continued...
Now that we have everything in place, it's time to install the
waterblock cooler and route the hoses.
The hoses ended up being routed
around the current system fan. I had originally planned to
remove the system fan and route the hoses out through the
grill in the back, but with minor bending of the thin metal
around the back of the unit, I was able to simply run the
hosing around the fan and out the back of the unit without any
trouble. This allowed me to keep the case cooling fan intact.
Modifications done by people
that do not care about cutting and drilling holes in the
system can easily find far more efficient ways to route
the hosing. Keep in mind, this mod is being done so that the
system can be returned to its "original state".
The completed unit uses the water-cooling base as a pedestal
for the Xbox. The Xbox can even be attached to the lid of the
base unit, if so desired, by drilling four holes in the lid of
the base unit and running the four corner screws of the Xbox
unit through the lid.
The final product is amazing,
the CPU cooling is fantastic, and the overall case temperature
inside the Xbox dropped by 26°F. The temperature drop comes
as a result of the case fans no longer having to blow the cool
incoming air across a hot heatsink as soon as it enters the
case. Cooler internal temperatures will no doubt prolong the
life of the system hard drive as well as the DVD unit. The
overall look of the case is nice and very professional in
appearance.
Disclaimer:
Normally, a standard disclaimer comes at the beginning of
every article of this kind. I saved mine for the end so that
the last thing you remember are these words. We do not
recommend ANYONE attempt something like this
unless they are full prepared to void their warranty and
possibly screw up their $300.00+ video game console. Although
we do cover small areas like heating the labels to remove the
screws, etc., our warranty is still voided the minute you
crack the case on your Xbox. Just because I show you little
"label tricks" doesn't mean you haven't kissed your
warranty goodbye.
Having said that, you are dealing with a bunch of guys who
LIVE to hear someone say stuff like, "Dude...I
can't believe you just ripped that apart....are those even on
the market yet???" or better yet, "Holy
crap, man. You are just ASKING for trouble there."
Warranties do not mean a lot around here, which was obvious
when we just punched a hole in the warranty stickers on our
first Xbox two hours after we owned it so that we could get it
open and show you what was inside it.
So take our advice and stay away from these types of mods if
you value your warranty.
Conclusion:
Right now, the primary goals of this modification were to: 1.
See if it could be done. 2. Better overall cooling. 3.
See if it could be done. 4. Make and extreme
modification without permanently altering the Xbox console 5.
See if it could be done. 6. Having a finished product
that had a professional look and feel to it. 7. And, of
course, to see if it could be done!!!
We consider this a success since all objectives were completed
and the finished product is an ASS KICKIN' WORLD'S FIRST
water-cooled Xbox. I'd say that was a success.
But, what fun would all this cooling be if we didn't attempt
to overclock the stock Xbox and take advantage of our new
cooling system?? What about adding another 64MB of video
memory to our Xbox?? Keep in mind, this time around we are
covering things that do not permanently alter your system. All
the other "warranty voiding" things that can be done
to our water-cooled Xbox, including adding a waterblock to the
graphics processor, will be done in a future article. This is
just the beginning. . .
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