cooling an xbox 360 - fans and/or water cooling

[Midnight Tboy]

Now that I have my jtagged box, which I forgot how bloody hot they get (mid 70degrees F for cpu and edram etc)

I'm looking and trying to find the best way to cool them

I see theres a 12v fan mod to the original fans - tho struggling to understand the instruction and not sure how safe it is drawing power (tho now the dvd drive doesnt matter so much cos of the jtag so not end of world if it kills that)

Then theres the Whisper Fans on the back for replacing the stock ones that allegedly draw more air. Anyone here tried these out to if worth it?

Then theres also an XCM cooler which sits in the console to the right of the dvd drive? Again are they worth doing.

Alternatively, thinking though too that if plan to spend out on several fans etc, then why not go whole hog and look at how to water cool it. Would probably be worth it if it a)makes the box quiet, and b)being a xenon console with the precious jtag I want it to live as long as possible

I've never water cooled anything before mind - and can only seem to find v old info or stuff that seems to be no longer sold. Anyone know ofany good kits for water cooling


As it is at the moment I keep cringing every time the console is on for more than 10minutes while testing apps and copying files across in fear of it dying lol

 

[Midnight Tboy]

I can see so far that I need either Aquatuning -Your watercooling and modding distributor - XSPC X-Box 360 Kühler Koolance X-Box 360 Dual waterblock Kit 12205 or the alcatel x-matic waterblock tho thats nearly twice the price (but it does cover the memory too).

I still dont quite get my head around what else I need to go with it (other than obviously the piping and some sort of pump

Anyone advise on a decent small sized kit or whatever to go well with this? With everything I would need...or of course individual items

cheers

 

[P33 RRV]

jesus mate you seem to be getting right into this eh ;-)

i tried the whisper fans, its a shame they dont whisper they do pull the air better mind, my mate water cools pc's i did think fo asking him to do the box but last week he had a leak and it ruined a £1000 pc :-(

 

[dannyrp03]

hi tboy i use water cooled thermalake kit myself on a pc ,works a treat ands its very low on noise ,u might consider boxing youre xbox in a pc style case might be less hassle and easyier to keep cool ,best regards danny

 

[dibbers]

i've seen some class water cooled system before and as posted probably be better if it was incased in a pc case or a small HPTC system for all the pipes and the pump etc etc.

here what it'll be like with the hooses and that so a case would be good.

saying that looks good like this

i've just added a usb powered fan might help in the short run but i do like the look of that water cooler for the 360 like.

if i do put the case and that back together on this one (she suffered quite bad from e74 and rrod a few times in fact this is her 5th fix..and now she seems stable)

 

[Midnight Tboy]

I've read a few bits and pieces now

I'm going to start off by cutting off the metal bits at the back of the console to allow more air to escape (and leaving a big hole in back of 360 )

I'll probably get some whisper fans.....but I saw mention of whisper max fans that switch by button to full speed but can't seem to see them ones for sale anywhere.

In last few minutes however, while searching, I've just seen mention for us jtagged boxes, of a tool called fanspeedflasher, that is available on xbins.

Supposedly allows you to set the fan speed as default from within the console itself? So you can set it to 100% without having to do the 12v mod soldering as far as I can gather.

The post I saw it in refers to getting the one from xbins...but also patching it afterwards to make it work better?

ok 1st thing to do is go to xbins and get the fan speed flasher but the older version not the newer one then download this http://www.ddxcb.com/crap/patcher.rar and just patch the autospeedxex then run it on xexmenu and restart the xbox and then it should sound like a hairdryer as i said my temps are between 50 and 70 now but if you can put up with the noise its worth it especially on a xenon hope that helps ya

all credits go to ddxcb over at xboxhacker

 

[DJJama]

I think my image of xbins had the fan patch installed as as soon as i booted it for the first time after it sounded like it was going to take off.
It's defiantly software as if i boot to xell by pressing eject its normal.
If you get the software working let me know as i want to reduce mine to normal.

Jama

 

[Midnight Tboy]

well I've just followed the steps....ie download the fantools file from xbins in the _old folder - NOT the main file - and then run the patcher which patches the file Autospeed.xex (there are also other settings like 70speed.xex etc)

It reboots itself to the dashboard afterwards.

I've then just switched it off and back on again - definately going full speed now

Just keeping eye on readings, as it does seem to run hotter than normal when xexmenu is loaded.

As it stands right now

cpu 58.2
gpu 56.9
edram 62.8
mb 27

If I remember right, yesterday the readings where in the low 70s numbers for most part, occasionally dropping below 70

 

[Midnight Tboy]

just found my older post from 3 days ago

This was while it was doing nothing really except sat at xexmenu screen, and the odd xbla title copying across from USB etc

CPU : 77 degC
GPU : 77.5 degC
EDRAM 83.2 degC
MB : 30degC

as it stands right now

58.6
57.4
6..3
27.4



fwiw if I remember right - that other reading was just after having jtagged it, and with the cover off too - I suppose having no cover on at all may perhaps cause to get a little hotter as the fans can't direct themselves against the important areas so much as dispersed elsewhere?

 

[Midnight Tboy]

Happy as larry that dont have to do the 12v mod thanks to this tool yay (well I presume its in effect the same thing )

I still think its worth me cutting the back metal grills out to allow more to escape though as thats fairly easy done (short of cutting fingers to bits tho) without any real risk....and might likely get some whisper fans if they really do push more air out.

Also theres that trick about putting some tin foil/cardboard on top of the gpu too to make the airflow concentrate more on gpu that can be easy enough


Anyone know where can get some heatsinks for the ram chips from? That could be helpful as meant to be a common cause of random lockups too.

and also do yous think its worth putting that extra fan inside the machine (the one that goes near to the front USB ports for cooling the mobo....reason I wonder is I know sometimes on some pcs too many fans can be problematic especially when they're pulling the air in the wrong direction so causes the airflow to suffer as got air going against it

 

[Midnight Tboy]

a few minutes of playing serious sam hd and looking much better compared to before

59.3
55.2
61.1
27.9

 

[Midnight Tboy]

Its very strange though - when xexmenu is loaded - the gpu shoots up and up

in last 60seconds or so its now got to 57.9. you would expeect the gpu would be a lot cooler when xexmenu is on and much higher when gaming . Maybe just case of the code for it needing optimising?

---

again - trying the game Saboteur for 5mins or so - the gpu cools down a bit!! launch xexmenu - back up it goes to 58degrees

 

[Midnight Tboy]

temperatures seem to be holding out yay...

i'm still going to look at getting some fans and cutting into the back however.

The only thing that concerns me though, is sometimes when I turn the xbox on, it powers up but nothing happens, no errors or anything - just nothing coming to the screen.

Seems to be though that shutting it down then back on again fixes the problem. Not sure as to why/how it happens though :-s

 

[Midnight Tboy]

hmmmmm

little bit concerning........

I've just pulled apart the 360 and installed some talismoon whisper fans. Since running the 12v mod, before my cpu was typically about 58 idle. Now with the replacement fans that supposedly push out more air....it reports about 61degrees.

Anyone any idea exactly how/where the temperature readings are taken from? In case wondering if that perhaps its showing as higher as its pushing more out...and as a result sensor is noticing it and not a problem as such? Or wonder if I may perhaps have to resort back to the stock fans