How noisy is the Xbox 360?

FrankGrimes

I’m planning on getting an Xbox 360, mainly to use as a Media Center Extender, but also because I can get games and peripherals for dirt cheap from my mate who works for MS.

I have a first generation HP Media Center Extender which is silent and am a bit concerned by stories I’ve heard of how noisy the 360 is, though some people have pointed out its noisy at the start and then quiets down. I can handle it being a bit noisy when I’ve got a disc in and am playing a game, but I don’t want to hear it when I’m just using it for watching TV.

So are they really that noisy (am I right in thinking I read an MS statement a while back saying it would be significantly quieter than the original Xbox?) or is it only noisy in short bursts?

steviec

It's practically silent if your just in dashboard or playing music or whatever.

It's very noisy during games(It's just about as loud as my PC), but it's not that noticeable if your concentrating on playing.

FrankGrimes

steviec wrote:

It's practically silent if your just in dashboard or playing music or whatever.

It's very noisy during games(It's just about as loud as my PC), but it's not that noticeable if your concentrating on playing.

Thanks, what about when watching DVDs?

BKtje

Basically theres 4 fans in the xbox. 1 is on all the time, 3 are on when the system is under pressure (ud have to have your tv fairly low to hear em tho i'd say..not speaking from experience!).

I'd imagine a dvd would be 1 fan.

steviec

All the noise comes from fans keeping the processor cool under pressure, not from spinning the disc. I haven't played a DVD on it yet but I'd imagine it's quiet, I must try it later.

evad_lhorg

yea its quiet when playing dvds too

gireland

the noise actually comes from the spinning disc as well as the fans. there are 3 fans in total. 1 in the power supply brick. 2 at the rear of the 360 itself. the disc spins a lot lot faster when playing games than it ever will when playing movies / music. this is because it is constantly reading from the disc and dumping in new info as it can't use the HDD to store info like the original xbox.

here is a detailed look inside the box:
http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=2610

I actaully had mine standing upright, and when the disc spun up it made at terrible ammoung of noise, but as soon as i (turned it off and took the disc out) and lay it flat, the noise was cut in half. i think it was because the disc was possibly warped or something. but it was definitely the disc making the noise, and even on it's flat it's the main contributor to the noise.

Tolerz

i have xbox arcade with no internal memory and im wondering if any of you guys know how to shut the thing up without installing the game , thanks

AceCard Jones

You've awoken a dead thread.
The old fat machines are noisy when reading discs. Only way to counter this is by installing the game, but since you have no HDD that's not possible for you unless you buy one. I had 2 of the older models, the Pro and the Elite, and to be honest before I figured out how to install games when I first used the 360 I never really noticed it as I had my TV sound more than 1/4 of the way up. So I don't really get the problem

theteal

threadrophilia is a terrible illness

Tollerz, there's not much you can do with the old arcade machines. get 2nd hand 20gb hdd to install games and it will help a bit. the only real way to cure the noise pollution of the xbox is to get a slim

Meesared

Zombie thread neeeeddsssss peaccccceeee

Vicxas

I barely hear it, unless im watching a dvd or something

youcancallmeal

Wow this thread just reminded me that the xbox 360 is 6 years old :eek:

evolutionqy7

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Wow this thread just reminded me that the xbox 360 is 6 years old :eek:

Just as old as your boards.ie profile

3rdDegree

Mine has a low whine which is annoying. Definitely not silent. This is with no disk in it. With game disk, it's a vacuum cleaner!

evolutionqy7

Couldnt call mine noisy. But its not silent either. I have the 250GB version and apl my games are saved to hdd so the drive only spins once and then the game runs of the hdd. It would only get a bit noisy if i played it all day.

But in comparison i think the new ones are as same as ps3. PS3 can even get noisier after a log run

Nertballs

on a scale of shy ronnie to janice from friends, it's louder than ACDC live at concert...