Google Stadia causes some Chromecast Ultras to overheat

The Chromecast Ultra has long been prone to over-heating issues, even before it became the launch device for Google’s video game streaming service. The complaints about toasty Chromecasts have returned, as some of Stadia’s first players are experiencing crashes when playing games from their TV.

The overheating issues aren’t universal — no one on the Android Police team has experienced overheating during Stadia gameplay — but there are plenty of reports on social media. Since the Chromecast Ultra has no active cooling (e.g. a fan), hot environments can easily affect it.

Have to say.. Stadia just works really well so far. Looks way better on my TV than on my desktop/laptop browser. No lag, no fragments. That Chromecast Ultra gets crazy hot though..

— ΛПDЯΣΛS (@hermitation) November 21, 2019

It’s not immediately clear if the Chromecast Ultra is more prone to overheating during Stadia gameplay than regular video streaming. Stadia streaming shouldn’t be significantly more taxing on the Ultra’s hardware than Netflix or YouTube, unless different video codecs are being used. The constant 60FPS streaming could also be a factor.

Either way, I wouldn’t be surprised if we start to see Raspberry Pi-style coolers become popular among Stadia users. If someone from Corsair or NZXT is reading this, can we get a water-cooling loop for the Chromecast Ultra?