Project: Silent Xbox (passivly cooled heatsink replacements, etc.)
#16
today i took apart my xbox and what did i have to see... i have got no active gpu cooler - so then i decided to turn off the hdd and wow - the box got reaaaaaly quiet!

even without my new hdd kit with silent cooler ( which was ordered about 3 weeks ago and still has not arrived Confused ) the main noise problem is the hdd in my system.

the hdd is a samsung 1204 @ 5400 rpm - which usally is a pretty quiet drive. so next week i am gonna grab a 2,5" notebook hdd and stuff it in my box - that should really quiet the sucker down :thumbsup:
#17
Sad 
fyi; notebook/laptop 2.5" harddrives aren't famous for being quiet, sure they run at lower rpm, emit much less heat and use less power than a 3.5" harddrive but they are usually not more quiet than a fluid-bearing motor 3.5" harddrives (even 7200rpm ones) however 2.5" harddrives are a lot slower, (i recommend a 3.5" seagate over any 2.5" harddrive).
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.
#18
After my first xBox I wanted quietness badly.

I carried out the 80mm fan mod as on llamma website;
http://www.llamma.com/xbox/Xbox%2080mm%20Fan%20Mod.htm.
Think I used a quiet YS-Tech one from memory.

I put a quiet 40Gb (3.5") HDD in as opposed to the noisy big disc my other xboxen. I set XBMC to modify fan speed with a target temp of 60 or maybe 70 degrees C, I forget exactly which.

If XBMC is idle then fan speed clocks down to 1% after a couple of mins.
Watching a quite hig res Xvid it will typicially settle at about 12%. If the TV is off I can hear the xBox, the wife has gone to bed not turning it off not realising it's on, oh and it's never crashed.

To pose another question, if you where to use an xBox as NAS;
http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2005/12/13...x_nas_pt1/
Would that need cooling? I am toying with the idea of one with 2x400Gb discs no fans and many many many holes in the top cover.
#19
olibandit Wrote:To pose another question, if you where to use an xBox as NAS;
http://www.tomsnetworking.com/2005/12/13...x_nas_pt1/
Would that need cooling? I am toying with the idea of one with 2x400Gb discs no fans and many many many holes in the top cover.
OFF-TOPIC!!! But my answer is; yes you will most deffinitly need a fan (or two), ...unless you want your harddrives to die on you after a year or two.
Always read the XBMC online-manual, FAQ and search the forum before posting.
Do not e-mail XBMC-Team members directly asking for support. Read/follow the forum rules.
For troubleshooting and bug reporting please make sure you read this first.
#20
Hi,
My Xbox is one of the launch ones that I got for Christmas long, long ago in 2001. I didn't use it for about five years after I got tired of Halo, but after discovering XBMC I now use it everyday. I only have a problem with the noise of the fan.

I've read that later revisions of the xbox removed the loud GPU fan. Is it possible to disable it with a softmod, and if so, would the the GPU still be cool in 1.0 xboxes without it?
#21
I don't have any temperature numbers, and it was a while ago so I forget the details, but I recall just unplugging it and getting scary-hot numbers. Following one of the heatsink mods on xbox-scene I popped off the old heat sink, cleaned the chip, and glued on a good heatsink. XBOX is on 24/7, I watch lots of video on it, and lots of visualisations during music, and it didn't look like anything was going to melt. I also upgraded the case fan to larger quieter model, again per tutorials on xbox-scene.

But...I'm guessing you ask about soft mod because your box has never been open, so you're wary of that? Read those tutorials and see what you think.
#22
LEXICON any advice on what kind of heat sink you replaced with
I bought the one that is listed on some HOW TO ( xbox-scene) replace but it look like very small ( ZALMAN NB32J )
Also with the fan upgrade is the fan at full speed all the time since it directly powered ?
#23
yep, that's the one I used, I think (it's gold in color), but I had to use a Dremel disc cutter to trim down the height of the fins a bit, as the dvd drive was bumping into it. (or maybe I actually got the wrong one?)

fan? no change in behavior, the new case fan plugs into the same motherboard pins as the original, so basically when you tell xbmc to slow down the fan, it lowers the voltage(?) and it works the same way.
#24
LEXICON me again , do you remember what fan you upgraded with
I bought a larger one and I will be doing the heatsink and fan upgrade this coming week-end
But I think I got the wrong one ( NEXUS 80mm 12V.)
#25
I don't know the exact fan, but I followed this guide: http://xbox-scene.com/articles/stealth-case.php (note that you'll have to remove the motherboard, cut some of the xbox chassis, and trim some corners on the fan case too. Just take it slow, it's easy, especially with a Dremel rotary tool).

I just looked around for a quiet 80mm fan - I don't think you can go wrong, expecially if you get a model recommended on any quiet-pc website. Anything bound to be quieter than what you're starting with.

The GPU fan, for me, was the biggest noisemaker. If you do nothing else, get rid of that.
#26
Yep, I did this change to my 1.0 xbox: popped off the noise vent and replaced it with a heatsink glued onto it (as in the 1.1 and up).
I followed the guidelines on xbox scene. Most problamatic was to find the proper sink that fit under the DVD drive (all from memory; more than 1 year ago)

I did notice that I had to slightly increase the normal vents revs to get the same cooling result: I want to stick to a 55 Celcius max.

My xbox is in a closet and the doors need to be open for air to pass through.
My kids made this fault once some months ago in closing the doors with the xbox switched on. And then vent was at 30%.
When I discovered it, the temp was at something like 68 celcius. I used XBMC to rev up and cool it slowly. But all survived, including the GPU with its sink Confused

Oh, found some pics I took:

Pic1
Pic2

CU,
-F
#27
Thumbs Up 
I've been a huge fan of XBMC for a good few years now, I'd mulled with the idea of replacing it with a 360 as I wanted a new gaming platform. However, after enabling 720p and then the library function, there's just no way anything could replace it!

So I'm now on a mission to reduce the noise levels of the box. I know it can't be completely silent, as it has moving parts, but I've had a couple of simple ideas. The obvious one is to replace the fan, now my box is a v1.3, so it has only one fan. Reading a couple of tutorials I thought it had a 60mm fan, but it turns out to be 70mm. I bought this 60mm fan, but it's too small. I have fitted it, but CPU temps have been almost 80 degrees C, so I'm going to replace it with a 70mm one.

My second idea was to replace my existing 120Gb 3.5" hard drive with an 80Gb 2.5" (laptop) hard drive. With some pointers I got from http://www.silentpcreview.com I bought a Seagate Momentus 5400.3 drive from this site, along with this adaptor so I could connect a standard IDE adaptor to the drive.

The fan has made a dramatic improvement in noise reduction, but as noted the temps are too high so I'll be ordering a new one today. Unfortunately the IDE adaptor I bought has a manufacturing fault, so I need to get that replaced. I'll update this thread once I get my new parts.

Klaus
#28
I've now replaced the 60mm fan with a 70mm fan, but I haven't done the 12v mod, which I guess speeds the fan up? I also removed the CPU heatsink, used ArctiClean to remove the bubblegum MS put on there and I did plan to user ArcticSilver 5 to replace it. After turning my house upside down I couldn't find the tiny tube of ArcticSilver, so I used ZM-STG1 Super Thermal Grease from Zalman, which I prefered cause you apply it with a brush. With a combination of the 70mm fan and the new thermal grease, CPU temps were sub 60 degrees C after a couple of hours watching TV eps. I'm now planning to give the GPU the same treatment.

The replacement IDE adaptor arrived too and I was able to test the laptop drive. This time it booted first time and after a quick run through Slayers Utils 2.5, I had my system booting from my ultra-quiet laptop drive. I'm back with my standard 3.5" drive atm, will probably get the laptop drive in there full time over the weekend.

Klaus
#29
1. Dumping 12v to the fan runs full bore so yes... it speeds it up. Speed == noise.
2. Why would you want to take a IDE drive that runs 7200 rpm and replace it with:
a. laptop drive that runs at 5400 rpm & b. generates 3 times the heat a standard IDE drive does.

If this is all in the hopes of achieving the topic then you might pull it off but your temps are going way up and you can save the cable mod because it wont make any difference
Image
#30
From http://www.xboxmediacenter.com/wiki/inde...d_Answers:
Quote:A 7200rpm harddrive won't give any speed improvements over a 5400rpm, and the 5400rpm runs cooler and quieter.
Also, laptop drives generally create less heat than standard drives. They consume far less power, which translates to less heat created.

As for the fan speed, I'd leave it on the 5V, since I think that's the only way the Xbox can do the auto speed setting, which works wonders for keeping the system quiet. On the other hand, you got an ultra-quiet fan, so it's really not going to make that big of a difference running it at full speed. I'd suggest leaving it for now and keeping an eye on your temps. If they increase, then do the fan mod.

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Project: Silent Xbox (passivly cooled heatsink replacements, etc.)0