Is the Xbox 360 supposed to be so noisy??

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

OK so my roommate bought a 360 last week and we hooked it up, turned it on, popped in a game, and then.... WHIRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...... this thing is SOOOO noisy!! It's almost as bad as the vent fan over my stove. Is this normal or do we have a defective one??

I have to crank the volume up to a considerably high level to drown out the console's own noise, which means playing late at night isn't an option unless I don't mind hearing the console's noise over the TV volume.

If this is normal.... is there a way to quiet it down some? I've never had a console so noisy as this. I'm thinking of building a shelf outside my window and sticking it outside, on the other side of the double-paned window. Any ideas? I guess I'm glad it wasn't ME who paid for the thing, but still.

 

[Fingolfin269]

You have spock ears if it is that loud.

 

[Queasy]

Depends on what version of the 360 your roommate has. Typically though, it is the DVD drive that sounds loudish.

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

I have a quiet one and my brothers sounds like a jet engine.

 

[giantpinkbunnyhead]

Originally posted by: bl4ckfl4g
I have a quiet one and my brothers sounds like a jet engine.

LOL yup... I guess the jet engine sound describes mine too. It's definitely the disc drive... when we're poking around on XBL with no game inserted, it purrs nice and quiet... but fire up a game and it's like the Captain just asked for Takeoff Thrust.

FWIW it's a standard 360 (not the Arcade nor the Elite, so whatever that makes it) with the Pro package or something... came with a couple free games.

 

[MrWizzard]

Supposedly the new ones are less loud.

But both mine are stupid loud.

PS3 defiantly wins in the sound department.

 

[mugs]

Define "supposed to be." Is it intended to be that noisy? Not really. Is it normal for it to be that noisy? Yes.

 

[Raduque]

Mine makes a little bit of whirring noise during the initial load time of the game. It far from overpowers anything else, though

Then again, I think I also have the only still-working launch Xbox 360 on the entire forum.

 

[KaOTiK]

Originally posted by: Raduque
Mine makes a little bit of whirring noise during the initial load time of the game. It far from overpowers anything else, though

Then again, I think I also have the only still-working launch Xbox 360 on the entire forum.

lol, I have a launch system too but ugh it has its issues.
It is loud as hell, it locks up if the power brick isn't in a well ventitlated spot, and the light quadrants that indicate 1-4 players on the system randomly jump from one quadrant from another. An example I will only have 1 controller on and the light quadrant on the 360 jumps from player 1's light to player 2's in random amounts of time.

Shoddy hardware ftl

 

[Modeps]

I cant wait till the holiday influx of new 360 users is over.

 

[JoPh]

the first time u hear it they are loud compaired to anything else.

 

[Kirby64]

My DVD drive sounds super noisy, so I decided to fix that. (sort of) I turned the fan voltage up (somewhere around 10-11V) so the fans are so noisy they are equal with the DVD drive. Nothing you can really do about noise. Horizontal is quieter than vertical, however.

 

[Ackmed]

My friend has the Elite version, and it is very loud. Its not just the DVD drive, the fan is very loud too. Its very loud without a disc in. I am always amazed when I go over how loud it is, pretty annoying. Just the other day, he randomly sent me a txt msg saying he needs a silencer, heh. VERY annoying.

 

[bl4ckfl4g]

It is a feature.

 

[hans030390]

Yeah, generally the 360 is expected to have a loud DVD drive.

 

[randay]

its a toss up between "high" load times or jet turbine, high failure rate dvd drives. personally id rather just wait a few more seconds... but oh well since all the hardware is locked down by microsoft we have no choice, wish I could just stick a more sensible dvd drive in my xbox.

 

[swaytech]

I dare you to make a 12x dvd drive that is silent

 

[Anubis]

Originally posted by: Raduque
Mine makes a little bit of whirring noise during the initial load time of the game. It far from overpowers anything else, though

Then again, I think I also have the only still-working launch Xbox 360 on the entire forum.

my brother has one with like a billion hours on it, his drive makes noise tho, as in a TON of noice, im waiting for it to fail, been waiting for over a year....

 

[tatteredpotato]

Originally posted by: Kirby64
My DVD drive sounds super noisy, so I decided to fix that. (sort of) I turned the fan voltage up (somewhere around 10-11V) so the fans are so noisy they are equal with the DVD drive. Nothing you can really do about noise. Horizontal is quieter than vertical, however.

So you fix a noise problem by making more noise? Can't say that I follow your logic on that one.

Personally I don't notice the noise anymore since it's a static sound and your brain tunes it out after a few minutes of playing.

 

[trmiv]

Both of the ones I've had (a new store bought one and the replacement for that one when it RROD'd) have sounded like jets taking off.

 

[JorynnRace]

I have a launch Xbox 360 as well, and yeah it is loud, but I have learned to ignore it for the most part.

My basement is a steady 13 degrees celcius (summer and winter) so that is probably why my 360 hasn't bricked yet.

 

[RKS]

When mine becomes quiet, I know it's about to stop responding.

 

[gi0rgi0]

My cousin loaned me his and damn its so loud. WTH!!!! Its a newer one to.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: swaytech
I dare you to make a 12x dvd drive that is silent

I'd prefer the option to slow the damn thing down, or better yet, install my games to the hard drive. Its also way louder than my 16x PC dvd drive.

The fan I can deal with, its more of an annoying whirr, but the sound of the disc drive spinning up really isnt too far off from a jet engine. Its like a mini vaccuum cleaner thats always on. And I've got one of the "new" HDMI ones.

This IS a problem if you want to play at 1am, want to hear footsteps creeping on you over the turbine in the 360, and don't want to wake your neighbors.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: BD2003
and don't want to wake your neighbors.

I guess this is why the noise doesn't bother me - I play at full volume whenever I want. Neighbors aren't close enough to hear, and the wife goes to bed late like I do.