Mr.Manchester

My premium 360 drive doesnt always read the games plus it seems to be getting louder day by day!

Im going to trade it in this week and buy an arcade console with HDMI and plonk my spare HDD on it.

Question is, are they much quieter and what do i look out for to ensure i get the falcon chip?

Boro

iTrader: (1)

Look for this on the box...

messiah

The machines with the falcon chip have the manufacture team FDOU and have manufacture date of 1st October or after - the power supply is also 175W rather than 203W but I dont know if you can tell that without opening the box.#

IIRC, all HDMI Arcades have the Falcon chipset.

Mr.Manchester

So i should be sorted then!

Are they a lot quieter than the older models and whats with the falcon chip? are they just quieter and cooler?

messiah

Don't know if its any quieter, think a few people have said they are - think bob269 has the new Elite so try asking him,

My ELite is one of the older models and doesnt have it, AFAIK the falcon chips are cooler and have an additonal heat sink for the CPU.

gotmashed

Yes they are quieter and cooler runing i cant fry eggs on my new one. If its got hdmi it got the cooler falcon chips in other than elite that is then its still hit and miss.

Mr.Manchester

what about the new premiums are they hit and miss?

gotmashed

They should all be new but it depends on the shop and if they have old stock best thing to do is ask to see box if it has hdmi its the new chipset if it hasnt then try another one.

RB5-Black

lol can you induce the RROD ?

StickyMicky

mart reckons his elite is much quieter then his old box, not sure what you class as a noisy one, mine is no noiser then my pc?

google spellchecker cant fix "noiser" and i`m pissed so **** it LOL

messiah

Strange - I thought the only way to guarantee Falcon set was to get an Arcade or a Halo LE - I thought a lot of people had been getting the Arcade and then buying the HDD seperatly.

PeteBrant

When you have to turn the TV up over the noise of the DVD spinning, then it's a noisy one.


To be fair, the 360 is ridiculously noisy for a console - It even makes the Dreamcast seem quiet.

Neanderthal

iTrader: (6)

With mine, all I have to do is take it downstairs into the lounge and it'll RROD 4 out of 5 times, yet up in the study where I usually play, it'll work faultlessly!
I would imagine just put it in a position where it'll over heat and the 'magical' RROD light show will be yours to enjoy

messiah

Thats odd - must be some power supply issue - are you using a dodgy 4 way adapter somewhere?

Mr.Manchester

Well i went to gamestation with my 360 premium, id had 7 pre-owned premiums in 6 months!

They gave me a refund!

So i bought a new Elite with NFS Pro Street, It does have the 175w on the box, im well chuffed!

DJ Dunk

iTrader: (5)

Result So, is it any quieter ?

Mr.Manchester

Miles quieter!

I have another old premium in another room, i can here that from here!

Neanderthal

iTrader: (6)

In the study it's plugged into a 4 way extension cable, downstairs (where it RROD) it's plugged straight into the wall!

stiscooby

I got an new Elite a few weeks before x-mas. Not sure what chipset it is but it's not noisy until a CD/DVD goes into it, then the mother spins up and you can hear it.

Is this normal as I haven't used any other x-box to compare it to?

PeteBrant

Yup - The DVD Drive is ridiculous.

bob269

When playing games only, (and pretty much down to sloppy lazy optimizing by the programmers) my pc drive is noisey when spinning full whack. PS3 has the advantage that bluray can retrieve more data thus spins much much slower than dvd.

PeteBrant

Well yeah, depends on how often the drive is accessing the disc. For example Mass Effect requires me to bump the surround amp right up

Obviously the PC is slightly different because it's a one off thing - You are installing to the HDD. Once you have done that you don't have the noise.

Jimmy Dell

I've just imported a North American Arcade and that has also 203w on the box, although the manufacture date on the back of the console is the 24th November 2007.

chrisowe

What offer did you get at Gamestation? They were doing Console, extra wireless controller and 3 games for £299.99 but I think its gone up to £319.99. I was thinking of trading in my Premium.

Mr.Manchester

I meant to say blockbuster in my original post, Gamestation were doing that offer at £319.99 but it had viva pinata, forza 2 and assasins creed or kane & lynch plus another controller.

I wasnt interested in any of the extras plus gamestation is miles from me.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Having ot an Elite myself recently I can confirm hat the only way to definately tell whether it has the Falcon chip is to look at the power consumption figure; if it's a Falcon it's 175w. Happily this is clearly printed on the side of the box so you can check easily. The date of manufacture, development team, lot number etc are all indicators too, but not definitive like the power consumption figure; they are also hidden away behind the flap in the box and can be hard to see.

CD Drive is quite noisy I find, but the rest seems very quiet and it certaily doesn't get hot to touch, even after extended gaming.

I think it's a great console.
Ns04

GazTheHat

My bro bought a X360 at christmas (from GAME) and has lent it to me for January.

Cost £229 with extra wireless controller and Forza2/Viva Pinata.

It was advertised as a Premium Console. We asked if it was HDMI and was told it was. It was only after we bought it i noticed the other shops advertising the Pro version and i thought i'd screwed up and we'd bought the old machine.

It has HDMI and has 175w on that label. Still a noisy console, but having fun.


Not so happy with Colin McRae DIRT though. There's plenty of slowdown, popup and the screen (Viera - Component) flickers. That and the co-driver misses corners and calls them late. Not the rally experience i was hoping for. 6.5/10 at best. Hoping Bioshock and Forza2 will be better....