360 - Shhhhh

[Kamalot]

Engadget (http://www.engadget.com) is reporting (http://www.engadget.com/2007/02/06/xbox-360-finally-quiets-down-with-brand-new-internal-dvd-drive/)that the latest Xbox 360s are now shipping with a different, quieter, disc drive.It's no secret that the Xbox 360's disc drive is hella noisy, by far outstripping any incidental fan noises that might be going on inside that white box. Luckily, help is on the way -- sort of. Microsoft has started building its 360s with a new DVD drive manufactured by BenQ-LiteOn-Philips, the BenQ VAD6038, which purportedly runs "super-quiet" in comparison to the previous two drives used by MS, and even speeds up and smooths out load times.Am I the only person who never had a problem with 360 noises?

[agentgray]

Mine runs super quiet but overspins on games. It rattles really, especially when I take it out.

This is a repaired system I just got back a week or two ago. I received my original system. I can say the fans a re quieter as well and cool air actually comes out of the unit now.

[Mortis]

My 360's drive is fine 99% of the time but for some reason certain discs are loud as hell in the drive. The copy of R6:V I had made the drive sound like a goddamn fighter jet taking off when it booted. It was also loud anytime it loaded anything substantial from the disc.

[lockwoodx]

Mine runs super quiet but overspins on games. It rattles really, especially when I take it out.

This is a repaired system I just got back a week or two ago. I received my original system. I can say the fans a re quieter as well and cool air actually comes out of the unit now.


Noise is a serious issue for me with any system as white noise seriously damages your hearing. Also when I'm playing games like Resident Evil ect....I want to hear every pin drop not WHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR....ZING!!!!

[Kyro]

I too have never had a problem with my 360 although I bought mine fairly recently. Does a little whirring noise really bother people that much? I guess I just must be too used to my fans on my PC.

[Kamalot]

Noise is a serious issue for me with any system as white noise seriously damages your hearing.What?! Speak up sonny!

[Wolvie]

No, I never had a problem with the so-called "jet engine" fans that annoy so many people. Sure I can here the fans, But I can hear the big ol fan on my PC too. It's not that big a deal, seriously. I only noticed the fans when I slapped the intercooler 360 on my system, and even then it easn't as bad as people make it out to be.
And the drive? I don't even hear that thing. I dunno, I guess some people just annoy really easily.

[gzsfrk]

I hope they really perfect the system before releasing the IPTV-compatible version, hopefully in the near future. A quiet unit that lets me stream HDTV on demand with an integrated DVR -AND- play the 360 games library would = teh awesome.

[Zacharai]

It's annoying, because it's the loudest thing in my office area. You get used to it pretty quick (just turn the sound up, of course), but it definitely bothers me. Damn us earlyish adopters.

[bapenguin]

My new 360 is a night and day difference than my launch 360. The only time I really hear it is now during the initital disc spinup period.

[Johan]

If/when they come out with a larger HDD packed in, I'll upgrade to the new system.

[Johan]

I only noticed the fans when I slapped the intercooler 360 on my system.

Slap that thing off of there as fast as possible...it could potentially destroy your power supply input, AND void your warranty...

[Khash]

My 360 is seriously loud while playing a disk. I don't let it bother me too much. Before I got my 360 I had heard it was a loud system but when I got one of my own I was still blown away at how much noise is creates. I'm pretty much used to it now.

[bjornbarspingvinen]

it´s loud....annoying.

[Ventura_DK]

I have one of the "jet-engine fans" xbox'es - even tried sending it to MS three times, got a different unit back every time - all sounding like a damn F16 at take off.

[camberiu]

I wonder if the DVD hack will work on these new drives.

[D_Reaper]

I the only person who never had a problem with 360 noises?
My disc drive is really loud, I had to turn up the volume on my TV just so I wouldnt have to hear it.

[Sammael]

I tried watching a comedy last night while going to sleep using my 360 and it took me about 15 minutes to start blocking out the sound of the damn thing running.

[lazymanschair]

This is great news, now i can hold off on sending in my bricked 360 and hopefully they'll replace it with one of these versions, mine was so loud i bought headphones just to block out the noise, id have to turn it up the tv really loud to counteract the noise but didnt want to wake anyone with a blaring tv, so bought set of headphones, anyone know of a decent pair of surround sound effect wireless headphones??, seen a few but they are pretty expensive.

[reptilezero]

i didn't notice how loud the 360 was until i got the ps3. too bad they can't just fix the noise with a firmware update or something...

[DoubleUranium]

My 360 is one of the originals with the crazy loud drives. It is annoying but I guess I'm used to it by now. Mine should be out of warranty pretty soon, so once the quiet drives start to be available as a component online I'll swap out the old drive for a quiet one.

Out of curiousity, those who have sent their 360's in, what did you do about your save games? Memory card? That SATA transfer device?

[J3DI]

Mine is loud... but for some reason when I play Xbox v.1 games I can't hear a thing... My problem is going to be how to get one of those 65nm chip/quiet running 360's 6 months from now, without dropping another $400.00?

[lazymanschair]

they tell you to keep the hard drive, just send in the console minus any of the peripherals. No power brick, or component cables either. I presume they replace the ring of death type, maybe not they might just repair them, im hoping its a replacement.

[cp#]

My roommates just came back from Microsoft land last week after biting the dust for the second time. It is still very loud, probably as loud as my PC

[Torgo]

Engadget (http://www.engadget.com) is Am I the only person who never had a problem with 360 noises?

Yes, yes you are.

[PXG 360]

I got my 360 after launch. It's pretty noisy. Granted, I have the volume on my TV at 2 (I don't know why, my TV is pretty loud). Set it to 4 or 5, you can't even hear the 360 at all.

[jeffbax]

mines loud as shit, and I hope that it'll break so I can use the warranty to replace it.

[51|RandoM]

I can hear the dvd drive in my 360 even when I'm wearing closed headphones.

On top of that, the power supply started making noise the other day too. It sounds like there is a fan inside it with a bad bearing.

I think during the summer lull that my 360 will fail on purpose and hopefully come back to me with a new, quiet dvd drive.

[Goronmon]

mines loud as shit, and I hope that it'll break so I can use the warranty to replace it.Funnily enough, I'm hoping for the same thing. Do the launch systems still have the extended warranty stuff or did they end that?

Anyways, when my 360 has a game in it, it's easily the loudest thing in my apartment, even over the old loud refrigerator I have. I have no idea how they managed to produce a DVD drive that generates so much noise.

[Wraith]

With no disc, it's somewhat noisy (fans). Definitely louder than my PC (which is generally pretty quiet), but tolerable I guess. Running an Xbox 1 disc with back compat, I hardly hear the disc at all. Running any 360 game, it's incredibly loud. Constantly, until I'm out of the game (going back to dashboard or shutting down). I think mine's a March or May 2006 mfg date.

[Talltale]

I just bought mine. The fan noise is fine, the disc roar is insane though. Ah well. I've got a 1.5 year old son. I'm used to blocking out noise.

[motor]

The xbox 360 is unacceptably loud.

P.S. I normally wouldn't post such a "me too" message but Kamalot's comment was Microsoft PR of the worst kind.

[SymetriX]

Mine is like a frickin' hair dryer! I'd glady buy a new one if I was sure it would be fixed.

[AntB]

My 360 sounds like a helicopter when initially loading Oblivion.

[Codicier]

My 360 is also exceedingly loud.

But it's also a ring of deather so I don't know if the two are correlated.

And to all you people wishing for your 360s to break so you can get a replacement that is quiet: Don't.

I've been looking into cases where people had to send their 360s back (since I have to send mine I figure I should get a consensus on how it works). More often than not people would get a system in equal or worse condition than their original (sans 3 red lights at the bare minimum). Many 360s sent in with broken DVD drives came back with drives that were also broken or very close.

Of course some people did get completely new replacements but this was an exception rather than a rule.

All this to say, you don't want to be in a position to have to return your 360.

My advice? Buy a new 360 with the quieter drive etc... Wait a bit and then return the thing with your old 360 and keep the new one. It's not very honest but at least it's not a gamble.

[Karmakaze]

I've never been able to hear my drive over the banshee wail of the fans from my launch day 360. Even just sitting at the dashboard with no disc in the drive I can hear the thing from the next room.

[Knightsaber]

Didn't anyone else get their 360 at Best Buy? I'm reading my 2 year replacement deal, and apparently, you just take it in, and say 'the fuckin thing broke' and they give you a new one off the shelf. I may take sneaky advantage of that, especially since mine has started telling me to 'put this disc into a 360 to play it'...which means it's clock is ticking.

[laggerific]

After the DC I don't know how people could complain about drive noise.

[Ridlin]

Never had a problem.

[Tikichris]

My 360 is also exceedingly loud.

But it's also a ring of deather so I don't know if the two are correlated.

And to all you people wishing for your 360s to break so you can get a replacement that is quiet: Don't.

I've been looking into cases where people had to send their 360s back (since I have to send mine I figure I should get a consensus on how it works). More often than not people would get a system in equal or worse condition than their original (sans 3 red lights at the bare minimum). Many 360s sent in with broken DVD drives came back with drives that were also broken or very close.

Of course some people did get completely new replacements but this was an exception rather than a rule.

All this to say, you don't want to be in a position to have to return your 360.

My advice? Buy a new 360 with the quieter drive etc... Wait a bit and then return the thing with your old 360 and keep the new one. It's not very honest but at least it's not a gamble.

I am one of those people that got a 360 that was worse than before. When the new 360 came in from repair I got 5 minutes into Fight Night before the 3 red ring of death kicked in and never came back. I'm on my 3rd 360 in less than a year now and it is loud as ever, but hey at least it works!

[Zanzibar]

I have one of the "jet-engine fans" xbox'es - even tried sending it to MS three times, got a different unit back every time - all sounding like a damn F16 at take off.
I'll see your F16 and raise you a 747.

Part of me wishes my launch X360 would join the 3-red-light club while MS is still extending the warranty. It's over a year that I've had mine, but I hear they're still providing free service.

[Steele Johnson]

I can hardly stand even the softest hum, so yeah, the 360 is really annoying in that sense. On the other hand, my desktop pc's ps fan sounds like a jet engine when it kicks in. The next time I build a desktop pc, the theme is definitely going to be "quiet". Maybe I'll put a Lexus hood ornament as a grill cover to complete the theme.

[J3DI]

My advice? Buy a new 360 with the quieter drive etc... Wait a bit and then return the thing with your old 360 and keep the new one. It's not very honest but at least it's not a gamble.



the problem with this is the hassle you are going to get from Microsoft when it comes to not being able to access your Marketplace content or XBLA games... Trust me it took damn-near 2 months for me to get it straight :mad:

[Codicier]

the problem with this is the hassle you are going to get from Microsoft when it comes to not being able to access your Marketplace content or XBLA games... Trust me it took damn-near 2 months for me to get it straight :mad:

I guess it's different for me because I don't have any marketplace content (my 360 died after two days of use). Also, wouldn't that stuff be tied to your harddrive (which you could just keep), or is it tied to the actual console?

[Wraith]

After the DC I don't know how people could complain about drive noise.
If the 360 had the noise signature of the Dreamcast, it would be a huge improvement, in my mind. At least comparing my Dreamcast to my 360. Yeah, the DC disc drive had plenty of chirps and squawks, but it wasn't an incredibly loud, constant noise; it didn't seem like it was going to give you early hearing loss.

[Crittias]

Noise is a serious issue for me with any system as white noise seriously damages your hearing.

Is that true? my wife uses a white noise machine every night to help her sleep. Are we harming our hearing?

[dr_wily]

were big on the white noise as well. the 360 noise is definitely annoying but lesser so with all the ambient noise we usually have going (bathroom fan, music etc..)

[Ultima Thulian]

It is pretty noisy, but it can't roar like my Dreamcast can. Now that fucker was noisy!

[Citizen Philip]

Yikes, that sucks. I get very agitated about the noises my PC makes, I got so irritated I made myself learn how to mod the box so I could rip out all the fans and put in nice silent ones. Now.. I am really getting annoyed when my 10K RPM driver spins up and I can feel it vibrating my desk.

I also know I should spend a lot less time in front of it. ;)

[Dauvin]

Mine, unfortunately, sounds like a friggin' mack truck...

[Kelegacy]

I just fucking know my 360 will die as soon as it is one day over one year old. I haven't had any problems with it yet, so obviously it will die after warrantee.

I hope it dies sooner than later, so I can get a new one before it's too late. Fuckers.

[Crittias]

I just fucking know my 360 will die as soon as it is one day over one year old. I haven't had any problems with it yet, so obviously it will die after warrantee.

I hope it dies sooner than later, so I can get a new one before it's too late. Fuckers.

Might be time for the hammer.

[dirtystreetz]

I don't want to talk bad about my launch 360 for the fear of something bad might happen (knocks on wood). But the fans are loud as soon as I cut it on. Loud enough that I can tell when my son turns it on and I'm in a different room. And the the disc drive is so loud it makes me forget how loud the fans are. While I'm playing I really don't notice it till I stop playing a game and I'm like damn the drive was loud. And I forget how loud the fans are until I cut the system off and the controllers are done charging and the fans cut off.

[Zurik]

I got a 360 that was manufacturered around summertime of '06. Its crazy loud compared to any of the ones my friends have, and oddly enough I'm also the only one that's had any issues. I'm pretty sure its coming from the DVD drive, as I just recently had to send mine back because games were locking with some white pixely lines on the screen. Not in the dashboard, just while in any game. I wonder if they went with Thompson drives again for some of the units, they were the worst ones for the original Xbox.

[blackzc]

Noise is a serious issue for me with any system as white noise seriously damages your hearing.

White noise doesn't hurt anything, if its loud sure but the 360 is just annoying.
<--slept with fan for the past 29 years.

[Magnanimous Gnome]

More reasons to avoid the 360 I guess. These hardware problems are shameful.