My old Xbox 360 went from a jet engine to library quiet in about two hours

I finally got around to opening up my launch model 360 that's been sitting in the closet for years. The fan noise was so loud you could hear it over the game audio. I took it apart, cleaned out a huge dust bunny the size of a quarter from the heatsink, and replaced the old thermal paste with some fresh Arctic MX-4 I had left over from a PC build. The difference is night and day. It's been running for a week now and I can barely hear it. Has anyone else had success with just a deep clean fixing older console noise, or is a fan replacement usually the next step?

3 comments

3 Comments

price.jake27d ago

Ever check the fan blades for dust buildup too?

tara_gonzalez2027d ago

Wow, that's a huge change... but honestly I'd be pretty nervous. From what I remember, those old 360s had bigger problems than just dust, like the whole red ring thing. A good clean might buy you some quiet time, but those fans were screaming for a reason... the whole system ran crazy hot. I'd keep a really close eye on it, maybe not plan on any super long gaming sessions just yet.

lilyo308d ago

My buddy's 360 sounded like a jet engine for months. He finally opened it up and found a whole mouse nest in there, no joke. Fried the board completely. Cleaning helps but sometimes the damage is already done. Those old systems are basically ticking time bombs.