A friend of mine recently said that in standby mode, the Wii can generate enough heat over a long period of time to damage the graphics chip. Has anyone else heard this?

no. mine has been in standby since launch.

Yeah I had thought about this when I noticed mine was very warm in Stand by mode. I'm sure there's nothing to worry about but who knows. I used my Infrared Thermometer and this is what I found...Mind you, it's warm here in So Cal and my apartment is warm too so a few degrees are probably due to that. Other than that this is temp of my Wii right now. This Wii has been in Stand by since Sunday afternoon so I haven't even played it since then.

Also my 360, which has also been off since Sunday, was 90 degrees when I took the temp at the same time.

The highest temp I read was 105 but I didn't take a pic of that.

There's a stack of articles and posts about this on the net. I thought it was all but confirmed..

http://kotaku.com/gaming/rumor/wiico...les-280408.php
http://www.qj.net/WiiConnect24-cause...g/49/aid/97948
etc. etc.

Wi-Fi cards generate heat, but I am skeptical of this bricking consoles. I know at least two people that have had there Wiis in standby since launch with no issues.

I usually power mine down all the way, but I am more worried about a power surge or something damaging the console. I already had a storm kill a Wii power brick.

Update. As of this post it's 8:58pm pst and the Wii is down in the 90's.

You didn't at least have it on a low end power strip? I thought using power strips or other power devices between electronics like this and the wall outlet was standard practice for most?

I've had my WiiConnect24 on since Feb with no overheating or any other noticeable problems.

I noticed it got really warm, so I turned off Standby mode. There's no difference in terms of online content as long as you have WiiConnect24 turned on.

Doesn't the Wii have to be in standby mode for WiiConnect24?

That's what I thought.. that's how it turns on the blue light when there's an update or new content and how your Miis travel from console to console. I've had mine on standby since launch and there's been no problems. Goodness, has it almost been a year already?! Yikes.

To answer a question: no, WiiConnect24 and Standby mode are configured separately. You don't need to have Standby to use WiiConnect24. However, there is a caveat:Looks like I spoke too soon. After I posted this, a new update appeared for the Wii. This new update requires that you have Standby mode on if you want to use the News or Weather channels.

I did and it still killed the brick. Those cheap power strips do very little to protect electronics.

Mine gets fairly warm. Hopefully it's not an issue.

Rumor has it that with the latest update the fan will come on during Standby mode.

I noticed this problem the second i used the Wii to browse the net... While it's not a big deal, but in my book, any electronic devices should not generate any heats if it's powered down or in standby mode. For that reason, i used the press and hold method to power off the Wii (you can't do this with the Wiimote). However, after a while, i found that quite bothersome, especially if a guest plays my Wii when i'm not home (he/she turned off the Wii, but it was in standby mode). So, at the end, i said the hell with Wii24, i turned that thing off completely, just not worth the little efforts...

I read somewhere that the little heats in the Wii builds up and can damage the graphic card (you can see vertical lines when you play games).

I've had WiiConnect24 on since late November and have had zero problems. The Wii does stay warm but never hot.

yeah i hate how it stays warm even though i don't use it. sometimes, i've thought about just unplugging it b/c i don't even use it unless friends come over.

Heat shouldn't damage the hardware unless it gets hotter than in normal operation, which is very unlikely in standby mode.

Hot to cold to hot to cold causes expansion/contraction which can lead to hardware failure.

This is just like the argument about leaving a PC on all the time or turning it off.

In those cases the fans are going, though. Still, the Wii gets warm, but not hot enough to damage anything. You're likely better off leaving it on standby all the time and it staying warm than frequent on/off cycles.

I work in I.T. with older computer architectures. If you turn off a box that has been running 24/7 and let it cool all the way off, there's a good chance something doesn't work right when it powers back up.

So, like a computer, either leave it on or in low-power mode all the time, or always turn it off if you don't use it that frequently. If you use it frequently then the standby is undoubtedly healthier than repeated heating/cooling cycles.

Here's a page that explains it well:

http://www.louisvillebusiness.com/du...rnoffornot.htm

Yeah from what I understand the strip has to have a minimum Joule rating to make a difference and the cheap ones don't always meet that.

I have a UPS, but only enough room for my more expensive stuff like the TV, Receiver and PS3. Wii is on the cheapo strip. I'm just glad it only screwed up the brick which Nintendo replaced quickly at no cost to me.