Fully Internal Water-cooled Xbox 360 183
NiteStar writes "Dano2k0 created a fully internal water-cooled Xbox 360. Unlike previous water-cooled Xbox 360 mods, this one has everything inside the original Xbox 360 case, including the water reservoir and pump. Both CPU (Zern GPU block) and GPU (Koolance GPU-180-H06 block) are water-cooled, with internal Tank-o-Matic mini reservoir, 12v thermaltake pump and DD fill port on the plexi window. The case itself is also customized with a plexiglass grill and LEDs, and it's fully custom painted. The case mod will also be featured in the next edition of the Official Xbox Magazine UK."
One question: (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:One question: (Score:5, Funny)
Not a bug... (Score:2)
Re:One question: (Score:4, Insightful)
Other than the "coolness" factor, I don't see where this mod is a necessity. I would not mind it (or a similar mod that replaced the noise of the stock fans)if it quieted down the 360, however. There are times when mine sounds like a harrier preparing for vertical flight take-off. While its not a big deal when I am playing games, it can be annoying when I am streaming video/movies/wm9HD from other machines. I have been wanting to tackle replacing the fans and openening the ducts a bit to see if I can quiet it myself. A smaller replacement for the huge power brick would be welcomed as well.
I may have simply been lucky in that my 360 has never crashed or overheated, but I just don't see a reason for all the quality complaints. Especially from non-360 owners whose only basis is hearsay.
Same reason as the moonshot (Score:1)
The enemy changed, comrade (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Same reason as the moonshot (Score:2)
The Russians of the late sixties and early seventies need to get with the times, I bet they didn't even have plastation 2.
Re:Same reason as the moonshot (Score:2)
Well, obviously not. If they had, it wouldn't have been a cold war.
Might've been a flame war though...
Re:One question: (Score:1)
Because you can.
Re:One question: (Score:1)
Re:One question: (Score:2)
Re:One question: (Score:1)
Re:One question: (Score:1)
Re:One question: (Score:4, Informative)
Re:One question: (Score:2)
Disclaimer, maybe there are some people who are having trouble, but I don't think it's as bad as it looks to the internet surfer. I had some heat trouble with my original XBOX, no such trouble with the upgrade.
Fairly obvious why... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:One question: (Score:2, Informative)
originally the 360 was going to be water cooled, granted this was Peter Moore (Microsoft's Ken Kutaragi) who said this...
Re:One question: (Score:3, Informative)
COOL but Illegal? (Score:1, Insightful)
Remember ye olde 'mod chips' that MS went after tooth n nail?
It just strikes me as a wee bit hypocritical to then feature such a blatant violation of the license in an 'official' MS magazine.
Now, I understand that this actual 'change' doesn't affect how the Xbox actually works. But I'd also bet that the license doesn't differentiate between mod'ing a chip and ripping out the innards to display them in your
Re:COOL but Illegal? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:COOL but Illegal? (Score:3, Informative)
ModChips are illegal because they are promoted as being useful for circumventing copyright (i.e. "Buy this ModChip and play burned games!"). In Australia, ModChips are legal if they are only promoted for the purposes of
Re:COOL but Illegal? (Score:2)
OTOH, GM won't void your warranty for using a non-Delco replacement water pump, though they can void your warranty for running the car over heat for too long; OBD-II (1996 and later) vehicles actually store a log of some of the sensors, including the coolant temperature sensor, so they actually can figure out if this has happened just with a sca
Re:COOL but Illegal? (Score:2)
And of course because GM and their dealers are the only people with access to the magic tool, it's a thoroughly reliable way of testing wheth
Re:COOL but Illegal? (Score:2)
Re:distraction (Score:2)
Re:One question: (Score:4, Interesting)
performance? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:performance? (Score:2)
Re:performance? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:performance? (Score:1)
Re:Websense (Score:3, Informative)
It works for me... Hope it helps you too...
Sorry for being offtopic Mods..
Re:performance? (Score:3, Informative)
Obstruction to airflow? (was:performance?) (Score:2)
More importantly (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:More importantly (Score:2)
Re:More importantly (Score:2)
Whereas the air out of the back of a 360 could cook a steak.
Re:More importantly (Score:2)
You just get a more juicey steak (provided there's a leak in the water line)!
Re:More importantly (Score:2)
You must be english, because only an englishman would think you get a juicier steak if you boil it. ;)
Re:More importantly (Score:2)
Re:More importantly (Score:2)
Re:More importantly (Score:2)
no, it would just be wetter.
Re:More importantly (Score:2)
Re:More importantly (Score:2)
Re:More importantly (Score:3, Funny)
(Assuming you're american)
Re:More importantly (Score:2)
Official mag? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Official mag? (Score:1)
I would expect that people who do these types of major mods understand that it involves breaking the warranty, goes without saying, doesn't it? Would anyone at all actually assume that after they tore apart their xBox (or anything, for that matter), they could ship it back to the manufacturer and say "it's broke, please fix it for free"? Nope. I don't think so.
Next...
Re:Official mag? (Score:2)
Re:Official mag? (Score:2)
Re:Official mag? (Score:2)
The average person who knows what he's doing, sure. If that gets in the official mag, I bet there'll be at least a few "I want to try that too" types who completely screw up.
So they'll screw it up, ask Microsoft to fix it, get laughed at, and have to buy a new XBox. How does Microsoft lose by this? Remember, this is the official magazine...
Re:Official mag? (Score:1)
Unacceptable (Score:3, Insightful)
The whole point of consoles is that you shouldn't need to do bullshit like this. Clearly someone at Microsoft severely fucked up if people are finding it necessary to modify their XBox 360's just so they don't overheat. Once you start having to do all of that all you have is a cheap computer (not ever that cheap) that can't do all the other computer type things.
Failures to understand things like this will ensure that Microsoft never turns a profit in their gaming hardware division and why Nintendo will keep going. Nintendo provides me with an appliance that just works for what it was designed for.
This is of course not to say that doing stuff to consoles isn't fun or worthwhile. I thought the XBox to PC mods were a real hoot, but before this generation, no one has felt the need to mod just to make their hardware work properly (ancient consoles excluded).
the switch (Score:2)
Sounds an awful lot like another argument I've been hearing:
...this will ensure that [...] Apple will keep going. Apple provides me with an appliance that just works for what it was designed for.
Yet, Microsoft/WinTel still hold the lion's share of the market. I don't
Re:the switch (Score:1)
Dunno why you Mac guys have so many problems running Windows, but I bet it's user error.
Oh yeah, Apple uses intel now too.. So in the future, just bash "Win", leave the "tel" part out of it - MacTel has the same "flaws" now.
Re:the switch (Score:2)
Re:the switch (Score:2)
Dunno why you Mac guys have so many problems running Windows, but I bet it's user error.
There is my problem with running Windows- it's not cool. Why spend hundreds or thousands on what is basically (to me since I don't do any real work on my home computers) a toy only to get the non cool version? My Macbook looks great on the outside and the OS looks great on the screen.
The button up world of Fortune 500 can have their boring Dells running X
Re:the switch (Score:3, Insightful)
I couldn't agree more! Once you use OSX with the default application set, you realize how limited it is.
I bought myself an Intel Mac Mini about two months ago, and so far I havn't been incredibly impressed with OSX:
* If you want your Mac to output the sound from the line in (audio pass-through), you have to use a third-party application. Windows and Linux have a checkbox that turns this on and off. Funny,
Re:the switch (Score:2)
(I am exaggerating, of course, but not much. Both my previous preferred MP3 player (Noatun) and my current one (amaroK) don't handle
Re:Unacceptable (Score:2)
Is this really for the heat or more for the sound? In the last generation mods that replace the default fan with a more silent one have happened as well.
Re:Unacceptable (Score:3, Insightful)
There's no *need* to do this, just as there wasn't a *need* to replace a console's orange LED with a blue LED. The Xbox 360 doesn't need this mod
Re:Unacceptable (Score:2)
Just because someone did the mod doesn't mean that it was necessary. Look at all the effort people put into things that are completely unnecessary. People have modified Nintendo consoles as well, does it mean they also screwed up?
Re:Unacceptable (Score:2)
Re:Unacceptable (Score:2, Informative)
Nah, its far simpler to just blame Microsoft instead of the dumb ass consumer who sticks a power supply on a shag carpet or next to a 250 watt stereo that pumps out more BTU/hr than a small server.
Re:Unacceptable (Score:2)
I won't say you're wrong, because you're not, but there's a *really* big 'but':
This is an xbox360, not a piece of high end testing equipment. the audience for this is kids of all ages
Re:Unacceptable (Score:2)
Re:Unacceptable (Score:3, Interesting)
I used a new scientific method I call the "store test", which is basically if a store can't keep it on line, I don't really want it.
As I went through Target, Kmart, Bestbuy, Wal-mart and anywhere else with the "Three-console display" I took effort to note what was up and what was crashed.
XBox--rarely up, maybe 1/3 of the time (A very optomistic estimate, I think). Almost always had some kind of internal error--probab
Re:Unacceptable (Score:2)
you don't need to do stuff like this... (Score:2)
So unless you just want to make your 360 quieter, skip this. And the real noise in the 360 comes from the DVD drive anyway.
Oh please (Score:3, Insightful)
I'm sorry to burst your fairytale fantasy, but any other console has been a small computer in disguise too. Your beloved Nintendo or Sony or whatever don't run on magic and pixie dust either, but, guess what? Use a CPU, a graphics card, RAM, etc.
E.g., the Dreamcast had the same graphics chip that was available in PC graphics cards too, a modem that you could have bou
Re:Oh please (Score:2)
Re:Oh please (Score:2)
Good to see he was able to cram in some blue LEDs (Score:2)
Re:Good to see he was able to cram in some blue LE (Score:1)
It's just boring, and it's not computer science. A 5% overclock is pretty much insignifigant. Wake me up when somebody comes up with some cool new algortithm that improves a process by at least an order of magnitude - thats where the real performance gains come in.
Glycol? (Score:3, Insightful)
There are safer things than water to use.
(Wait, alcohol is combustable. Oops. Oh well, he didn't want his house anyway...)
Re:Glycol? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Glycol? (Score:1)
I think it's just the trying make the whole thing sound more technical than what it is - a little bit of plumbing with plastic tubes and an aquarium pump.
Re:Glycol? (Score:4, Funny)
How about some Dihydrogen Monoxide [dhmo.org] instead?
Distilled water (Score:2)
Re:Distilled water (Score:2)
Wouldn't distilled water be best?
It only stays distilled for a little while, and water makes its own ions anyway, so no, it won't really help.
Re:Distilled water (Score:2)
You're saying that if pure water isn't exposed to anything (sealed in a nonreactive container) it will spontaneously create ions? How, and what kind?
H+ and OH- (or is that the other way around?) in a small concentration. If it's exposed to air, it will dissolve CO2 from that as well.
Yeah, why? (Score:2)
liquid Sodium cooling (Score:2, Funny)
Why not freeze it? (Score:5, Funny)
yawn... bling! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:yawn... bling! (Score:1)
Water cooling was pretty neat when guys were repurposing aquarium pumps and heater cores from old plymouths, and grinding out their own blocks, and so on.
Ordering a kit from newegg and installing it... Yawn..
Guess what, I installed a zalman heatsink when the fan died on the old one. All bow down to my mad hacking skillzorz.
Hardware hacking went the same route as software hacking where kids running a script they downloaded get all the attention.
Re:yawn... bling! (Score:2)
*Yawn* (Score:5, Funny)
Why would Microsoft encourage this? (Score:2, Interesting)
If I were Microsoft I'd be plain embarrassed that my flagship design for the mouth-breathing console masses was so poorly engineered that cooling the fucker has become a cottage industry.
I think the market is ready for an entrant that "just lets me play my fucking game". I
Re:Why would Microsoft encourage this? (Score:2)
What brand is it? Seriously, I've been looking for one, and I haven't been able to find any recommendations in Google. And I don't want to buy DVD players randomly until I luck out. So, could you share the brand and model, so I can run and order one from Amazon?
Re:Why would Microsoft encourage this? (Score:2)
"did you enjoy your N64?"
Never played one. Let me be more specific for the boys without pubs out there: my last consoles were the N16 and the Sega Genesis.
"I was busy playing Guilty Gear and Final Fantasy VII."
Good for you. About the same time those came out I think I was making my first mil and sleeping with real women, but if those video games brought a little bit of meaning to your life, don't let me bring you down.
Re:Why would Microsoft encourage this? (Score:2)
Wow. What an *asstarded* thing to say. Someone enjoying themselves and garnering a little entertainment is worth LESS than money (pointless in the long run) and unfulfilling promiscuity? Now if I missed something and you're being sarcastic or ironic, I apologize and take it back, but otherwise... wow. If
Re:Why would Microsoft encourage this? (Score:2)
Married with kids. (Actually killing time when I really should be filling out some forms for the accountant.) You're right - I should wrap this up and go out on the boat.
Heating is not the issue for me (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Heating is not the issue for me (Score:2)
All those uber leet googling-for-cracks skills eh? Please for the love of god stop using your uber hax0r 133t skillz!! The world is not yet ready!!!
*Phew!*
The world is safe.. at least, for another day...
water heater (Score:2)
Re:Pull The 360 From The Market, Microsoft! (Score:5, Insightful)
I find it relatively funny that so many people are complaining about the 360 being a 'ticking time-bomb', and that people continue to claim that Microsoft is 'digging their grave' with the faulty hardware. I, beg to differ. While there have been a lot of issues with the console release, there were just as many at PS2 release and no one seems to equate these two situations because Microsoft is some 'horrible evil'. I own a 360 launch console and I have yet to have any issues whatsoever, and I'm not in the minority, either. There are a lot of incidents you hear about where people's 360s are on the fritz and you don't hear about those who are working... And for good reason. Why would someone complain or post on a message board that their XBox 360 is working just fine? You've fallen into the trap of believing only what you see because there is no real need to report on the other side of it. It is just like when something awry goes on in any aspect of the world - you only hear the negative because there is little incentive to report on the positive.
All of my friends and peers that own first generation 360 consoles still have them intact and working with little to no problems whatsoever. I know you hate Microsoft, but making unsubstantiated claims and implying that all consoles are faulty is preposterous. Don't pull the 360 from the market until it is officially broken. There may be issues right now with some consoles, but they're not as widespread as it would appear.
Re:Pull The 360 From The Market, Microsoft! (Score:2)
Re:Pull The 360 From The Market, Microsoft! (Score:2)
Re:Pull The 360 From The Market, Microsoft! (Score:2, Interesting)
Google around for people that have gone thru plenty of PS2s, plenty of Apple POwerbooks, or MacBooks.
I'd love to hear how you can explain how it is poorly designed...
Re:Pull The 360 From The Market, Microsoft! (Score:2)
More fool them. If the hardware sucks, why keep going back for more of it? Understandable I guess if you're covered by a warranty - up to a point, but not really understandable outside the warranty unless you own a massive library of titles.
As for MacBooks, I'm surprised to hear people going through plenty of them as they're only just out.