Xbox 360 mod project log

I think 90% of your troubles is bleeding, air will love to get trapped in the water block when you eventually move the case upright. You have to be sure every last scrap of air is out before then. If it was me I would try to incorporate a swiftech microres in there somewhere, even if it has to hang out the back or on the side.
 
You can bleed a loop using a T junction, with the middle bit coming off horizontally. You connect it up to a tap, so that water runs straight through and down the drain. This exerts suction on the middle tube. I don't think it's bleeding which is the problem personally, the radiator is very hot so it follows that it must have hot water inside it. If the radiator felt cool but it was overheating then sure, blame air stuck in the waterblock. Bubo is rarely wrong though.

I haven't taken a good look inside a 360, but it seems you may be missing an obvious solution. If you cut a large hole in the side, and mount a 120mm fan on it, it'll blow air into/draw it out of the case. If you also block off all the vents, the air must travel through the 2x40mm radiator. SS has a silent build on here operating on this principle.

Taken to extremes, if you mount fans everywhere you can blowing air into the case, and keep the only way out as through the radiator, you'll achieve airflow through the rad which eclipses the two fans currently on it. I'm suggesting blowing air inwards rather than out, as the motherboard probably wont like having hot air blown across it.

This would also do good things for noise, 140mm fans are a much better way to go than 40mm in that respect.
 
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i think jon might have an awesome idea right there.... or you could mount two 92mm fans where the exhaust ones are, but switch them to intake. going to push a lot more air than any 40mm fan, and be quieter
 
I'm sorry to jump in at the end here but reading that you're having overheating troubles, I noticed on the photo you've taken of thermal compound applied to the CPU and GPU that the smaller core to the side of the main GPU core doesn't have anything on it? I'm guessing you probably did cover it too, but thought it was worth a mention :).
 
engstrom0304 said:
Could you explain futher please??
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It's basically a suction pump, thinking about it now, I don't think it would work without a reservoir though... you would attach it onto your drain pipe, then just literally suck all the water/air out of the system, plus sucking more in from the res at the same time so it fills the system - plue being pressurised, it doesn't have chance to form airlocks... maybe you could fit a temporary res just to serve this purpose

the res would need to hold more water than your loop requires though, just to make sure you don't drain the res and end up sucking more air into the loop - that would just be annoying :)
 
JonJ678 said:
You can bleed a loop using a T junction, with the middle bit coming off horizontally. You connect it up to a tap, so that water runs straight through and down the drain. This exerts suction on the middle tube. I don't think it's bleeding which is the problem personally, the radiator is very hot so it follows that it must have hot water inside it. If the radiator felt cool but it was overheating then sure, blame air stuck in the waterblock. Bubo is rarely wrong though.

I haven't taken a good look inside a 360, but it seems you may be missing an obvious solution. If you cut a large hole in the side, and mount a 120mm fan on it, it'll blow air into/draw it out of the case. If you also block off all the vents, the air must travel through the 2x40mm radiator. SS has a silent build on here operating on this principle.

Taken to extremes, if you mount fans everywhere you can blowing air into the case, and keep the only way out as through the radiator, you'll achieve airflow through the rad which eclipses the two fans currently on it. I'm suggesting blowing air inwards rather than out, as the motherboard probably wont like having hot air blown across it.

This would also do good things for noise, 140mm fans are a much better way to go than 40mm in that respect.
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Well I decided to use the radiator intaking from outside the case because otherwise it would be being cooled from hot air inside the radiator...

Also space is Very limited and I wont be able to fit much larger holes... I may consider getting another panel laser cut and putting bigger exhaust fans in but the costs are now over £400.

Also considering there is little ventilation as it is.. would it not be risky blocking the ventilation?

Memphis said:
I'm sorry to jump in at the end here but reading that you're having overheating troubles, I noticed on the photo you've taken of thermal compound applied to the CPU and GPU that the smaller core to the side of the main GPU core doesn't have anything on it? I'm guessing you probably did cover it too, but thought it was worth a mention :).
Click to expand...

:O That is the noobiest mistake i have made for a while... :o Time to drain :(
 
Ahahahahaha timmy! Well, there is the problem lol!

Memphis said:
I'm sorry to jump in at the end here but reading that you're having overheating troubles, I noticed on the photo you've taken of thermal compound applied to the CPU and GPU that the smaller core to the side of the main GPU core doesn't have anything on it? I'm guessing you probably did cover it too, but thought it was worth a mention :).
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Well that definitely WAS worth a mention :D
 
Update

Ok, so i have mixed news in this update... Actaully mainly bad...

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Decided to cut a hole for the LCD water temperature probe

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But then realised that the hard drive needs to go there!! :eek:
Mental note: Don't make decisions at 1.30am

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Anyway, started working on another panel that I wil need to repaint :(
Also going to recut yet another window with a hole for the temperature LCD display... as i scratched this one by accident with a file :)

Another mental note: Don't work on projects at 1.30am

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LCD display masked ready for painting....

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Loop being installed with 1/2 tubing on t-line now and a temperature sensor inline...

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And finally, here is one of the fans im putting on the radiator :)

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Ok.. when gaming, the water temperature slowly rises to 45.9 degrees c, and stays there...

Seems too high??

EDIT: Its about as loud as the original xbox 360 on load (probably louder :D )
 
engstrom0304 said:
Ok.. when gaming, the water temperature slowly rises to 45.9 degrees c, and stays there...

Seems too high??

EDIT: Its about as loud as the original xbox 360 on load (probably louder :D )
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So it's louder and hotter than the original xbox?
That's disappointing, sorry to hear that.

Since you seem to be quite good at the whole perspex modding stuff, could you not make a whole new case for the xbox (or 'fatten up' the existing one) that would give you more space to work in so you could fit bigger rads and fans?
 
GoogalyMoogaly said:
So it's louder and hotter than the original xbox?
That's disappointing, sorry to hear that.

Since you seem to be quite good at the whole perspex modding stuff, could you not make a whole new case for the xbox (or 'fatten up' the existing one) that would give you more space to work in so you could fit bigger rads and fans?
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Well... I could sort the problem by buying a 1x80 thick rad and mounting on the top of the acrylic (on outside) with another acrylic grill on top ... fans inside...
Then i could use a much much lower speed fan, and it would be much much quieter and much cooler than this bad 2x40mm rad!!

Thing is... I don't want to spend any more money on it....

Maybe in the future, i will do another xbox 360 mod which moves on from my 'prototype! :p ' to a more practical system that doesnt just have the looks on its side! :D

However, im not sure what the xbox 360 temps usually are... and also I don't know what my xbox 360 temps are going to be when the water temp is 44.9 ?? anybody know how to estimate that??


EDIT: For the whole new case idea... I may do that for another xbox mod in the future, or just a normal pc case mod.. we will see... :)
For this project im going to wrap it all up now i think... will be getting the final pictures up within a week with any luck!
 
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JohnTedd said:
I've got to say that this has been a very interesting project to watch and I am sorry it didn't work out as planned.

Is it useable despite the noise?
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Yer the temps are fine... But ofc only because of 2 9500rpm fans...

I am probably going to put a 80mm thick rad on the outside of the acrylic panel allowing for much quieter fans.
 
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