Xbox 360 Fan Noise Test

[GimmeSlack12]

The Xbox360 is no quiet beast and I took a shot at quieting the thing down by buying a Talismoon Whisper Fan to replace the stock one. I know the Optical Drive is the source of a lot of noise too but not as dominant as the fans.

Prior to installing the new fan I did a measurement with my iPhone and the "AudioTools" app by Studio Six Digital. I bought the SPL Pro Sound Level Meter app and did a measurement of a 13 minute Leq (An Leq is a time averaged measurement). I also measured the Octave band frequency spectrum and posted the before (xbox1) and after (xbox2), and HDD only (xbox3). The background noise in my condo is pretty quiet, about 35 dBA, so the measurement had a decent signal to noise ratio.

I did the measurement at 2.5 ft. in front of the Xbox and I started the measurement immediately before turning on the Xbox. I then quietly played a game of FIFA 10. The stock fans registered:
59.8 dBA at 2.5 ft. (30 in.).

I then installed the Talismoon fans and did the exact same test with FIFA 10 again for 13 minutes. The Talismoon fan registered:
56.1 dBA at 2.5 ft.

Update: I then installed FIFA 10 to my HDD and played the game. It's results:
54.2 dBA at 2.5 ft.

So the new fan was ~4 dB (3.7 dB) quieter, and with the HDD onlly it's 5.6 dB more quiet. That's actually pretty good! Now if only I had a bigger HDD (only have 20gb).

 

[SevenInchScrew]

I know the Optical Drive is the source of a lot of noise too but not as dominant as the fans.

On all of my 360s, it is always the optical drive making the most noise. On my first 2 original-style 360s, the fans weren't whisper quiet or anything, but the DVD drive was much louder. The update allowing game installs was one of the greatest things for the 360, IMO. On my current Slim, the fans are basically silent, with the DVD drive being the only thing audible if it is ever used. But even then, the new Slim's optical drives are MUCH quieter.

 

[GimmeSlack12]

On all of my 360s, it is always the optical drive making the most noise. On my first 2 original-style 360s, the fans weren't whisper quiet or anything, but the DVD drive was much louder. The update allowing game installs was one of the greatest things for the 360, IMO. On my current Slim, the fans are basically silent, with the DVD drive being the only thing audible if it is ever used. But even then, the new Slim's optical drives are MUCH quieter.

Yeah, I know the drive is definitely a loud source but replacing that was a bit more $$$ than just $15 for the fan. I do load games off the HDD enough though that I don't deal with that noise as much. I'll add another measurement with a game run from the HDD only.

I'm a professional Acoustic Consultant and I had originally prepared to do a very detailed measurement of my 360 and a friends Slim. But at the last minute my work's test environment was booked with a paid project and I got bumped. No big deal, but I would have preferred to use Type-I SLM's instead of the iPhone.

 

[GimmeSlack12]

Running a game from the HDD makes the xbox nearly 6 dB quieter. That's a pretty reduction in noise.

 

[No ice please]

Vibrations are the problem. My Jasper gave off more vibration then my Xenon and Zephyr consoles. I think that if you could just eliminate that and the console would be silent.