Jump to content
IGNORED

**NECROBUMP - 360 dying/dead!** Should I buy an intercooler for my new 360?


OptOut

Intercooler yay or nay?  

16 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you think it would be a good idea to attach an intercooler to my new 360 E?

    • Yeah, couldn't hurt.
      3
    • Nah, waste of money.
      9
    • You play 360? Eww.
      4


Recommended Posts

My old 360 slim just red ringed and it's time to take the old fella out the back of the woodshed. So, I'm buying a brand new 360 E model, which I have heard is the most reliable of the 360's (for whatever that's worth, lol).

However, I'm wondering whether I should invest in an intercooler or something to keep it cool, seeing as how often 360's experience overheating issues. I'm spending a decent chunk of money to get a brand new E system, so I kinda want this to be the LAST 360 I ever have to buy... Wishful thinking maybe I don't know!

So, do I need an intercooler, would it actually help, and is there anything else I can do to make sure this thing goes the distance? I've already decided I'm not gonna take it online, because my last system started having its problems after I updated it like a couple months ago, just wouldn't stop crashing ever since then. Any other good 360 care advice to share?

Edited by OptOut
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I had a decent result changing the thermal paste on a PS4 Pro.  It wouldn't hurt checking ifixit to see if they have a teardown for the console.  I'm guessing Microsoft didn't go for a higher quality paste than Sony did.  Any luck and it will run a bit cooler and quieter.

Edited by zeppelin03
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

24 minutes ago, zeppelin03 said:

I had a decent result changing the thermal paste on a PS4 Pro.  It wouldn't hurt checking ifixit to see if they have a teardown for the console.  I'm guessing Microsoft didn't go for a higher quality paste than Sony did.  Any luck and it will run a bit cooler and quieter.

I am pretty sure my problem with my 360 slim wasn't actually a cooling issue. It was some software or firmware bug. The thing would just crash all over the place, on start up, in the dashboard, in the settings menus, during gameplay. It was a mess.

I just want to do everything I can to make sure this 360 lasts as long as possible.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, captmorgandrinker said:

They don't work anyway.

I can't say that I agree with that idea, as they do help to push/pull additional air through the system and keep it cooler.  I've had one attached to my launch unit 360 since I got it (probably 3-6 months after launch) and it's still going, not having red-ringed once.  Out of everyone I personally know, I'm the only one of us to not yet have a system red ring.  Another popular mod to do to get the same sort of effect was the 12V fan mod, but an Intercooler leaves your factory seal intact (generally important if you intend to resell it to major resellers like GameStop, etc.).

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Administrator · Posted
6 hours ago, darkchylde28 said:

I can't say that I agree with that idea, as they do help to push/pull additional air through the system and keep it cooler.  I've had one attached to my launch unit 360 since I got it (probably 3-6 months after launch) and it's still going, not having red-ringed once.  Out of everyone I personally know, I'm the only one of us to not yet have a system red ring.  Another popular mod to do to get the same sort of effect was the 12V fan mod, but an Intercooler leaves your factory seal intact (generally important if you intend to resell it to major resellers like GameStop, etc.).

I had one attached to my launch unit 360 and it red ringed on me years ago.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, GPX said:

X360 are cheap anyway. If the new console doesn’t work, just buy a new one..?

FWIW, I’ve been playing on my X360 Pro for the past 5 years and it’s still working fine. And it’s been used nearly on a weekly basis.

I've bought a brand new E online, should be here next week. I don't want to bother with pre-owned 360's anymore it's just a minefield they're so unreliable.

Gonna take my chances with a brand new one and see how far that gets me, lol! 😉

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, OptOut said:

I've bought a brand new E online, should be here next week. I don't want to bother with pre-owned 360's anymore it's just a minefield they're so unreliable.

Gonna take my chances with a brand new one and see how far that gets me, lol! 😉

I meant to buy another new one if this next new one stuffs up. 🙂

The intercooler perhaps will lengthen the consoles lifespan, but I don't think it will guarantee no red ring mortality. So it's really luck of the draw IMO, a new console without an intercooler may outlast one with an intercooler. Probably more relevant if you plan on having long gaming sessions or not. If playing 2-3 hours at most, then I doubt an intercooler would be of much benefit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, GPX said:

I meant to buy another new one if this next new one stuffs up. 🙂

The intercooler perhaps will lengthen the consoles lifespan, but I don't think it will guarantee no red ring mortality. So it's really luck of the draw IMO, a new console without an intercooler may outlast one with an intercooler. Probably more relevant if you plan on having long gaming sessions or not. If playing 2-3 hours at most, then I doubt an intercooler would be of much benefit.

Oh, well that's another benefit of buying a new one. I can test it out and then return it to the seller for another if it's defective in the first month or whatever!

I'm just hoping that the E is better than other models, in terms of reliability. I have heard it's better, obviously it's better than the launch ones, but I guess we'll see.

I checked around I can't actually find an intercooler specific to the E local to me anyway, so I guess I'll just try without it for now!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I've been testing out my new system a few days, so far so good running smooth!

It did crash once randomly on GTA V, but I think that game is just like that, everything else I've thrown at it no issues!

Gonna test another couple days and leave feedback, but fingers crossed I'm good on the 360 gaming front for a while.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 years later...
On 8/12/2020 at 10:54 AM, OptOut said:

Well, I've been testing out my new system a few days, so far so good running smooth!

It did crash once randomly on GTA V, but I think that game is just like that, everything else I've thrown at it no issues!

Gonna test another couple days and leave feedback, but fingers crossed I'm good on the 360 gaming front for a while.

Where are we, 2 years and 2 months later?

Not bad innings, I guess, but my 360 E is now on life support... Disc drive is worn out, barely spins up any more, I given the poor little guy a SERIOUS drilling over the past two years, he's all fucked out, lol!

I am still torturing the poor bastard, it still works if I install the game onto the flash drive and play it without using the disc tray. I have no idea how many more games I will be able to install before the disc drive TOTALLY fails, but as long as I can keep installing discs I will continue to use the system untill I have milked it for EVERY SINGLE DROP of gameplay it can give me! 

I was wise enough to buy a spare 360E recently, before this even happened actually, so after this one dies I'll set that up. I won't even bother playing off the disc and I'll just install everything from day one on that one, and just save the wear and tear on the disc drive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • The title was changed to **NECROBUMP - 360 dying/dead!** Should I buy an intercooler for my new 360?

IIRC, it's more of a pain to do with the 360 than the original XBox, but you should be able to purchase and install a replacement optical drive, should you choose to do so.  I want to say that the optical drives are linked to the specific system they're in, but if you hook up the original one to a PC, you can dump its firmware, then buy a replacement drive and flash that firmware onto it to be able to swap in a newer drive.

Doing some brief Googling, it looks like my memory is correct.  Basically you just need to find a tutorial on how to dump your firmware from your existing drive (and back it up to the cloud!), obtain a replacement drive, then follow the instructions on how to get the drive key and flash it into the new drive.  I did this a few times back in the day, and honestly the most complicated part is having the drive hooked up to your 360 for power (as the power connector is non-standard) while connecting it via SATA to your PC for the data transfer(s).  As long as you've got all your tools and replacement bits on hand ahead of time, it's not difficult to do at all, and typically takes around an hour when you're not familiar with how to do it.

I know it's easier to just trash the old system and move on, but hey, since it's only the opitcal drive that's dying, just think of all the hours you'll save copying discs to a new hard drive by replacing the existing optical drive versus changing systems entirely.  😉

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

11 hours ago, 360collector said:

haha good memories I still got my OG intercooler

My original one is still floating around somewhere, but the "big pimpin'" version is still stuck to the back of my launch 360, keeping it alive to this day.  I can't remember where I got that thing, but to this day it's still fantastic, as it interfaces with the AV port on the back and then provides female composite, component, and VGA ports all along the back for your convenience, plus adds larger fans than the original Intercoolers.  IIRC, I want to say it came with some snazzy neon green RCA cables to hook up how you saw fit, so the manufacturer was absolutely on point with that thing.  I'm still amazed that I've yet to run into another one in the wild anywhere.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, darkchylde28 said:

My original one is still floating around somewhere, but the "big pimpin'" version is still stuck to the back of my launch 360, keeping it alive to this day.  I can't remember where I got that thing, but to this day it's still fantastic, as it interfaces with the AV port on the back and then provides female composite, component, and VGA ports all along the back for your convenience, plus adds larger fans than the original Intercoolers.  IIRC, I want to say it came with some snazzy neon green RCA cables to hook up how you saw fit, so the manufacturer was absolutely on point with that thing.  I'm still amazed that I've yet to run into another one in the wild anywhere.

I have never seen them in stores, I remember I had to buy it on some modding website. This is the one I have somewhere. It cooled good but the 360s still died eventually after thousands of hours lol

https://www.ebay.com/itm/362314362276?hash=item545b9e6da4:g:JZQAAOSwbgJhYTBJ&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoMqpzjh2QZ8bWOpABh9wNHD6%2B9XMiuP2mA0YD8Ycjy9NaxW91qmgZmHQWu%2BGKUFL3AWR%2B4F5DE%2BK%2F19lyYuduksTeJD1O3y527akXA4Hpig6EnMxt%2Bd4lyk8fHNnSlVz3NT3j3R9LTT9DpyAM2AYjNT5FwZgAD6pAfcMD729UhHfTvcblOuWrI5DftrV3Yu7uSMxVZqqHkYhnonTAgskA5g%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR_C73J6DYQ

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, 360collector said:

Yeah, that was the one that I ended up buying first.  I want to say they might have been available in "normal" stores locally, but I ended up buying mine in a local/independent shop instead.  I'm pretty sure the big fancy one came from GameStop back in the day, back in the back corner, on the row of pegs near the floor that all of the "oddball" accessories got doomed to.  My launch 360 is buried behind a bunch of other systems and accessories I'm loath to move right now, but here is a link to an Engadget article that talks about the "big pimpin'" cooler that I ended up switching to.  I had forgotten that it had a port for digital optical audio out, as well as s-video.  There were a couple of "jumper" switches to tell it which a/v mode you wanted active, as well as a chart printed right on the unit so that you wouldn't lose the manual and forever lose the ability to use a particular mode without trial and error.  What's hilarious is that it pulls power from the ports on the back of the 360, whereas the original Intercooler pulled it straight from the power brick via pass-through, and somehow the Intercooler was fingered as being "dangerous" to the system somehow.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, darkchylde28 said:

Yeah, that was the one that I ended up buying first.  I want to say they might have been available in "normal" stores locally, but I ended up buying mine in a local/independent shop instead.  I'm pretty sure the big fancy one came from GameStop back in the day, back in the back corner, on the row of pegs near the floor that all of the "oddball" accessories got doomed to.  My launch 360 is buried behind a bunch of other systems and accessories I'm loath to move right now, but here is a link to an Engadget article that talks about the "big pimpin'" cooler that I ended up switching to.  I had forgotten that it had a port for digital optical audio out, as well as s-video.  There were a couple of "jumper" switches to tell it which a/v mode you wanted active, as well as a chart printed right on the unit so that you wouldn't lose the manual and forever lose the ability to use a particular mode without trial and error.  What's hilarious is that it pulls power from the ports on the back of the 360, whereas the original Intercooler pulled it straight from the power brick via pass-through, and somehow the Intercooler was fingered as being "dangerous" to the system somehow.

Thinking about it, its kinda weird I never bought another one. But it was probably because I got new systems anyway

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...