In a previous post I wrote about the many heatsink options for the fat Xbox 360 consoles. I focused on the official heatsinks that Microsoft used. I was able to improve temperatures using newer heatsinks, but I still wanted to look into better cooling options. In this post I’ll be covering installing a PC heatsink onto an Xbox 360.

Things you’ll need

Here’s a list of items you’ll need for installing a PC heatsink onto an Xbox 360.

• A spare Xenon Xbox 360 CPU heatsink
• A spare Falcon Xbox 360 CPU heatsink
• Arctic Alumina thermal adhesive
• Dremel
• Pliers
• Clamp
• Cooler Master Hyper TX3 heatsink
• Thermal paste
• Tape
• 80mm fan
• Soldering iron and solder

Those items are specifically for the final mod that I ended up with. I used the Xenon CPU heatsink for the mount of the new CPU heatsink, and the Hyper TX3 for the heatsink itself. You can make your own mount, or use any other PC heatsink as long as it fits. [Read More]

After making my fat PS3 nearly silent, I wanted to make my Xenon Xbox 360 as quiet as possible. Right now I’m in the process of attaching a computer heatsink to my console, but before I write about that, I should probably write about all of the Xbox 360 heatsink options.

Xbox 360 revisions, and their heatsinks

Microsoft’s first Xbox 360 revision was called Xenon. It featured a very short, but long and deep aluminum fin heatsink on top of the graphics chip. On the processor there was a beefier heatsink with a copper baseplate, heat pipes, and many aluminum fins. [Read More]

Every Xbox 360 has a special key that is stored on the DVD drive, and the motherboard. This key is used to prevent modification to the console. In order to flash a custom drive firmware, use an ODE, or replace the DVD drive, you must first obtain the key from the original DVD drive. This is a guide on how to extract the Xbox 360 DVD firmware key using household items.

If you search Google for how to get the DVD key from an Xbox 360 you’ll find that most tutorials say that some sort of external device that you have to buy is required. Common hardware devices include the Team Xecuter X360USB, and Xecuter CK3i. Additionally some drives require special probes to be flashed. [Read More]

Microsoft was the first company to release a seventh generation video game console when they released the Xbox 360. Even though Microsoft had problems with reliability, and required a paid subscription to play online, they outsold the PS3 within the United States for much of the generation. Last November, I bought one of those original white 20GB Xbox 360 Pro systems for less than $25. That’s less than 7% of what the original MSRP was back in 2005.

My console has an interesting past. I know it’s one of the launch Xenon consoles because of the 20GB hard drive, the lack of an HDMI port, and the higher wattage power port. At one point the system must have failed and was fixed by Microsoft, because there is an upgraded heatsink, and a sticker on the back marked as 2009. Because these older Xbox 360 consoles are prone to failure, I’m going to be modding my console to run as cool and quiet as possible. This is the introduction to a series of blog posts documenting my experiences restoring and modding my Xbox 360. [Read More]