Xbox 360

[paganwannbe]

'Aight, I appreciate it man. I'll probably get the better half to go searching on Black Friday. I'm not that brave...

 

EDIT: Will a regular PC hard drive work in an Xbox?

you can put a hard drive in the 360 so says pc world it just won't be a computer hard drive

http://www.pcworld.com/article/150970/upgrade_your_xbox_360s_hard_drive_on_the_cheap.html

Edited November 23, 2010 by paganwannbe

[RZ1029]

Appreciate the response, that's a nice bit of information there. That being said, for the price of the hard drive, I'd rather just buy the 250 on sale, for like 25% off.

[Vindekarr]

You are making the right decision.

 

The PS3 is an inferior console for playing video games. The simple reason being that it has almost no exclusives anymore.

 

Almost everyone gave up that overpriced DVD player early 2007, if you can find me a god PS3 exclusive that ISNT God Of War, I'll reverse my utter disdain for the PS3. but until then, I think it is hopelessly inferior.

 

Secondly, it's a massive exageration, usualy spread by fanboys of other consoles, that the Xbox 360 will overheat.

 

It simply does not. I have an Xbox 360 Elite. If you keep it within standard operating temperature, it'll be fine. I did have a red ring of death, but that was in a very extreme situation, and on a 4gb version.

 

Australia is punishing on consoles, the summers here can reach up to 135-150 farenheit, with up to 80% humidity, the winters can suddenly drop to -1 farenheit after a 90 degree day. This can kill a shabbily made console.

 

I've owned all the big three current gen machines: a 360 Elite, a Wii, and a PS3. The PS3 died like a worthless cur in it's third week of summer. It overheated and fused it's entire internals.

 

The Wii died after two months of standard use, it simply melted in the vicious summer of 2009.

 

My Xbox 360 survived daily use all throughout 2009's deadly Melbourne heatwave, it continues to this day, despite being used daily for four years.

 

It's the most reliable console I've ever owned. Absolutely unbreakable.

Edited November 24, 2010 by Vindekarr

[RZ1029]

Ok, RROD from overheating seems to be the common Xbox killer, no? What is considered Standard Operating Temperature for a 360? (SOT from here out.)

 

I mean, I play all my videogames in the basement, the Wii is there, all my computers are there, and it sits at about 65 degrees 24/7. Part of this is because I prefer it that way, and part of it is to make 300% sure none of my electronics ever overheat. That being said, unless the SOT is supposed to be like, 50 degrees, I'm not sure how it could possibly overheat in the US, barring situations such as what you mentioned. (Which obviously isn't US...)

 

If the 360 Elite'll run Halo Reach, Black Ops, etc. fine, with minimal issue, then it sounds like I might be smarter going for that, and saving myself some money. I don't see myself ever physically using up 250GB anyways. Probably the only games I'll have for it for a while is Halo: Reach, Black Ops, and (maybe) Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, because that looks like a good game.

[Vindekarr]

I've got Reach, and it runs just fine on my Elite, even in the hottest weather.

 

The highest ambient temperature that I've run it in was 134 faren-and it did OK, the same day my PS3 melted.

 

If it's 65 faren, you'll have absolutely no issues, if it goes above 100 F, give it a break after about an hour to cool off-it's not meant to run constantly at that sort of temperature and it's in situations like this that they can overheat,

 

Secondly, make sure it's actualy on a proper desk, away from the wall, and not under some sort of cloth.

 

Many of the fools who overheat their consoles do so by shoving them in a dark corner where air cannot circulate through the machine.

 

Thirdly, you can make damn sure it wont overheat by laying an Eski-Pak or other plastic lunchbox cooler across the top casing, this is a very effective way to keep it cool, since the eski-pak will transfer it's chill rather neatly straight through onto the main heatsink's mounting point. Just lay a paper towl or two under it to collect the condensation.

 

As for power, the only game I've had frame issues in was Saint's Row 2, and even then, that game is a hundred times better on PC anyway. And if you must have it on 360, you can fix any lag just yn turning off V-Sync.

Edited November 24, 2010 by Vindekarr

[RZ1029]

Sounds more like people just not understanding how a cooling system works more than anything. I keep my Wii up on a wall-mounted uhm... platform? Just a little square where the Wii sets off the ground, on the wall. I'd probably put the 360 up there with it. It's right next to my TV, and right above an outlet, so I don't have a bunch of cords stretched across the room.

 

But yeah, after hearing that, I'm going to take the leap and just get the 360 Elite, because if I buy now I get it with Halo 3.

Edited November 24, 2010 by RZ1029

[JimboUK]

At the last count the 360 had a failure rate of 42%, that was a survey of 500,000 people. The PS3 has 8% and the Wii 1%. Anyone who builds their own PCs will be appalled when looking inside a 360, the layout is shocking.

[RZ1029]

And how many of that 42% put it in a little "console tower" and stuck it back in a corner to collect dust? Because if people treat their Xbox the way they do their computer, I could see why there's 42% failure rate. People do some dumb stuff sometimes. I cleaned out a computer that was "broken" one time, it had so much dust in it, it would overheat and shut down after like, two minutes, because the fan couldn't move at all.

 

After I cleaned it, worked fine.

[JimboUK]

And how many of that 42% put it in a little "console tower" and stuck it back in a corner to collect dust? Because if people treat their Xbox the way they do their computer, I could see why there's 42% failure rate. People do some dumb stuff sometimes. I cleaned out a computer that was "broken" one time, it had so much dust in it, it would overheat and shut down after like, two minutes, because the fan couldn't move at all.

 

After I cleaned it, worked fine.

 

Probably about the same number who have done it with the PS3 and Wii, yet those have far lower failure rates. The machine is badly designed, open one up and see for yourself.

[RZ1029]

Most things Microsoft are poorly designed: Windows Vista, Xbox, etc. But, they also corner the market and are where most people end up, in the end. Besides, as I mentioned earlier, a big reason for me getting an Xbox was to play on the same console as most of my friends. Otherwise I'd just stick to PC.