[Project] RROD Fix

bobbydigital · 22 Jan 2009 at 23:52

Ok kinda went a bit crazy over the past few weeks and ordered loads of parts to fix an old 360 I had that suffered from the R.R.O.D. Already wanted to buy myself one of the lian li custom xbox 360 cases so decided to make it a little more intresting.

The Case:

I then recieved some of the goodies that I was gonna use to cool the xbox, which didn't actually cost as much as I thought. I decided to go for 1/2" barbs with 3/8" tubing for a nice snug fit.

Cooling:

Block:

One thing I have to say about the block is the threads on them seem to be rough around the edges and very tight fit, which is obviously good for water flowing through but they are very difficult to fit barbs into. I actually threaded one in the process but managed to eventually even out the problem with a bit of sandpaper and a knife.

Block assembled on the motherboard things are starting to take shape

Resevoir / Pump:

A nice and compact XSPC pump and resevoir combination which should fit in nicely.

Radiator:

120mm Swiftech Rad.

Building Stage:

I decided to mount the rad externally to make use of the gromets that are already in the case and also to maximize space inside of the case, here is how it looks bolted through the 120mm silent fan that came with case. (I did order a sharkoon 120mm fan but the one provided seems quieter.)

So with that easily fitted time to install the motherboard and the rest of the 360 components, erm well dvd drive

So everything is going in nicely, and also my tubing was here today so continued with the build, one problem though was when fitting the tubing onto the rad there was gonna be far to much sticking out the back and far to tight a bend. Luckily I managed to find barbs that I had just for this very occasion.

Basically all is finished now and fitted so just a few more photos of different angles.

The resevoir/pump isn't actually secured just now as I had to find the best place to sit it, fill it up and it's actually running a test run just now.

The only things that I have left to do is find the spare harddisk I had lieing around strip it and fit it inside the case, make a proper wiring harness for the pump as it was slightly different from anything in the xbox360 and I've also got braiding to go round the fan cables so they don't stick out so much.

Well I hope some people appreciate this sort of thing as I know a lot of people will say its a waste of cash but I wanted to do it and will look nice on my desk next to everything else

Oh and sorry if too many photos for anyone who still uses dial-up?!?

bobbydigital · 23 Jan 2009 at 00:00

Cheers, I have seen other watercooled ones but have all been standard with external units, funny thing is this is my spare xbox so once I 100% finish this time to throw the other in the cupboard of goodies

bobbydigital · 23 Jan 2009 at 09:05

Well no leaks overnight so I'm pretty much ready to rock once I make the new wiring for the pump tonight after work. Also yeah it should work fine I had fixed the R.R.O.D issue before I put it all in here

bobbydigital · 23 Jan 2009 at 10:04

That same way actually used as a temp fix for the rrod by a lot of people.

bobbydigital · 23 Jan 2009 at 11:48

b|gf|sh said:
That mean I can get your spare xbox360 off you now then boyo?

p.s. Get some clamps on the barbs!

Just need to sort out the firmware on it

and then yeah you can have my spare one, or you could have the other spare with ms28

I used 3/8" tubing and warm water to help it go on so they are secure. Only used clamps / cable ties on the res/pump as its mounted sideways just to make sure they don't budge.

bobbydigital · 23 Jan 2009 at 12:22

JAMAL said:
Very nice mate.

While were talking rrod, what size are the screws and washers as i have to fix a few of these and keep buying the screw kits off ebay, could really do with buying bulk

I just went up to b+q got pack of 10 nylon washers (8 needed to fix) they were slightly to big so had to snip the a bit off 2 of them so they would fit snuggly. Then I just used the clamp / screws that come with the 360. (Obviously not on this one

)

bobbydigital · 23 Jan 2009 at 14:36

Because it ain't cheap, might work out the exact cost actually, I'm guessing it would be just below or on-par with a ps3.

bobbydigital · 23 Jan 2009 at 16:09

Nope no difference from normal xbox, other than Nismo said will be quieter, less heat and also the case itself mounts the dvd-drive much better for less vibration and then actually has foam to reduce the sound even further.

As for a window hmmm never even crossed my mind, once I've put the led on the res/pump I'll see how it lights up and maybe cut a window in the top of the case but that would be for another day.

bobbydigital · 23 Jan 2009 at 19:38

MikeHunt79 said:
I doubt that somehow!

Kudos for watercooling a console, I guess the 360 was the obvious choice.

Maybe I should watercool my ps3 next then? haha no chance of that at least xboxs are cheap to replace.

As for the window I would only go for simplicity just to see the tubing nothing else, but more I think about it prefer to have the case as is

bobbydigital · 28 Jan 2009 at 09:56

snakeater said:
Yeah, because installing games to the HD makes it really quiet anyway.

So the only real benefit here is, uh, a more stable dvd drive?

Looks great though, well done, just probably not many actual benefits.

Well I only have a 20gb hdd believe it or not, and god knows how many games I have 70+? So I use the dvd drive quite a lot and as I mentioned earlier the case does a good job of making the drive a lot quieter too.

bobbydigital · 10 Feb 2009 at 20:04

Just an update on the state of the xbox, was having to run pump via my pc as couldn't find 12v anyplace, but have sussed this problem just need to go find my soldering gear and I'll get right back onto it. Been testing it with power from pc and the xbox plays fine and works great

Only other thing after that is need to find a torx key to fit into the hdd casing so I can take it to pieces and fit it inside the case.

Oh and I'm maybe gonna mail lian li, see if I can get a spare top panel as the window does seem more tempting nothing fancy nice and subtle, just so can see whats going on, wouldn't really know how good it would look till I try

bobbydigital · 20 Feb 2009 at 11:52

Well I have been offered a lid off lian-li, if I keep writing my build logs. My question here is has anyone had any experience with decent but subtle window kits. Would like something with small amount of rubber and probably just a square one. Either that or gonna make my own, or some black mesh might be quite nice.

bobbydigital · 20 Feb 2009 at 13:06

Only ever used a window kit a few years ago, but will look into making my own window as I just want a pretty square one with very small beading around the edges.

bobbydigital · 20 Feb 2009 at 13:50

Well I soldered 2 wires onto the bottom of the motherboard the other day to provide 12v for the pump and anything else I want. Needed to find a smaller torx set to get my hdd caddy apart but done that too. So will fit my hdd later on and probably mount the pump too. Finishing it off till I can get new top and window done

Then I'll braid any left over cables etc once I'm happy with placement.

bobbydigital · 28 Mar 2009 at 11:57

Another update, I've finally got the xbox360 hooked in place and started using it! I know it's been ready for ages but had a lot on my plate with work and other projects

I have just been playing a few different games (all beit ones I havn't played before I watercooled it,) but I truely believe the games are running a lot better due to no heat issues. Everything seems smoother and more responsive. Dunno if it's my imagination or not. I'm gonna hook up one of my other 360's and see what its like.

Also it's been running since last night doing further leak tests and everything is a'ok. Still waiting on the new top panel from lian-li so I can cut a window in one to see how it would look.

bobbydigital · 10 Apr 2009 at 18:41

Someone asked in another thread how much this cost me, so I looked at old invoices, also already had some tubing left over from another build.

Swiftech MCR120-QP-B 120mm Radiator £14.99
XSPC X2O 400 Pump and Reservoir - Clear £27.99
Xbox Custom Waterblock £30.00
LianLi Xbox 360 Case £76.00
Total £148.98

Erm so yeah not the cheapest but to me it was worth it

bobbydigital · 29 Apr 2009 at 17:44

C.P said:
Did it not occur to you to paint those blue L-bends black?

You know what it never crossed my mind as they are at the back of the case, out of sight out of mind, but now you mentioned it... Damn back to the drawing board, I have some spares I'll paint them and see how they look.

Margaret I see the points you are making about cost, but I'm not saying I'm made of money but it's a project I wanted to do and see how it turned out so I done it, many people buy stuff for their computers that have no performance gains, but still do it don't they? But I dunno if anyone read up about my other posts, regarding tearing and graphics. Playing games has become more enjoyable, my friend suffers a lot of graphics tearing on resident evil whereas I have none, loading is much smoother and in general games seem to benefit from the better cooling.

but you can get a brand new 60gb xbox for that money can't you?

Yeah suppose you can, but it goes well beside my lian-li htpc and u2-ufo, always have liked custom cases and didn't like the white xbox case itself.

Where's the hard drive? I can't see it.

It wasn't fitted while taking the first set of photos, as the hdd station requires a different socket size from the rest of the 360, so had to find one of them. Done now and fitted, will get photos of that and pump in place sometime, still waiting on my spare panel coming from lian-li so can go ahead and cut a window also, so will get photos once 100% complete.