stand, you can't put it in front of the TV either.
I have pretty much only two choices for where I put the Switch, it's either in the media cabinet, placed sideways making it awkward to insert/remove the Switch and making me have to take out the Switch if I want to dock the JoyCons, or behind the TV.
I haven't been able to get the JoyCons working properly in either position so while I get that issue sorted out, I've just put the Switch on my table with the HDMI cable that came with it stretched to my TV, and it's barely long enough. My 5m HDMI cable wouldn't display a picture at all with the Switch, but works fine with everything else. Anyway, I digress.

My hope is that the new JoyCons I just received (after I broke the battery connector on my left JoyCon, more information about that here: https://gbatemp.net/threads/nintend...e-with-just-a-foam.465343/page-3#post-7218561) will be the revised version that have the issue fixed, and that it will work well enough for me to be able to place the Switch behind the TV and have no connectivity issues at all. If that doesn't work, I'll have to put it below the TV, and if THAT doesn't work, I'll have to try the conductive foam fix again.
But there is a decent chance that even with fixed JoyCons, I'll still have issues when I put it behind the TV, leaving me no other option than putting it below.

If the JoyCons were designed better then people would have more freedom as far as positioning the Switch goes.
If you have a gaming setup with big, roomy shelves for each of the various systems like some people have, then it's no problem, but I don't think most people have that kind of setup and they will be pretty limited in where they can place the Switch. That's why I think this heat problem might become a widespread issue.

 

[Retrojunkies]

if i remember right and if correct, nintendo's solution to the issue was to add a small square piece of sponge to the left joycon..... i doubt that will improve the connectivity issue because its cheap hardware cant reach (for me) beyond 5 feet.

 

[ViDeOmAnCiNi]

probably a hot home w/o AC or they keep switch in hot cabinet or out of airflow. isolated incident. nothing to see here.