Post: How To Look After Your Xbox (New&Old) and Your Games..
09-08-2012, 11:26 AM #1
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Okay, now we all know 360's get a lot of stick for killing it's own disc and RROD etc. But there are ways to avoid it and I'm gonna tell you some...

SLIM:
Now with the xbox 360 slim RROD can still happen, it's not inevitable it's very well alive in your 360. Now as you've all probably noticed the new slim has a huge fan slapped on top or on the side depending on how you prefer your slim *Mistake number 1* The slim should actually be placed flat with the main vent facing your ceiling *Mistake number 2* for those of you that have your 360 in Racks, cabinets etc No. It may have worked fine or still be working fine, but cabinets are bad for your console due to heat. Now I myself had my 360 in a cabinet but obviously there isn't much air getting to it..so here is a tip.

On ebay, amazon buy a cheap fan stand and put your 360 on top of it, if in a cabinet/rack. make sure there is atleast 10-15cm gap between the top of the cabinet and the main exhaust on your xbox. This fan keeps the bottom cooler and generally helps air flow to and around your 360.

Now as I mentioned earlier a 360 should really be placed flat not on it's side, this is for a couple of reasons the main ones being (All vents are fully open to air) (The disc is less likely to scratch) (Heat RISES so it escapes through your main vent)!!!! < This is so important. Often you may think wow my slim is hot, is it just the air? If so Good! It means your 360 is doing it's job, if you're still worried get a thermometer and measure your tempratures, table top fans are great for blowing cool air over your 360 slim! Now a new tip not many know of, the bottom of your slim doesn't have any fans, BUT if we put a 2p coin under each gummy pad ( On the four corners of your 360 base) it actually gives us about a 5mm gap. You can tape 2x2p coins ontop of each other and put them under but I recommend one. Combine this with your table top fan and you have the bottom cooled as well.

This doesn't seem much but combine the heat of your TV set, your lights, you poor slim sitting there as you dive into more kill streaks or curb stomp some locust, or replay your highlights of Halo3........ It all adds up making your 360's fan work harder which also out puts more heat. My advice buy a small table top fan - Dust regularly and a sneaky one - Take out the hard drive from the side (carefully now) and blow into it's port. Dust can gather and it helps loosen some inside the 360, now get a hoover (low power) and just leave it over the main exhaust for a couple of seconds (don't worry nothing will fly into your hoover) If you don't have a low power hoover use a normal one it works I've tried but do very quick bursts!

---------- Post added at 11:26 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:07 AM ----------

Secondly we have the discs and the disc drive, with the new slim you have the option of the 4gb model or 250gb. Of course we go for the 250gb model. Install any and all games when playing them on your 360. Your disc drive creates more heat due to friction and physics than your hard drive ever will unless you bump it up to 500gb+ generally. This helps for many reasons, Heat as i've already said is bad so it develops less, your fans aren't always powering away as hard, your disc drive will last longer, no disc burn. Another tip if you are playing a single player game and want some alone time or no friends are online...or you have no friends and you're playing through wi-fi, sign out of live. It sound stupid but keeping your wireless card running is more heat not much, but it all adds up.

Now in case you didn't know, moving your 360 with a disc in it is almost suicide, the new slim isn't to bad on it as long as you keep it pretty steady and level. I don't know why you'd move your 360 whilst a game is running anyway but wahey. A couple of things to avoid this are obviously keep your 360 on its flat not on it's side, DON'T move it whilst you're playing a game however stressful it may be, and actually, installing your game on to the hard drive, your disc spins up less often and less frequently so you may just save another disc life...

Playing hours - Okay, if you're like me or how I used to be, I used to gun away at my xbox 10 - 12 hours a day, especially when Skyrim hit, you're tired you just switch your 360 off. Please, please, please for the love of monkeys do not just turn it off, leave it on the dashboard for 20 minutes to half an hour whilst you get in your jimjams. This acts as a cooling process and doesn't let the heat just develop. As you very well know when we turn our consoles off they actually get hotter for awhile Not Happy or Sad After an hour this process should still be completed out just so we all know! Smile

Another Tip is do not charge your controller whilst the 360 is on standby (no screen no main power just fans and charging to controller) It's not a killer or overly bad but it's more active time for your 360 so just charge it whilst you're playing or if you can just stick with battery's. I Just charge it whilst playing usually within the first hour or two.

A little tip for slims, when not in use and it's cooled down well e.g. 2-3 hours later place a game case or cloth over the main exhaust so no dust can just gently wallow into your poor slim and gather like the dirty dust demon it is.

Now with Elites and most old 360's you can follow the same tips as with slims. With the old 360's invest in a memory card for game saves, the install/updates etc keep on your HDD. Clean the same was as a slim and let cool the same as a slim. Do not buy any attachment fans just buy yourself a nice table top fan it will do 10x a better job and probably keep you cooler too!

That's pretty much it for care of the 360 console, if you can dust the area your 360 sits every day. It gets annoying but it saves your consoles life. Limit your console hours, it is painful it does stop our achievement gathering or leveling. But in the long run, you're going to get more hours out of your console.

Some people will say they play there 360 for 12 hours + every day and it never shows any signs of fatigue etc Generally 90% of these people don't and won't even take there 360 apart so wouldn't know how the components are looking inside. Don't listen to them they may be fine, but why risk it with your 360? Take care of your 360 and it will last longer, sometimes we just get a bad batch and get a 360 which no matter how well we look after it dies out on us....

ChiefJr - XBLGT - Gone through 3 original white 360's. 3rd I sold for an update to the slim which is still running like a dream. If you have any questions/problems feel free to post them quoting me preferably as it makes it easy for me :P I will try my best to answer Smile
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09-08-2012, 01:08 PM #2
Nice guide!
A guide for the PS3, maybe? :P
09-08-2012, 10:36 PM #3
Originally posted by adonis97 View Post
Nice guide!
A guide for the PS3, maybe? :P


Sure thing will get right on to it!
09-09-2012, 07:43 PM #4
Originally posted by adonis97 View Post
Nice guide!
A guide for the PS3, maybe? :P


Guide is up mate just in case you haven't seen it! Just check PS General! Smile

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