How to silence XBox

XBox maintenance

I’ve bought a XBox with the main purpose of watching movies, listening music, etc… (if you’re interested in it take a look at the Xbox Media Center). Considering that this console it’s a little noisy I’ve replace the original fan (Sunon PKD1207PTV-A) with a new one (Delta AFB0612H) with 23 CFM and 28 db. These parameters are not so good for a fan but they’re are better than the old ones, I’m sure noise could be ulteriorly reduced with a better fan.

The new fan it’s a little smaller than the old one (60×60mm vs 70×70mm) but it can be easily fitted in the slot and fastened with a rubber band. To reduce vibrations I’ve also added hairy strip on the fan.

I’ve noticed that fan is more effective if the air flow is directed inward, instead of outward like in the original arrangement. In addition, to improve heat dissipation, I’ve applied some thermal compound on the CPU and GPU processors (especially the first one), here below is a picture but you can find a detailed guide here.  At the end of the process the XBox was significantly less noisy (unfortunately I couldn’t measure the difference) and cooler (around 50° vs the 55°).

XBox maintenance