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[--DANNY--]

I'm an extensive Xbox software/game developer/modder. I have been modding Xbox ish for about a year now, and have an extensive knowledge of it all.

But one problem. My Xbox is boring!



--MY XBOX--
-v1.0
-X2.6 chip
-20 gb hd
-clear jewel (that looks like poo poo on a bun)
-hole in case underneath jewel
-controller activity leds ( but I wasn't thinking and wired the ground and yellow wire
          together inside the controllers instead of in the dongle's to make this happen,
     so it will only work with my controllers)


I am usually broke, but I just got $300. I don't want to spend it all on Xbox ish but alot of it. And I usually don't have any time, but I just found plenty of it.

So what could I do to my xbox? Oh, and I don't have a dremel, so no windows

*The first thing I wanna do is upgrade the HD to a 120-200 gb. What do you guys think of these?
120gb 7200rpm 8mb - $69
180gb 7200rpm 8mb - $81

*I also am going to use the uber cable management if the inside of my xbox becomes visible from the outside.

*I want to replace the fan with a blue led 12v 80mm fan.

*As an alternative if all this is too much work for my lazy ass, or it's too much money, then I will just but an XICEBOX case, cuz personally, I think they're badass! And a helluva lot easier/cheaper than buying a billion accessories for your stock case.

*I'm also contemplating buying another blue acrylic pc case and putting my xbox in it. I have one for my PC. I picked it up for about $40 with the 3 led fans and the 2 cathode bars, cuz I'm a con artist and I bribed the new guy at PCCLUB into letting me steal it for $40 because there was a small minute crack in the front right of it. But I can get another for $80.



Thanx for your help in advance!
And throw as many suggestions at me as possible! Your help is VERY much appreciated!

[bucko]

Look at Palmore's Xbox and Ben999_'s

[Big_L]

I'm not sure I would go with those 3B tech hard drives.  I don't trust that they would last very long.  Check pricegrabber or something, you can get drives that size for not much over 50 cents per gig.  I would get a 200 gig for about $100-105 western digital or something.

as for your xbox.....just add a bunch of lights and paint

[twistedsymphony]

http://www.mwave.com...riteria=AA19710

200GB Western Digital 8MB 7200RPM from a trusted site for $98  

or...

http://www.mwave.com...riteria=AA31090

200GB Maxor 16MB 7200RPM for $105  

I'm tempted to get one myself.

If you really want the ULTIMATE box in terms of functionality here are some things you should consider:

-80mm fan upgrade (helps cooling and possibly the noise from the Xbox)
-CPU/GPU thermal compound upgrade
-GPU Heat Sink Upgrade (especially if you have a V1.0)
-Heat Sinks on MCPX, RAM, TSOP, etc.
-128MB ram upgrade, helps in emulators, and in Linux if you use it, also I've heard you can hack some games to take advantage of it.
-If you're really hardcore you could get the Frendtech Bravo (SP?) upgrade which has a processor that runs at the same speed as the Xbox processor but with a larger cache.
-Upgrading your hard drive to an ATA100/133 with the appropriate IDE cable (dramatically improve load times from the hard drive, also can improve noise)
-Installing a modified Samsung 616t drive (better support of media and WAY faster read speeds)
-USB ports are always fun, especially if you're using Linux, Also if you have a Mega-X-Key or other USB storage device you'd like to use for your Xbox
-Internal Network router, helps if you take your Xbox with you to a lot of LAN parties.
-xIR/XERC/IR Mod etc so you can power on/off you Xbox from your DVD remote
-LCD display (you don't want to/can't cut the case that X3 front panel looks pretty sweet)
-Internal Hardwired DVD dongle
-Indicator LEDS for: HDD, DVD, LAN, Controllers, Standby, etc.

many more...

[--DANNY--]

Pretty good suggestions so far, I will use a few of them. Any major hardware/physical alteration suggestions? Something baddass. Like a 7" lcd display on top (if you have a tutorial). Also, if someone could point me in the direction of a tutorial for putting the internal componants of a router/hub inside the xbox, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanx guys, keep em coming, lol

[Cossack1977]

Just a suggestion and remember this is my opinion and alot of the people on the forum would disagree but keep it simple and stylish.

You dont need to paint it a million colors, you dont need it to light up a lounge room or an air port.

Choose a nice paint and color and paint the box, put some suttle lighting on it a complementary color, light the jewel up. maybe do a duel hdd mod if your into playing live or just put a biiget hdd in there.

If your TV has component or RGB  in and it doesnt matter if it is hi-def or not but buy adding a HDAV cable you will get alot better picturre quality.

1)Upgrading your cable to an ata100/133/166 will not improve load times from a HDD as the xbox uses a udma33 contoller. ata33/66 is the same 40pin 40wire cable. udma 100/133/166 is a 40pin 80wire cable. Never seen any speed improvements. main difference between the 2 cables is the the 80wire has a grounding wire between each signal wire

2)a samsung 616t drive when flashed with the 605 bios will only read disks at 4x same as the stock samsung or second gen philips drives. I have one in a box yes its a little faster but not alot my any means

3) you can modify the .xbe file on some games to use 128mb but it mainly helps in linux.

[ahoatam]

I dunno much about making the xbox stand out...  

Click on the worklog link in my sig to learn more.

Seriously, just look around for a couple weeks, and check out the gallery.  My box doesn't look like anyone else's here, but it was all inspired here.  Who knows what you'll come up with?

[EdwardNigma]

QUOTE(--DANNY-- @ Mar 18 2005, 02:34 AM)

I'm an extensive Xbox software/game developer/modder. I have been modding Xbox ish for about a year now, and have an extensive knowledge of it all.

But one problem. My Xbox is boring!

(IMG:http://home.comcast.net/~dsdahl89/files/xboxfront.jpg)

--MY XBOX--
-v1.0
-X2.6 chip
-20 gb hd
-clear jewel (that looks like poo poo on a bun)
-hole in case underneath jewel
-controller activity leds ( but I wasn't thinking and wired the ground and yellow wire
          together inside the controllers instead of in the dongle's to make this happen,
   so it will only work with my controllers)
I am usually broke, but I just got $300. I don't want to spend it all on Xbox ish but alot of it. And I usually don't have any time, but I just found plenty of it.

So what could I do to my xbox? Oh, and I don't have a dremel, so no windows <_<

*The first thing I wanna do is upgrade the HD to a 120-200 gb. What do you guys think of these?
120gb 7200rpm 8mb - $69
180gb 7200rpm 8mb - $81

*I also am going to use the uber cable management if the inside of my xbox becomes visible from the outside.

*I want to replace the fan with a blue led 12v 80mm fan.

*As an alternative if all this is too much work for my lazy ass, or it's too much money, then I will just but an XICEBOX case, cuz personally, I think they're badass! And a helluva lot easier/cheaper than buying a billion accessories for your stock case.

*I'm also contemplating buying another blue acrylic pc case and putting my xbox in it. I have one for my PC. I picked it up for about $40 with the 3 led fans and the 2 cathode bars, cuz I'm a con artist and I bribed the new guy at PCCLUB into letting me steal it for $40 because there was a small minute crack in the front right of it. But I can get another for $80.
Thanx for your help in advance!
And throw as many suggestions at me as possible! Your help is VERY much appreciated!

Give it a nice paint job and a cool window if you don't have one yet

[twistedsymphony]

QUOTE(Cossack1977 @ Mar 18 2005, 07:00 PM)

...Upgrading your cable to an ata100/133/166 will not improve load times from a HDD as the xbox uses a udma33 contoller. ata33/66 is the same 40pin 40wire cable. udma 100/133/166 is a 40pin 80wire cable. Never seen any speed improvements. main difference between the 2 cables is the the 80wire has a grounding wire between each signal wire....

I hate this debate. There is no proof anywhere that say the Xbox uses a udma33 controller the documents for the chip-set aren't available to the public. However the very similar chip-set that nVidia makes for PCs uses udma100. People tend to assume that it's only udma33 because it comes with an ATA33 cable, but remember it was only meant to transfer save-games not run games from it.

I recommend reading this: http://www.xboxrepairguide.com/newsdesk_in.../newsdesk_id/28

as it very plainly states the benefits of upgrading the IDE cable and or your hard drive. If you know of articles with opposing arguments I welcome you to post them.  :popcorn:

[Calpico]

If you buy a new hdd, buy a new eeprom from zodiiak so you can play on live. I have an Xecuter3 chip with a 260gig drive. I bought a eeprom from him last year when i changed my drive and im still on live fine. He has really good feedback.

[Cossack1977]

at the moment i am using a llamma ATA166 cable in my xbox with no repeat no improvement on load times what so ever from the HDD.

I have also got a asus ata100 cable in a friends xbox with no improvement at all.

I dont have the time to sit there with a stop watch and time how long it takes for a game to load buit i have not noticed any speed increas in either playing games or playing movies of the HDD.

"twistedsymphony" im glade you found one website who says its faster. It must me such a small difference that it is not noticable to anyone not wearing a stopwatch.

This post has been edited by Cossack1977: Mar 19 2005, 12:34 AM

[--DANNY--]

QUOTE(Calpico @ Mar 18 2005, 03:31 PM)

If you buy a new hdd, buy a new eeprom from zodiiak so you can play on live. I have an Xecuter3 chip with a 260gig drive. I bought a eeprom from him last year when i changed my drive and im still on live fine. He has really good feedback.

My xbox is modded with a wire install x2.6, and i upgraded the hd to a 20 (i know its not much but it was enough for the time being). And I use LIVE everyday. So my eeprom is fine. If I buy a new HD can't I just use my current eeprom? Why buy a new one?

QUOTE(Cossack1977)

Just a suggestion and remember this is my opinion and alot of the people on the forum would disagree but keep it simple and stylish.

You dont need to paint it a million colors, you dont need it to light up a lounge room or an air port.

Choose a nice paint and color and paint the box, put some suttle lighting on it a complementary color, light the jewel up. maybe do a duel hdd mod if your into playing live or just put a biiget hdd in there.

I completely agree, If I were to paint it, it would be either white, or a jet black (because stock is slighty greenish).

QUOTE(twistedsymphony)

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=AA31090

200GB Maxor 16MB 7200RPM for $105 

I'm tempted to get one myself.

I'm going to get this one, thanx for the link!

QUOTE(bucko)

Look at Palmore's Xbox and Ben999_'s

Can you give me some links?

This post has been edited by --DANNY--: Mar 19 2005, 02:01 AM

[--DANNY--]

I just talked my older brother into buying an X2.6 CE chip and a 200GB HD, the same one I'm getting. I'm going to install it for him when it arrives in about a week. So this week I'm placing an order for my own 200gb hd (the same one). Then I'm most likely going to buy the Xice CE case. Just because of it's simplicity, and that it will match my pc case.

So once I have my new 200gb hd installed in my xice ce case with my v1.0 xbox with an x2.6 chip in it, is there anything that I could add to that case to "pimp" it up? I'm thinking like a couple of cold cathode bars for cheap, or maybe some el wire. What do you guys think?


EDIT:
I just came across a mini atx acrylic blue pc case. It has a handle in the front. And is litterally the same as my pc case only its a mini atx instead of full sized. I think it'd be badass to put my xbox in that to match my pc. Meh....

This post has been edited by --DANNY--: Mar 19 2005, 10:48 AM

[ahoatam]

QUOTE

My xbox is modded with a wire install x2.6, and i upgraded the hd to a 20 (i know its not much but it was enough for the time being). And I use LIVE everyday. So my eeprom is fine. If I buy a new HD can't I just use my current eeprom? Why buy a new one?

You need to go to the Live forums here at the scene and search for "the marriage theory".  Ths is VERY important, or the hard drive you buy may be a waste.  Basiclly, MS has a file that has your current eeprom "married" to your current HD serial #.  If you get a new HD, you need another new Eeprom so that MS sees two new numbers logging onto live.  Basiclly, they assume you bought a new xbox instead of modded your current one.

If you don't replace the eeprom and get a new Hard Drive, when you log onto Live, MS will take note of this and within a few day, you'll be banned from Live.  Then your current Eeprom and HD serial number will be blacklisted, so in order to get back on Live, you'd have to replace both. This means your second eeprom (which you could have already bought for ten bucks if you listened to us in the first place) and the third hard drive.

So, yeah, new hard drive = new eeprom for Live.  Always.  I don't care what you did last time you upgraded the HD, or what chip you have, this is the way its been since November, proven time and time again.

[--DANNY--]

I will soon have 2 bro's who have modded xbox's and haven't and never will use LIVE. Can't I just take their eeprom?

This post has been edited by --DANNY--: Mar 19 2005, 09:23 PM