360: HDMI, Hard Drive, Chipset Questions

PolloDiablo

I can't seem to find concrete info on this. My 360 is still hanging in there from launch, but it's really awful. I was hoping it would red ring so I could get it repaired for free, but no such luck. So, anyway, I'm in the market for a new one, and I'm looking at the current Pro. I've got three questions:

1. I heard that the Pros nowadays have HDMI built in. Is that true, or is it still just for Elites?

2. Do all Pros come with that 60 gig hard drive? Is it sold separately?

3. I figure that any 360s being manufactured are with the newer chips that don't overheat so much. Is there a manufacturing date or other sign I should look for to make sure I'm getting a good one?

Smug Duckling

PolloDiablo wrote: »

I can't seem to find concrete info on this. My 360 is still hanging in there from launch, but it's really awful. I was hoping it would red ring so I could get it repaired for free, but no such luck. So, anyway, I'm in the market for a new one, and I'm looking at the current Pro. I've got three questions:

1. I heard that the Pros nowadays have HDMI built in. Is that true, or is it still just for Elites?

2. Do all Pros come with that 60 gig hard drive? Is it sold separately?

3. I figure that any 360s being manufactured are with the newer chips that don't overheat so much. Is there a manufacturing date or other sign I should look for to make sure I'm getting a good one?

1. Pros have HDMI now. (Mine does, and I bought it last October)

2. 20 gig only I'm pretty sure. EDIT: No, I'm wrong. They're being made with 60 gig hard drives now it looks like.

Faricazy

http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2008/09/07/deals-free-ms-points-with-360-purchase-15-games-and-more/

Dark Shroud

Here are the Chipsets models that are currently out and planned; the Jasper was just released this month. The numbers after the models are how many would go bad for various reasons out of a hundred.

• Xenen - non HDMI launch model 84/100
• Zypher - same as Xenon only with HDMI was marketed as the Elite 84/100
• Falcon - CPU changed from 90nm to 65nm and new heat sink design. 15/100
• Jasper - GPU changed from 90nm to 65nm, memory chips are now 65nm. ?/100
• Valhalla - a combined 65nm CPU and 65nm GPU on a unified super chip. ?/100
• Opus - a mishmash of working parts from current red-ringed 360's. ?/100

http://gizmodo.com/5046314/the-shocking-inside-story-of-the-epic-defects-that-killed-millions-of-xbox-360s
http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2008/02/15/rumor-two-new-xbox-360-motherboards-in-the-works/

PolloDiablo

Cool, thanks guys. So, what is the difference then between the pros and elites nowadays? Just the size of the hard drive?

Dark Shroud

New Pros are white with a 60gig HD while Elites are still Mate black with a 120 gig. Check Circuit city for prices, they're having a big sale right now.

Deicist

Dark Shroud wrote: »

Here are the Chipsets models that are currently out and planned; the Jasper was just released this month. The numbers after the models are how many would go bad for various reasons out of a hundred.

• Xenen - non HDMI launch model 84/100
• Zypher - same as Xenon only with HDMI was marketed as the Elite 84/100
• Falcon - CPU changed from 90nm to 65nm and new heat sink design. 15/100
• Jasper - GPU changed from 90nm to 65nm, memory chips are now 65nm. ?/100
• Valhalla - a combined 65nm CPU and 65nm GPU on a unified super chip. ?/100
• Opus - a mishmash of working parts from current red-ringed 360's. ?/100

http://gizmodo.com/5046314/the-shocking-inside-story-of-the-epic-defects-that-killed-millions-of-xbox-360s
http://www.xbox360fanboy.com/2008/02/15/rumor-two-new-xbox-360-motherboards-in-the-works/

So wait, on the launch model 360's 84% of them died for various reasons.

84%? seriously?

edit: just read the article. That 84% is bad chips coming out of the factory during initial production runs, not bad Boxes going out to consumers.

Dark Shroud

Tallus wrote: »

So wait, on the launch model 360's 84% of them died for various reasons.

84%? seriously?

edit: just read the article. That 84% is bad chips coming out of the factory during initial production runs, not bad Boxes going out to consumers.

Think about it for a minute, the chips were faulty. So yes the consoles those chips were placed in would go bad. I had one of them, the system would just freeze. Normally these could just have the chips swapped out but you mix in all the tards using the "towel trick" to further damage whole systems that would continue to be sent through the cycle.

Dehumanized

Dark Shroud wrote: »

New Pros are white with a 60gig HD while Elites are still Mate black with a 120 gig. Check Circuit city for prices, they're having a big sale right now.

In addition to the extra 60gb of storage and the black hardware (which includes a black controller and headset), the elite comes with the bullshit $50 HDMI cable that microsoft sells. If you find yourself wanting to do HDMI video output but seperate audio output (like RCA or optical) it's a nice addition. Otherwise, a $6 monoprice cable will work just fine.

maximumzero

So what are the 60GB HDD going for nowadays? I can't imagine needing a 120 but an extra 40 would be nice.

Deicist

Dark Shroud wrote: »

Tallus wrote: »

So wait, on the launch model 360's 84% of them died for various reasons.

84%? seriously?

edit: just read the article. That 84% is bad chips coming out of the factory during initial production runs, not bad Boxes going out to consumers.

Think about it for a minute, the chips were faulty. So yes the consoles those chips were placed in would go bad. I had one of them, the system would just freeze. Normally these could just have the chips swapped out but you mix in all the tards using the "towel trick" to further damage whole systems that would continue to be sent through the cycle.

Er... no. Chips coming off a production line are tested before putting them in systems. The percentage of chips that make it from that stage into production systems is known as the yield. That's why the article specifically points out that the yield was 15% when they started and even now is pretty low. Some of the chips that passed this stage where still faulty in less obvious ways, and that combined with the extremely poor heatsink design led to the huge numbers of dead consoles.

DHS Odium

Just thought I'd add in, all 360s have HDMI now, even the Arcades. I did something similar to the OP, but bought the Arcade and just used my old 20GB hard drive. The free 5 Arcade games were a nice bonus too.

wunderbar

maximumzero wrote: »

So what are the 60GB HDD going for nowadays? I can't imagine needing a 120 but an extra 40 would be nice.

Your math confuses me sir.

But the current pricing for the 360 is:

360 Arcade: $199
360 Pro with 60GB HDD: $299
360 Elite: $399

All 360's have HDMI. The Elite comes with HDMI + component + composite cables. The Pro comes with Component + composite cables and the arcade comes with composite cables.

DHS Odium

wunderbar wrote: »

maximumzero wrote: »

So what are the 60GB HDD going for nowadays? I can't imagine needing a 120 but an extra 40 would be nice.

Your math confuses me sir.

He means he has a 20GB, and he is asking the what the price of a new 60GB is. The 120 is too much space for him, but having an extra 40GB would be nice (going from the 20 to 60GB HDD).

maximumzero

DHS Odium wrote: »

wunderbar wrote: »

maximumzero wrote: »

So what are the 60GB HDD going for nowadays? I can't imagine needing a 120 but an extra 40 would be nice.

Your math confuses me sir.

He means he has a 20GB, and he is asking the what the price of a new 60GB is. The 120 is too much space for him, but having an extra 40GB would be nice (going from the 20 to 60GB HDD).

This.

I keep 3-4GB free on the console, but with more storage I would likely have at least half of the Xbox originals on the 360 at all times, a bunch of TV shows (I bought all of Season 1 of Terminator a few months back on the 360 marketplace) and my lone 360 retail game, The Orange Box, would be loaded onto the HDD when the new dashboard rolls around.