[ARCHIVED THREAD] - XBox 360 (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 6/22/2009 6:35:56 AM EDT
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Ok gang, I'm looking for input on this matter. My son (10) wants an XBox360, but I keep reading about things like the RROD and other aliments happening with these systems. Are there certain things (dates, codes etc.) to look for when buying a system... or is it luck of the draw?
Thanks Oh, and by the way, before the "buy a PS3" responses come out, we allready have one. 
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Ok gang, I'm looking for input on this matter. My son (10) wants an XBox360, but I keep reading about things like the RROD and other aliments happening with these systems. Are there certain things (dates, codes etc.) to look for when buying a system... or is it luck of the draw? Thanks Oh, and by the way, before the "buy a PS3" responses come out, we allready have one. My 8 year old has one, we had a problem with the drive not shutting, right after we got it-took it back to the store, NBD.. The controllers eat batteries too.. |
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Just make sure you buy the Elite version from Amazon or Bestbuy and spend the extra $80 or whatever it is to get a 2-year exteneded warranty/protection plan. (Think of the protection plan as insurance against stress & wasting time should something go wrong and you have to deal with it. At Bestbuy you can take yours in and pick-out a brand new system w/out having to wait to ship it to microsoft & back...)
The RROD has been fixed in the newer models (larger heat sinks), but the 360 is basically a "supercomputer" and something can always go wrong. Remember it generates a lot of heat...!! Keep the Xbox in a well ventilated place in your entertainment center. GTG
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Ok gang, I'm looking for input on this matter. My son (10) wants an XBox360, but I keep reading about things like the RROD and other aliments happening with these systems. Are there certain things (dates, codes etc.) to look for when buying a system... or is it luck of the draw? Thanks Oh, and by the way, before the "buy a PS3" responses come out, we allready have one. My 8 year old has one, we had a problem with the drive not shutting, right after we got it-took it back to the store, NBD.. The controllers eat batteries too.. A very good investment at not much money is the rechargeable setup. I like mine, over a year and the batteries still charge. |
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I've had my 360 for close to a year now and have had zero issues. I think the RRD thing is little more then exaggerated.
The PS3 is good for storing things, but that's about it. Online play is a lag-fest. Overpriced. Get a 360, online play is crisp and its graphics are A+ |
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Don't buy the arcade version, it doesn't come with a hard drive. Other than that, you can't go wrong. Microsoft customer support on these is really pretty good if something goes wrong. Actually, the Arcade version is most likely to have the cooler running, 3rd gen. Jasper chip set, and price wise it's identical once you add the hard drive as a separate item at most retail and on line vendors. |
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you know why they call it xbox 360? cause when you see it you turn 360 degrees and run away. but seriously they kick ass. gears of war is a must have for that console That means you run towards it 
You mean 180? 
Be sure to get the play and charge kit for the controller. They go through batteries fast, and there is nothing worse than your controller dying while you play, with the play and charge you just plug it in and keep going. It will continue to charge when you turn off the system too. Get the one with the 120GB HD is you can afford it, I install all the games I play onto the hard drive. You still need the disc in the drive, but the system runs a lot quieter and is a hair faster with loading times. |
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Best Buy's extended warranty ($30) is worth it.
My brother-in-law's console shit the bed and he returned it to them. Not only did they replace it, they covered the difference between the current price and his purchase price. My console crapped out a few months ago and I had to shell out the cash for a replacement. Sucks, but oh well. Now I know. If it's worth anything, the newer hardware runs a lot quieter and smoother. Remember to budget the extra $50/year for an XBL gold account. |
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thanks, for the input. I was looking at some on ebay and they seem to run about 175-199 with a 20Gb HDD. I was getting confused by all the listing talking about Falcon, Jasper etc. Make sure the auction has pics of the Xbox (the actual xbox would be better than the packaging) and only buy it from someone in the US 
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Oh and to the OP. Check out Project Natal. No controllers needed! Watch the video of it, if it performs as advertised then it will blow Wii out of the water. Nice! ... I bet it costs more than my TV LOL "Microsoft showed off it’s upcoming motion sensing system. Project Natal - that’s codename - will work with every 360 when it launches and will be available on all the new systems. It has full body motion control by tracking 3D movement. Plus it recognizes voices, and totally immerses the players into the game. You can use your own gear like a skate board and such. Basically it kicks the Wii’s ass in the interactive gaming field. That is if the system works as well as the Microsoft video shows" Update: It seems that the pricing might have been revealed early by Brier Dudley at The Seattle Times. His post, which went up 45 minutes before the press conference, states that the price will be around $200. Who knows where the number came from so we’re labeling this one as a rumor for now. |
I guess I'm the lucky one in the group; I got the first generation of XBOX360 Pro that had the HDMI outputs––the One notorious for RROD, and have absolutely NO problems with it. I've put countless 12-hr. sessions into that console. It doesn't eat batteries very fast either. I can go months on the same set of Duracells. (Can't say the same for my Wii, that thing needs new batteries every time I play.  ) As long as it's in a vell-ventilated area you shouldn't have any problems.
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you know why they call it xbox 360? cause when you see it you turn 360 degrees and run away. FAIL. |
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I had the DVD drive die in my first 360. Second one is going strong. They have extended the warranties against the RROD. Another poster mentioned just getting the extra product replacement plan or whatever from Best Buy, which isn't a terrible idea. If you shop there a lot anyway, joining their stupid club thing will make up for the initial cost in the long run. ($10 coupons, easy product replacement, trade in your old purchases on new purchases, etc) |
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I had the DVD drive die in my first 360. Second one is going strong. They have extended the warranties against the RROD. Another poster mentioned just getting the extra product replacement plan or whatever from Best Buy, which isn't a terrible idea. If you shop there a lot anyway, joining their stupid club thing will make up for the initial cost in the long run. ($10 coupons, easy product replacement, trade in your old purchases on new purchases, etc) With the newest Xbox live dashboard (a few months old now) you can install the games onto the hard drive and keep that drive from working too hard, and it is a lot quieter. Just put the game into the drive, go to the dashboard. Navagate to your games library, select the game in the drive and then "install to hard drive" it will take about 10 minutes. There is another way to do it too, I just don't remember. |
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Make sure you get a Jasper platform with the 65nm processor, check the 360 forums for details as to spot them in the wild. You need to check the power supply for the 12.1 amp PSU.
Most of the Jaspers I have seen in the past are the Arcade version, I would be wary of ordering online as rumor has it they are still cleaning out the old inventory of Xenon and Falcon systems as they get them repaired and into the loop. |
| My kids love, Halo3, GOW2, and many other X360 games, What they like most is playing all of them on xbox live, so count on spending another $60 a yr for a membership. Just about everyone I have spoken to has had the RROD, yep us too. Maybe that is getting better, I do not know. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Ok gang, I'm looking for input on this matter. My son (10) wants an XBox360, but I keep reading about things like the RROD and other aliments happening with these systems. Are there certain things (dates, codes etc.) to look for when buying a system... or is it luck of the draw? Thanks Oh, and by the way, before the "buy a PS3" responses come out, we allready have one. My 8 year old has one, we had a problem with the drive not shutting, right after we got it-took it back to the store, NBD.. The controllers eat batteries too.. A very good investment at not much money is the rechargeable setup. I like mine, over a year and the batteries still charge. +1 My rechargeable setup is from launch. It's outlasted 6 xboxs. Just search for the new Falcon Chipset and you will get a list of the new models that have it. It's like pmags. You will still find "new" models being sold on the floor that do not have the new chipset. With that said, they still fail. I have an elite with the falcon chipset that went back for RROD. Poor hardware with cheep manufacturing. It does however have the best online interface hands down, streaming netflix, and almost universal support by the development houses. |
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Quoted: Quoted: I had the DVD drive die in my first 360. Second one is going strong. They have extended the warranties against the RROD. Another poster mentioned just getting the extra product replacement plan or whatever from Best Buy, which isn't a terrible idea. If you shop there a lot anyway, joining their stupid club thing will make up for the initial cost in the long run. ($10 coupons, easy product replacement, trade in your old purchases on new purchases, etc) With the newest Xbox live dashboard (a few months old now) you can install the games onto the hard drive and keep that drive from working too hard, and it is a lot quieter. Just put the game into the drive, go to the dashboard. Navagate to your games library, select the game in the drive and then "install to hard drive" it will take about 10 minutes. There is another way to do it too, I just don't remember. Yes. Honestly the best thing about the 360 for me is that it is one of the few Microsoft products that has been consistently supported with useful updates and functionality. I use mine more for non-game stuff than for games. (netflix, streaming audio/video from my pc, hulu, mp3s, messaging, etc.) I think they are going to be integrating it with last.fm in the next dash update, which will be great. I just wish they would add direct support for video in matroska containers and subtitle support for streaming xvid. |
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Basically you want a 360 with the newer Jasper chip (look for a build date AFTER Nov 2008 to be sure).
http://joeygadget.com/2009/02/22/one-minute-review-jasper-xbox-360/ That link will give you info on what to look for exactly, but the newer models don't red ring anymore. If you plan on getting one at the local best buy: 1. If you want a hard drive version (trust me, you WANT the hard drive version), you'll probably have to dig through the boxes they have there to find one. I just bought another one a month ago and they had a mix of old and new versions. One, of the thirty they had laying out (that didn't say geek squad on them, see #2 below), was a new model. Pretty much all of the arcade hd-less versions are new models. 2. The best buy I was shopping at, took most of the new build date models and "geek squaded" them. Basically geek squad opens it, and configures the console for you (doing what, i have no idea) and they charge an additional $35 at checkout for this "service". If it's got a geek squad sticker on the outside, stay away. |
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It's all good. Buy a new one and don't get the insurance from the store. The xbox has a 1 yr warranty for everything and a 3 yr warranty fr the RROD. BTW. You can just tell microsoft that any problem you have is the RROD and they will fix it. Ask me how I know. This Also, buy the recharge batteries and stand. The plug'n'play thing is crap. |
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Ok gang, I'm looking for input on this matter. My son (10) wants an XBox360, but I keep reading about things like the RROD and other aliments happening with these systems. Are there certain things (dates, codes etc.) to look for when buying a system... or is it luck of the draw? Thanks Oh, and by the way, before the "buy a PS3" responses come out, we allready have one. Keep it COOL. Period. Buy the extra cooling fan kits they sell. Mount it somewhere where the bottom of the unit gets plenty of air movement. Trust me...I know. I've had 2 RROD on me. It's always about heat. |
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Quoted: Keep it COOL. Period. Buy the extra cooling fan kits they sell. Mount it somewhere where the bottom of the unit gets plenty of air movement. Trust me...I know. I've had 2 RROD on me. It's always about heat. Don't do this. There were a lot of problems with the fan kits actually catching on fire or making the 360 even hotter. Just don't stick your 360 on a tiny shelf in a closed cabinet and you will be fine. Several inches of clearance all around. |
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Keep it COOL. Period. Buy the extra cooling fan kits they sell. Mount it somewhere where the bottom of the unit gets plenty of air movement. Trust me...I know. I've had 2 RROD on me. It's always about heat. Not a good idea, the aftermarket cooling systems hurt more than they help. The best way to keep it cool is to have it out in the open while playing, it will heat up alot faster if its inside a cabinet or stuffed in an entertainment center. Your best bet is to find a model with the new Jasper motherboard, you can identify this by looking at the power ratings on the back of the system near the power plug, it should say 12.1A. The new motherboard puts off significantly less heat, and so far no RROD complaints have happened with these systems. |
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I guess I'm the lucky one in the group; I got the first generation of XBOX360 Pro that had the HDMI outputs––the One notorious for RROD, and have absolutely NO problems with it. I've put countless 12-hr. sessions into that console. It doesn't eat batteries very fast either. I can go months on the same set of Duracells. (Can't say the same for my Wii, that thing needs new batteries every time I play. ) As long as it's in a vell-ventilated area you shouldn't have any problems.
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you know why they call it xbox 360? cause when you see it you turn 360 degrees and run away. FAIL. No, you fail for not understanding a joke. Unless of course you are joking, but I think you think nosliw is serious, so fail on you good sir. |
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It's all good. Buy a new one and don't get the insurance from the store. The xbox has a 1 yr warranty for everything and a 3 yr warranty fr the RROD. BTW. You can just tell microsoft that any problem you have is the RROD and they will fix it. Ask me how I know. This Also, buy the recharge batteries and stand. The plug'n'play thing is crap. I have the recharge stand and the plug 'n play recharge kit and I just use the plug 'n play cable and the recharge stand is put away |
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.....The controllers eat batteries too.. That low battery warning is crap. I just let the batteries run until the controller shuts off. I play alot of NCAA football on my 360 and from the time it starts blinking I can still get over 5 games (5 min. quarters @ appx 1 hr/game) The only RROD stories I have heard of is from marathon gamers (10+ hours straight) and it is supposedly fixed by wrapping the unit in towels and let it run until the fan kicks on or something like that. |
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Don't buy insurance, it's a waste. Don't get the arcade version, there's no hard drive.
I think just about any you buy these days are the newer models, however in the case of a RRoD, Microsoft is very good at fixing it and getting it back to you quickly. Keep it well ventilated while running. I recommend a battery pack/charger (the official one). IIRC, it costs ~$30.00 but it will more than pay for itself. |