There's a new Quiet Your Xbox 360 article on ExtremeTech. It focuses on quieting the thing's optical drive with grommets and Dynamat. Looks like they cut about 4 dBs off the noise.

Will have to try something like this out once my warranty is closer to running out. The optical drive noise on this thing is terrible. The fans are loud, but bearable.

EDIT: Reading through the article, it appears they forced everything to fit with the grommets installed. I'd tend to think this would somewhat negate the dampening benefit of the grommets. Maybe it would be better to cut off part of the posts that sit on the grommets so they are not squished up so much?

fans are bearable? This thing is a monster

As soon as i start playing GOW, it goes off like a rocket

I modding guide will be forthcomeing

Based on my limited experience with the console, i would say its the DVD-drive making most of the racket even while gaming. It spins at full speed all the bloody time.

The 360s stock cooling fans are offensive, I wish Nexus or Scythe would release a replacement fan kit. There is the Talismoon replacement fan kit, but they look like crappy YS Tech fans and having used clear YS Tech fans in the past, I can say tell you that they are not silent and don’t last. Which is funny, because standard black YS Tech fans are durable, just not quiet.

I finally bought a 360 and BOY IS IT LOUD!!

Luckily the New XBOX Experience lets you install to the HDD which reduces noise.

However some games just don't install. Take for example the Xbox Arcade Unplugged discs. One came w/ the unit, got a 20GB drive free from CC on black Friday if you bought a arcade for $199.

I've been playing UNO on LIVE and the disc spins constantly even while just playing the game. It's really annoying and vibrates the home theater cabinet, sounds like a plane flying overhead.

I was looking at some of the hard drive suspensions in cases and thought about constructing some sort of hammock for it to sit in. Do any of you experienced silencers think that would do anything? Or would it make it worse by making the disc vibrate? The fans aren't very loud thankfully. I just find it ironic it's now quieter when i play a graphically/computationally demanding game that's installed than when I'm playing UNO.

Any ideas? (without voiding the warranty )

What a nice little pc case that would make...

I think it would. It was designed for the Xbox360, but I can see it being used as a PC case as well.

yea i've seen that before. but it's $150, and i would have to void my warranty to install the mobo in it. It would be the ultimate kicker if i did all that and then had the RRoD.

It's not the fans ramping up that makes the noise, it's the DVD drive running constantly. So I'm trying to figure out some sort of way to hold the 360 that would cut down on the DVD drive's spinning vibration transferring out of the housing. (or even reduce it's vibration on the housing by reducing the resistance). All i can come up w/ at this point is a hammock of some sort, though im not sure if straps would be better. or if just sitting it on some sort of cushion (without blocking air vents) would be the ideal solution. maybe a combination of the two?

Wow, that IS a nice case. I just skimmed through their instructions for putting the guts of an XBox into it. Ugh. Just taking the XBox apart looks miserable. It sure would be nice if Lian Li and Microsoft worked a deal where you could buy the unassembled parts of an XBox in kit form for that case.

I hear ya - wife got me an elite 360 last xmas (falcon) and the cooling fans.... RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

The dvd drive isnt nearly as bad as the RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR the fans make. my ps3 is basically silent in comparison.

Sounds like a blown fan bearing...send that $hite back! (my Wii's nearly quiet)

Lian Li PC-XB01 review, and translated to english.

Nothing like holding in some heat from the Dynamat!



Although, I'm intrigued by the Lian Li case. I think I might get one!

EDIT: After looking at the XB01 a little more, although it looks nice and does the trick, it seems they could have done much better with the implementation and fit.

It looks a bit like this µATX case, the depth is the biggest difference.

PC-XB01 XBox: 160 x 250 x 415mm
PC-A01 µATX: 160 x 360 x 410mm

I wish the would have made the drive horizontal like that case too...

Well, my silent modding tendencies got to me and I just placed an order for the XB01

I haven't decided if I'll use the stock fan or one of my spare SlipStreams. I'll post pictures when I'm done. This will be used for Zephyer MOBO that I've had for over year with no RROD yet. I do think Lian Li could have done a better job with this case, I think it's still worth a shot. I'll probably mod it a bit to make it look cleaner, but probably not right away.

I'm going to get a second 360 when the Jaspers become more available. Since I've already got a spare 120GB HDD, $200 for an Arcade isn't a bad deal

I'm thinking about getting a Jasper myself some time next year. I've read, though, that they will have the same DVD drive as the Falcons, so that part will still be loud. But the new GPU is supposed to significantly improve on power and reliability.

As for the HDD, I don't think you can use any old 120GB drive...you need to buy a special (read: overpriced) one from MS, or is that what you have?

I install my games to the HDD, so drive noise isn't an issue for the most part.

I have a spare Xbox 120GB HDD

This is one very quiet Xbox360 based on the Lian Li plus Noctuas Opteron(!) coolers:



Build log found here:

www.silentxbox.com



Cheers!


/Magnus

I'm not going that extreme, but I'm sure that would work.

I got my case in and I'm working on improving it a little. I did swap out the fan for a Scythe SlipStream (1,200 RPM with rubber 'screws') and it is quieter and moves just a tiny bit more air. I think I'm going to mount a 50mm fan on the CPU heatsink (between the GPU heat pipe and CPU cooler) w/ a Zalman fan mate.

I was suprised at how hot the all the heat sinks got... They were EXTREMELY HOT. Since I couldn't touch them in the stock case to compare, I'm not sure if it is withing limits. I think the 50mm fan will help out.

It IS MUCH quieter (sans DVD drive, but I install games on the HDD) and it's different. I'll be using this in the bedroom as a media extender. I'll later get a Jasper unit (keep it stock) for the basement theater. It'll be in a A/V closet, so the fans won't be heard.

Here are some pics....

i just finished mines:






heres a vid:

http://www.youtube.com/v/BfJ7XCZLydI&hl=en&fs=1

At idle and the game installed on the HDD i can't even hear it. after a 4 hour session of COD4 i'ts about as loud as the stock idle without the whine lol.

i still need to swap out the lian li fans with a couple nexus. also the psu is making some bad fan noises as well. this is a terribly loud machine.

I had my Xbox RRoD shortly after installing it into this case. I have my replacement (I took the warranty sticker off with a hair drier) and I'm looking to put this back in the case....

I was looking to upgrade to the "X-clamp fix", but when looking at [url=http://www.x-clamp-fix.com/catalog/product_info.php?info=p5_X-Clamp-Fix-DIY-Kit.html]this[\url] site, they say the real problem (aside from the non-spring steel clamps) is the gap under the GPU. With this new cas, this case gets rid of the gap. I don't really believe this being the case because the way the original setup mounts though the case.

The X-clamp fix bolts to the metal chasis, but the stock setup also does this.

Anyway, any ideas are appreciated.

flakko - Are those the only two fans in the case... No exhaust fan?

As it stands, you can't do much at all to reduce the system noise in the current case. You can install games to the hard drive, and you can do some little internal cooling mods (as5, lapping heatsinks, some work with the air ducts pulling air over the heatsink more forcefully) but the console uses 2 70mm fans...there aren't many quiet 70mms out there, much less quiet ones that will pull enough air. The new Jasper motherboards use 65nm CPU and a 65nm GPU, they are the coolest running yet, but still the 360 makes a lot of heat. Other than the fan system the DVD drive is the loudest thing in the system, like I said, you can install games to the hard drive, but with a 20GB hard drive that is pretty much useless. You need a 60GB or a 120GB. There are way to flash the DVD drive firmware (I'm not going to talk about it because the firmware allows booting burned games)with firmware that will read the disc at a slower speed, stock speed is 12x, you can do 8x, 5x, and 2x. But this is kinda eh, because the games load slower then...so it's a tradeoff.

There are waterblocks on ebay and the web so you can water cool your 360...that is a possibility. Watercooling your 360 and installing all your games to a 120GB hard drive is the best idea right now I would think. Unless you want to get your hands dirty and do a heatsink mod like the Noctua ones then stick with the water cooling and game installation, if you want to pay time and money...you can do a heatsink mod...but for ANYTHING you'll need a bigger case...so ditch the white plastic crap.

Um, did you even read what this thread is about? We're not using the stock plastic case. I have pictures of my case above.

I know but I'm just stating for reference.

I'm not trying to be a jerk, but that's already assumed by going to the different case.

Is this still the case after all this time? No quiet aftermarket fans being sold for the 360?