Is M$ getting cheap or what... :p

[dj898]

recently I did some xbox modding and came across something interesting. had xbox 1.0 and recent revision and there were several difference between two apart from obvious PSU socket change.

on older revision there is fan attached on GPU as well as CPU but on recent revision there's only heat sink on GPU? Does this mean M$ thinks it can get away with few cents saving from active cooling to passive cooling? Thought the amount of work GPU needed to perform it will need active cooling not too mention the longevity of the console itself? Maybe I got it wrong and passive cooling of GPU is perfectly fine?

also the USB port connectors are now on M/B rather than daughter board on earlier revision.

apart from this there doesn't seem to be too much of change - except the new encode chip used nowadays.


oh,yea. the reason for all these was to put US xbox 1.0 guts into new transparent green housing with Samsung DVD drive. :)

while we pulled apart we also put the mod chip with the switch. this mod chip was one of few Enigmah samples given to us long time ago and required 29 wires to be soldered. We were having fun but wouldn't recommend to every body though. :)

cheers

[Yceman]

Well, cooler fans usually get very noise after a few years of use. Maybe they found a way to make the cpu produce less heat, so they're using just the heatsinks to avoid noise problems in the future.
But you never know of what they're capable of :smt043

Did you guys see the new "API" they're planning on producing? It's like a Microsoft engine for games, and softhouses would only change textures, modeling and things like that... Talk about monopoly

[dj898]

hey it's M$. what do you expect? :)
anything to give them more power the better no? :p

cheers

[madhatter256]

I guess MS is turning into sony :smt009

[dj898]

with each successive revision more crappier and unreliable it will get... just like PS2 no? Maybe by the time M$ is about to release xbox2 the xbox will be made to last for 6 months before it burns itself with no cooling what so ever. :p

now I didn't really mean that so no flame ok?

cheers

[ammar85]

Its called "making a newer revision of the system that ends up costing less to produce so they can sell it cheaper"

I don't see anything wrong with it~in fact, its good because it makes things cheaper

[LeGIt]

removing a fan though is hardlygoing to reduce the overall retail price.

personally i would prefer build quality and performance over cheapness any day (scsi for example - pwns both sata and ide but ppl want cheap crap so it doesnt have much investment to evolve)

:axe:

[sininc]

Think millions of units without a fan, then think how much money is saved.

[Calpis]

one millions dollars.

[MindChild]

Actually, you need to think about the cost difference.

You have a fan. Let's say it costs MS $1 USD. Now you need to pay for the labor to put that fan in there (or machine to do it), pay for the factory space of the worker doing this, pay the worker to do this... over time, each unit may be $2 USD cheaper to manufacture, but with 500,00 units, thats 1 million USD. Nothing to sneeze over.

[sininc]

Plus noisy or broken fans repaired under warrenty will add to this.

[madhatter256]

removing a fan though is hardlygoing to reduce the overall retail price.

personally i would prefer build quality and performance over cheapness any day (scsi for example - pwns both sata and ide but ppl want cheap crap so it doesnt have much investment to evolve)

:axe:

SCSI HDDs get really really really HOT. Trust me I own a SCSI HDD and that thing gets really hot in about 30minutes time. IDE and SATA HDDs don't get as hot as fast as a SCSI HDD. You just have to have adequete cooling for the SCSI where as with an IDE, you really don't have to.

[LeGIt]

removing a fan though is hardlygoing to reduce the overall retail price.

personally i would prefer build quality and performance over cheapness any day (scsi for example - pwns both sata and ide but ppl want cheap crap so it doesnt have much investment to evolve)

:axe:

SCSI HDDs get really really really HOT. Trust me I own a SCSI HDD and that thing gets really hot in about 30minutes time. IDE and SATA HDDs don't get as hot as fast as a SCSI HDD. You just have to have adequete cooling for the SCSI where as with an IDE, you really don't have to.

I used to have IBM Ultrastar 36Z15 15000rPM SCSI-3 Drives in my 3ghz pc - heat was never a problem as if you've seen1 it was caked in a heatsink and also my pc had 8 fans ;)

[sininc]

I gotta be honest I`m a big fan of SCSI, probably because I`m an old school Amiga user.

IDE has always been seen as the cheap and nasty option to be, but due to the price difference and until I get back into music recording I have no need for SCSI drives I too now use IDE.

[SuperFunkNinjaYoshiiKun]

Yeah, but all consoles go through MoBo revisions. There are now 7 Xbox MoBos v1.0 - v1.6.

The original Playstation had about 6 different mobo versions, plus the Yaroze and the blue Bugtest unit. And then there's the PSone, so it's nothing new. It's just ppl notice mobo revisions easier nowadays, from all the modchiping going on. The Dreamcast exists as a single chip, can't remember it's name.

The cooling on the Xbox GPU/CPU is fine. It's more the cooling (or distinct lack of it) on the MCPX, the media processor chip (the one with the Nvidia logo). M$ should really have put a small heatsink on it. The MCPX burns out from hotspots real easy. Best to get a small heatsink and some arctic silver on the go. Cheapest, easiest mod for the Xbox, and will extend its life considerably (and invalidate your guarantee as soon as you whip the top off :Hangman: ) D'oh, silly Billy.....

[halo]

with each successive revision more crappier and unreliable it will get... just like PS2 no?

No, the PS2 gets more reliable with each version... or at least the same in reliability terms. The v1.0s are well known to be very unreliable... so much so most people avoid them

[ammar85]

Yeah, but all consoles go through MoBo revisions. There are now 7 Xbox MoBos v1.0 - v1.6.

The original Playstation had about 6 different mobo versions, plus the Yaroze and the blue Bugtest unit. And then there's the PSone, so it's nothing new. It's just ppl notice mobo revisions easier nowadays, from all the modchiping going on. The Dreamcast exists as a single chip, can't remember it's name.

The cooling on the Xbox GPU/CPU is fine. It's more the cooling (or distinct lack of it) on the MCPX, the media processor chip (the one with the Nvidia logo). M$ should really have put a small heatsink on it. The MCPX burns out from hotspots real easy. Best to get a small heatsink and some arctic silver on the go. Cheapest, easiest mod for the Xbox, and will extend its life considerably (and invalidate your guarantee as soon as you whip the top off :Hangman: ) D'oh, silly Billy.....

hrm...I know that on my nforce2 b/c nvidia/asus was stupid and didn't include atleaste a heatsink for the southbridge that when i play music for long times (like 12+ hours) or just purposely mess up the airflow i get crackiling and the south bridge is sizzling hot~~

since the Xbox MB is supposed to be some uber weird nforce1, i wonder if the southbrdige also had that issue? HAs anyone had their XBOX games crackle with sound?


And if there are no heatsinks, that is prolly b/c the chip is made smaller, so it puts out less heat so they don't need it anymore ;)

[Johnny]

I think the DVD Drives are the biggest problem of the Xbox

There are versions with DVD Drives by Philips, Thomsom , Samsung and who knows else...

If you happen to buy a Xbox with a Thomsom DVD drive get rid of it. It has major problems with compatibility with games. Some games simply don't work with it.

[GaijinPunch]

If you happen to buy a Xbox with a Thomsom DVD drive get rid of it. It has major problems with compatibility with games. Some games simply don't work with it.

C'mon man, it's not that bad. There's got to be a few million Xbox's Thompsons in them, as they're the most common. I've got one, with a mod-chip, and it even reads CD-RW's... you just gotta know how to goose it.

Is it as good as the Samsung? Hell no, but it doesn't warrant getting rid of the X-box. It plays any retail game fine.

[Johnny]

If you happen to buy a Xbox with a Thomsom DVD drive get rid of it. It has major problems with compatibility with games. Some games simply don't work with it.

C'mon man, it's not that bad. There's got to be a few million Xbox's Thompsons in them, as they're the most common. I've got one, with a mod-chip, and it even reads CD-RW's... you just gotta know how to goose it.

Is it as good as the Samsung? Hell no, but it doesn't warrant getting rid of the X-box. It plays any retail game fine.

Well i said that because a friend at uni traded it. It simply didn't loaded games like GTA double pack, Shenmue II and other i don't recall. He traded for a Philips, that works perfectly.

Anyway, i'm glad yours is working fine. I hope it stays like that :smt023