XBox - Cooling discussion. Should you add fans, if so, let's see yours, etc.

[Darren M]

So we got an Xbox 360 Kenict for Christmas and burned it up in the first day. Now, after some internet sleuthing I have found many discussions on cooling these things. Should you, if you do, how do you do it? Aftermarket inter-coolers or did you build your own? At this point I'm tempted to put something together out of some of the PC fans that I own. Everything from power supply fans to CPU fans and everything in between. I'm VERY curious to see what others have done. I'll post up my attempts.

[Lason]

Just put it out in the open with nothing obstructing airflow around it. Worse thing to do with any modern electronics is cram them into a closed up entertainment center. I have both my xbox and PS on the top of my AV shelves with nothing else around. Clean the dust off every once and while and Im good.

[Wicked98Snake]

I haven't had any issues and I play mine ALOT. Like Lason said just try to keep it in an open area. DO NOT put it on the carpet.

[jlyon]

i wouldn't use a add on cooler for it. it will draw power from the system to power the fans. like they said above, keep it in an open space. i have a a personal fan clipped next to mine, in an open space, blowing on it.

[mstng86]

Which is better? Pushing cool air in or blowing hot air out?

[Lason]

Which is better? Pushing cool air in or blowing hot air out?

blowing hot air out. Blowing air in will just create a dusty system in no time then it really wont cool.

[CexMashean]

Mine goes out of it's three year warranty next month.
I fully plan on changing out the the internal cooling fans for some higher rpm, yet quieter, fans, as well as getting a black case for it and the hdd.
It's the only damn thing on my entertainment stand that's white.

[Darren M]

I'm with others, pulling cool air in by drawing the hot air out would be the better of the two. (IMHO). I've read much about the add on coolers but nothing concrete to the concept of power consumption by the unit itself. One of the things I have noticed is that it's freak'n CRAZY loud when I play Halo REACH. Is it the DVD drive or the fans? (Sounds like the drive...)
I have some fans from an old PC laying around that I could easily wire up and even throw a thermistor on to auto turn on once the unit gets to a certain temp... however, I don't know how hot is too hot. Any input on that?

[FunFordCobra]

Well I gave up on xbox a long time ago.

My PS3 on the other hand has run great this past year. The New PS3 slims generate ALOT of heat. Sooo much infact you can hear the plastic "popping" due to heat ALL the time.

I know there are cooling systems but Ive heard bad things about them all..

You can run a fan right off your USB's but then you just would be drawing that much extra power to run them and generate extra heat..

I just went to best buy and bought a laptop cooling fan for 20 bucks with 2 low speed fans along with a wall extension cord that had USB slots so I didnt have to run the power off the PS3. That worked great for about 2 months then it broke..

I used the chassis from the old cooling pad, cut hella holes all over it and used epoxy to mount 4 high speed fans and just wired it to a USB connector.

I have the fans pointed up because the air intakes are lined around the bottom edges and then the stock fan pulls air out the back.

I can tell you that with a laser temp gauge my system runs 50 degrees cooler and still plays like new. Also the plastic heat popping completley stops.

[Who Needs 8]

Mine sits on the top of my tv stand in the open and I've never had a problem.

[CJ]

Mine sits tall next to my floor speaker, and it's never been remotely hot. I did however have 2 PS3's shit the bed. As for which way to blow the air, from a thermodynamics standpoint, you want to pull cool air into an enclosure if the enclosure is not sealed (which an xbox is not). For sealed enclosures, you want an exhaust system. The reason being is with an exhaust only enclosure that isn't sealed, you have no way to control where the cool air will be drawn in. In a sealed enclosure you can control this. Since the xbox is not sealed a fan exhausting air will pull cool air in to fill the vacuum from all over the xbox, and the closer to the fan the less resistance, meaning you'll fail to properly cool the entire system as you're intending. As for the dust concerns the only real way to control this is what's called a positive pressure system, which is difficult to measure, and usually doesn't have very good cooling properties as a whole. I spent the better part of 10 years in nerd land learning and testing just about every method there is to cool electronics - TEC plates, TEC water chiller systems, phase change systems, phase water chiller systems, water cooling systems, air systems, etc. and about the only time I ever get to share the knowledge is nerd threads, not exactly time well spent.

However, given the design of the case I'm not sure if you could do a push pull system, might get stuck with only a pull system.

[BttleFedC10]

I painted mine. ha. ITs a pos anyways and so far its working like a champ.

[lowthreeohz]

I've never had an issue with mine overheating..and i've been on it a good amount. Like others said keep it out in the open with no obstructions especially in back. BTW anyone wanna play some zombies tonight?

[Darren M]

I've kept it out in the open so far and have put some SERIOUS hours on it with my Son and I over the last couple of days. Good times.

[Lone Sailor]

I've never had an issue with mine overheating..and i've been on it a good amount. Like others said keep it out in the open with no obstructions especially in back. BTW anyone wanna play some zombies tonight?

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