Single point of failure of the cooling system
Hello everyone,
I’ve seen a lot of discussion about the pros and cons of the Gabecube, but there’s one thing I haven’t seen mentioned much: the cooling system seems to have a pretty major single point of failure, which is the fan.
From what I understand, the entire system is cooled by one large fan paired with a massive heatsink. If that fan dies, the whole system could end up unable to properly run games. Fans failing over time isn’t exactly rare either.
I’m not a huge fan (pun) of having the entire system effectively crippled by a single failing component. I’m also wondering whether the fan uses a standardized size. If it doesn’t, replacing it years down the line could become problem if Valve eventually stops supplying parts.
On a related note, I’m also curious about the warranty duration for this thing. Since the CPU and GPU are soldered, they can’t really be serviced or replaced, so if either fails after the warranty expires, you’re basically out of luck.
A lot of people focus on the lack of upgradeability, but honestly, repairability seems more important to me.
The Steam Controller only has a one-year warranty, so I’m a bit concerned about how long the warranty for the machine will last.