Things are heating up in the teardown room, but we can't extract the "Thermal System" just yet. So we lift the whole dang motherboard assembly out of the metal casing.

A springy, X-shaped bracket secures the heat sink to the motherboard—a signature part we've seen in every Xbox since the original 360.

The "X" is a bit fussy and takes some muscle, but some practiced prying with a flathead driver saves the day.