ALHAMDOLILLAH!!!
I read even before getting the Xbox 360 about it's heating up issues and all that. I read a lot of topics about it on Xbox-Scene Forums and decided I'll Mod my own Xbox 360...
1. Metal Mesh/Guard
This was done for better air-flow. I was going ahead with removing the Plastic cage in a style too but it was going to take a lot of time so skipped it.
Before:
After:
2. Fan Header added to Xbox 360 Motherboard
Microsoft had left a place on Xbox 360 Motherboard for 3-pin fan header, on old Xbox 360 motherboards. Some guy figured how to make it work! The best thing about it is that it takes the power directly and is better than taking power from other sources such as the DVD-Drive etc.
Soldering involved, you have to bridge two points on back of the 360 motherboard, either 12v or 7v. I went ahead with bridging R7V7, 12v! Removed the solder M$ put to seal the fan header area with a sewing machine! I removed the SHOE part from sewing machine's needle area, and carefully placed the sealed holes one by one under the needle and putting slight pressure by hand on the sewing machine. Went smoothly! Did not solder the fan header pins from back, it stuck in very well, no solder needed for it (at least not with me).
Tutorial used can be found
here
3. Thermal Compound Upgrade
Microsoft leaves a mess in the name of thermal compound between the CPU/GPU chips and the heat sinks. I cleaned the mess with ArctiClean Kit (Cleanser a.k.a. miracle according to Ali.Tayyab ; ) ) and applied Arctic Silver 5 on the CPU/GPU chips.
Before:
After:
See the photo below
Continued... Don't post yet!