Topic: What Do I Need For Silent Xbox? (Read 96 times)

DaSingh · « **on:** January 10, 2007, 10:33:00 AM »

Can anyone tell me what I need to make my xbox as silent as possible, I found a silent 20dB 70mm fan for the back of the xbox but not quite sure what else I need. If anyone can point me in the right direction I would be very grateful.

Thanks

pablot · « **Reply #1 on:** January 10, 2007, 11:50:00 AM »

I simply replaced the 70mm fan with a 80mm papst 12dB fan (with some slight cutting). It is now very quiet, hardly noticeable.

/pablot

DaSingh · « **Reply #2 on:** January 10, 2007, 12:08:00 PM »

I disconnected the stock fan to see how much difference it acutally made and it seems most of the noise is actually coming from the GPU Fan. I think thats what its called. The big one is CPU and small one GPU right? Is there a silent replacement for this?

pablot · « **Reply #3 on:** January 10, 2007, 12:15:00 PM »

ah, you have a 1.0. Yeah then you need to replace that with a passive heat sink. I did it for a friend once and I just replaced it with a GPU heat sink from the later xbox models.

/pablot

DaSingh · « **Reply #4 on:** January 10, 2007, 01:29:00 PM »

Where can I get one from and are they easy to change?

pablot · « **Reply #5 on:** January 10, 2007, 01:34:00 PM »

I'm betting someone will respond with more info about heat sinks, i'm really not a cooling expert. To remove the GPU heat sink simply leave the xbox on for a short while, enough for the heat sink to heat up a bit. You can then easily remove it, might take a little force. You'll need to add some new thermal paste afterwards too.

/pablot

pablot · « **Reply #6 on:** January 11, 2007, 01:31:00 AM »

QUOTE(webcrawler42 @ Jan 11 2007, 04:37 AM)

I'm no xbox gpu expert, I'm a comp expert and if you try pulling the heatsink off while its running you could possibly overheat the gpu, at least thats what happens with cpus, gpus should be no different.

hehe.. yes, don't do that. But as I said, heat it up a bit first, THEN remove it.. don't leave it on, but I thought that was obvious..

/pablot

Dano2k0 · « **Reply #7 on:** January 11, 2007, 04:19:00 AM »

Yeah its a straight forward swap, just get hold of a GPU passive heatsink from a later model xbox motherboard any version from 1.1-1.6 should be fine, you'll also want the clamping arm that belongs that heatsink as the one from the 1.0 won't be of use to you.

For removing the heatsink its pretty simple, as pablot said, you can run the xbox for 10 mins, power it off then remove the heatsink, as the thermal paste won't quite be as hard as a brick if you do this, or you can do it from cold, it'll take a little bit of effort though either way, but don't be scard, all i can recommend is, don't go sticking screw drivers under the heatsink and try removing it this way, your just asking to damage your board or the GPU by doing this.

The best way for removal is to get a firm grip of the heatsink, obviously lift the release arm catch first, then twist the heatsink from side to side, as i said it'll take abit of effort, you should find it'll come off in your hands after twisting it side to side for a little while.

Simply then clean up the original thermal paste from the top of the GPU, use some old cloth, and you may want a little flat blade screw driver, BE CAREFUL IF YOU USE ONE, APPLY SLIGHT PRESSURE AND CAREFULLY REMOVE THE OLD PASTE!!

Ok now once your happy with the clean up job, get some new thermal paste, the best choice would be Arctic Silver 5, but you can use your own choice. Apply a couple of lines of paste, top to bottom of the GPU, then spread it out evenly, its then as simple as applying the new heatsink, the locking arm and locking the arm down.

Before you do actually attach the heatsink, it may be worth while noting, as its second hand you may want to give the bottom of this a clean also to remove any old thermal paste.

If you want a really silent xbox, look into watercooling, although it IS expensive, and overkill, ive been working on mine in my media center box to make it as quiet as possible. But you should be happy with the results after replacing the GPU heatsink and adding a new quiet rear exhaust fan.

Good luck

FallsInc · « **Reply #8 on:** January 11, 2007, 05:30:00 AM »

i have heatsinks if you want to buy one.

and you'll need some paper towels, q-tips, 91% rubbing alcohol, and arctic silver 5 to complete the change. it will be worth it, i have AS5 on my cpu and gpu... temps are lower.

Dano2k0 · « **Reply #9 on:** January 11, 2007, 05:37:00 AM »

While i agree with you FallsInc i don't really think hes going to need all of that, hes just simply wanting to make it quiet, if he removes the old paste as best he can, which usually peels off pretty well then i don't see as he'd have any problems just applying the AS5 after, ive done it before when i ran out of my cleaner, and the temps still came down quite alot as the original paste is crap.

FallsInc · « **Reply #10 on:** January 11, 2007, 05:41:00 AM »

eh, maybe not... but it's my preference (and results in best heat transfer) to clean the heatspreader/core as best as possible before applying the new thermal compound

Dano2k0 · « **Reply #11 on:** January 11, 2007, 07:23:00 AM »

Yeah mate, i agree with you 100%, its my preference aswell. Although its not needed it is without doubt the best option, but i think this guy will be more than happy if he can make a loud box quiet and benefit a little on the heat temp. But if he decides to go all out, do the method FallsInc is talking about.

DaSingh · « **Reply #12 on:** January 11, 2007, 07:30:00 AM »

Thanks guys for all the advice, I have all the cleaning stuff already from a PC I built recently so that should come in handy for cleaning it properly.

FallsInc are you from UK and how much?

lpezster · « **Reply #13 on:** January 11, 2007, 09:36:00 AM »

QUOTE(pablot @ Jan 10 2007, 09:41 PM)

I'm betting someone will respond with more info about heat sinks, i'm really not a cooling expert. To remove the GPU heat sink simply leave the xbox on for a short while, enough for the heat sink to heat up a bit. You can then easily remove it, might take a little force. You'll need to add some new thermal paste afterwards too.

/pablot

Be careful when removing the heatsinks. You could break the core.

Dano2k0 · « **Reply #14 on:** January 11, 2007, 10:13:00 AM »

I don't know where FallsInc is from, but if you have no luck i'm from the UK so feel free to PM me an offer for whatever you want, ive got all this kind of stuff in hand ready to sell on, but of course as you approached FallsInc first then by all means see him first.

Cheers

Author Topic: What Do I Need For Silent Xbox? (Read 96 times)