Print

[handles25]

QUOTE(poisonousjuice @ Apr 3 2007, 03:43 PM)

if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I don't agree.  Chances are good the thing will die without doing something like this tutorial.  It's better to fix a problem before it happens in case the damage is so great you can't salvage it.

[Rflame]

Can somebody plz post some pics of the bolts and washers? It will really help if i know what they look like. And is it neccessary to apply a new thermal compound.

This post has been edited by Rflame: Apr 3 2007, 05:49 PM

[biga55]

Thanks for the guide, I got a broken system up again (for now) but the mobo will not sit at the bottom of the cage and so all the connectors would line up with their respective openings in the cage.  I guess the screw + washers beneath the mobo is thicker than the stock config.  Should I drill and widen the screw holes to let these parts peek through the cage on the bottom?  X clamps and etc. also seemed to serve to prevent shorts on that section of the mobo so I would probably have to line that part of the cage with something.  Any advice or ideas?

I know I can screw the cage to the mobo but for now I've got it working so I don't want to redo the screws.

You shouldn't have any problems finding the parts at Home Depot like I did in the screws section.  Unfortunately I threw away the white plastic bags for the ref#s. so I can't post them

[poisonousjuice]

QUOTE(Rflame @ Apr 3 2007, 05:19 PM)

Can somebody plz post some pics of the bolts and washers? It will really help if i know what they look like. And is it neccessary to apply a new thermal compound.

it is necessary if you want to dramatically increase the efficiency of the heatsinks. otherwise it's possible you are making it worse if you remove the heatsinks and then put them back w/o cleaning off the old thermal paste completely and applying fresh thermal paste.

[JHC]

I had the 3 lights of death, i just got all of my supplies and did the mod, took about 2 hours (mostly to get the old thermal gunk off) and i just have 1 thing to say about it.



THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!



it is now up and running, all seems to be going great.  

[biga55]

NVM my post above, I have it aligned better now.

[Mysta]

agh, can't figure out whats wrong, my xbox wouldn't turn on, i literally took the bottom off(casing), and it worked, then i touched it and it froze. i flipped it ove3r on the top peice and it turned on, i played superman demo on hard drive for about an hour or 2, i touched it and it froze. Could this be a problem with grounding?

[Rflame]

I dont live in US so thats why i need to see what they look like.

[FIGS]

OMG! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) it worked.. lol. After hours of repairing traces, and replacing caps, I finally got my mobo *back* to the 0102 error so i tried this fix and now its working! For any fellow canucks out there, I went to canadian tire and picked up
( M5 0.8 x 12mm hex head machine screws
(16) #10 nylon washers
total cost with the metal washers also (didnt end up using them) was $4.56

I didnt need the metal washers because on the bottom side they raising the mobo too high and on the top side the heatsinks werent touching the CPU and GPU even when tightened as much as possible. The reason for this is because the nylon washers i picked up from canadian tire were like twice the height or more of the metal washers... the US ones must be smaller because there is no way u could fit those washers and the metal ones and have the same spacing as the original heatsinks.

On a side note... are those tiny caps on the bottom of the board underneath the CPU really neccessary? about 4 fell off and they are so small and spaced so close i dont have the tools or skills to replace them, the 360 boots without them, but i dont know how stable it would be... anybody know what those caps are for?


Forgot to mention HOME DEPOT (at least here in london, ont) did not have nylon washers OR M5 machine screws... they were useless

This post has been edited by FIGS: Apr 4 2007, 10:31 AM

[lawdawg0931]

For those who want to upgrade their mod to RBJTech's way of doing this, and I recommend it (much more secure) - here is a list of parts with part #'s for U.S. people. LOWES hardware store carries HILLMAN machine screws, and these are the HILLMAN part #'s needed. Also, with these particular parts, you DON'T need to drill out the heatsinks....just the bottom case (a little + countersink).
Description   --                 Part #    --        Qty in Bag   --   # of Bags Needed   --    Cost
M4-.70x20 Screws   --       138556  --         2      --           4        --                       $2.72
M4-.70 Hex Nuts     --        138233   --        10     --          1         --                      $0.80
4mm Flat Washers   --       138205    --       10     --          5        --                       $2.80
M4-.70 Insert Lock Nuts -- 138238    --        4      --          2         --                      $1.36
4mm Wave Lock Washer --138220   --        10     --          1       --                        $0.56

Here's RBJTech's tutorial: http://rbjtech.bulldoghome.com/pages/rbjte..._com/XClamp.htm

@RBJTech - I sent you PM with this, if you want to add it to your tutorial for reference

This post has been edited by lawdawg0931: Apr 4 2007, 03:05 PM

[RBJTech]

QUOTE(lawdawg0931 @ Apr 4 2007, 02:29 PM)

For those who want to upgrade their mod to RBJTech's way of doing this, and I recommend it (much more secure) - here is a list of parts with part #'s for U.S. people. LOWES hardware store carries HILLMAN machine screws, and these are the HILLMAN part #'s needed. Also, with these particular parts, you DON'T need to drill out the heatsinks....just the bottom case (a little + countersink).
Description   --                 Part #    --        Qty in Bag   --   # of Bags Needed   --    Cost
M4-.70x20 Screws   --       138556  --         2      --           4        --                       $2.72
M4-.70 Hex Nuts     --        138233   --        10     --          1         --                      $0.80
4mm Flat Washers   --       138205    --       10     --          5        --                       $2.80
M4-.70 Insert Lock Nuts -- 138238    --        4      --          2         --                      $1.36
4mm Wave Lock Washer --138220   --        10     --          1       --                        $0.56

Here's RBJTech's tutorial: http://rbjtech.bulld..._com/XClamp.htm

@RBJTech - I sent you PM with this, if you want to add it to your tutorial for reference

Will do - at work atm so will update later on today ... tks for the info.

We're getting some good success stories with either of these methods - maybe that X clamp has been the cause of the 3ROL  - I guess we'll find out for sure when the Elite is released .. ?

[RBJTech]

QUOTE(RBJTech @ Apr 4 2007, 02:45 PM)

Will do - at work atm so will update later on today ... tks for the info.

We're getting some good success stories with either of these methods - maybe that X clamp has been the cause of the 3ROL  - I guess we'll find out for sure when the Elite is released .. ?

Updated the tut showing the US parts - now put the hyperlinks back manually again as I lost them when I did the edit ...   .

totally off topic - but does anybody know a decent HTML editor (WYSIWYG) that lets you add images via web hyperlinks - in all the editors I've tried so far, I've had to manually go into the HTML code and edit the local image to a web hyperlink (as my images are stored elsewhere away from web server)..   All I want to be able to do is 'insert image' paste in a hyperlink - job done but no...

[brywalker]

RBJTech:

Now that we have tackled the actual clip and gotten the board to not flex and transfer more heat to the sinks, I think we need to find the balance between heat and noise. I think if we use the Talismoon fans as the basis and put a resistor on the power in order to change the curve of the voltage going to the fans effectively slowing them down and making them quieter. I don't know what the starting voltage is (obviously max is 12v), and I don't know the lowest these can run on. On this thinking, we can match the stock CFM (which should be good enough after doing the other mods) but with FAR less noise. I think we can sacrifice a bit of cooling to quiet these things down when doing stuff other than playing games off of disc. Watching an HD DVD is unbearable.

Any insight or am I just talking out my arse?

This post has been edited by brywalker: Apr 4 2007, 11:28 PM

[bigg92]

QUOTE(lawdawg0931 @ Apr 4 2007, 08:29 AM)

For those who want to upgrade their mod to RBJTech's way of doing this, and I recommend it (much more secure) - here is a list of parts with part #'s for U.S. people. LOWES hardware store carries HILLMAN machine screws, and these are the HILLMAN part #'s needed. Also, with these particular parts, you DON'T need to drill out the heatsinks....just the bottom case (a little + countersink).
Description   --                 Part #    --        Qty in Bag   --   # of Bags Needed   --    Cost
M4-.70x20 Screws   --       138556  --         2      --           4        --                       $2.72
M4-.70 Hex Nuts     --        138233   --        10     --          1         --                      $0.80
4mm Flat Washers   --       138205    --       10     --          5        --                       $2.80
M4-.70 Insert Lock Nuts -- 138238    --        4      --          2         --                      $1.36
4mm Wave Lock Washer --138220   --        10     --          1       --                        $0.56

Here's RBJTech's tutorial: http://rbjtech.bulld..._com/XClamp.htm

@RBJTech - I sent you PM with this, if you want to add it to your tutorial for reference

Thank you so much ill try to pick these up over the weekend

[RBJTech]

QUOTE(brywalker @ Apr 4 2007, 10:53 PM)

RBJTech:

Now that we have tackled the actual clip and gotten the board to not flex and transfer more heat to the sinks, I think we need to find the balance between heat and noise. I think if we use the Talismoon fans as the basis and put a resistor on the power in order to change the curve of the voltage going to the fans effectively slowing them down and making them quieter. I don't know what the starting voltage is (obviously max is 12v), and I don't know the lowest these can run on. On this thinking, we can match the stock CFM (which should be good enough after doing the other mods) but with FAR less noise. I think we can sacrifice a bit of cooling to quiet these things down when doing stuff other than playing games off of disc. Watching an HD DVD is unbearable.

Any insight or am I just talking out my arse?

It's on my list of things to do ....

I've bought the variable voltage regulators to do exactly as you've described above - find and graph the relationship between temperature and fan voltage / noise for both the CPU and GPU.

Stock voltage is 5.4v - the fans themselves IMO are pretty quite, I'm not sure if we could go much lower without the fans stalling - we could use a PWM power circuit to get the voltage really low (possible but another circuit to build..)  but I think we could only drop to 5v or so before the temps start creeping up anyway ...