I'm not a huge fan of console gaming but when GTA IV came out I had to have it so a couple days ago I went out and bought an xBox 360 & GTA IV. Now, my question is, how necessary is the Intercooler? PC1: - Asus M2V-MX SE - Athlon 64 4200+ X2 @ 2.2GHz - 1GB DDR2 @ 667MHz - nVidia GeForce 8500GT 512MB OC @ 729/932MHz PC2: - Core2Duo Laptop/1GB DDR2

You mean intercooler as in the fans? Very necessary, considering the 360 is plagued with overheating problems. The stock cooling is inadequate to say the least. P4 3.20HT @ 3.60ghz Abit IS7-E2 2x1024mb OCZ Value DDR400 @ DDR450 Dual Channel 80GB Diamondmax9 SATA 160GB Diamondmax10 SATA HIS Radeon X1950PRO ICEQ3 Turbo 256mb Hiper Type R 530W PSU

I bought the system on Friday and I have been playing it pretty much non stop since I bought it. The system doesn't seem to get to hot to the touch. The whole system stays cold except for near the front on the left side (I have it standing up) My Nintendo Wii has been just has hot to the touch as my 360 before. I will pick one up tho just to be safe. Thank you for your input. PC1: - Asus M2V-MX SE - Athlon 64 4200+ X2 @ 2.2GHz - 1GB DDR2 @ 667MHz - nVidia GeForce 8500GT 512MB OC @ 729/932MHz PC2: - Core2Duo Laptop/1GB DDR2

The new 360's with the HDMI plug-ins have updated intercoolers to deal with the 360's horrible reputations in the past. Mine hasn't broken yet and I've had mine since the end of August 07. "I know you won't believe me, but the highest form of human intelligence is to question oneself and others." - Socrates

The intercooler will actually help break it...Call Microsoft.