Reliability debate on consoles

[jonneymendoza]

why is consoles soo unreliable compared to a modern gaming pc? is it because of the air flow and size of a pc machine matched with a console?

With a pc, you get good direct air cooling using fans and heatsinks while in a console you get only one fan extracting hot air out and just a heatsink cooling the cpu and gpu.

Not to mention little to no air flow ventilation in a console case. Would you guys preferred a console that's twice the size that offers reliability similar to a pc or are you happy to sacrifice the risk of your consoles breaking just so that your console is of reasonable size?

 

[3far4shot]

Because as years roll on, consoles get more powerful each generation, yet they still have to stuff the whole thing in a small box, which in turn can cause problems like that of the Xbox 360.

PC's are much bigger, the parts have much more room to breath, the heatsinks and fans are much bigger. Also keep in mind that if they make the case bigger on a console, it pretty much just becomes a PC with lower end parts in it, they want to maintain that whole ''can fit in your entertainment rack'' persona

 

[Recursion]

Because as years roll on, consoles get more powerful each generation, yet they still have to stuff the whole thing in a small box, which in turn can cause problems like that of the Xbox 360.

PC's are much bigger, the parts have much more room to breath, the heatsinks and fans are much bigger. Also keep in mind that if they make the case bigger on a console, it pretty much just becomes a PC with lower end parts in it, they want to maintain that whole ''can fit in your entertainment rack'' persona

Thats really not the reason, but it could be part of the equation which I will mention. The real reason PC's are drastically more reliable than a console is because they are built to drastically greater tolerances than a console. A console executes a video game and watches a movie at most. A computer is not meant for such menial tasks, a computers first priority is in computation no matter what its kind. Companies which produce computer hardware like Intel and Nvidia have obligation first to the scientific community then to Business and then to the the consumers, even though the majority of their profit comes from the consumers. Those in Science and Business have far greater needs for reliable systems than consumers, peoples lives are based on these systems. Where as a game console does niether.

As mentioned heat on a system could limit its lifespan, but this occurs mostly because it can. Consumers are still buying up 360's even considering the RROD, which is against market forces. They don't have to deal with either the scientific or business community so have little to worry about. Consoles will keep getting worse and worse untill consumers wake up and then the consoles will get one notch better than the worst people will accept.

Consoles suck because their consumers allow them to. Stop buying 360's and MS will fix them, believe me.

 

[cnick79]

Perhaps the parts inside a console are cheaper quality? I'm sure console manufactures have to cut costs somewhere during the build. The last thing they want is a console that costs as much as a PC.

 

[Nettwerk]

Majority of xbox/ps3 problems is the crap solder they use.

 

[piscian18]

Thats really not the reason, but it could be part of the equation which I will mention. The real reason PC's are drastically more reliable than a console is because they are built to drastically greater tolerances than a console. A console executes a video game and watches a movie at most. A computer is not meant for such menial tasks, a computers first priority is in computation no matter what its kind. Companies which produce computer hardware like Intel and Nvidia have obligation first to the scientific community then to Business and then to the the consumers, even though the majority of their profit comes from the consumers. Those in Science and Business have far greater needs for reliable systems than consumers, peoples lives are based on these systems. Where as a game console does niether.

As mentioned heat on a system could limit its lifespan, but this occurs mostly because it can. Consumers are still buying up 360's even considering the RROD, which is against market forces. They don't have to deal with either the scientific or business community so have little to worry about. Consoles will keep getting worse and worse untill consumers wake up and then the consoles will get one notch better than the worst people will accept.

Consoles suck because their consumers allow them to. Stop buying 360's and MS will fix them, believe me.

True and not true. Manufactures make mistakes and if reported properly pay for those mistakes. Unlike crappy games consoles you can atleast return theres no real need for a boycott. Sony has more or less learned it's lesson. We won't know if Microsoft has learned it's lesson until the next gen.

With the original PS2 Sony dropped the price to 199.99 and attempted to go with a cheap chinese manufacturer for the Version 4 unit. SCH-3000 I believe. This resulted in thousands of returns due to "Disk Read Error". Anyway after a class action lawsuit as far as I know still today if you have a version 4 unit you can still return it to sony for a replacement at no cost. Hense the PS3 has been devastatingly expensive to make and cost a pretty penny, however there have been little to no complaints.

Microsoft went through the same phase. The Original Xbox was very expensive to make and MIcrosoft took big losses. They expected this as a new market entry. When they produced the xbox360 they tried to switch to a cheap manufacture process and they got bit big time. They've more or less made amends with adding warranty and I think theyve avoided any major court battle, but I expect the successor to Xbox360 will be quite expensive and a bit more reliable.

 

[BladeVenom]

I wouldn't expect much improvement for the next Xbox. Microsoft has already said they didn't believe they made a mistake with the 360, and getting out first is still their number one goal for their next generation console.

 

[GeminiDragon]

My NES, SNES, N64, PS1 and PS2 work just fine despite being old. Now, my Xbox and Xbox 360 both crapped out after a year. Microsoft has a problem making consoles that are reliable, not Nintendo or Sony, in my experience.

 

[YeuEmMaiMai]

True and not true. Manufactures make mistakes and if reported properly pay for those mistakes. Unlike crappy games consoles you can atleast return theres no real need for a boycott. Sony has more or less learned it's lesson. We won't know if Microsoft has learned it's lesson until the next gen.

With the original PS2 Sony dropped the price to 199.99 and attempted to go with a cheap chinese manufacturer for the Version 4 unit. SCH-3000 I believe. This resulted in thousands of returns due to "Disk Read Error". Anyway after a class action lawsuit as far as I know still today if you have a version 4 unit you can still return it to sony for a replacement at no cost. Hense the PS3 has been devastatingly expensive to make and cost a pretty penny, however there have been little to no complaints.

Microsoft went through the same phase. The Original Xbox was very expensive to make and MIcrosoft took big losses. They expected this as a new market entry. When they produced the xbox360 they tried to switch to a cheap manufacture process and they got bit big time. They've more or less made amends with adding warranty and I think theyve avoided any major court battle, but I expect the successor to Xbox360 will be quite expensive and a bit more reliable.

11% failure rate for the PS3 is not what one would call normal but that pales to the pre jasper Xbox 360 failure rate of 34%.........

 

[Recursion]

True and not true. Manufactures make mistakes and if reported properly pay for those mistakes. Unlike crappy games consoles you can atleast return theres no real need for a boycott. Sony has more or less learned it's lesson. We won't know if Microsoft has learned it's lesson until the next gen.

With the original PS2 Sony dropped the price to 199.99 and attempted to go with a cheap chinese manufacturer for the Version 4 unit. SCH-3000 I believe. This resulted in thousands of returns due to "Disk Read Error". Anyway after a class action lawsuit as far as I know still today if you have a version 4 unit you can still return it to sony for a replacement at no cost. Hense the PS3 has been devastatingly expensive to make and cost a pretty penny, however there have been little to no complaints.

Microsoft went through the same phase. The Original Xbox was very expensive to make and MIcrosoft took big losses. They expected this as a new market entry. When they produced the xbox360 they tried to switch to a cheap manufacture process and they got bit big time. They've more or less made amends with adding warranty and I think theyve avoided any major court battle, but I expect the successor to Xbox360 will be quite expensive and a bit more reliable.

Nothing you said made what I said untrue. Intel had the Pentium bug on the PC upswing and they reevaluated what was important to them and thats what we have today.

Mistakes aren't necessary, they are choices people and companies make. When my PS2 got a disc read error years ago I had to pay $150 to get it fixed, no matter how I argued or who I talked to they claimed it was somehow my fault. I eventually sold the pos and never touched a video games again.

 

[Conker]

Consoles are made to fail plain and simple. These companies know you'll just buy another one if your dumb enough. Why do you think they ban and brick systems left and right. When sales drop and the money isn't coming in you look online..another 100000 banned. Only console right now that doesn't break much is the wii. People usually buy new tv's though instead of new wii's lol.

 

[Spare-Flair]

As Jeremy Clarkson would say, the problem is to be blamed on the Ecomentalists / Envirosexuals

New environmental laws on lead free solder = cracked soldering/traces = RROD.

 

[cnick79]

The reliability of the consoles are the fault of the Chinese. I don't know who makes the parts and assembles them but I'm sure a lot of what goes into that console comes from China. That's the answer to this thread's question.

 

[silent hero]

My NES, SNES, N64, PS1 and PS2 work just fine despite being old. Now, my Xbox and Xbox 360 both crapped out after a year. Microsoft has a problem making consoles that are reliable, not Nintendo or Sony, in my experience.

The first Xbox was a very solid console despite the power cord recall which was nothing on the scale of the Xbox 360's hardware failures. You could drop the original Xbox off a building and it would still work.

 

[swatbat]

My NES, SNES, N64, PS1 and PS2 work just fine despite being old. Now, my Xbox and Xbox 360 both crapped out after a year. Microsoft has a problem making consoles that are reliable, not Nintendo or Sony, in my experience.

Consider yourself lucky. The Nindendo platform seemed to be pretty good although the NES with its spring loaded tray caused a lot of issues. It would generally still work, just took some screwing around with(jamming a cart in above the first one to hold it down).

The PS1 had major issues with its optical drive. I use to buy broken ones, repair and mod them, then list them on ebay. I know a bunch of people that went through the turning the system upside down or on its side trying to get more life out of it. The PS2 had some optical drive issues as well although it was generally better then the first model from what I remember.

Anyway to answer the OP's queston it comes down to costs. Consoles are generally sold at a loss when they come up with the vendors making the money back in licensing. Because of this they try to make them as cheap as possible. This can lead to issues.

 

[wayreth21]

Until the Xbox 360 came out I never had a console fail on me. My first 360 failed within 2 months of purchase. I took it back to Best Buy and they replaced. Since then I have gone through 6 additional units. I am now on my most recent one which has lasted 6 months. I am the only person using it. Clean house, good air flow, just a string of bad luck. I won't invest in the next xbox until I know that they work.

All of my original consoles still work though to this day. NES, SNES, PS1, PS2, and even the old nasty Gameboy. All work and have yet to fail.