I bought a 360 - Basic care/preservation tips (cooling, etc)

A good buddy of mine decided to sell his 360 and allowed me to purchase it for an excellent price.

He bought one at launch and it lasted him a surprisingly long time. Eventually RROD'd and he had it repaired at least once, at some point resulting in a replacement system with HDMI. [Mfgr date sticker 2007-10-26]
I am under the impression that it was not used very much since its final replacement. (to quote him "It got repaired for red ring last year and i haven't really played it since then")

I know the basics: Don't let it sit on carpet, don't block the vents, keep it from getting too dusty. Don't move it while it is powered-on (especially from vertical to horizontal or vise-versa).

So I ask:

-Vertical or Horizontal?

-Aftermarket cooling solutions (Intercooler, Pelican Fan Stand) or NO?

-Let it cool off after X hours?

The last one shouldn't be a problem. I don't plan on playing it religiously (just thought it would be nice to have around and play sometimes). I'm sure it will last me a long time - but I want to maximize its life span as much as possible.

 

Definitely use it horizontally on a well-ventilated place. On the sticker at the back, how many amps does it say for the 12v rail?

 

If its now a hdmi, its nolonger Xenon. So it can handle more... still all options you list are good points. I keep a extra cooler at my Xenon, not sure if that helps the newer boards.

 

^ it could be a Zephyr, not a huge improvement ... but it could also be a Falcon or even a Jasper, depending on when it was replaced.
check here for details: http://beta.ivc.no/wiki/index.php/Xbox_360_Revisions
the 12v rating will answer the question better

 

HMM one thing I do know from disassembling the 360 and removing the heatsinks is when Microsoft manufactures it they just glob a bunch of thermal every where on the cpu and GPU so the heat isn't transferred efficiently which was one of the reasons they got the red ring of death so easily. If I were you one of these days take some Arctic Silver 5 and apply it.

 

According to this guide and looking at my power connector http://team-xecuter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76989 I have a Falcon. Except my console says 16.5A on the 12v rail, so it must be a Zephyr. But then the mfg date would put this after Falcon came out, right? Power supply (I could only assume the correct one) is 175w.

I'm a little confused.


I don't plan on opening it any time soon... I don't -think- it has any warranty on it (did they add a year after repairs?), but it -might- (I should really check for sure...).

 

I've heard some of the coolers (I think the Nyko Intercooler) can melt on the back of a 360. I never had a problem with my old white one, it RRODed once and I sent it in for free.

 

Don't put it on the floor or it'll suck up dust like there's no tomorrrow (I just recently cleaned my PC, which has its PSU sitting at the bottom. Horrible.). Just put it on a low shelf or something if you're outta TV rack space.

Does this advice apply to specific models only? The Slim models at least seem to be very well ventilated either way...

 

^ I have no idea about slims, they are single-chip and 45nm so they are way better than any phat 360 BUT horizontally on phats is better because the right side fins are free to circulate air. If you put it vertically you are blocking a huge amount of air input from them, since the 360 sits on that side...

 

Now that I picture the internals in my brain, I realize it would be pretty stupid to put it vertically. Not that I planned on doing so... I've got a nice flat surface.