How To Modify The Wind Tunnel (Shroud) Of Your 360

[NeoRio]

TUTORIAL ON HOW TO MODIFY THE WIND TUNNEL (SHROUD) OF YOUR 360

This rather simple "tweak" to your plastic wind tunnel--or shroud--that sits between the fans and the GPU and CPU heatsinks of your 360 should help your machine to run cooler. This modification will help to direct the airflow more efficiently so that the fans (which suck the hot air out of the machine) will exhaust the air in a more concentrated way expelling more heat from the machine...which is what we want to do...to help extend the life of your 360 and avoid the RROD!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• Tools to open your Xbox 360 (refer to the tutorial on how to open your 360 for assistance).
• A pair of scissors.
• Some card paper (most boxes with thin card board will work fine...I personally like the kind that have a glossy finish on one side...it *may* keep a little cooler than the matte finish side).
• Electrical tape.

First you will need to open your Xbox 360. Then remove the DVD drive from the machine. Here is a picture of what you should be looking at. (Note: depending on the age of your 360, your motherboard may look a little different than this one. On this motherboard you will see 3 heatsinks plus a copper pipe. Some older models only have 2 heatsinks and may look a bit different, however for all intents and purposes, the following modification will apply to all 360's regardless of their layout.)

The first piece of card paper I recommend you start with is the only one that goes underneath the wind tunnel. This is the hardest one to get just right...and I recommend starting with this one, as once you get it right, the wind tunnel will sit in place better and the other card pieces can actually be placed on the wind tunnel while it is sitting in place. Hopefully the following picture will be self-descriptive on how to do it. We're only using one piece of card paper for this "wall" piece, which is cut to fit properly. You will need to trim away at the top of it (the part that is exposed to the air in the picture) so that it is the same height as the plastic on the other end.

Once you have successfully made the "wall" card piece under the tunnel, you might as well put the wind tunnel back in place as it's easier to do your measuring while the tunnel sits where it will go. You can now measure and cut out 2 card pieces, one for each of the 2 heatsinks. There are two trains of thought on how long you should make these 2 card pieces; you can either have the card paper completely cover the heatsink; or you can have it go nearly to the end, but leave the last 1 to 1 1/2 inches exposed. There is no data to support one method over the other, some people believe that it is better to leave a little bit of the heatsink exposed towards the end while others think that covering the whole heatsink will help the airflow better. (I personally opted for leaving the last 1 to 1/2 inches of the heatsink exposed...and I did this after I took these pictures, so now my card paper does not go to the very end of the heatsinks.) However you decide to do yours, you will want to cut your card paper a little longer than the actual area of the heatsink you want to cover, so that they can overlap onto the plastic housing of the wind tunnel which will make it easier to tape them down to the plastic without too much trouble. Then, you can tape the corners of the cards down if you feel it will help to keep them more snug. Notice in these following pictures how I have put some extra electrical tape on the sides of the housing...where the plastic housing meets the metal heatsinks...as there were gaps there and could have lost some of the air suction. I personally am not very fond of putting too much tape on the metal (or the plastic for that matter), as it will most likely leave a residue...but with some work I'm sure it can be cleaned off later. Finally, I put one long piece of electrical tape at the top of the wind tunnel along where it meets the Xbox 360 case...as there was a considerable gap there...due to the Talismoon Whisper Fan not fitting as snugly as the Xbox 360 stock fan did.

Well, there you have it! Hope that worked for you and that you were able to figure it out. From what I gather, this simple wind tunnel modification can help airflow considerably. If you live in a hot climate where temperatures may exceed 80-90 degrees (in the room where your 360 is set up), this wind tunnel mod may not be enough from preventing your 360 from freezing or RROD'ing...though it could. The next step for further air flow would be to either purchase a Talismoon Whisper Fan Max that allows you to switch it from 5v to 12v; or to modify your current 5v fan so that it runs at 12v all the time. (I personally prefer the option to switch back and forth from 5v to 12v as there is a possibility that MS does monitor fan speeds (as they certainly can)...and if they see that your fan is constantly running at 12v...they may suspect that you have modified your machine...which could result in a Live ban (there has been one report of such a Live ban--though it is possible that this report was "suspect"). If you have the option of switching it from 5v to 12v however, MS probably will not be able to detect that you have modified your fan...as all Xbox 360 stock fans automatically switch from 5v to 12v when the machine heats up...so that is common behavior for an Xbox 360.)

[CoFree]

Absolutely great guide NeoRio
I would say that the report of a ban because of a fan mod is suspect and doubtful to say the least.
I would like to thank you for giving back to the site with this and other guides.
Good Job.

There is not many good wind tunnel mod guides out there.
I stickied this guide.

[Jman 31]

Another nicely done tutorial Neo. Like cofree said, thanks for giving back.

[NeoRio]

Thank you for the kind words. I added a note about the "suspect" report regarding the Live ban.

[sadalius]

Nice work man. I like it. I'm not sure if it makes a difference or not, but when I do the wind tunnel mod, I don't cover the entire GPU. Seems to me that it would restrict the airflow too much. I generally let the cover come back about halfway on mine. But again, I don't know as it would make a difference.

[NeoRio]

Yeah, I noticed that people had theirs done differently. The first guide somebody game me (I think it was you)...the person had the card going to nearly the end of the heatsink...but not all the way. The YouTube video had his going a little further to the end...but not all the way. Then CoFree's version had electrical tape going all across the heatsink...till the very end. What to do?

[CoFree]

well i think if the fans are running at 5v then half way sould be used.
if you have done the 12v fan mod then i would cover the top completely.

thats just my 2cents

[NeoRio]

Can we get any more input on the subject of whether or not the card paper should cover the whole heatsink...or if it should leave a little bit of the heatsink uncovered? CoFree suggests that if you have the 12v fan mod, go ahead and cover the whole heatsink, but if you have the 5v fan (either stock or Talismoon), to not cover the whole heatsink...but leave a little bit of it exposed towards the end.

Thanks.

(BTW, I've left the 360 open since doing the wind tunnel mod...it's been working pretty nicely without any cover on it at all...just have to use a little screw driver to eject the DVD drive, but apart from looking a tiny bit ugly...it is probably getting more air than it ever would with the case back on.)

[Sesshomaru]

Really an excellent guide man, you explain it well and with style! Well done!

[NeoRio]

I'm still hoping for a 'final conclusion' to the issue of how far the card paper covers should go over the heatsinks...so that I can update and finalize the tutorial with sound advice.

[Jman 31]

To be honest with you Neo, I don't think anyone really knows for sure. It is an inexact science at best. I would say to just go with your gut on that one and hope for the best.

[sadalius]

I don't think anyone would be able to answer that with any authority. I mean In my opinion, I like covering only half the heat sink, CoFree likes covering all of it. We each have very persuasive reasons as to why and the fact of the matter is, I could be right, he could be right, or we could both be wrong. Either which way, we both believe that its a beneficial mod no matter how much of the heat sink that you cover. Like Jman said, this mod isn't an exact science, it's based of air flow theory.

[10mg]

Nice tutorial and thank you for posting it.

What would have been handy would have been temps before and after. Not sure how you'd go about it but it'd been good to see the temp differences.


thanks again!

[NeoRio]

Yes, that would have been nice; but I can tell you the temp difference is definitely big with the fan mod.

[machster69]

The problem:
Does not matter the reason why the console is getting hot. The issue is that the temperatures inside the unit are reaching temperatures high enough to either melt the solder ball under chips or flexing the board to crack solder balls that are already softened due to heat. Could also be a combination of both as I have found no evidence convincing enough to prove one way or the other (cue the “experts”). But I will blame it on heat and motherboard flexing.

The solution: Keep the unit from reaching critical temperatures (whatever the golden number might be, as it can be different for each console). Create stable pressures on the motherboard and secure it in a way as to prevent flexing as much as possible.

Experiment conducted:

Test 1(Control Test including uniclamp)
Stock xbox was disassembled. Heat sinks were removed because the most accurate place for a temperature probe is directly next to the chips die in between the heat sinks and the chips. While the unit was diassembled I removed and reapplied the thermal compounds. And in an effort to not have to re clean and reapply the compound, I change the xclamps out for a uniclamp/bolt system(since this was going to happen anyway). The uniclamp installation will aid in prevention of motherboard flexing. Also xbox chassis standoffs were sanded down to proper heights.
Results: After 1 hour of running the console in the dashboard. Cpu temperature 134.6 degrees, and Gpu temps were 154.4 degrees.
Notes: Thermal probes used for test were tested next to multimeter temperature probes to double check accuracy prior to testing. Room temperatures/drafts were controlled. The dashboard was used because it is a constant for the gpu/cpu, using any game would results in varied results due to different loads put on the chips. The console was reassembled before each test was conducted. The uniclamp/bolt system installed included two thermal pads. This test actually shows temperatures that are lower than an actual stock console due to the fact the thermal pads create a heat transfer connection to the chassis of the system. This does not affect our control being that these are never removed for future testing.

Test 2(12 volt fan only)
Xbox was disassembled. Fans were removed from stock 5 volt variable connection and wired into 12 volt connection on motherboard. This keeps the fans running on high from startup.
Results: After 1 hour of running the console in the dashboard. Cpu temperatures fluctuated between 104.0/105.8 and gpu temps fluctuated between 98.6/100.4
Notes: Wiring the fans to 12 volts makes the systems running significantly louder.

Test 3(Cut rear chassis vents(metal only), 12 volt fan)
Xbox was disassembled. The chassis metal holes were cut out completely.
Results: Temperatures on both chips fluctuated, having no real affect on previous test.
Notes: The metal chassis vents were cut and plastic vents were left. I find it impractical to cut both, therefore I did not test cutting both(do your own). Also, even though this didnt result in gains enough for justification of hacking your chassis, it is left in the testing due to the obvious fact that I cannot put it back on

Test 4(Split air ducts, cut chassis, 12 volt fan)
Xbox was dissembled, again. Air duct was removed and a separator was used to divided the fans. This forced one fan for gpu, one fan for cpu.
Results: After 1 hour of running the console in the dashboard. There was no notable changes in temperatures.
Notes: unexpected result

Test 5(Built air duct system for heatsinks, cut chassis, 12 volt fan, with and without split ducts)
Built an air duct system that extended over the heatsinks. Tested with system all the way to the end of the heatsinks and tested with ducts halfway down the heat sinks.
Results: After 1 hour of running the console in the dashboard. Cpu temps remained the same at 104.0 and gpu temps climbed to 102.2.
Notes: negative results, also unexpected

Test 6(Cut chassis, 12 volt fan, new ram thermal pads, southbridge heatsink installed, ANA heat sink installed, ram heat sinks installed)
Results: will do this in next few days
Notes:

This is for informational only, u dont like the test, run your own...