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

[HDShadow]

I'd argue for a v1.2/v1.3 - younger than v1.0/v1.1 but still with the Conexant video chip, TSOP-able and often fitted with the better Samsung 605B DVD drive.

The younger and less used the better, particularly in relation to capacitors but the v1.6 lets itself down with Xcalibur video chip problem, less easy to chip and no TSOP. The v1.4 I'd go for if it wasn't for the fact the Focus video chip in mine clearly needs very different TV picture settings from any of the other Xboxes I've owned. Could be a one off thing but when that's all you have to judge it by you have to go with that. 

Now I'd go with any Xbox version with a well treated Hitachi DVD drive. That's simply because the DVD drive is the Xbox hardware weak point and the Hitachi, if not perfect, is proving to be the most mechanically reliable of the lot. 

[xboxdanny]

Apparently the Focus and Conexant chips have the Cr and Cb subsampled to half in the horizontal direction, so I guess the 1.6/1.6b is best if you're not doing a HDMI mod.

If you are doing a HDMI mod, then 1.0 with 128MB RAM with 1MB BIOS is awesome.

[XJR9000]

I personally like the 1.0 It has a fan on the heatsink and the TSOP is 1024kb.  I have done the 128mb mod on it with much success.

[neakmenter]

Regarding Dave's earlier commend regarding 1.6 boards, that "ALL capacitors fail" at some point.

Yeah - I do get that. Electronics age. Capacitors have a lifespan.

But I've got some amplifiers, computers, and other electronics from the 60s, 70s and 80s that have no failed capacitors (as yet) I haven't taken them out and tested, but these simpler boards seem happy enough that they're close enough to spec to still work well.

I think our issue might be Capacitor plague - Wikipedia - last couple of paragraphs are particularly interesting!

As it was exceptionally poor manufacturing and bad copies of chemistry in many fabs, and the problem seems to have been solved since 2008, maybe once we re-cap our xboxs, they'll last for some 40 years or more...? Here's hoping! It is probable though that all revisions of the OGXbox suffer some dodgy caps just due to the timeline.  Y'know. It does give me hope that maybe a modern replacement supercap as 1.1-1.4 clockcap wouldn't be such a corrosion timebomb... maybe?

Edited March 28, 2021 by neakmenter

[big F]

The Commodore Amiga also sufferers with dodgy caps. Although 90% of it is with the later models namely the A600,  A1200  and A4000. All of which use the same crappy bean can style surface-mount caps. They like the clock caps leak and destroy the board.   The earlier Amigas only have issues with the rechargeable batteries used in the clock circuit, as they all used conventional boards with no surface mount parts.

That said some seem to benefit with  a change of caps to newer ones, presumably new high quality caps are tighter on the tolerances and added to the old caps maybe slipping in capacity or voltage makes a difference.

 

All my collection of OGs have where applicable had the cap removed because they mostly were showing signs of leaking or had.

 Except one, that for the last Ten years has been stored in the loft, which cycles between barmy hot in the summer and damp/freezing in the winter. 
The cap on it as of today is mot leaking. I had simply forgotten about that Xbox needing to be looked at.

Go figure on that.

[SS_Dave]

The capacitor leakage is not just games consoles and computers, This is a mid to late 2000s BMW radio and the customers complaint was no front left audio.

 

And this is not the 1st time I have seen this in a car audio unit.

 

We can only hope the capacitors that are been used now will last longer or at least not leak a corrosive liquid.

 

 

Cheers

SS Dave

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

 

[big F]

That may be why mine stopped working then.

 

The 90’s-2000’s really fuelled the start of our throw away society.

[phrunt]

Bringing this old thread back to life, as Cerbios has changed the game a bit, the 1.6's now no longer suffer from game incompatibility, they run everything just fine, I've never had any trace problems on a 1.6 but plenty of 1.4's.  Caps go on the 1.6's from what I've seen especially around the PSU entry, but an easy fix and they certainly go on my 1.4's, not yet had 1.1 caps blow out, I'm using Pal Xboxes for all of mine.

So with these changes, now have opinions changed? I've always like the idea of the more simple board design of the 1.6.

I've never had a 1.0, but have a few 1.1's, a few 1.4's and a few 1.6's, the 1.6's other than the game compatibility problem which is now solved have certainly been the most reliable, the 1.4's randomly freeze especially when FTP'ing large amounts of data over to them, never had this on a 1.1 or 1.6.

 

[nikeymikey]

2 hours ago, phrunt said:

Bringing this old thread back to life, as Cerbios has changed the game a bit, the 1.6's now no longer suffer from game incompatibility, they run everything just fine, I've never had any trace problems on a 1.6 but plenty of 1.4's.  Caps go on the 1.6's from what I've seen especially around the PSU entry, but an easy fix and they certainly go on my 1.4's, not yet had 1.1 caps blow out, I'm using Pal Xboxes for all of mine.

So with these changes, now have opinions changed? I've always like the idea of the more simple board design of the 1.6.

I've never had a 1.0, but have a few 1.1's, a few 1.4's and a few 1.6's, the 1.6's other than the game compatibility problem which is now solved have certainly been the most reliable, the 1.4's randomly freeze especially when FTP'ing large amounts of data over to them, never had this on a 1.1 or 1.6.

 

I currently have 4x 1.0, 1x 1.1, 2x1.4 and a 1.6. All have had their main caps replaced, along with the usual general maintenance. 

1 of the 1.0s will only boot if I push down on the modchip while powering up (I believe this maybe down to a missing D0 trace on the bottom of the board) 

Another 1.0 has a noisy GPU fan. I am going to swap in the one from the other problem board for now to fix that. 

The other 1.0's and the 1.1 both work perfectly, no sign of any trace rot or anything. 

Both 1.4's also have zero issues and one of these is my main console. 

The 1.6 is an old console that I had from years ago (approx 2006, my first modded console!!) that had an internet connection issue. I recently got brave enough to swap in a new ethernet port and network controller chip and that now runs perfectly also. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is that any version of xbox can still be great in 2024 as long as its been looked after and maintained. Considering 3 of the 1.0 and the 1.1 are all console I bought recently as "for repair" and all it took to get all of them back to life was either general maintenance and/or a hdd replacement, I would say there's many more out there in very similar situations. One of them literally only needed the clock cap removing and cleaning up to get it running. 

 

 

[fox]

On 5/30/2019 at 1:24 AM, C64MidRezzie said:

Which version do you think is the best and why?

1.2/3/4

none of the hassle of 1.6 if you wanna hardmod or upgrade the ram, and no damn daughterboard like the 1.0/1.1

Edited September 6, 2024 by fox

[Dempsey_86]

4 hours ago, fox said:

and no damn daughterboard like the 1.0/1.1

Only the 1.0 had the daughterboard.

[nikeymikey]

I don't see anything wrong with the daughterboard to be honest. Sometimes its easier connecting that than it is the individual the individual cables lol  

 

[lopenator]

my favorite rev is 1.6. why? lpc rebuilding is easy for me. 128mb ram was fun. With mine being HDMI modded I don't suffer from any encoder issues. Latest cerbios fixed that anyway. The board is always trace rot free (atleast all the ones I've seen). It pulls least amount of amps and runs cooler than all other rev due to being more efficient. it's also the youngest rev so it's more likely to be in good condition

Edited September 6, 2024 by lopenator

[Dempsey_86]

1 hour ago, nikeymikey said:

I don't see anything wrong with the daughterboard to be honest. Sometimes its easier connecting that than it is the individual the individual cables lol  

People probably hate it because it is something extra that can break. Just like the fan on the GPU.

[Dempsey_86]

18 minutes ago, lopenator said:

my favorite rev is 1.6. why? lpc rebuilding is easy for me. 128mb ram was fun. With mine being HDMI modded I don't suffer from any encoder issues. Latest cerbios fixed that anyway. The board is always trace rot free (atleast all the ones I've seen). It pulls least amount of amps and runs cooler than all other rev due to being more efficient. it's also the youngest rev so it's more likely to be in good condition

idk about the ram stacking, seems fragile to me. Even that I have the soldering skills, I don't like the 1.6 because the extra work on it (ram upgrade does take longer than on previous revisions for example, same for a mod chip) and prefer 1.2-1.4 myself.

[Mittns]

31 minutes ago, lopenator said:

It pulls least amount of amps and runs cooler than all other rev due to being more efficient.

Nah, the 1.6 runs even hotter than the other revisions. 

My stock 1.6 had up to ~67°C under load. 

Both of my old 1.4 was maximum about 60°C.

 

After replacing the thermal paste and removing 2 0-Ohm resistors next to the cpu, i have now about 57°C under load.

 

I think all of the boards are ok if you maintain it. 

Except for ram upgrade (stacking), the 1.6 is horrible.

Fragged one of my 1.4 and 1.6 and it's annoying to find the issue for the ram failure so i throw it away and just keep some spare parts. 

(And I'm not clumsy with the soldering iron.) 

The boxes are too sensitive if you use  soldering iron on the RAM, it's just annoying of you have to idea which pin or which component is causing problems.

It even can die if you just heat a few of its legs.

It would be great if there was a way to check the 4 original RAMs with some kind of LED blinking code or something like that.

Edited September 6, 2024 by Mittns

[lopenator]

13 minutes ago, Mittns said:

Nah, the 1.6 runs even hotter than the other revisions. 

My stock 1.6 had up to ~67°C under load. 

Both of my old 1.4 was maximum about 60°C.

 

After replacing the thermal paste and removing 2 0-Ohm resistors next to the cpu, i have now about 57°C under load.

 

I think all of the boards are ok if you maintain it. 

Except for ram upgrade (stacking), the 1.6 is horrible.

Fragged one of my 1.4 and 1.6 and it's annoying to find the issue for the ram failure so i throw it away and just keep some spare parts. 

(And I'm not clumsy with the soldering iron.) 

The boxes are too sensitive if you use  soldering iron on the RAM, it's just annoying of you have to idea which pin or which component is causing problems.

It even can die if you just heat a few of its legs.

It would be great if there was a way to check the 4 original RAMs with some kind of LED blinking code or something like that.

how are you getting your temp reading on the 1.6?

Edited September 6, 2024 by lopenator

[trencherfield]

Out of nostalgia, the 1.0 as it was the release console and PCB from Hungary, not China. (some 1.0/1.1 are Mexico)

Edited September 6, 2024 by trencherfield
added more info

[fox]

3 hours ago, Dempsey_86 said:

Only the 1.0 had the daughterboard.

Whoops, lol. I haven't seen a 1.1 in ages.

3 hours ago, nikeymikey said:

I don't see anything wrong with the daughterboard to be honest. Sometimes its easier connecting that than it is the individual the individual cables lol 

It wiggles. Its connectors are fragile. It makes you curve the controller port cables around. It's in the way of inserting the power/eject board cable. It just sucks.

[Mittns]

2 hours ago, lopenator said:

how are you getting your temp reading on the 1.6?

I compared multiple values with some dashboards, xblast and the actual xbmc4gamers. 

In one of the last updates in xbmc4gamers was also a fix for false temperature readings for 1.6. 

Either way, the temperatures have dropped by several degrees. 2-3°C for new thermal paste and the rest because of removing the 2 resistors.

[Bowlsnapper]

I haven't really heard much support for the 1.1. I agree with @fox and @Dempsey_86 about the 1.0 daughterboard. When performing a ram upgrade (Especially, with all the removing and re-inserting the motherboard for XBlast testing when doing the chips one at a time, which thankfully I have stopped doing because my soldering skill level doesn't necessitate it anymore) or really any motherboard modifications, dealing with the daughterboard is a downright pain in the ass. I HATE that thing with every fiber of my being. Not only is there the fact that it's something extra to remove and replace, but the front panel molex needs to snake over it. This cannot be done after plugging the front panel in because the board needs to sit under it and there is not enough slack in the cable to get around needing to do it in that order. There is also the fact that the daughterboard is then in the way of the FP molex because the socket is RIGHT UP against the board and it requires a unique skill in itself to plug it in so damn close to it. I hate this. It also is in the way of the motherboard being removed if you don't want to unplug the controller ports from it and you need to hook it over the front panel to keep it out of the way. It slows things down considerably if you are doing regular hardware modification on multiple consoles. The 1.0 mobo is practically alpha status and it is cool in that regard, but it is no surprise that MS removed the DB in all later revisions, if for no other reason than it was cheaper to do so with less parts and PCBs to manufacture.

The inclusion of LFrame is something that has been particularly important in my ventures lately, and this means that I am needing to work with either 1.0-1.1 boards or hoping for a 1.2, which is visually indistinguishable from a 1.3 and is not common. Only a few people have confirmed a 1.2 (instead of 1.3) by checking for continuity between the LFrame MCPX via and the LPC pin. A lot still argue that they do not exist as a retail option and were only ever devkit revisions, as LFrame was necessary for any real serial debugging. 

I am starting to settle on the 1.1 as a favorite revision, because it includes LFrame, has a TSOP and can be RAM upgraded but does not have the god damn daughterboard. I still hate the single row ATX connector, but that is a minor inconvenience when faced with the prospect of dealing with the controller daughterboard. I think it is a nice middle ground and balanced compromise. My second is the 1.4; RAM upgrades possible, with no daughterboard and with TSOP present with the LPC not disassembled. 

Yesterday I plugged in the single row shifted down one pin on accident and I'm glad I didn't fry anything. This is a possible mistake with the single row connector, but is thankfully not much of a risk as long as you're paying attention, which I regretfully wasn't doing at the time.

[nikeymikey]

3 hours ago, Bowlsnapper said:

I haven't really heard much support for the 1.1. I agree with @fox and @Dempsey_86 about the 1.0 daughterboard. When performing a ram upgrade (Especially, with all the removing and re-inserting the motherboard for XBlast testing when doing the chips one at a time, which thankfully I have stopped doing because my soldering skill level doesn't necessitate it anymore) or really any motherboard modifications, dealing with the daughterboard is a downright pain in the ass. I HATE that thing with every fiber of my being. Not only is there the fact that it's something extra to remove and replace, but the front panel molex needs to snake over it. This cannot be done after plugging the front panel in because the board needs to sit under it and there is not enough slack in the cable to get around needing to do it in that order. There is also the fact that the daughterboard is then in the way of the FP molex because the socket is RIGHT UP against the board and it requires a unique skill in itself to plug it in so damn close to it. I hate this. It also is in the way of the motherboard being removed if you don't want to unplug the controller ports from it and you need to hook it over the front panel to keep it out of the way. It slows things down considerably if you are doing regular hardware modification on multiple consoles. The 1.0 mobo is practically alpha status and it is cool in that regard, but it is no surprise that MS removed the DB in all later revisions, if for no other reason than it was cheaper to do so with less parts and PCBs to manufacture.

The inclusion of LFrame is something that has been particularly important in my ventures lately, and this means that I am needing to work with either 1.0-1.1 boards or hoping for a 1.2, which is visually indistinguishable from a 1.3 and is not common. Only a few people have confirmed a 1.2 (instead of 1.3) by checking for continuity between the LFrame MCPX via and the LPC pin. A lot still argue that they do not exist as a retail option and were only ever devkit revisions, as LFrame was necessary for any real serial debugging. 

I am starting to settle on the 1.1 as a favorite revision, because it includes LFrame, has a TSOP and can be RAM upgraded but does not have the god damn daughterboard. I still hate the single row ATX connector, but that is a minor inconvenience when faced with the prospect of dealing with the controller daughterboard. I think it is a nice middle ground and balanced compromise. My second is the 1.4; RAM upgrades possible, with no daughterboard and with TSOP present with the LPC not disassembled. 

Yesterday I plugged in the single row shifted down one pin on accident and I'm glad I didn't fry anything. This is a possible mistake with the single row connector, but is thankfully not much of a risk as long as you're paying attention, which I regretfully wasn't doing at the time.

I think your thinking about it too much lol

[phrunt]

At least they didn't do them like the early PC AT power supplies where they came split, some weren't even keyed so you could get them wrong easily, and many did. 

This one was keyed where it could join together, but many weren't.  An accident waiting to happen.  With the XBOX they quickly switched to ATX connectors probably with incidents at the factories of incorrectly plugged in PSU's

 

[fox]

14 hours ago, Bowlsnapper said:

There is also the fact that the daughterboard is then in the way of the FP molex because the socket is RIGHT UP against the board and it requires a unique skill in itself to plug it in so damn close to it. 

I don't know about needing a skill for that. Use tweezers, or just hold the plug over top and press down with a screwdriver or a claw.

[nikeymikey]

19 minutes ago, fox said:

I don't know about needing a skill for that. Use tweezers, or just hold the plug over top and press down with a screwdriver or a claw.

I just usually  use my fingers

but yes a small screwdriver is the way to push it in easily