I am wondering if installing games to the HDD makes it run any cooler? If the DVD drive isn't spinning, I would think it would logically create less heat. OTOH, it might be offest by the HDD running more.

Anyone know if there is any info out there about this?

Sure. Whether it's sufficient to make any difference in any way is something that nobody here would know.

Sure. Whether it's sufficient to make any difference in any way is something that nobody here would know.

If it didn't void the warranty, I would put an array of temp sensors in the housing to find out. I could put surface sensors on the outside, but it might not see a significant difference there.

I think that would be an easy way to test.
After all the rear fan is supposed to be pulling the heat out.
So if someone were to put a probe outside that (not voiding any warranties) they should be able to tell if more warmer air is being exhuasted with dvd drive running versus not running.

DVD drives spinning don't really create much heat as there is very little friction in their operation. Any heat that they do create and add to the overall housing is easily offset by the movement of air that the spinning disc does provide. In short, it's not worth considering.

On the other hand, it is well worth installing games to the drive for noise and speed reasons.

If it didn't void the warranty, I would put an array of temp sensors in the housing to find out. I could put surface sensors on the outside, but it might not see a significant difference there.

You missed the main part of my point--how much of a temperature difference is required to make any sort of change to the reliability of the unit? Only someone with access to MS's testing and engineering data would know that. Knowing what the temperature change may be is only the beginning of having useful knowledge.

In my experience with a Jasper unit, yes it does run cooler. You can use a simple hand test to know easily. Someone should do proper testing though. Would be nice to see actual numbers.

Yes installing games to the 360 will make it run cooler, more quiet, and faster, and use less power.


The 360 is not firing a laser so often
it doe snot have to load as much
the new 60GB and 120GB HDD have 8MB of cache buffer and load times are faster.

In every way this is better.

Heat wise well the Hard drive is totally enclosed in that container ontop the 360, and it is self cooled by vents at the top and never really even gets warm to the touch. The 360 cooling is all focused on the CPU and GPU, the fans never affect the Hard drive.

Also the constant spinning, of the DVD drive itself causes heat from friction, gears and motors running, so eliminating this a benefit, plus its less wear on the DVD drive itself.

I recently went from an old 90nm launch 360 with a 20GB HDD with 2MB cache buffer

to a 60GB HDD with 8MB cache buffer, and a 65nm Jasper unit.

Not only is it half as quiet or more, it loads faster and stay obviously much cooler. Not to mention I am saving about 100watts per hour of gaming per 2 hour gaming session 5 times a week it adds up.

That confirms what I was thinking, that the unit should also run cooler because we are not taxing the crap out of the 8mb Cache.

The reason I ask all this is becaue I want to put an X360 inside my AV cabinet. I have a Jasper Arcade with 20g HDD, although it is much cooler than my 2nd gen unit (Falcon?), sometimes it still gets hotter than something that seems suitable to be behind a glass door.

I guess there's only one way to find out... "Honey I need to buy a new Elite. Huh? What do I need a third XBOX for? Because the guys on AVS said so..." :D

As long as you have adequate clearance of several inches for airflow, you should have no issues with overheating while in an A/V cabinet or rack.

All I know is,discs that have been in the drive while playing from the HDD are cool to the touch when removed from the tray.

Discs that have been spinning in the drive are extremely hot upon removal.

But be warned that NOT all games run better when installed to the hard drive, HALO 3 infact runs alot worse and slower if you install it to the hard drive.

Yes, thankyou, but my broter in Kazakstan reminded of teh won geme helo3. It's bahd looding times are quite legendary here.

I can confirm that the bottom of the DVD drive housing does get very, very warm after extended play. Being that the DVD drive sits right on top of the GPU heatsink (where most 360's have failures), yes I think it will definitely run cooler if the drive does not spin at all.

for those of you with slim laptops. Put a music cd in or a game and let it run spining for 30 minutes, you can really feel the heat.