xbox hardmod help...

[HungryGarou]

I want to have the 128mb ram & 1.4ghz mods applied to my xbox, but I'm somewhat confused about where to get started. What i want to do is pay someone to apply the mods for me as i have no experience in soldering. From what i understand, the ram is pulled from other xboxes (i think), the processor used is the Intel Celeron 1.4GHz (with some toggle switch added to switch between MHZ speeds). I'm also interested in the DUOX2 modchip.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

[Ziggy]

I was interested in added the extra RAM to my Xbox, but than I found out that the only things that can benefit from it is Linux and (I think) a MAME emulator.

[Hatta]

Honestly, I'd skip it. The 128mb is only useful in MAME, and the CPU is mostly useful for HD playback in XBMC. Regular MAME has far surpassed Xbox MAME, and XBMC on Xbox only has a couple developers working on it these days. You'd be much better off putting the money towards a cheap HTPC and running MAME and XBMC on your OS of choice.

[dlmvii]

I'll second these opinions as well...The extra RAM and CPU are quite frankly not worth the effort it takes to install them. The RAM is not like installing it in a PC where you just plug a stick in - it involved some non-trivial soldering work. Plus, as pointed out above, nothing really takes advantage of with the exception of MAME (even with the extra RAM, you are still very limited), and Linux, which would run better on an old $50 desktop anyways,

[PhilExile]

Actually, I completely disagree.

I own a Trusty (1.4ghz/128 RAM) XBOX and its fantastic for emulation. First of all, the emulation benefits go further than improving MAME (CoinOps), it makes more games play and it also makes PSX and N64 viable options on the Xbox. It also makes GBA emulation run flawlessly (no frameskipping) and plays games that used to run choppy (32X) perfectly.

I have a thread of my testing experience at 1emulation:

http://tinyurl.com/2es8al9

You can contact Trusty at Xbox-Scene. PM me if you're having problems contacting him.

Also, people have a point here about just getting a small PC and using it for emulation. The issue with that is the usability factor. You have to keep that keyboard and mouse handy, OS loaded, etc. I'd rather have a simple, clean interface then deal with building a decent PC setup.
(Its a bitch and a time suck)

[Ziggy]

I was under the impression that MAME and Linux were the ONLY two things that were coded to take advantage of extra RAM.

[PhilExile]

Nope, N64 can definitely see it, as can the XPORT emulators. The main advantage I've found is the more powerful CPU. I can play some games that were choppy before perfectly (full FPS), such as Darius, Darius 2, and Elevator Action Returns. This is also what enables GBA to perform so well without frameskipping. The main thing the RAM helps with is actually loading the game into memory.

The stock Xbox 1 CPU is a 733 Mhz Celeron, so it performs similarly to a 500 Mhz P3. The Trusty Xbox uses a 1.4 ghz P3, so its nearly 3x as fast. Still not as good as a modern media PC, but again, your not hampered by Windows or another OS. Also, for retro gaming, the Xbox does mostly everything from pre-1997 as long as its not 3D. Although, Virtua Fighter may be working in MAME (CoinOps) in the near future.

[Ziggy]

So, does one upgrade the Xbox CPU? Or overclock it?

[PhilExile]

Its a hardware upgrade. Its amazing what Trusty did. I have no idea how he figured it out. Its pretty insane.

Just an FYI, I was testing out some MAME roms and found that Star Blade, a Namco21 board 3-D game from 1991 works pretty well, averaging 45-60 FPS. Sound echos though.

A stock Xbox would choke on that game for sure.

[HungryGarou]

The 128mb is only useful in MAME

Which is exactly why i want it.

Regular MAME has far surpassed Xbox MAME, and XBMC on Xbox only has a couple developers working on it these days. You'd be much better off putting the money towards a cheap HTPC and running MAME and XBMC on your OS of choice.

Personally, i perfer the convince of playing my emulators, and most video games for that matter, through an actual game console, sitting in front of my TV. I was considering getting an old Shuttle xpc and using that as a nicer "emubox", but i need to at least see if there's any frontend similar to the ones on the xbox (like having a pause menu to change controls and save states while i have a ROM loaded.)

You can contact Trusty at Xbox-Scene. PM me if you're having problems contacting him.

I got a message from him through another user, where he list his services and prices, and though it looks temping, he wants between $175 (send him your motherboard) and $220 (for a premodded system), a little too rich for my blood right now. plus he's all the way in china, so there's the factor of high shipping.

Honestly, I'd rather buy the necessary pieces individually, and look for someone in the states to perform the mod for me. I'm still considering the pc thing, but I'm not getting any solid answers on certain things, and I've done a shit-ton of research to no avail.