Is it possible to silence a 360? - Yes, sort of is the answer...

[ascender]

I know the over-riding response will be "turn it up", but late at night and with a young baby, that's just not possible. So has anyone had success with quietening the noise from their 360? I've just been watching a film via the HD drive and even with the sound turned up reasonably loud and no disc in the 360 itself, the fans were still distracting.

I'm guessing a low-tech solution would be to simply get a TV cabinet with glass doors? Not sure if that would then have implications for the heat.

As for swapping it out for a later model, there doesn't seem to be any guarantee about the noise levels, so its not even worth trying that.

Any inspired ideas?

Thanks,


Mike.

[fahrenheit]

Well the offending component is the DVD drive.

This is a subject close to my heart. And here is my solution http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=568044

Now most people think I'm nuts and off course you don't have to do anything anywhere near as extravagent, but putting the console in an enclosure of some kind is the best way to reduce its noise. A cabinet may do the trick for you, but some kind of airflow running through is a good idea. A stereo cabinet will only take the edge off the noise, whereas my solution mutes it down considerably to a point where its harder to notice that the console is on.

Heat is the big enemy so anything that doesn't get vented out the back of the enclosure needs to be moved out somehow to stop it lingering around the console and hotboxing it. I used intake fans aswell as extraction because my enclosure is sealed at the front, but a stereo cabinet with gaps in the glass won't have as much need for intake fans.

And yes, lets just discourage the standard response of "turn it up" right now as it is flawed because games have dynamic soundtracks. They don't have sustained levels of noise that drown out the consoles operation. Take an atmospheric game like Condemned. What good will turning up the soundtrack do on that game?

[tom-nook]

I've got a couple of young kids too so I also try to avoid making too much noise when I'm gaming late at night.

I took the low-tech approach of investing in a pair of decent wireless headphones which works for me. Obviously not ideal if you're playing on Live though.

[CMcK]

Article explaining how to make your 360 a bit quieter: http://www.extremetech.com/article2/...2066860,00.asp

I suppose you could crack open the cooling duct and try a higher quality cooling fan. Probably wouldn't make much difference though.

When the 360's CPU and GPU are manufactured using a 65nm process they should generate less heat and require less cooling.

[ascender]

Couple of very interesting links there! I love the cooler/beer fridge design, but its unlikely I'd be allowed to have that in the living room!

Its just bizarre that its so damn noisy. Quite apart from other consoles being almost silent, PC technology has advanced quite a lot, so why can't the 360 be sorted? It looks like getting some of that sound deadening stuff might be a good first step.

I'm going to try the dynamat and grommet solution first off, see if that makes any difference. I'll let you know how I get on.

[sj33]

Its just bizarre that its so damn noisy. Quite apart from other consoles being almost silent, PC technology has advanced quite a lot, so why can't the 360 be sorted?

My Core2Extreme X6800, 2GB DDR2 and 7900GTO is near silent.
My 360 is the loudest thing in my room.
Somethings wrong there.

[MattyD]

LOL @ that DVD drive. It's heyowge! It's true what it says about that being the noisiest part - I have to turn my speakers right up when I play GRAW as it reads the disc almost constantly.

[Champloo]

I don't know how i'll manage with a 360, my dreamcast and PS2 are to noisy for me. The constant drone just gets really annoying. Nothing beats my PC though, its stupidly loud.

I'm waiting for the new chipset before I get a 360 myself. Supposedly that'll make it a little quieter, which should be nice.

[EvilBoris]

The stupid thing about the 360 is that MS expect people to use it as a media centre. Fat chance

[ascender]

My Dynamat has arrived, so I'll try this over the weekend. To be honest, I think a slight improvement might be enough of an improvement, but we'll soon see.

[EvilBoris]

I'm gonna get myself a core system and mod it to bits to make it as quiet as I can.
Getting some news fans would also help, stick them in whilst your there.

[ascender]

I'm gonna get myself a core system and mod it to bits to make it as quiet as I can.
Getting some news fans would also help, stick them in whilst your there.

I was wondering about the fans, I'd seen a couple of posts somewhere else which said changing the fans didn't make much of a difference. I'll do the rubber grommets and dynamat stuff first. Even if it just takes the edge off the noise, it'll be money well spent. Unless I kill it in the process obviously!

[mrklaw]

I'm getting quite annoyed at the 'oh its the DVD drive' thing rolled out every time noise is mentioned.

My 360 (and many other peoples' I'm sure) is very noisy just in the dashboard, using media center, or watching a HDDVD. No DVD in the main console drive at all. Its the fans. They are quite often whiny and change in pitch as they speed up/slow down.

Bloody annoying, although I'm aware it varies dramatically between machines.

Almost singlehandely the noise of my 360 means I'll tend to buy bluray discs from now on if the quality is the same(I knew I should have kept my Toshiba A1... :/ )

Wii is bloody noisy too!

[ascender]

I'm getting quite annoyed at the 'oh its the DVD drive' thing rolled out every time noise is mentioned.

My 360 (and many other peoples' I'm sure) is very noisy just in the dashboard, using media center, or watching a HDDVD. No DVD in the main console drive at all. Its the fans. They are quite often whiny and change in pitch as they speed up/slow down.

I'm going to give it a good go tomorrow and that includes replacing the fans if I think it will make a difference. The problem is that if it was the fans, surely someone would have found a decent item to replace them with by now?

[ascender]

There's a replacement fan unit made by Talismoon called the Whisper, but I can't see anyone who has installed it. It doesn't make a dramatic difference, but every little helps. Doesn't look like I can buy one locally which is a pain though.