Topic: Anyone else feel like the Xbox Series X works better horizontal?

I originally went with the vertical setup as that is how I always see it being displayed, but even though I had it setup in a nice open area behind my TV on a stand it shutdown on me while I was playing the COD Cold War campaign. When I booted it back up I got a message about how the console shuts it's self down when it reaches a high enough temperature.

I setup it up horizontally and it seems to have been working better ever since. I think the problem must have been how I had a sound bar next to it, but it wasn't right up against it. It's like when you look at it with the stand there isn't a whole lot of space, seems like it really needs to pull in air from all sides.

It just seems like you really gotta have your console setup in an ideal spot for the vertical cooling to work effectively, like you really need a good amount of open space surrounding it. With horizontal it just seems easier to set it up where the air intake has no obstruction or issues.

Mine is on the vertical position behind the TV too but is has a fair share of space on the front and back (but not so much on the sides as it is against the TV and wall as the console is sideways so I can acess the disk tray) and I had no issues of overheating and never heard the fan over gameplay altough I can feel some hot air when on if I go nearby

I run mine horizontal because big open vents pointing up seem like a guaranteed way of getting dust, bugs, and random other debris dropping into it. I don't know about cooling issues, though, that sounds like something else.

Phil runs his horizontal.....so I say the marketing people are wrong.

@NEStalgia Nice, glad to hear how Phil also runs his horizontal, so there must be something to it. Makes me feel less weird for setting up mine that way lol.

As for the cooling issues, I don't think it's a real issue with the console so much as how the limited amount of free space between the bottom stand and the bottom vents means it must really need to pull in air from all sides. 3 of the sides were very open, but one side was somewhat close to a soundbar and I guess like that was enough to restrict the air flow to where it overheated under heavy load.

Come to think of it though, your criticisms of dust and bugs and stuff getting into it when vertical sounds like a valid observation. Naturally whatever faces upward is going to get more dust in it, as dust tends to float around and settle it's way down.

In horizontal it kinda looks like a subwoofer or something with the stand on the side, but you can just tell how it can pull in a lot more air with ease. It just sucks air from the left and blows it out the right, seems pretty efficient this way. I feel like that would also move the hot air better, make it so there's a greater distance between the intake air. In vertical it just pulls in the fresh air right below where it blows out the hot air.

@JayJ Though in vertical it has the advantage of heat rising which assists the fan with natural convection actively sucking air through. So, assuming adequate airflow, maybe that offsets any air restriction working against the fan.

So least there's no screwdriver involved