Gaming Xbox 360 - Best position

[Deleted User]

Just bought a 360 and they certainly get hot. I was wondering which is the best position to get the heat out? lying down or standing up? Also is there a way to increase the fan speed?

 

[VVoltz]

LOL, your topic made me laugh, I was like: "Does he loves his 360 THAT much?".

Anyways and on topic: I would recommend the missioner... I mean standing, having played my PSX for nearly 6 years, I can tell you that heat dissipates easily when the console is in a vertical position. Make sure to give it some room for it to breathe, I mean, don't enclose it into a tight space.

Have fun!

 

[Salamantis]

The 360 was made to be horizontal, because of gravity and all. I had a lot more errors with it standing up, and I made it lie down and it works much better. Just be sure to have plenty of ventilation.

 

[Deletable_Man]

I keep mine vertical most of the time and it seems to do fine.
(Fun Fact: My Wii gets hotter than my 360 does by far.)

But then again most electronics get hot, so I wouldn't worry about it as long as you give it breathing room like VVolts said.

 

[Deletable_Man]

The 360 was made to be horizontal, because of gravity and all. I had a lot more errors with it standing up, and I made it lie down and it works much better. Just be sure to have plenty of ventilation.

I'd love to see a source for that. I find it hard to believe that it really matters in the first place.

 

[GrayFox Cap]

Get yourself an Intec Xbox 360 case fan (or any other one that has it's own power supply). It runs a lot cooler and you can tell the difference.

Other than that, I stand mine up because the more surface area exposed to the air means the more heat that gets synced with your should-be cooler room air (thus "heatsync")

 

[Opium]

Keeping it laying down is far better because there is a grill on the side that would be covered if it was standing up. Having it horizontal gives it much better ventilation. Plus there's less chance of it being bumped and screwing up your disc.

 

[fischju]

The very best position is down, with something under one of the back corners. You might always want to point a house fan at it.

 

[754boy]

People say down mostly but mine is standing vertically. Mainly because it looks badass but I also think it allows more air to flow around more of the console. Haven't had any problems yet.

 

[Deletable_Man]

Keeping it laying down is far better because there is a grill on the side that would be covered if it was standing up. Having it horizontal gives it much better ventilation. Plus there's less chance of it being bumped and screwing up your disc.

The one on the bottom gets covered up when its horizontal, so whats the difference.

 

[deathfisaro]

I use mine horizontal, the bottom (opposite side of HDD) sucks air in and they escape via the back vent AFAIK.
So my 360 is facing parallel to the TV and wall, I don't wanna pump out hot air directly onto my TV nor the wall. Instead the air goes right to the window (supposedly =P)

 

[MC DUI]

I think the most important issue is that when it is vertical there is a chance you could knock the 360 and make it move whilst operating, this can cause major damage to any DVD that may be in the drive at the time.

Horizontal all the way.

 

[SavageWaffle]

Laying down will block the bottum part of the vent.

 

[T-hug]

My first one I kept flat and it died, my new one I keep vertical and I've had no problems. The new one has the falcon chipset and benq drive though.
I keep it vertical after reading that article from the M$ leaker who told about the repair process etc. When interviewed he was asked whats the best position to place the 360 and he said vertical and explained why.

 

[VVoltz]

My first one I kept flat and it died, my new one I keep vertical and I've had no problems. The new one has the falcon chipset and benq drive though.
I keep it vertical after reading that article from the M$ leaker who told about the repair process etc. When interviewed he was asked whats the best position to place the 360 and he said vertical and explained why.

Thug is with me, vertical won!

 

[Puxel]

There are air vents below the 360 for a reason. I let it breathe.

 

[Bob Loblaw]

I keep mine vertical (on it's side) on a perfectly sized rectangular bakers cooling rack (not kidding)

 

[CrEsPo]

Vertical is known to scratch disks often for no reason. At a local retailer I overheard some guy asking about a replacement for a scratched disk. The first question the sales person asked was if the guy had it standing up.

There are a ton of vents on the 360 so putting it horizontal is no problem at all. If you're that worried you can even get an external fan for the 360.

Personally I would never put it vertical even if I had a gun pointed to my head

.

 

[poisonousj]

Personally, I keep mine horizontal. That's my personal choice (plus it's the only way it will fit in my entertainment center).

Vertically definitely will give it more air and thus cooler. However, the biggest cause of the red ring of death is the board warping due to excessive heat and the pressure of the x-clamps that hold the heat sinks on the GPU & CPU.

I'm not an expert but in my head I think that if the system is vertical, then those heatsinks are being held in position purely by the force of those x-clamps where as if it's horizontal, gravity also holds down the heatsinks.

so kind of a catch 22, the vertical will keep it cooler but the horizontal will keep less physical force on the motherboard.

Again I have NO scientific proof of this, I didn't hear anyone else say this, it's just what's floating in my head.

I think it looks the best vertically though

 

[Deleted User]

Cheers people. I'm going horizontal for now. The Xbox 360's DVD drive seems to make less noise that way. It's a secondhand one.