My First Xbox!!! Now What?!?!

[ajmi982]

XBC is fine, but if i could turn the chip off that would be nice, plus, im a pretty smart guy and love electronics, i could fiddle around with soldering, but why not wait for the 1.6 solderless adapter that x-ecuter is making for their X3.

and... I thought the X3 is the best chip you can get.

[Frito]

It's like asking someone which is better, ford or chevy? coke or pepsi?

Each to their own. Personally, I install X3's, only because I never ever want to be accused of installing crap.

Check the installer thread. If you can find someone local to solder the chip, it's worth the extra 20 bucks. As I've never seen a solderless adapter that could handle a car ride to a lan party.

[ajmi982]

cant find anyone in dc/md area . I guess I will try to do it myself even though I have never soldered before.

So, i think im gonna get the X3 unless others out there advise against it.

Is it hard to install? I think I could do it, even though I have never soldered before.

what do i need to buy? type of iron and other tools?

is the X3 the way to go??

[Quall999]

I think you can probably do it, unless you have shaking hands. I mean, xbox's were the first thing I had ever soldered.

Most chips are the same in a sense that they all have the same objective. Direct boot of backups and unsigned code. However, more expensive chips have things like custom OS's, options for display screens, many many bios banks, etc... Things that are nice to have, but really arrn't needed at all. Which bios you have running on the chips make more of a difference.

Any chip compatible with 1.6 xbox's should be fine. They basically all use the same solder points (except older chips not designed for 1.6 xbox's. THey have editional wires to bridge specific points). I would recommend the x3's simply because I am familiar with all chips that they have made in the past and are all great. However, other people here are just as familiar with other modchips.

[ajmi982]

I just ordered the X3 with PCB Rebuild from www.system-mods.com

I need to know what BIOS to run and what HD to buy.

Also, i need to know what solder to use, solder iron to buy, and how much that will cost. I do not have shaky hands.

the points seem small as **** though, guess I need a magnifying glass??