Cooling Ideas for 360

I put mine in my basement. Made a little rack for it, and ran the wires up through the floor. I don't have to hear it, I don't have to have the wires cluttering my room.
Also, it's nice and cool in the basement.
All possible due to wireless controllers.... yee-haw.

I'm looking for 360 cooling solutions too... My 1st 360 overheated under moderate use and I had to get a refurb. I wish the refurbed 360 was not so annoyingly LOUD.

I have just started looking into getting an after marker cooler. I read that it's best to get one that plugs in to a standard wall outlet and not one that gets it's power from the 360's power supply - so as to not overwork the power supply.

Isn't that a pain in the A. when you have to leave the room and go down to the basement every time you want to put a different disc into the machine?

That is why you have kids. Before the remote was invented I was my Father's personal human remote control.

I wouldn't do this ^. I've heard they can hurt the 360 more than help. I do know shortly after I installed one on my 1st 360 I got slapped with the 3 red rings. I can't prove it actually did it but still didn't put it in the replacement unit and haven't had an issue with the new one.

I have the new one standing in an entertainment unit on a ceramic tile I cut in half. I figured my feet are always cold on tiles so it may help?

As far as aftermarket cooling, I think you'll hear stories from both sides. My 360 stalls intermittently by itself, and has never stalled once while using the intercooler. Other people claim it does "more harm then good" and although I've seen some definite cases of the intercooler causing direct damage, they seem rare.

If you're under warranty I think you're best cooling solution is none. Just keep your 360 well ventilated so it's getting fresh air and fall back on your warranty. All the good cooling solutions require breaking the warranty, so leave that for when you're warranty period is over and you want to take that extra step.

The best thing you can do is open the console and add a small fan blowing air into the duct at the front of the heatsink. I think one of the biggest issues in the 360's cooling design is the lack of air blowing on the heatsink. Adding a fan will provide active cooling on the heatsink and help draw more air into the case as well. You can also do a 12v mod on the exhaust fans to pull more air (if you don't mind the noise!) or replace them with Talismoon whisper fans.

Arghhh... I'm having flashbacks!! This is how I grew up too... Up until I was about 8, we had one of those rotary dial TV's and I was the human remote control for my dad. I could get it to any channel (UHF or VHF) with one flick of the wrist. My dad would get PO'd because I would spin the knobs too fast and after a couple of months of this they would break off. Then I would have to change the channels with a pair of pliers until the new knobs came in - which we would order from our local Sears store and they would arrive about two weeks later (this was pre-FedEX times and there was no overnight/next day/rush order anything).

Try a laptop cooling base. Monoprice have some cheap ones.

As others have said, I don't recommend using the Nyko cooler or the fan stand for that matter, especially if still under warranty. I'm one of the unlucky Xbox owners who has went through 3 different 360s, awaiting my 4th. Bought the thing in July of last year. The last one lasted all of a week and probably 10 hours of play.

The reason I said the above is not to blast MS or go off topic, but as you can probably imagine I've spent some time on the phone with customer support. This last time, they asked me if I used any of those cooling systems (first time they asked), I of course said "No". Then the customer support agent went on to tell me that using those cooling systems will void your warranty.

So, that's just my 2 cents worth. I actually do own the Nyko attached cooler. I used it on my first 360 and then it crapped out. Since then, from reading about various problems with the coolers and the rumors that it could void your warranty, I have never attached it to another 360. It could have been what messed up my original new 360, but I've had a couple of others since then that suffered the similar 3 red light fate without ever using the cooler.

I'm still on my christmas 2005 360 and I would recommend just putting little rubber feet under the unit. I bought some for around $1 at Home Depot and they just stick on the bottom over the existing feet. The unit sits about 1/2 inch higher now which isn't really noticeable at all. Not sure if that helped make my 360 last or if it was just coincidental. Also I don't have mine on the carpet and it isn't in an enclosed space either. The power brick is also located where it receives good ventilation. So that's my $1 cooling idea.

Has anyone tried a a cooling pad with a heat pipe? Monoprice has one and so does a manufacturer called Nexus TDD-3000?

I don't know if this will apply to any of you, but I found just keeping the power brick as far away from my 360 as possible is working wonders. I had it on the same rack that my 360 was on and every once in a while I would have issues. Since I moved the brick up one rack space, I havent had a problem.

I don't see why anyone would consider buying additional equipment to cool their 360. The replacement process only takes about a week, so I'm perfectly happy with getting it repaired/exchanged every 6 months...

i have mine on a usb powered antec laptop cooling pad. it has 2 fans and they're louder than the 360 fans (but not the drive)

i only turn it on after a couple hours of gaming

Jeez all that? I love and have 360 but if you need to go through all that then thats one poorly made console.

my 360 was purchased nov 18th 2005. works perfect.
keeping it cool in a warm house is easy.

Keep your 360 out of sunlight if possible .
make sure the power block is on a hard flat surface instead of the carpet.
place the 360 on a level flat surface.
ventilation is good.
hooking it up in the basement works.
common sense goes along way.

If you really have an issue with heat, 360, pc, ps3 whatever the device, try placing it in a sturdy cardboard box. Make sure its level on the bottom where the machine will sit, cut a piece out of the back to allow the rear heat vent to escape the box.
Place a small folded washrag along the right side of your 360, make sure its at least a half inch away not touching the 360 to allow air to run underneath Again its important for it to be sitting level.
Then get some blue Ice bricks and stand them on top of the washrag in case they sweat.

this should keep a cool 35-40* atmosphere in the bottom of the box and a rock stable OC'd PC or x360.

its cheap! get creative with the box, paint it or something. you can also use an old ATX mid tower case if you dont mind cutting it up a lil LOL!

If you can afford a laptop cooling pad, I'd go that route.

I've been lurking here for a while but thought this was a subject I could contribute to.

I'm currently on my second unit as heat combined with poor manufacturing was the reason for the death of my first. I'm rather paranoid (putting it mildly) about heat now and I want to preserve my replacement as best I can.

The two most valuable pieces of advice I can give are -

1. Use the Play & Charge kit after every game session or long period spent in the dashboard. The benefit is that the fans will continue to run after the console is shutdown.

When you turn the system off after extended play, you are leaving it in a very hot state. The time it takes to cool down passively is significant and you even have a chance that the ambient temperature inside the console can raise prior to falling thanks to the absence of any active cooling.

I experimented for a while just returning to the dashboard after game sessions, but found the temperature drop to be insignificant as the GPU and CPU are still utilised. However, using the Play and Charge kit with the console shutdown means there is no activity and so no heat being produced.

2. Raise the console. If you are running it in a horizontal position (and I believe you should), get some rubber feet which are at least an inch high. Not only will this get airflow underneath it, it will stop heat radiating off the underlying surface and back onto the console.

The concave design does very little to help as the vent holes are practically in contact with the ground. When the unit is raised up, the holes are free to draw in air.

I hope this is benefical information. I did not observe these two points with my first console and regret it as both are so simple to do.

Is there any issues using a USB directly on the 360 for a cooling pad?

nope

this is about how mine sits, you dont need the fans on, but you could plug in usb if you wanted... the side vents on the bottom are now open for airflow to come in... have had a really good experience with this cooler, and its nice because i already had one from my laptop

My Dec. 2005 360 sits on a shelf in a Wood Technology TV stand with glass doors (open when playing) in a second bedroom. It's a fairly closed in setup in a small room. When I first put it in there I made two 1" T x 2" W x 12" L wood strips painted black (to match the stand) under the 360's feet to raise it up and get some air under it. The power brick sits on a piece of wood behind the stand raising it up off the carpet. I've never had one issue with mine.

Just FYI.

Jim

Id pass on the cooling fans add on as if used wrong they can create a cyclone in the 360 causing further heat build up. which is why some have had futher issues while using it.

Like said a beter soultion is a Laptop cooling base. I'm getting one when I get a new 360...

Otherwise just keeping it well ventilated is good. if you get a new 360 they have the smaller chipsets which run cooler and have better heatsinks.

I think mine went out becase the ventlation wasn't good enough. I had 3" to left and right and about 6" above witha foot behind. But bellow was a all metal Laserdisc player which may have held the heat rather then passed it so I'm thinking ill put it in a small table with room all around and use a laptop cooler. With the wireless conntrollers it make the plasment very nice. Even if HDMI as the cables have become cheep enough that long runs aren't bad..

I also use a dual fan laptop cooler powered by the USB, I also removed the little doors on the front where the mem cards go, they are right in front of the cpu's. I did this after fry'n 2. The laptop cool works great it has tabs on both sides, it raises up off the shelf and it raises the 360 up off the cooler, plenty of air flowing, mine is quiet.

i've considered placing it on a metal sheet.

in terms of thermal conductivity, air is not that great. having the console suspended in the air (baker's rack example) may very well be better than the alternative... however i'm thinking a "large" mass of metal (given the proper contact area) would "wick away" the heat much faster.

it would essentially act as heat sink / cooling fin... which are time honored passive thermal management solutions.