Cable Box Noise ... Why??

Compared to my AppleTV hardware which is silent and tiny, my Xfinity box is huge and constantly making noise from either a fan or the hard drive. Why? I even tried swapping boxes, but the new one did the same thing. Feels like 2010 technology. When is Xfinity going to update their cable boxes so that customers don't have to listen to a whir all night and day?