Steel_Wind
Legend
Arnwyn said:I've never heard a 360 that didn't sound like a chainsaw. Those that can't tell there's a significant noise difference I suspect are in a tiny minority. (Lucky them, in a way.)
Just a quick note: we've talked a fair bit here and in a few other threads over the years about the noise issue and the Xbox 360.
I have a release model 360 which, to paraphrase Arnwyn, does, indeed, sound like a chainsaw when it is on. I'm a big fan of the 360, but the noise issue has grown increasingly tiresome over the years - to the point where I really don't like playing with it anymore for that reason.
Enworld user John Chrichton has mentioned over the course of time the advantages that come with purchasing a newer version of the 360. In partcular, the 360 Elite, manufactured after August of 2007 includes both a HDMI port and a "Falcon" 360 system mobo/GPU design which uses a 65nm fabrication process for the GPU. This smaller fabrication process of the GPU results in significantly less heat; this, in turn, leads to supposedly far quieter operation during normal idle mode on the 360.
Odd as it may seem given my recent acquisition of a PS3, just playing more console games on the PS3 lately has reminded me that I don't play with my 360 nearly enough due to the noise issue. And yes, there are a helluva lot of 360 games that I have which are otherwise worth playing.
And perhaps more ot the point, there are a LOT of used games for the 360 which are dirt cheap that I might want to play if I found it more convenient and comfortable to play them.
So, long story short, I picked up a used 360 today. With some swapping of parts and a very helpful game shop owner (who is a client of mine) I effectively picked up a 360 Elite for under $300 CDN, inclulding three used games and a controller, all-in.
The 120 gig HD on the Elite makes installing a game to the drive for reportedly much quieter play using the Fall 2008 dashboard, "360 Experience" a practical option; whereas my release model 20 gig HD just does not give me the space to do this for more that one or two games at a time + accomodate my saved games and XBL downloads.
I intend to hook my new Elite up via HDMI, compare the relative noise levels during play - and the sound during idle of each - and I'll report back.