Which Version of the Original Xbox Is the Best? 1.0, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5 or 1.6?

[C64MidRezzie 10]

Hi - having gotten the xbox original bug recently I have acquired a few original xbox consoles from friends and colleagues.  I have a 1.0 that has a fan on the GPU so it's pretty noisey.  I have a 1.6 and that can't be Tspoped and I don't have the skills required to add a chip.  Today, a colleague gave me an xbox 1.1 - I opened it and checked to see if there was a fan on the GPU and there isn't - which is good in terms of noise.  This also means that I can TSOP the 1.1.  I have 3 or 4 more lying around in my attic that I collected over the years at car boot sales (mainly to get the games that came with them in bundle packs) - is there a particular model that I should look out for  like the 1.1 seems to have the best of everything for me right now or am I wrong?  Which version do you think is the best and why?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Magicaldave 60]

Glad to see new blood running around the scene!

It’s kind of a personal thing. But here’s how I rank them;

1.0 being the best. That GPU fan is pretty noisy, but can actually be replaced and the additional onboard fan header allows you to get pretty creative since, as you’ve seen, it’s not really necessary. Liquid cooling, extra fans, LEDs, Et cetera can all get jammed in there pretty easy. The 1.0 consoles also have the largest TSOP chips (1Mbit) so have much higher BIOS compatibility, and, if you’re so inclined you can actually install a switch onboard to toggle between BIOSES without a modchip at all. Be careful if you do choose to attempt this as some additional steps need to be taken not to damage the board. The LPC port in this model is fully intact, so if you do need to install a modchip for some reason you can use pretty much any one you can find.

1.1 comes with literally all the above benefits, minus the extra fan header. Power still runs across that portion of the board though, so if you want it can still be used, just slightly harder to do. 

One disadvantage of these early models is that they tend to have the hazardous Foxlink PSUs. Replace ASAP if you have one in a running console.

 

Any console after these is a bit is a bit of a downgrade as they all have 256k TSOP chips at this point I believe. Some of them have Winbond or Sharp TSOP chips and are a bit harder to work with in that regard.

1.2 - 1.4 is pretty much the same and you’re not likely to see many.

1.5 is where things change a wee bit, as there are a couple pins removed from the LPC port and you’re likely to notice the problematic TSOP chips on these.

1.6 is easily the worst in terms of modding as you can only softmod. Modchips can be installed but you also have to rebuild almost of the LPC port in order to even attempt a modchip install. I will however admit that on their own I’ve found 1.6 to be the coolest (temperature wise) and quietest revision console. 

Edit: almost forgot the most important point! EVERY revision console besides 1.6 has leaky clock caps and will kill the board. They NEED TO BE REMOVED from your consoles.

Given that and performance in terms of thermals these could be seen as the ideal revision, as long as you’re not doing much tinkering. Most people who just want to play games will fetch away with a softmod just fine.

DVD drives are kind of all over the place but early consoles used the Thompson’s... they aren’t great. My ideal console would be a TSOP 1.0 with Phillips DVD drive and IND bios. 

I could probably go on but I’ll let you have your thread back haha

Edited May 30, 2019 by Magicaldave

[Ging3rguy 116]

I agree with MD regarding The V1. If you are planning to solder you TSOP bridges you will be fine rebuilding the LPC for a V1.6. Solder bridges are a lot tricker just practice on an old circuit board before you try it on your Xbox. A soldering iron with temperature control and lead based solder make it a lot simpler.

[Magicaldave 60]

35 minutes ago, Ging3rguy said:

A soldering iron with temperature control and lead based solder make it a lot simpler.

Not only that, get some good flux. I get mine from Rossmann Repair Group. You won’t need a lot but it’ll make your life very much easier. 

[KaosEngineer 725]

A dot of conductive glue across the bridge points is so much easier.  No possibility of burning a trace or pad off the motherboard.

[OGXbox Admin 184]

1.5 doesn't exist. None have ever been found and we know the tsops were programmed AFTER being soldered to the board at the factory. This means that those pins needed to be connected then and since we've never found any we know if they would have existed they would have been rare. Why spend all the money to change the fab process for a few xboxs? They wouldn't have done that. None of it makes sense. What makes sense is some goober pressed down too hard with his probe and cut that line and so he measured an open and declared a new version found. 

[Magicaldave 60]

1 hour ago, OGXbox Admin said:

1.5 doesn't exist. 

What you say makes sense but my lying eyes have to argue the point. Maybe we should start a new thread on this, but, I’m pretty confident I actually have a 1.5. I have two functional 1.4 units with some clear, if subtle, differences on the board’s design. 

Problem is some dickhead scraped ALL the pads off the TSOP chip’s place on the board and all my solder gear is MIA. But I’d be glad to post comparison photos and go deeper into it. 

[OGXbox Admin 184]

1 hour ago, Magicaldave said:

What you say makes sense but my lying eyes have to argue the point. Maybe we should start a new thread on this, but, I’m pretty confident I actually have a 1.5. I have two functional 1.4 units with some clear, if subtle, differences on the board’s design. 

Problem is some dickhead scraped ALL the pads off the TSOP chip’s place on the board and all my solder gear is MIA. But I’d be glad to post comparison photos and go deeper into it. 

Yeah let's see it.... because there is no doubt. They do not exist.

[Kekule 45]

19 hours ago, Magicaldave said:

What you say makes sense but my lying eyes have to argue the point. Maybe we should start a new thread on this, but, I’m pretty confident I actually have a 1.5. I have two functional 1.4 units with some clear, if subtle, differences on the board’s design. 

Problem is some dickhead scraped ALL the pads off the TSOP chip’s place on the board and all my solder gear is MIA. But I’d be glad to post comparison photos and go deeper into it. 

oh guys, we've spotted another unicorn!   

 

every single "1.5" I've seen has always turned out to be a 1.4..... I offered one guy to trade my Dew box for his 1.5 if he would live stream the proof.... it never happened

[N64 freak 144]

I‘m with @OGXbox Admin the rev1.5 doesn‘t exist!

I once thought i had seen one BUT it was just my mind playing a trick on me. The rev1.4 registers in XBMC (or was it the AID?) as rev 1.4/1.5... long story short i looked for that old board and even found it ... and it is of course a rev1.4.

[Magicaldave 60]

Welp, I got something. Pics and more info here: 

 

[rodman1911 0]

I've used 1.0 and 1.2 I would say any with the ability to TSOP are really the best options for the majority.  Are any of them easier to perform the 128mb mod on?

[TEK Nemesis 86]

1 hour ago, rodman1911 said:

Are any of them easier to perform the 128mb mod on?

I personally like the ones that don't have the solder on the pads.

[c0tt0nm0ufh 7]

I agree on the 1.0 being the best, from what I understand they also had the best video chips.  It seems down the road they use cheaper components to cut cust.  This is also true IMO for the PS3 CECHA. 

[nofearek9 0]

On 5/30/2019 at 2:38 PM, Magicaldave said:

Edit: almost forgot the most important point! EVERY revision console besides 1.6 has leaky clock caps and will kill the board. They NEED TO BE REMOVED from your consoles.

do you have pics?

[saxjonz 0]

Sweet to hear this! I took mine apart that was laying around for several years. I also have a green (Gears of War?) that my brother chipped and it has games on several hard drives plus MAME!, the reason I sort of want to mod both of these. One for my daughter and one for my son (10), although he has other games I think the Mame games will bring him back to his youth (4) lol. 

I am happy to find this site and that was a good question to ask. 

[VCoupe376ci 5]

On 6/2/2019 at 2:36 PM, c0tt0nm0ufh said:

I agree on the 1.0 being the best, from what I understand they also had the best video chips.  It seems down the road they use cheaper components to cut cust.  This is also true IMO for the PS3 CECHA. 

Got to agree as well so long as you are going the TSOP route. I hardmodded a skeleton 1.0 and clearing the solder out of the filled LPC port was not as simple as it should have been even with flux, a Weller temperature controlled iron, and proper Chemtronics solder braid. Easily took me well over an hour to clean all the solder out and then another 30 minutes or so cleaning all the flux from the process off the motherboard before getting to the modchip install pinheader and D0 which took about 5 minutes. I've only done one, and know how to solder so the one I did may have just been stubborn, but it would definitely steer me toward a 1.1 - 1.4 if I was going modchip and had a choice in the revision.

[VCoupe376ci 5]

On 10/29/2020 at 6:37 PM, saxjonz said:

Sweet to hear this! I took mine apart that was laying around for several years. I also have a green (Gears of War?) that my brother chipped and it has games on several hard drives plus MAME!, the reason I sort of want to mod both of these. One for my daughter and one for my son (10), although he has other games I think the Mame games will bring him back to his youth (4) lol. 

I am happy to find this site and that was a good question to ask. 

Sounds like a Halo edition. I hear you on MAME also. I grew up when every mall had an arcade that was always packed and the graphics on those games were years ahead of what home consoles could offer. It gave me the chance to finish some of my favorite CoinOp games from my childhood that I never got to finish because I didn't have the funds to keep pumping quarters in until I reached the end.

[DivideByZer0 0]

Xbox Linux and Linux-wrapped apps will only work at 640x480 on a 1.6 Xbox, due to the Xcalibur chip, whose API hasnt been published by Microsoft.  Also you can't upgrade the RAM on the 1.6, since they removed the solder pads from the motherboard.

[oldschool44 0]

I modded two OG XBoxes in the last 15 years.  My daughter has one with a pink shell and I have clear. Both 1.6 running Xecutor 2.6 solderless connections, and have only really had to worry about HDD replacement over the years which I'm doing for the first time in five years for both.  I've found data ribbons tend to be fickle, but both units are time tested and I really wouldn't, and cant, find a %100 function Xbox online anywhere.  People are screwing up the TSOP bios or the LAN ports are dead and they never knew it(lower models).  I digress, but the moral of the story here is My 1.6's have lasted me over a decade reliably and I really don't see any reason to replace either one of them.

On 5/30/2019 at 6:38 AM, Magicaldave said:

Glad to see new blood running around the scene!

It’s kind of a personal thing. But here’s how I rank them;

1.0 being the best. That GPU fan is pretty noisy, but can actually be replaced and the additional onboard fan header allows you to get pretty creative since, as you’ve seen, it’s not really necessary. Liquid cooling, extra fans, LEDs, Et cetera can all get jammed in there pretty easy. The 1.0 consoles also have the largest TSOP chips (1Mbit) so have much higher BIOS compatibility, and, if you’re so inclined you can actually install a switch onboard to toggle between BIOSES without a modchip at all. Be careful if you do choose to attempt this as some additional steps need to be taken not to damage the board. The LPC port in this model is fully intact, so if you do need to install a modchip for some reason you can use pretty much any one you can find.

1.1 comes with literally all the above benefits, minus the extra fan header. Power still runs across that portion of the board though, so if you want it can still be used, just slightly harder to do. 

One disadvantage of these early models is that they tend to have the hazardous Foxlink PSUs. Replace ASAP if you have one in a running console.

 

Any console after these is a bit is a bit of a downgrade as they all have 256k TSOP chips at this point I believe. Some of them have Winbond or Sharp TSOP chips and are a bit harder to work with in that regard.

1.2 - 1.4 is pretty much the same and you’re not likely to see many.

1.5 is where things change a wee bit, as there are a couple pins removed from the LPC port and you’re likely to notice the problematic TSOP chips on these.

1.6 is easily the worst in terms of modding as you can only softmod. Modchips can be installed but you also have to rebuild almost of the LPC port in order to even attempt a modchip install. I will however admit that on their own I’ve found 1.6 to be the coolest (temperature wise) and quietest revision console. 

Edit: almost forgot the most important point! EVERY revision console besides 1.6 has leaky clock caps and will kill the board. They NEED TO BE REMOVED from your consoles.

Given that and performance in terms of thermals these could be seen as the ideal revision, as long as you’re not doing much tinkering. Most people who just want to play games will fetch away with a softmod just fine.

DVD drives are kind of all over the place but early consoles used the Thompson’s... they aren’t great. My ideal console would be a TSOP 1.0 with Phillips DVD drive and IND bios. 

I could probably go on but I’ll let you have your thread back haha

 

On 5/30/2019 at 6:38 AM, Magicaldave said:

Glad to see new blood running around the scene!

It’s kind of a personal thing. But here’s how I rank them;

1.0 being the best. That GPU fan is pretty noisy, but can actually be replaced and the additional onboard fan header allows you to get pretty creative since, as you’ve seen, it’s not really necessary. Liquid cooling, extra fans, LEDs, Et cetera can all get jammed in there pretty easy. The 1.0 consoles also have the largest TSOP chips (1Mbit) so have much higher BIOS compatibility, and, if you’re so inclined you can actually install a switch onboard to toggle between BIOSES without a modchip at all. Be careful if you do choose to attempt this as some additional steps need to be taken not to damage the board. The LPC port in this model is fully intact, so if you do need to install a modchip for some reason you can use pretty much any one you can find.

1.1 comes with literally all the above benefits, minus the extra fan header. Power still runs across that portion of the board though, so if you want it can still be used, just slightly harder to do. 

One disadvantage of these early models is that they tend to have the hazardous Foxlink PSUs. Replace ASAP if you have one in a running console.

 

Any console after these is a bit is a bit of a downgrade as they all have 256k TSOP chips at this point I believe. Some of them have Winbond or Sharp TSOP chips and are a bit harder to work with in that regard.

1.2 - 1.4 is pretty much the same and you’re not likely to see many.

1.5 is where things change a wee bit, as there are a couple pins removed from the LPC port and you’re likely to notice the problematic TSOP chips on these.

1.6 is easily the worst in terms of modding as you can only softmod. Modchips can be installed but you also have to rebuild almost of the LPC port in order to even attempt a modchip install. I will however admit that on their own I’ve found 1.6 to be the coolest (temperature wise) and quietest revision console. 

Edit: almost forgot the most important point! EVERY revision console besides 1.6 has leaky clock caps and will kill the board. They NEED TO BE REMOVED from your consoles.

Given that and performance in terms of thermals these could be seen as the ideal revision, as long as you’re not doing much tinkering. Most people who just want to play games will fetch away with a softmod just fine.

DVD drives are kind of all over the place but early consoles used the Thompson’s... they aren’t great. My ideal console would be a TSOP 1.0 with Phillips DVD drive and IND bios. 

I could probably go on but I’ll let you have your thread back haha

 

[eightbit 5]

I'd say 1.4 is the best. No particular reason other than it is the version I have and I have had nothing but the best of luck with it

Well...aside from some trace repair. But that was the clock capacitor's fault, not the board

 

[big F 36]

From a point of newer components are going to be  better age wise a 1.6 is best but for the ability to do things with the 1.0 has got to be the best.

I have several of each except the fabled unicorn 1.5 and love the 1.0 to work on the best.

[Lina_Inverse_ 1]

I'd argue the 1.6 due to the fact the clock capacitor doesn't leak. Most of mine are 1.4 which I've had no issues with after sorting out the common issues.

[SS_Dave 609]

9 hours ago, Lina_Inverse_ said:

I'd argue the 1.6 due to the fact the clock capacitor doesn't leak. Most of mine are 1.4 which I've had no issues with after sorting out the common issues.

Don't start thinking that the clock cap in a version 1.6 doesn't leak it's just a matter of time and there has been cases of the 1.6 cap starting to bulge like all the others.

All capacitors are going to fail.

 

As for the better board the 1.0 - 1.4 because of the Ram upgrade ability and TSOP flashing ability, but the 1.6 would be good for a super slim as it can run off a fairly simple power supply (5 volt standby,5 volt switched,  12 volt switched, ground, power on signal)

 

SS Dave

Soft modding is like masturbating, It gets the job done but it's nothing like the real thing.

[big F 36]

6 hours ago, SS_Dave said:

Don't start thinking that the clock cap in a version 1.6 doesn't leak it's just a matter of time and there has been cases of the 1.6 cap starting to bulge like all the others.

All capacitors are going to fail.

Agreed, one has simply to google regarding this, which affects vintage computers, by vintage I mean late 80’s and early 90’s. I have Amigas and they do have this issue badly in both computers and psu.