Xbox 360 cooling Mods!

BoomHeadshotOMG

BoomHeadshotOMG

BoomHeadshotOMG

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1 Apr 2010
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Hi Like many people my Xbox has an overheating problem (although I did buy it from a car boot sale for £1) It had the E74 Error multiple times every time I fixed it a couple of days later it would go again so I went on the internet looking at mods I could do.

I took a 92mm cpu fan from a computer heatsink that runs at 3500rpm and fitted it to the Xbox Cpu Heatsink.

I then did the mod that channels air through the GPU heatsink more efficiently and split the fans one for each heatsink.

Next I wired the fans to a 12v source but decided these were too loud to be on all th time so I put a switch in so now the fans can be swapped between 12v and 5v so i can have them quiet or loud.

This mod cost me £8 for all the materials and it was well worth it, as I've not had RROD for 2 months. Not bad for a console that cost me £1 :D

Here are some pictures of it and soon I'll mod the case to fit the fan later but I have'nt the time currently. If anybody has any questions, improvements or even information or pictures of their own mods I'd be interested to see them.






 
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I X-Clamped and cooked my Xbox.

I also covered the gaps between the heatsinks and ducts with some tape and cut away at the rear vents in both the metal and plastic casing. Lots more air coming out of the back of the unit and the heatsinks are actually comfortable to touch under load. Previously, they'd burn your finger after a few seconds.

When I can be bothered I'll increase the fan speed to either 7 or 9v but so far, it's been very reliable. I left it running the Dead Rising opening screen for 8 hours straight without issue. Not bad to say it was crashing pretty much instantly if you even showed it a game.
 
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On the topic of modding / repair.

Anyone know the sizes of the bolts needed to fit the heatsinks?

^ Same for the metal washers & Spring washers

Just wondering if they can be had cheaper at screw fix or something other than £7.75

screwbolts.jpg
 
BoomHeadshotOMG said:
I took a 92mm cpu fan from a computer heatsink that runs at 3500rpm and fitted it to the Xbox Cpu Heatsink.
Click to expand...
Hi,

Have you lapped the heatsinks yet? If it's an older box, and anything like mine, the mating surface of the heatsinks will look like a miniature mountain range. I used up to 2000 grit paper and stuck some arctic silver there and not only does the box run cooler the fans don't spin up quite so much.

Just something to maybe keep in mind if you ever pull it apart again.
 
Mp4 said:
On the topic of modding / repair.

Anyone know the sizes of the bolts needed to fit the heatsinks?

^ Same for the metal washers & Spring washers

Just wondering if they can be had cheaper at screw fix or something other than £7.75
Click to expand...

Don't know the exact sizes but I bought a kit from eBay for about £1.50 which contained everything.
 
agw_01 said:
Don't know the exact sizes but I bought a kit from eBay for about £1.50 which contained everything.
Click to expand...

ah right ill have another look on ebay then , screw fix is only down the road from me. been trying to find out on forums and stuff but eveyone has diffrent ideas of sizes etc
 
I know this old, but for future reference the bolt size and washer size are M5. Bolts are cheese head bolts and the washers are 1mm thick. You do not need the plastic washers, you can use all metal ones.

I've just started playing with cooling about 3 months ago. I had been oven baking and xclamping them for a couple of years and all would go again within 3-6 months.

I've cut away at the back of a case, but it made no overall difference to the heat. A cardboard baffle between the heat sinks to separate the fans made a 3-5'c difference and adding tape around the plastic heat shield made maybe another 2-4'c difference.

I wasn't keen on stick a massive fan on the outside of the case so opted instead for increasing the speed of the existing fans. I soldered them both to a 12v source and the temp across the heatsink dropped from an average of 65'c to 45'c with a similar drop inside the case in general. The noise however, is a little crazy and is something I will have to look at.

I have plans for watercooling one, but I am not sure its worth the effort. I need to get my hands on a new S model to play around with.

I haven't had time to properly check your video yet Boom but I may tomorrow. Was it just a case of a fan on the outside of the case with a switch?

EDIT: Watched the video. Struggled to hear what you were saying through most of it due to the music. Another issue with the design, you've added a way of adjusting the fan speed and the only reason to do so seems to be due to noise, when surely the real reason is the heat inside. Adding a cheap LED thermometer to the case with the probe over the GPU chip where the R74 error occurs would have been a great aid in knowing if you need to increase fan speed.

Case mod was clean cut though. Did you just tear the top of the case off though without depressing the plastic clips at the back?
 
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Hi AHarvey sorry about the videos music it was made for an ICT qualification and background sound was one of the criteria. The two speed settings is just a luxury and as you may know to fix E74 although i have not had to since this mod you overheat the GPU with this mod you don't need to remove the case to switch off the fans just use the switch so it makes it a quick job to fix it. The video is not excellent because it had to meet the criteria of the ICT course but I might redo it.
I will also look for a temp sensor on ebay.
 
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