How To Hack Your Xbox 360 Fan To Make It Quieter

ExtremeTech writes: "It seems like Microsoft, in designing the Xbox 360, set out to create the loudest game console ever built by mankind-and we wouldn't be surprised if it succeeded. When you turn on a 360 and its rear fans start to spin, it sounds like a Cessna revving up for takeoff. Then the DVD drive kicks in and the Cessna transforms into a full blown 747.

Jason Cross attempted to silence, or at least quiet down, an Xbox 360 some time ago. Since then, ready-made mods have appeared to help with noise. We're talking about the Talismoon Whisper Fan for the 360, made to spec to replace the 360's stock, noisy dual-fan unit.

Getting into an Xbox 360 isn't easy unless you have the proper tools. Thankfully, a company created unlock kits (for this article, we used the kit known as V2) that perfectly fit the various tabs and screws you have to manipulate to get the 360's case open."

[lynx1halo]

now that is truly sad and embarrassing that any company as HUGE and profitable as Microsoft would charge you $200 or $300 plus for a product that you have to fix yourself

@ Marceles .........LOL LOL "the buggy on Highway 17 and the 360 were having a loudness contest"

[BrianC6234]

Anyone who plays on Xbox Live should think twice before doing something like this. Microsoft can tell when you've modded your 360 and they might ban your 360 if they notice it isn't running the way it should. Just a warning.

Hey idiot who disagreed with me, get a life. I'm telling the truth on this. Micrsoft can tell when you mod your 360. They will ban your 360 if they detect you modded it. Go ahead and do it if you want but remember they can tell.

[Dpa]

He was right to disagree with you because you are wrong, a simple fan switch cannot get you banned. It will simply void your warranty, the modification that will get you banned is reflashing your DVD drives firmware to play pirated games.

[Feihc Retsam]

"...loudest game console ever built by mankind..."
Were there some consoles made by wild animals or aliens?

I'm pretty confident that man kind is alone in the console building business

[BrianC6234]

"He was right to disagree with you because you are wrong, a simple fan switch cannot get you banned. It will simply void your warranty, the modification that will get you banned is reflashing your DVD drives firmware to play pirated games."

No, you're wrong. Microsoft can tell when you mod the 360. Even a simple fan swith can show up. I just warned people. For your terrible post you get a big disagree from me.

[Marceles]

I would love to have a mod to quiet down the 360. It's not particularly the fan that bothers me, but the DVD spinning in the tray is loud as hell. I was playing the Orange Box last night and it seemed like the buggy on Highway 17 and the 360 were having a loudness contest. If the 360 was as silent as playing an XBLA game, then I'd definitely have no complaints

[StrboyM]

get the shotgun, and take it for a walk in the woods....

[360sucks]

lol
bubble for you

[YoMeViet]

turn up the music and try to drown the noises out, or headphones work too

[whateva]

Just buy a PS3 you will Love it trust Me

[InYourMom]

you will never hear it because you will hardly or ever turn it on because it's a boring hunk-o-grill.

Let me take a bubble for your trolling Sony asshat.

[whateva]

try again sucker!

[Relcom]

And get booted off live for making it better. How dumb is that really?

I'd own a Xbox if i didn't think it would break or drown out the sound in the game with the fan.

[wallace1000]

It is some kind of rocket train!!! I can't say the fan in my 360 bothers me but then again i play all of my games in glorious surround sound. If i could hear it over that then something would be wrong.

[wil4hire]

LOL Ghetto ass system. Save some money up. Buy a PC instead, miss out on Halo3/Forza/ME. Big deal.

[InYourMom]

Just 3 more bubbles to go!! Come on people you can do it!

The only thing ghetto is your mom and her crackpipe.

Why aren't you playing your super-high-tech-manlove-PS3 right now instead of trolling 360 articles??

Let me snatch another bubble for the troll.

[mighty_douche]

How to Void your 360 warrenty!

and lets be honest, if your a 360 owner you bloody need that warrenty.

[demolitionX]

aha! u mean how to hack your x360 and make RROD!

[InYourMom]

Thank you Mr. original!!

RROD RROD RROD RROD RROD RROD RROD RROD RROD RROD RROD RROD RROD RROD RROD.

Never had it in 2 years. While I've had to replace 2 PS3's because the stupid POS ghetto Blu-ray drive has died.

I have a feeling the baby in your avatar is older than you are.

Beware potential PS3 owners of the Blue Flashing Light of Death!

rofldings: Oh the Sony droid doesn't think i own a PS3. Funny thing, I don't care what you believe. Of course you would doubt the validty of anyone who dares says anything non-favorable to the PS3. It's the truth DEAL WITH IT! BFLOD is real!

[rofldings]

You don't own a PS3, and doubt your ownership of a 360 also.

[miked808]

I've done this mod to all 3 of my 360s and I swear by it. Plus you only get banned for the 12v fan mod not changing to a Talismoon Whisper.

[Relcom]

lol

[miked808]

2 Pac. lol.

[InYourMom]

hahaha way to own that Sony droid!

Tu-Pac! Welcome to 1995! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[heyheyhey]

i know how to hack a 360- all i need is an axe and 5 minutes, hey I've done it before

also let me guess- you can "hack" RROD too? weak

i buy ps3, i play ps3, ps3 never overheats, no need for a hack capisce?

EDIT: @below

exactly the reply i predicted, that post was more of an experiment to see how a threatened little child like you responds- although it does speak the truth

oh whats this? a 0.4% failure rate? compared to 35%? and what did you do to screw up the BD drive- put a sandwich in there? cause let me tell you that everyone who has hasnt done anything stupid with the drive or anything stupid with the ps3 (dropped it, fell on it etc....) has not got a BD failure and you cant say "wait for it" because its been a year now and reports of faulty drives have been very few and far between

[InYourMom]

Wow, you Sony c0ckbobbers need to come up with some new material.. You are another 3 bubbled dipsh!t that needs to be gone from this site. Just 3 more to go people come on you can do it!! Shut this trolls pie hole up.

While I've never had any problems with my 360 and have gone thru 2 PS3's because of the BR drive.. UH-OH!!!! What's that??? Looks like the hardware failures are coming for the PS3 as well. There are reports of all kinds of the 40gig's coming DOA.

You buy PS3 good for you! Why are you in a 360 thread trolling about it? OH thats right, you are an insecure fanboy who needs some kind of justification for his Duderaider and Metal of Honor with aliens, oops I mean Resistance console. Go to the back of the bus last place boy.

[Monty_The_Great]

has never bothered me, because the disc drive is so loud. I never really realised how loud it was until I got my PS3, and anyone who has one will completely agree, that puppy is dead silent. But, whats a little noise, just turn the volume up a little on your TV.

[Marceles]

Yeah it's really not the fan. The fan is louder than the PS3 but still not annoying. The disc drive on the other hand is just unbelievably loud...I try my hardest to turn my surround sound up, but playing games like Bioshock or the Orange Box where there's many quiet parts makes the disc noise very noticeable...

[heyheyhey]

yep i agree- a little fan noise for two seconds when i turn the ps3 on and then not a peep out of it

[speed_demon]

XBOTS. What a bunch of morons.

[kornbeaner]

the only time my PS3 seems to sound like a jet engine is when running Folding@home. I guess its cause the processor is really heavily worked during the insane number crunching that is Folding@home. But that is the only time I hear more then a whisper off my Blackbox.

[WilliamRLBaker]

http://www.pregamelobby.com...

looks like ps3 needs that mod too....

[heyheyhey]

if you need something quieter than COMPLETELY SILENT

[Capt InsaneO]

This site has become absolute garbage.Having a debate is fine on systems.But when there is only mindless banter of "buy a PS3 trust me" " Ibuy PS3, I play PS3" "Ghetto ass system" should be stated as Ghetto ass fanboys. Since I should trust them...hell I am runnin to Best Buy right now. Is there a help wanted add placed by dire PS3 fanboys on the internet asking for help to sell their system of choice on N4G. In your spare time do you spam email and and act as telemarketers saying PS3 wants you. If you like a system just buy it. A few mindless fanatics on a site arent going to make a dent in the console war ...Give it up. Since the same cult following always spam every 360 article..werent you the ones saying" you xbots have no games to play thats why you are in a PS article" looks like the tides have turned.

[wageslave]

MORE BS from the uninformed. Xbox 360 is the MOST quiet of the generation:

"Conclusion:
1. Xbox 360 – on average least noisy, generally level noise output
2. PS3 – Not noisy at first, but fairly noisy once on for a short while
3. Wii – Virtually no noise… until you play a game and then the noisiest of the bunch
"

Read it and weep Sony Fanboys. Your level of FUD astounds.

http://www.pregamelobby.com...

======
Edit: more opinion and lies. Do you TWO care to provide a link to a study that contradicts my own? Or are you going to repeat your tired tripes and false FUD? Its 100% clear to anyone who's sat in the room with both the machines, the PS3 is vastly VASTLY louder -- and my link, a study conducted with an actual NOISE meter, not opinion -- proves it.

[rofldings]

I love how you bots post the same link over and over again to some forum post. Quit trying to win that the noise category, I've heard both at a friend's house, the 360 can't even come close to the PS3.

[Adamalicious]

To say that the 360 is quieter than the PS3 is an utter falsehood (unless maybe it's turned off). I have both consoles right next to each other and when playing the 360 I can pretty much always hear it running over the game's audio unless it's a particularly loud explosion of musical portion. I can't ever hear the PS3 from across the room - even if there's no other sound other than the normal amount of noise in the world - and we don't have central heat or air so there's not always some fan blowing.

The 360 charging a controller with the C&P kit while the console is OFF is louder than the PS3 doing anything other than F@H.

[JasonXE]

with the noise. The article is really overaggregating since its not that loud.

[Diugu]

My ps3 doesn't make a sound.

I have a friend that owns a 360.. and I didn't notice any sound on his either.

So.. don't know what all the fuss is about.. I'll ask him later.

Edit: I just have to say though.. the picture of the train is quite funny. heh

[Adamalicious]

I think the loudest console ever award belonged to the Dreamcast until the 360 came out. At my apartment we refer to it as "the vacuum cleaner".

[AnSteRiX]

It screams out to the players to JUMP IN.....unlike sum consoles which have stealth switching on...(the user itself dont know if its on or not)...

[ASSASSYN 36o]

Maybe it was those loud F-16's a luke AFB that took away some hearing, or the booming base of my dodge chargers speakers. But, you know it could actually be the fact that I have surround sound logitech speakers providing the excellent sound enviorment. I don't hear my fans. They are not as loud as little whinning babies whom hate on the xbox 360 to get attention on a dead subject claim them to be.

[AnSteRiX]

nuff sed by aassassyn ;)

[srockny05]

The noise from my DVD drive was driving me crazy. It soundes so loud I thought the machine would crash any day. I dealt with this for a few months. Then one day I took the machine from upstairs tv stand to my basement, and placed it sitting upright. Guess what, NO MORE DRIVE NOISE.

[whateva]

@ the guy who said the PS3 get's loud once on for a short while.

and it's still cool to the touch

[joydestroy]

i don't think i'd mod my 360 to make it more quiet if it voids any warranty.

i agree with the other guys here saying turn up the volume or put on some music. with surround sound you won't even notice it. is the noise really that big of a deal to everyone? i mean sure it's hella loud compare to my PS3 but i thought we all cared about playing games, not the noise coming from the console.

[davidadrake]

My 360 is very loud, but the one at our Chapter House you can barely hear. Mine is a replacement from Microsoft for my launch console that got the RROD after about six months. They got theirs about 9 months ago. I think it really depends on which version you have. Both DVD drives are very quiet.

I don't hear the noise when I play disc games, but when I stream movies I do and I hate it. I think I will order this if it is the same voltage as the stock fan, because I like being able to play on XBL.

XBOX 360 owners like the XBOX 360, PS3 owners like the PS3, and some people like both - which is why we made the choice to buy the system that we did. Flaming the proponents of the other console, regardless of which side you're on, is childish and embarrassing to you and everybody else who owns that console.

D DRAKE

[JosefTor]

I like Microsoft and the 360 but... if the next xbox has another major problem or a crappy DVD drive then I don't know if I can stay a fan.

My first Xbox console DVD drive broke and I had to go on ebay and buy a new one. Now my 360 console has another crappy drive (made by the same company) which sounds like a vacuum cleaner. What gives? What does the product analysis and selection team do at Microsoft?

You have three companies all offering you a DVD drive for the 360... you test them all out and it is easy to see which one you don't put in the 360. It isn't like a couple of DVD drives from that company are bad... all of them are. Stop putting them in the 360. I pray to God that I get the RROD so I can replace my console. Too bad the RROD never happens to me.

[JosefTor]

And also... the IT department at Xbox live. Here's a skit...

"John the server usage on Xbox live is nearing capacity."
"It's alright Fred... it is just holiday traffic."
"Oh yeah... we wouldn't want to spend more on new equipment. We need that money to increase revenue and profits which in turn will make shareholders happy."

I like how they said that at any one point in time Xbox live was never down. Shows that they don't play Xbox live. I understand that it shows that people are doing stuff but here is what happens when there are too many users. After being unable to find a game on Live finally I get into a game. Everyone cheers and then a second later... "connection interrupted." What they don't understand that theoretically is different then realistically. What do they mean it wasn't fully down at anyone time. Sure... during certain segments of a minute you might get a small bit of the connection... but to play multiplayer you need more then a couple segments of time.

I'm an MBA student now and my dream was to work at Microsoft. Now I want to work their and turn them around.