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[NeoMorph]

I've been putting off getting a 360 for a while now because of the horrifying RRoD reports but now that there is a 3 year warranty on this and Mass Effect got released (been waiting for that as I loved KotOR) I decided to get a 360 Elite because of the HDMI port. I did have a 360 Premium for all of 15 minutes until I took it back as there was no HDMI lead or optical audio adapter lead that is in the Elite pack (and after I asked the sales manager and he said "Oh yeah, you can use HDMI lead and a optical audio in the Premium HDMI pack as both adapters are in there".) So after I got home for the second time and plugged in the Elite and turned it on...

... and was horrified at the noise it makes when the DVD is spinning!  (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)

I thought the Elites were quieter than stock 360's. If that's the case I'm glad I didn't get the Premium up and running. I swear that MS use the cheapest components out there. They would be able to sell a more expensive "Silent360" easily IMHO. Anyway I decided that enough was enough and had to get rid of the noise but keep the warranty intact AND IT WORKS! heh

How did I do it?... Well I'm living in a one bedroom flat and had a hole knocked through the wall for my old noisy media center PC (before I used my Xbox1 with XBMC) so I put the 360 in the bedroom and fed the wires through to the plasma TV and receiver in the living room. As the 360 can be started with the wireless controller it now means that all the noise is in the bedroom and I'm not getting a headache from the continuous whiiirrrrrrrrwhhhhhhoooooooooooshe noise from the darn console.  (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Only downside is having to go into the bedroom to change the game but that's not to hard to do. Plus the lovely looking black and chrome 360 is not on view. (it would have matched my black and silver entertainment kit loverly (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)) Upside is I can keep all my games in the bedroom with the 360, the bedroom is cooler too (can't sleep in heat so keep it cold in there) so it will help with cooling the console, and NO DARNED NOISE IN THE LIVING ROOM.

So now I  (IMG:style_emoticons/default/love.gif)  my 360... even though it's a noisy bugger!

[SimianEtza]

That's not really silencing the Elite though.. But it works eh? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Antman1]

QUOTE(NeoMorph @ Nov 30 2007, 01:20 PM)

I've been putting off getting a 360 for a while now because of the horrifying RRoD reports but now that there is a 3 year warranty on this and Mass Effect got released (been waiting for that as I loved KotOR) I decided to get a 360 Elite because of the HDMI port. I did have a 360 Premium for all of 15 minutes until I took it back as there was no HDMI lead or optical audio adapter lead that is in the Elite pack (and after I asked the sales manager and he said "Oh yeah, you can use HDMI lead and a optical audio in the Premium HDMI pack as both adapters are in there".) So after I got home for the second time and plugged in the Elite and turned it on...

... and was horrified at the noise it makes when the DVD is spinning!  (IMG:style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)

I thought the Elites were quieter than stock 360's. If that's the case I'm glad I didn't get the Premium up and running. I swear that MS use the cheapest components out there. They would be able to sell a more expensive "Silent360" easily IMHO. Anyway I decided that enough was enough and had to get rid of the noise but keep the warranty intact AND IT WORKS! heh

How did I do it?... Well I'm living in a one bedroom flat and had a hole knocked through the wall for my old noisy media center PC (before I used my Xbox1 with XBMC) so I put the 360 in the bedroom and fed the wires through to the plasma TV and receiver in the living room. As the 360 can be started with the wireless controller it now means that all the noise is in the bedroom and I'm not getting a headache from the continuous whiiirrrrrrrrwhhhhhhoooooooooooshe noise from the darn console.  (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Only downside is having to go into the bedroom to change the game but that's not to hard to do. Plus the lovely looking black and chrome 360 is not on view. (it would have matched my black and silver entertainment kit loverly (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)) Upside is I can keep all my games in the bedroom with the 360, the bedroom is cooler too (can't sleep in heat so keep it cold in there) so it will help with cooling the console, and NO DARNED NOISE IN THE LIVING ROOM.

So now I  (IMG:style_emoticons/default/love.gif)  my 360... even though it's a noisy bugger!

Or you could break seal and use the DVD Rom from the Premium 360 and it will be best of both worlds.

[NeoMorph]

QUOTE(Antman1 @ Nov 30 2007, 05:46 PM)

Or you could break seal and use the DVD Rom from the Premium 360 and it will be best of both worlds.

What Premium 360?.. I took it back remember.

Seriously though I know it's not an actual mod but at least it means I'm not listening to the darn noise. It seems that technology is being pushed harder and harder and this is resulting in fans galore and noisy components like the DVD player running so fast it sounds like a 747 about to take off. I don't think this is going to end soon either as when we get technology that can run quiet with the current state systems the developers will want even faster machines hence more fans again. Just look at the first 1GHz PC's that had fridge coolers build into the base of the case to keep them cool. You can now get fanless 1Ghz EPIA systems that use around 17w of power at load. Now look at the current multicore setups with SLI graphics cards and you need to use 600w+ power supplies to drive them. In a few years time you will be able to run similar specs on around 20w of power I bet.

It's sad though, that MS tote the 360 with the HD DVD drive as a machine to watch videos on. Yeah they look great but the background noise is abysmal. At least my setup means I don't have to have my volume turned up full blast just to drown out the background noise. The original xbox had what I thought was a noisy fan (which I replaced with a quiet one) and it turned out great. I'd say the biggest noisemaker in the 360 (at least my one) is the DVD drive itself. Without the DVD running full pelt it's not that bad but try playing a game and it's noisy as hell.

Could I have just got a duff DVD drive?

This post has been edited by NeoMorph: Nov 30 2007, 07:25 PM

[Antman1]

QUOTE(NeoMorph @ Nov 30 2007, 07:24 PM)

What Premium 360?.. I took it back remember.

Seriously though I know it's not an actual mod but at least it means I'm not listening to the darn noise. It seems that technology is being pushed harder and harder and this is resulting in fans galore and noisy components like the DVD player running so fast it sounds like a 747 about to take off. I don't think this is going to end soon either as when we get technology that can run quiet with the current state systems the developers will want even faster machines hence more fans again. Just look at the first 1GHz PC's that had fridge coolers build into the base of the case to keep them cool. You can now get fanless 1Ghz EPIA systems that use around 17w of power at load. Now look at the current multicore setups with SLI graphics cards and you need to use 600w+ power supplies to drive them. In a few years time you will be able to run similar specs on around 20w of power I bet.

It's sad though, that MS tote the 360 with the HD DVD drive as a machine to watch videos on. Yeah they look great but the background noise is abysmal. At least my setup means I don't have to have my volume turned up full blast just to drown out the background noise. The original xbox had what I thought was a noisy fan (which I replaced with a quiet one) and it turned out great. I'd say the biggest noisemaker in the 360 (at least my one) is the DVD drive itself. Without the DVD running full pelt it's not that bad but try playing a game and it's noisy as hell.

Could I have just got a duff DVD drive?

They have multispeed firmware now for Benq drives and Samsung that make it less noise.  Hitachi is coming soon.  So you can reduce the noise that way too.  Sorry about the premium i spoke too soon should have read more carefully.

[ProfessorD]

The general talk of Benq's being quieter than Samsungs when they first came out i think were wishful thinking.

My brother has just bought a xbox for his room for us to system link and i can tell you now 12x Benq orig firmware sounds just as annoying as the samsung did.  Its a shame MS dont have any way to let you legally do it from a system pannel or something but slowing down to 8 or 5x would do the job for you.  You can hear how much quiter it is without a disk in? well its basically like that with 5x and a tiny bit of noise with 8x.

The rest of the innards is the same really, just another heatpipe.

I also just noticed myself that since firmware 1.3 originals run at the same speed as backups too so need to backup your games just to get silence.  Which is nice if you cant be bothered to backup.  Im fussy and i just couldnt live without slow firmware since ive had it.

This post has been edited by ProfessorD: Dec 1 2007, 06:33 PM

[ze_olc]

extreme solution...  (IMG:style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

[Raven 666]

So u have to travel to change your games? And XBOX claim the comfort of your living room. I sometimes get a little annoyed with the fans but who don't. Especially for those who have the XCM Add On Fan. My living room sounded like an airport when I had that thing plugged In! And for anyone that was thinking of saying maybe there Is something wrong with your fan, I have had 2 of these and both are the same. A Concord In my living room. Whisper fans rule!

[NeoMorph]

One good thing about my Elite is that it doesn't heat up that much. It's just warm to touch in the middle and the brick is constantly cold. I guess the version I have has either got the smaller chips in or has been updated to fix overheating problems so I wouldn't need the addon fan to cool it.