H2O compatible 360

[AniAko]

HardOCP published an article (http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=OTM5LDE=) on building a water cooled 360. It claims this plan has been in the works for over a year, and the outcome of the mod includes a stylish little white coolling unit to accompany your 360.

As most of you know by now, the Xbox 360 is a good deal smaller than the original Xbox and packs easily ten times the punch. However, all of that extra horsepower comes at a price and that price is heat. While the extra beefy heat pipe use by Microsoft gets the job done, prolonged gaming sessions send the system fans into overdrive and there have been reports of consoles with overheating issues. The goal of our project is exactly the same as our original Xbox H20 project—to eliminate any overheating issues by adding a complete water cooling system made completely from off the shelf parts that anyone can buy. Our goals for the original Xbox H20 mod were as follows:

1. To achieve better overall cooling for the Xbox.

2. Make a unit that can be replicated with fairly common components, without spending a fortune.

3. Clean, professional installation. No ghetto installation, no use of epoxy to attach a crappy homemade water block, and no zip ties or wire and bubblegum tricks.

4. Leave the Xbox without any permanent alterations so that it may be easily returned to its original condition.

Aside from two small holes drilled into the back of the Xbox 360, we were able to completely adhere to the guidelines we set out four years ago for our original project. Let’s take a look at what we used for this project:

[phantomhitman]

Cool mod, 3 people will attempt it, 1 will get it right, 1 will cry as coolant pours throught his 360's internals, and 1 will take the 360 back to eb to get another one because he bought the extended super duper warranty.

[AniAko]

I'll tell you what. The ongoing theme with 360's has been they're SUPER FREAKIN HOT the first 2 weeks you run them, and LOUD. It put my Athalon to shame ;). After that, the 360's start running significantly cooler, and quieter. Mine's in the second week now and I'm already starting to notice the difference. The thing is, why water cool it at all? Unless you like $500 hobbies. You're not going to overclock it because the system's already tuned. And even if you did, why? It's just a cool thing to do with your expensive toy, albeit, one I'd never attempt on my own 360 :D

[Beelzebud]

Pointless mod.

[phantomhitman]

with pcs you can benchmark them to see if the cooler temperature helps out, but witht he 360 there is no true way to tell. Maybe if a game debug comes out for cod2 or q4 that shows your framerate......other than that I cannot see any importance in this mode except if you play your 360 12 hours a day for a week straight?!

[Stormwatcher]

I'd say that lower operating temps extend the life of the processors.

[AniAko]

I'd say that lower operating temps extend the life of the processors.

That is partly true. The extreme heating an colling causes micro-fissures in the circuitry of chips. But do you REALLY think Microsoft would allow you to own a 360 long enough to see that happen? I hear they're unveiling the XBox 720 Revolution-station 3 days after the PS3 ;). And it does 10 Dectillion polygons per second, supports 3840p, and runs on a fusion core.

[phantomhitman]

That is partly true. The extreme heating an colling causes micro-fissures in the circuitry of chips. But do you REALLY think Microsoft would allow you to own a 360 long enough to see that happen? I hear they're unveiling the XBox 720 Revolution-station 3 days after the PS3 ;). And it does 10 Dectillion polygons per second, supports 3840p, and runs on a fusion core.

You forgot that is comes standard with the value chain and woobulation convertor.

[Taco]

Water cooled PC's I get.

Water cooled consoles....?

[bapenguin]

You forgot that is comes standard with the value chain and woobulation convertor.

ding...post of the day.

[gojira]

Look, kids, water + electronics = bad, mmmkay?