Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[PretentiousYoungSuitors]

Hey guys, if there is already a topic about this sorry...

So, I got a refund check from my school today, 380 dollars.  I opened the envelope and my first thought was 360.  I've been trying to save up forever, my girlfriend even telling me to go easy on the presents because she acknowledges how much I want this.

my question actually is though: is the red ring of death still a big problem on new systems? 

also should i buy the pro or arcade package?

[Storm Rider]

Buy Pro for sure. RRoD shouldn't be a problem if you get a new system, since the die shrink on the CPU was done around six months ago and I highly doubt any of the older models are still on shelves. Still, just to be safe, try going to a bigger store since they would sell through their stock faster.

[0bsessions]

It is still a big problem, to my knowledge. Fortunately, though, Microsoft has extended the warranty to three years as a result. The one concern, however, is Downloadable content, as it's problematic considering they replace RRoD systems rather than repair them, leading to DRM issues.

I myself would recommend going for it, as it's unlikely they'll resolve the RRoD problem anytime soon if they haven't by now.

As for which version, go pro. I cannot stress that enough. The Arcade package is just the basic piece of shit with a couple Live Arcade games thrown in. A 360 without a hard drive is 90% useless.

[Storm Rider]

As I understand it the 65nm CPU chip greatly cuts down on both the heat output and the noise of the system. The former is what led to the RRoD, so I'm all but certain that the problem has gone down significantly with the newer models. Of course, the rumor is that the GPU will be shrunk sometime this year as well to cut down on the heat problem even more, but that might take months before they introduce that revision and even then you won't be able to tell which ones are which unless you take it apart and check.

I suggest just going for it, but my view may be skewed since I've owned my 360 for 18 months and never had a problem with it at all. But with the HDMI port and the noise-reducing CPU in all the newer models, I'm honestly almost hoping that my 360 fries itself before my Gamestop warranty expires in August, because with those they swap it out for a new model on the shelf, which would be one with all of those features that mine doesn't have.

[dennis]

Go Elite. It's about $50 more and as more and more DLC becomes available, I think the 100 extra gigs of HD is worth it. Also, it is a pretty good media player. If you ever need more than the 20gigs you get with the Pro, you'll have to buy the 120 gig HD for $180. If you get the Elite, you pay $50 for it.

Also, I believe the number of RRoDs has decreased significantly since the release of the Elite. There is a report from an anonymous Microsoft insider that says that the RRoDs were caused by the GPU becoming unseated from the circuit board due to warpage from heat, and that they've fixed the problem in the 360s with the new chips, but obviously, that's not an official line. If you do get RRoD, their warranty process is fairly streamlined and time-tested by now. There are plenty of horror stories, but then again, they're not proportionally represented against the smooth experiences people have had.

My friend and I both bought Elites in the month of July 2007, and have not had any problems with them under heavy use. Just make sure you give it plenty of breathing room.

Also, be aware that you'll need to budget for an extra controller (most likely), a big pack of AAs or a rechargable pack, a gold Live membership, and most importantly, GAMEZZZZ.

TIP: You can check the date of manufacture of a particular Xbox in the store by lifting the little flap on the top of the box. You want one made in Fall 2007 or later.

[Melodic]

I'd argue that the Elite is shit-worthless. Unless you honestly want to use your 360 as a hard backup (you can stream media from your PC without bogging up disk space), the Elite isn't worth it.

Also, hardware problems aren't a legitimate reason not to buy something. I build PCs for a living, and there's more to fear in one tower than there is in 50 360s. Go get your Xbox.

[Ozymandias]

Do not bother with any 360 version that lacks a hard drive.

[Dimmukane]

I'd argue that the Elite is shit-worthless. Unless you honestly want to use your 360 as a hard backup (you can stream media from your PC without bogging up disk space), the Elite isn't worth it.

Also, hardware problems aren't a legitimate reason not to buy something. I build PCs for a living, and there's more to fear in one tower than there is in 50 360s. Go get your Xbox.

The thing with this is DLC and stuff.  I have a pro, and maybe 5 gb of space left.  I have the halo 2 maps, the halo 3 maps, the gears of war maps, all the Oblivion stuff, Rez, Geometry Wars, Hexic, Frogger, Joust, Carcassone, Undertow, about 10 trailers at about 50mb each, a few albums which I can probably afford to delete, and two demos, one for The Club and one for Frontlines: Fuel of War MP.  I can delete the demos later, which on top of the albums gives me about 7gb.  However, there are still maps coming for Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, DLC for Mass Effect, Grand Theft Auto IV...I expect this to knock me down to 3gb by the end of the year, not including other demos and such. 

What I'm saying is, there's a fair chance you might run out of space with just the 20gb hard drive.  This largely depends on your choice of games and your willingness to play extra DLC (which is sometimes mandatory in the case of maps), which can potentially fill up your hard drive.  The Halo 2 and 3 maps + the Gears of War Maps are 2gb, all the Oblivion stuff is another 1.4 or so...it starts to add up.

[Melodic]

If you're going to literally use your 360 as a multimedia device then yes, I agree that it would be worth your while to get an Elite model. But do you really need to store movie trailers, music (like I said, stream-able as long as you have a router), and demos stuck on your HD? I've got a fair stack of games (eh, maybe about 20), and I've managed to come out with a handful of gigabytes left just by cleaning it out once every month or so.

[Ozymandias]

I've owned my 360 since launch.

In retrospect, I would've waited and sprung for the Elite. I'm running out of room and don't have any movies or music on it.

(Also it might not be wigging out on me like my current one is)

[Jimmy the Squid]

I got the arcade pack. Were I in your shoes I'd shell out the extra cash for the Pro package because it's not that much extra, whereas for me it would have been almost $200 extra. I'm looking to save up for an extra hard drive and I do kind of wish I'd gone for the Pro but it's too late for that kind of talk!

[Dimmukane]

If you're going to literally use your 360 as a multimedia device then yes, I agree that it would be worth your while to get an Elite model. But do you really need to store movie trailers, music (like I said, stream-able as long as you have a router), and demos stuck on your HD? I've got a fair stack of games (eh, maybe about 20), and I've managed to come out with a handful of gigabytes left just by cleaning it out once every month or so.

I don't use it as a multimedia device though.   When I do, it's at my friends' house, and I carry any music on a thumb drive.  I barely have any media on it, in all truth.  4 Orange Box trailers, the Halo 3 shorts that WETA did, Borderlands, two for Too Human.  5 albums which I'm going to erase.  Most of the space that's being taken up right now is game content.  If I had gotten every shooter that's come out and dled their map packs, I might be full right now.  I don't need the demos, but like I said: with more Halo 3 maps, Call of Duty 4 maps, and DLC for Mass Effect and Grand Theft Auto IV, as well as any DLC for other games I might get, it adds up.

[Jimmy the Squid]

I'll be getting it for the custom soundtracks and for the Oblivion Expansions (which I can't currently play!!). However, the 20Gb should do me fine. I'm not what you would call a hardcore gamer, though I do play at least 3 or 4 hours a day. Maybe I am hardcore and I just suck at videogames because Turok is kicking my arse, still fun though, I killed a Tyrannosaur with a knife!

[Dissy]

Do not bother with any 360 version that lacks a hard drive.

What Ozy said.  This takes care of all Downloadable Content issues if your 360 does go out.


The RRoD is still an issue, although, not so much with the newer ones.  I've had two 360's have this problem.  My brand new Green 360 went out on me last month.  But, Microsoft is actually really good with this problem now.  They had a box out to me in two days, I shipped my 360 out, and a little over a week later I have a new one, with a free month of Gold.  ANy 360 manufactured after September should be good to go.

[dennis]

I'd argue that the Elite is shit-worthless. Unless you honestly want to use your 360 as a hard backup (you can stream media from your PC without bogging up disk space), the Elite isn't worth it.

Also, hardware problems aren't a legitimate reason not to buy something. I build PCs for a living, and there's more to fear in one tower than there is in 50 360s. Go get your Xbox.

Or, you know, if you envision ever having more than 20 gigabytes of DLC. With movie and TV downloads, you can eat that space up quickly.

[dennis]

Also, it's not impossible that developers will start offloading content onto the HD for larger games or something.

Also, realize that Xbox 360 memory cards are fucking expensive ($30 for 64MB and $50 for 512) and since it's MS, there are no third party memory cards.  Three sets of savegames will fill up a 64. You might as well shell out for at least the Pro.

[Emaline]

Still, just to be safe, try going to a bigger store since they would sell through their stock faster.

I disagree with this. I work in a smaller, local video game store. We go through our 360 stock pretty quickly. Plus, if our customers have a problem with their system, most of our staff is pretty knowledgeable about every system we sell, so if you bring it in, we can actually take a look at it and 90%(at least) of the time we can figure out whats wrong with it, and help fix it. So yeah. Bigger stores probably won't be as helpful. I mean, we test the system out right there, and if it needs a replacement piece(like recently someone brought in 360 that needed a new power supply) we can usually get it for you. We usually have them in stock, and it won't cost anything.


Anyway, if you plan on downloading a lot, go Elite. If not you really don't need that much memory, so you can just go Pro.

[Johnny C]

Also, it's not impossible that developers will start offloading content onto the HD for larger games or something.

What does this look like, a PS3 thread?

[dennis]

Still, just to be safe, try going to a bigger store since they would sell through their stock faster.

I disagree with this. I work in a smaller, local video game store. We go through our 360 stock pretty quickly.

I agree with Emaline. Smaller stores get less stock at a time, so they're more likely to have more recently manufactured Xboxes on the shelf (of course, they may not sell as quickly, either). Unless you're a store like Gamestop, which isn't really a smaller store, but just an arm of a larger corporate entity that gets large amounts of stock at once and distributes it to stores on a merit basis.

However, this is all moot since you can check the date of manufacture of a particular Xbox on the store shelf by lifting the flap on the box, as I mentioned above.

[Storm Rider]

Fair enough. I assumed larger stores would get more foot traffic and thus would sell their stock more frequently. I've never worked retail (well, that type of retail at least) so I was only guessing.

[PretentiousYoungSuitors]

so apparently, every store in the berkshires is sold out of 360 pros, I even humbled myself to wal-mart.  In my frustration I ordered the pro package from amazon, with warantee.  My roommate got a Wii though, so theres something

[Skinny Jeans]

I work as a supervisor for xbox customer support.
That being said:
the red ring of death issue is pretty much gone in new systems
it actually has me fearing for my job!

p.s. all the consoles hardware are the same, the only difference are color and hard drive size

[KvP]

That's how it is with a lot of electronics.

[Skinny Jeans]

You would be really amazed at how many people believe that the elite has some special powers that the other units do not conceive.

[Melodic]

For Xboxes, sure, but it's a proven fact that the nVidia 8800 Ultra will make your dick 4 inches longer.

[dennis]

I work as a supervisor for xbox customer support.
That being said:
the red ring of death issue is pretty much gone in new systems
it actually has me fearing for my job!

p.s. all the consoles hardware are the same, the only difference are color and hard drive size

All current hardware, you mean. The Elite was special because of the HDMI output in addition to its larger HD and black case, which the pro and the basic lacked. It may be just a case of having the jack soldered on and the firmware updated to enable it, but at the consumer level, it makes a difference. Plus, all major electronic equipment gets periodic hardware revisions, Xboxes included--hence the drastically lower failure rate in the current set of consoles. The revision may be as mundane as running out of supply of a specific part, and having to get a slightly different part, but that's still different hardware.

[dennis]

so apparently, every store in the berkshires is sold out of 360 pros, I even humbled myself to wal-mart.  In my frustration I ordered the pro package from amazon, with warantee.  My roommate got a Wii though, so theres something

Third party warantees are not worth the money, especially on something like the Xbox. You're paying for coverage that you can't really use. If your Xbox breaks, and Microsoft doesn't fix it, you void your Microsoft warantee. If it needs to be replaced, and you don't do it through Microsoft, you lose all your content (though some would argue that you lose it with Microsoft, too).