Microsoft is equipping Xbox 360s with additional cooling to battle the legendary Ring of Death problems.

Gamers are reporting that their repaired Xboxes have a massive new heatsink on the ATI-powered Xenos graphics chip in a bid to prevent problems with overheating and stability. The heatsink features an additional heatpipe and fin section to increase the cooling surface area. However, there are no extra fans.

There is also no word on epoxy - glue is used on the high-end Xbox 360 Elite units to prevent chips from coming away from the PCB should the plastic warp in the heat. We suspect that those lucky enough to get their Xbox back in a working condition aren't keen to start pulling it apart again.

I suspect that thermals will continue to be an issue with the 360 until Microsoft or more than likely AMD/ATI can start cranking out 65nm components that will require far less power and generate less heat. At that point, the Ring of Death should be history. Until then, expect it to keep firefighting, in some cases, quite literally.

Problem is that the damage has already been done.

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