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[lawdawg0931]

@lukebe
1. Because you have drilled out a broken bolt from the heatsink (6mm now) - you will be using RBJTech's method for X clamp replacement.
2. You do need to clean up the bottom of the heatsink, as it should be extremely smooth. Not regular sandpaper, but use Silicon Carbide 600 Ultra Fine (or finer IMO). Also, you must go in the original direction of the heatsink. Don't go across the grain (so to say). One direction is best also.

[lukebe]

Correct I am using RBJTech's method. Have his tutorial printed out beside me at all times.
Did you notice the issue I identified in Question 1? dont want to drill unless I have to.

One thing that did interest me as well is I notice on this pic:
http://rbjtech.bulldoghome.com/photos/BDRES/rbjtech_bulldoghome_com/xclamp/xclamp%20001.jpg
that there was some thermal paste near the edge of the GPU heat sink.
Now I dont have this so I guess RBJTech added thermal paste on top of the pink thermal pads.

Is this right?
Should everyone be doing that as part of the tutorial?

Actually is appears to be a different paste. You can see it on the pads here:
http://rbjtech.bulldoghome.com/photos/BDRES/rbjtech_bulldoghome_com/xclamp/xclamp%20009.jpg

[RBJTech]

QUOTE(lukebe @ Apr 18 2007, 12:05 AM)

Correct I am using RBJTech's method. Have his tutorial printed out beside me at all times.
Did you notice the issue I identified in Question 1? dont want to drill unless I have to.

One thing that did interest me as well is I notice on this pic:
http://rbjtech.bulld.....clamp 001.jpg
that there was some thermal paste near the edge of the GPU heat sink.
Now I dont have this so I guess RBJTech added thermal paste on top of the pink thermal pads.

Is this right?
Should everyone be doing that as part of the tutorial?

Actually is appears to be a different paste. You can see it on the pads here:
http://rbjtech.bulld.....clamp 009.jpg

Hi - this thread is getting long now but the answer to your Q is here somewhere ... Anyway I'll answer it again.  When you go to put the heatsink over the bolts, more than likely it will snag on the bolt and thread of the leg.  If you drill it out, then it won't snag.  Try it without drilling, it it works great, if not then you need to strip the thread on the legs (by drilling it..)

The paste on the pads was simply put there so that I had an indicator that it was making good contact thats all - there is no need for it tbh, but then again there is no harm in having it there either ...  And yea it's cheapo standard thermal paste (white) - I wasn't going to waste AS5 on that ...

I hope that helps ...

QUOTE(lawdawg0931 @ Apr 17 2007, 10:49 PM)

@lukebe
1. Because you have drilled out a broken bolt from the heatsink (6mm now) - you will be using RBJTech's method for X clamp replacement.
2. You do need to clean up the bottom of the heatsink, as it should be extremely smooth. Not regular sandpaper, but use Silicon Carbide 600 Ultra Fine (or finer IMO). Also, you must go in the original direction of the heatsink. Don't go across the grain (so to say). One direction is best also.

If scratches are not in the die contact area, then IMO there is no need to clean them up.

[PureThermite]

Has anyone posted pictures of this?

I might take some next time I have my 360 opened...

Oh yeah, did the mod, and it works perfectly by the way.  

[jameswalter]

I have this picture.....



Took it after cleaning the CPU and GPU.  You can see the screws and washers in the holes.  I lapped my heatsinks too....just some 1500 grit wetsanding, and Mother's Mag Polish and 30 minutes of work.

Just to add to the success stories:
5mm x 10 x 0.8 screws
5mm Metal washers
#10 Nylon washers
Zalman ZM-STG1 Super Thermal Grease
Asetek HDD 3.5" Waterblock Heat Conductive Pad (cut for use between the ram and GPU block)
Swiftech MC14 VGA Forged Copper BGA Ramsinks (fit perfectly on the 2 exposed ram chips)
Enzotech One-Piece Forged Copper Southbridge Heatsink (with clips cut off, still too big though, currently on at an angle to fit)

Works great now.  No issues whatsoever.

[makaveli86]

QUOTE(jameswalter @ Apr 17 2007, 08:40 PM)

I have this picture.....

Took it after cleaning the CPU and GPU.  You can see the screws and washers in the holes.  I lapped my heatsinks too....just some 1500 grit wetsanding, and Mother's Mag Polish and 30 minutes of work.

Just to add to the success stories:
5mm x 10 x 0.8 screws
5mm Metal washers
#10 Nylon washers
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=58&products_id=20318
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=242&products_id=20811 (cut for use between the ram and GPU block)
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=43&products_id=3811 (fit perfectly on the 2 exposed ram chips)
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=197&products_id=21311 (with clips cut off, still too big though, currently on at an angle to fit)

Works great now.  No issues whatsoever.

damn straight u shoudlnt' have issues, look at how freakin clean that cpu and gpu's look! niceee job james. gettin jelous, feel like i shoudl take mine apart and clean it up even more now, lol. good stuff

[lawdawg0931]

QUOTE(lukebe @ Apr 17 2007, 04:12 PM)

there are a few scratches under the heat sink around the bolt

Good catch Richard...."If scratches are not in the die contact area, then IMO there is no need to clean them up."
Like he said...

Just found this on the net. Anybody ever try anything like this? Looks promising
http://www.frozencpu...tml?id=mf9teL92

[jameswalter]

QUOTE(makaveli86 @ Apr 17 2007, 07:05 PM)

damn straight u shoudlnt' have issues, look at how freakin clean that cpu and gpu's look! niceee job james. gettin jelous, feel like i shoudl take mine apart and clean it up even more now, lol. good stuff

Thanks....and it took awhile....because the GPU looked like this:




Guess someone at the factory got a little ambitious with the thermal grease they used.  If I open my 360 again, I will try to get some better pictures of what my clamp replacement looks like.

QUOTE(lawdawg0931 @ Apr 17 2007, 07:14 PM)

Just found this on the net. Anybody ever try anything like this? Looks promising
http://www.frozencpu...tml?id=mf9teL92

Pretty much just an alternative to thermal compound....it will basically melt upon first heating up, and become a metal liquid/grease film, like AS5.  It may perform a little better, but I will go with something that I know works.

[DaniloMQ]

QUOTE(lawdawg0931 @ Apr 18 2007, 03:14 AM)

Just found this on the net. Anybody ever try anything like this? Looks promising
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/5508/thr-34/Coollaboratory_Liquid_MetalPad_Thermal_Interface_GPU_Pad_501248.html?id=mf9teL92

Its crap, it gives a few degrees more then artic silver 5 so not worth it. AS5 is better

I fixed another 4 x360 with your method All working fine till know

[ferrari_rulz_02]

QUOTE(jameswalter @ Apr 18 2007, 02:20 PM)

Thanks....and it took awhile....because the GPU looked like this:




Guess someone at the factory got a little ambitious with the thermal grease they used.  If I open my 360 again,

id say... just a wee bit too much. but hey, you got it off without wrecking it

[DaniloMQ]

I always focus in cleaning the core



no need to spend time cleaning the old thermal paste, and here are some x360 that i got to fix... clamp mod didnt work and you can see on the screens below why... probably the owned tried to clean the cpu/gpu with some hard tool...





Another one





Too bad

[Wince]

Okay, i did the x-clamp replacement on sunday. I wasnt getting constant 0102 errors, it was just crashing randomly after long periods of off time. On that sunday i thought i had it fixed. It seemed to work fine, then i didnt play it on monday and booted it up on tuesday, worked with GoW for about 5 mins then crashed, 3rld again.

I opened it up again and fiddled with washers and the like and ended up getting it going again, so i have a quick go on gears and then let it sit on the main menu running the demo to see how long it lasts, i come back half an hour later to find it crashed and rld'ing on me again. So again i take it apart to fiddle with the clearance a bit more. This time i get 2 red lights, the over heating issue, with an error code of 0011 so obviously i hadnt done the nuts up tight enough. Did them up a bit tighter and voila. No rld at all. BUT i havent yet played anything. I left it running the Oblivion main menu and demo all through the night with no crashes, and put the GoW disc in to do the same this morning before i came to work. So i shall see how it fares when i get home.

Unfortunately im not in the mood to play at the moment. So i dunno when im gonna get a chance to hammer at it and see if it withstands gameplay.

Hopefully its all fixed because my box is less than 3 months old.

Wince.

[sunsrun]

Here's my experience with this mod. . .

I spent all day yesterday with inadequate parts (was missing the 4mm nuts for the initial stages) and by the end of it all, I was pretty depressed with the results. Considering I got the 360 off of eBay with nothing but the core console, letters written on the side..  you could say I was prepared for the worst. But for 75 bucks, hey! And when I got it I noticed it had already been completely dissected! Warranty sticker broken, screw missing, etc. Nothing but 3 red light errors. Then I was getting 2 red lights but it would shut off instantly. The fans would hardly turn on half the time (it was looking grim). To make matters worse, this entire time, the video was not functioning. After several hours of tweaking and thinking, I'd had enough, and put away the tools for the night.

Today, I went to Lowe's and picked up the 4mm nuts that I was missing (this is what happens when people want to run errands for you). Loaded up RBJ's tutorial and got to work right away. Believe me...it is much easier to tighten nylon nuts when you have a steady bolt! LOL that makes it all the more important that you get those 4mm nuts (3mm thick) for the first part.

I'm very familiar with modding computer components so RBJ's whole guide was right at home... I followed every step perfectly, and saw video for like 2 seconds! Some more tightening.. longer stints of video. After placing weights on top of the GPU, it almost made it to the main menu. I didn't have any way to tighten the nylon nuts on the GPU because my spanner wouldn't fit, so I used a pair of plyers and twisted them (yes, hardcore). By God it worked! I now have a running Xbox 360, which I've left on the menu screen for a couple hours to test it. The fans stay pretty low, thanks to the AS5 on the cores, the fan shroud mods, and the snipping of the inner fan grill. I highly suggest everyone uses these mods, because it's less noisy AND the cooler operating temps will put some extra life on your components.

I can't wait to flash this ms25 tomorrow.  

[makaveli86]

great to see ppl are getting it to work, this might actually be the fix *knocks on wood*

[tollboothwillie]

I need a little advice. I am getting error 0110 which is a memory problem. It happened after i was playing for about an hour turned it off then turned it back on. Ive tried the "x" clamp replacement with the M5 screws with no luck. I was wondering does it matter that I am testing the motherboard on a piece of cardboard? Also I have a yellow and black capacitor that sounds like something is loose inside it. There are several of them but this one makes that sound like a bb is inside it. Could this be my problem. The memory has some kind of thermal pad on them. Any suggestions is greatly appreciated.