Modding Dreams/Dreaming Too Big?

[D3ATHCOR3DAD]

Hello all, new here. Just had some questions about the best ways to bring my dream Xbox to life. What I'm going for overall should be simple in theory, but I'm here to be steered in the right direction if that makes sense. I'm essentially trying to do a combination of a few different mods I've seen videos of. And I'm mostly just here to ask if it's possible to do these things together and the best way to go about it.

Edited November 27, 2022 by D3ATHCOR3DAD
Additional Info/Title Edit

[KaosEngineer]

And, these mods are?

[D3ATHCOR3DAD]

Well, the simple things are a ModChip with one of the custom OSs, HDMI display, SSD, and to get rid of the Disk Drive. I'm essentially trying to combine a few ideas from both of these videos.

 

And I'm more of less just asking if it's possible and what the best way to go about it would be and if any actual hardware upgrades would be necessary for this. (RAM and any other components)

[prtscn]

Removing DVD drive is kinda useless, HDD space is cheap nowadays.

Butchering perfectly fine case to slim it down is herecy, unless you make a custom case from scratch. Butchered cases looks not proportional, misses key aspects of original design.

SSD is useless cost wise, unless you want a super silent console.

Now for a good upgrades.

MakeMHZ, pricey, hard to install, it has over-brightness issue, may crush some bright detail and there is no proof for complying with color standards.

Alternative would be component to HDMI transcoder. Or simply using component cable with component input compatible TV. You can DIY component cable from xbox 360 cable. There are standalone xbox to HDMI cables, but they are hit or miss, proper trascoder would be a more reliable option.

Modchip, you can TSOP if compatible motherboard. Modchip price ranges from cheap to expensive. But softmod is also a good option, if you don't use super big drives, ram upgrades, probably you could start with softmod and then buy modchip if you decide you want more from your xbox.

RAM upgrades, not huge benfit TBH, unless for few chihiro games and for 128MB homebrew. Not worth in IMO if you not gonna use any of mentioned.

HDD upgrade is a must, i think 2TB is max for softomd, but i see people using 3TB not sure if softmod, with modchip you can use way bigger drives. You can use cheap ide adapter for 8 bucks or less, works as good as brand one.

I discourage replacing thermal paste from GPU, for CPU you can replace it, if you break the compound bond between heatsink and cpu, otherwise don't even touch them IMO.

Fan upgrade is a good upgrade, best is to match characteristics of original FAN, otherwise you will have to guess fan speed to compensate for less air pulling fan.

 

[coldasijs]

@prtscn although on paper an SSD shouldn’t improve load times because the data bus is limiting, but in reality ssd does make a difference https://www.retrorgb.com/og-xbox-storage-upgrade-shootout.html. This was tested without UDMA5, that might make the difference even bigger. I at leat did get a nice load time improvement on my SSD XBOX after UDMA 5 BIOS upgrade.

And the price difference for small SSD’s (<1 TB) isn’t to spectacular. For me it was worth the money especially with a quiet fan installed.

[prtscn]

13 minutes ago, coldasijs said:

@prtscn although on paper an SSD shouldn’t improve load times because the data bus is limiting, but in reality ssd does make a difference https://www.retrorgb.com/og-xbox-storage-upgrade-shootout.html. This was tested without UDMA5, that might make the difference even bigger. I at leat did get a nice load time improvement on my SSD XBOX after UDMA 5 BIOS upgrade.

And the price difference for small SSD’s (<1 TB) isn’t to spectacular. For me it was worth the money especially with a quiet fan installed.

Good point, but xbox already have fantastic load time with upgraded HDD and stock bios. Test results show that difference between SSD is minimal with stock bios. Yeah we need to see what UDMA 5 has to offer.

SSD will have better random reads, seek time, better for fragmented files, since xbox uses extracted game files. But it this can be prevented by having a big drive.

I like big HDD, because i load it with DVD movies/tv series and games.

https://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Plus-Internal-Drive/dp/B09QQX27GM/ref=sr_1_8?crid=1AJNDJH8PW2GW&keywords=2tb%2Bhdd&qid=1669588027&sprefix=2tb%2Bhdd%2Caps%2C196&sr=8-8&th=1

8TB for 130$, do the math :DDD.

Edited November 27, 2022 by prtscn

[D3ATHCOR3DAD]

Lots of great suggestions guys, thanks. I'll likely still remove the Disk Drive as I'm wanting to do everything loaded from a drive like in the one video. I'll continue to do research and get other opinions before I settle on a final decision. 

 

And yes, I'm either going to leave the original case just as is and give it a paintjob, or I'll 3D print a new case to house it all.

 

[Bowlsnapper]

13 hours ago, prtscn said:

Removing DVD drive is kinda useless, HDD space is cheap nowadays.

Butchering perfectly fine case to slim it down is herecy, unless you make a custom case from scratch. Butchered cases looks not proportional, misses key aspects of original design.

SSD is useless cost wise, unless you want a super silent console.

Now for a good upgrades.

MakeMHZ, pricey, hard to install, it has over-brightness issue, may crush some bright detail and there is no proof for complying with color standards.

Alternative would be component to HDMI transcoder. Or simply using component cable with component input compatible TV. You can DIY component cable from xbox 360 cable. There are standalone xbox to HDMI cables, but they are hit or miss, proper trascoder would be a more reliable option.

Modchip, you can TSOP if compatible motherboard. Modchip price ranges from cheap to expensive. But softmod is also a good option, if you don't use super big drives, ram upgrades, probably you could start with softmod and then buy modchip if you decide you want more from your xbox.

RAM upgrades, not huge benfit TBH, unless for few chihiro games and for 128MB homebrew. Not worth in IMO if you not gonna use any of mentioned.

HDD upgrade is a must, i think 2TB is max for softomd, but i see people using 3TB not sure if softmod, with modchip you can use way bigger drives. You can use cheap ide adapter for 8 bucks or less, works as good as brand one.

I discourage replacing thermal paste from GPU, for CPU you can replace it, if you break the compound bond between heatsink and cpu, otherwise don't even touch them IMO.

Fan upgrade is a good upgrade, best is to match characteristics of original FAN, otherwise you will have to guess fan speed to compensate for less air pulling fan.

 

Never soft mod a console... EVER.

8 hours ago, D3ATHCOR3DAD said:

Lots of great suggestions guys, thanks. I'll likely still remove the Disk Drive as I'm wanting to do everything loaded from a drive like in the one video. I'll continue to do research and get other opinions before I settle on a final decision. 

 

And yes, I'm either going to leave the original case just as is and give it a paintjob, or I'll 3D print a new case to house it all.

 

What advantage is there to taking out the DVD drive? I guess if you're gonna have a custom case... But you have your work cut out for you. Good luck!