Joined: Oct 10, 2004 Posts: 33 Location: Washington, USA
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 4:43 am Post subject: Gonna make the jump, now which to get?
Ok im gonna make the jump.
Been softmodding it for a few months and dig it, now i want to go all the way.
I think I would rather go sodderless, but i can sodder if I have to and its worth while.
So which mod chip should I get?
I am going to stick with the stock HDD for now, but get a 250-300 gig come spring.
Let me get your opinions.
Thanks.
MrAndersn Xbox-HQ Newbie
Joined: Nov 06, 2004 Posts: 6
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 5:39 am Post subject:
Well to be honest with you I would get the Hard drive as well and if you can afford it go big 200- 250. I just picked up a 250 for 80 bucks at circuit city with rebates. If you look hard enough you can find a good deal. I use Western Digital myself. In my opinion putting the mod chip in is only half the battle. Software installation can be as tedious if not more so than putting in the chip, thats why I would wait and have the drive. I know I'll here slack about it, but I would go with the Executer 3 pro. Systemmods.com is a good place to get them. I have a 2.3 pro now, but I am going balls out in the next month or two and buying a new Executer 3 chip with lcd and fancy dip pin selcetor and also picking up the Extender that allows you to run three HD's as well as a new xbox. Screw it right You'll find that everyone has their own opinion though on chips, but I had zero problems with the install and its been running strong ever since. I even drag around when I go by a friends house.
Either way its a good investment and you wont be disappointed. make sure you ID your xbox version. If its a 1.6 you have to buy a lpc buildboard. There not that expensive.
Zen-Dragon Xbox-HQ Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 10, 2004 Posts: 33 Location: Washington, USA
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 5:57 am Post subject:
I have not popped the case yet, but bought it a long time ago. its and older one.
the MFG date on the sticker says 2001-12-05 - made in Hungary
which is the chip that will let you add more HDD? I would love to put more than one hdd in it.
slick_j_2002 V.I.P. Lifetime
Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 273
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 6:16 am Post subject:
There are several that allow multiple HDDs. In fact, I think that's more of a BIOS issue than it is what chip.
I have a Xenium ICE, and I love it to death, though from what I've been seeing the Xecutor 3 looks like a monster, too.
The Xenium is a nice beginner's chip, since it has regular, quicksolder, and solderless methods of installing. It has plenty of guides available to help you install hardware and software.
I got mine from Divineo in case you're wondering where to get a guarenteed authentic chip. Of course, any of the VIPs from this site are reliable as well.
TheModGod Xbox-Hq Legendary
Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 5303 Location: Greensburg PA
Posted: Fri Dec 03, 2004 6:52 pm Post subject:
You can get the Xtender Case to add more than one HD to your system. A lot of people have misconceptions about how that actually works. You can have three HD's connected, but you can only access the one that you booted the xbox up with. So, if you needed something on HD #2 and you were currently running HD #1, you would have to shut down and press the HD button that you want to boot up in. It's still very cool. Any chip will let you do this.
I suggest either a Xenium Ice or a SmartXX chip. Only because they are tested, proven, and have tons of resources. The X3 is an up and coming chip. I am just not sold on the new bios they have yet. Once I test it out more and find no more bugs, I'll be a proponent for the X3 chip. I think they have two more released yet before I am totally sold. I buy my chips from www.bmmods.com but we have lots of sponsors here you can try. Just click one of the banners, and be sure to rate them after you deal with them so we know how they are. The reason I use BMmods is because they ship the very next business day guaranteed! Make sure you know your vendor's return policies.
realmccloy
---------------------------
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Shark2th Moderator
Joined: Nov 17, 2004 Posts: 5222 Location: Tennessee, USA
Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 5303 Location: Greensburg PA
Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2004 2:14 am Post subject:
The Xenium Ice mod chip is an excellent choice for sure. You can't go wrong with it. I was getting skiddish on them because so many were having OS issues. But now that the new ones are finally shipping with the 2.0.1. OS I haven't had any OS hangups on them.
3 out of 4 chips that I were installing there for awhile were hanging up on me and acting quirky until I got them upgraded. The support you can find out there for the Xenium Ice is phenominal.
realmccloy
-------------------------
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Zen-Dragon Xbox-HQ Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 10, 2004 Posts: 33 Location: Washington, USA
Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 4:07 pm Post subject:
Well looks like ill be checking more into the Ice chip.
thanks for all your replies.
is there any benefit to doing it the soldered or solderless way
Shark2th Moderator
Joined: Nov 17, 2004 Posts: 5222 Location: Tennessee, USA
Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 4:21 pm Post subject:
I have a V1.0, it and the V1.1 have all the pins filled with solder, so rather than empty them I went solderless. The more stable of the two choices if you move the box around a lot is the soldered, naturally. It takes a little more time but in the end it doesn't shake loose if jarred hard. _________________ http://twitter.com/HQ_Shark2th
slick_j_2002 V.I.P. Lifetime
Joined: Oct 29, 2004 Posts: 273
Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 4:39 pm Post subject:
Yeah, like Shark2th said, the only benefit to going soldered rather than solderless is that you won't have to worry about the adapter shifting out of position and having to open everything back up to adjust it.
The solderless adapter also lets you remove the chip if you decide you won't want to be modded any more, or if you plan on selling the system or giving it away in factory condition (make sure you return the harddrive to its proper state first, and inform whoever it is that's getting it that the system was modded at one time).
custom-xmodz Xbox-HQ Freak
Joined: Aug 28, 2004 Posts: 796 Location: Wales, UK
Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2004 4:46 pm Post subject:
I would go for a soldered install everytime if your able to do it, solderless means you generally spend more time than it's worth taking ur box apart to re-align the d0 etc. esspecially on a v1.0 as the pins can't go thru the holes which would stabalise it a bit.
Chipwise, it all depends on your budget I would say, if you want to save money then go for an aladdin or duox2, the duox2 has 2 bios banks and for a budget chip that is really good, if you mess one up you can revert to the other one.
4th gen chips are good (smartxx, xenium ice, Xecuter 3) but im still not 100% sure they are worth spending the extra. I can do xecuter 2.6 chips for £21, so you can get a good name chip, the only real difference is that it does not have a built in os, which yeh is handy when you first install, but afterwards? it does not come in handy if you just wanna play games.
So what you have to ask yourself is what you want to do with your xbox, I have used duox2's, aladdins, xecuter 2.6's in premods for ages now, not had many probs, have fitted an equal amount of 4th gen chips probably with the same amount of problems, but considering I mod about 8 xbox's a week at the mo I have to expect a few duds.
reply back with what you want to do with the chip and then we can reply with options
DJH
Zen-Dragon Xbox-HQ Enthusiast
Joined: Oct 10, 2004 Posts: 33 Location: Washington, USA
Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 4:07 am Post subject:
well i want to play backups of my games, i want to eventualy put a bigger hdd in it. I want to be able to stream music from my pc to the xbox. i like messing with the little apps and such too. so just gerneral messing arouns with it. watching AVI's and videos.
i want one that i can just boot up to.
i like all the stuff i can do with the soft mod but i am suck of hacing to do the audio boot every time, but i also like to just go to the main xbox bios when i play main games.
i do move it from room to room so i guess i will need to do the soldered version.
TheModGod Xbox-Hq Legendary
Joined: Apr 18, 2004 Posts: 5303 Location: Greensburg PA
Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 4:10 am Post subject:
The Xenium Ice has an auto boot you can use to boot right into the hacked dash as soon as you turn on the machine. Most chips that have an OS give you that option. Some chips without OS's even give you ways to hold in the power button for a period of time and it will cause the hacked bios or stock bios to boot.
You will be able to do all you want with the Xenium Ice.
TheModGod
-------------------------
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custom-xmodz Xbox-HQ Freak
Joined: Aug 28, 2004 Posts: 796 Location: Wales, UK
Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 4:13 am Post subject:
yeh duox2's let you press power for hacked or eject for M$
aladdins let you press power for M$ or hold power for hacked.
Nice and simple and cheap, or if you can afford it get an X3, smartxx or xenium ice.
Mind you I know the spiderchip is solderless but when i fit them I still solder the spidey legs down.
spiders are 4th gen and prob the cheapest 4th gen
DJH
Scourge Xbox-HQ Freak
Joined: Nov 08, 2004 Posts: 571 Location: Georgia, USA
Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2004 7:44 am Post subject:
Im a total n00b, spelled with CAPITAL zeros.
Im modded many PCs, no xboxes.
10% of an xbox mod is the hardware, so I had a wake up call when I dove into this subject.... Im a hardware guy (electrical engeneering major).
I am not so hot with software and found the Xenium Ice to be a very forgiving chip for a newb.
With the 2.0.1 operationg system already loaded I was guarenteed that at least the chip would start up.
Because of this chip I havnt had to create ONE XISO. It has FTP support from the start, allowing me to FTP in the new dashboards right after I slapped in the chip. ALOS it has USB card drive support built into the OS. You cant yet transfer files with it, Im sure they are still working on that. BUT you can use the card drive to load new BIOSes onto your chip.
I will put together a bios with EVtool, load it onto my FAT32 formatted USB carddrive and then put it in the xbox. the launcher allows me to acess the USB drive to import the BIOS bin... Thats convenient. Also, it has a neat menu to allow me to choose the BIOS I want to boot, associate it with a LED color, and assign a default to auto-boot to. neato
And the ICE supports LCDs, not as many as the X3, but it does nontheless.
Xenium Ice= n00btastic _________________ -Scourge "Rx = +/_\"
a.k.a. President Skroob
The electronic ninja.
Xbox v1.6
Xenium Ice XOS v2.3
Xtender: Stock HDD+300G+300G
BIOS: Evox M8_16+
Dash: UX
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You'll find that everyone has their own opinion though on chips, but I had zero problems with the install and its been running strong ever since. I even drag around when I go by a friends house.
