Getting a 360 soon - need some advice

[Kenobi]

After some undecision (for those who care, you can check previous topic here: http://www.bjorn3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20202), I guess I'm going for a X-Box 360.

I've got a few questions, though. I found a Premium pack with Call of Duty 3 included for 350 €. That's great news, considering that 350 € is the normal price for the Premium pack with no game, and that this is the only Cod game that I don't have.

The thing is, I've read that the most recent 360 batches are less likely to get the dreaded Red Ring of Death. So, should I go for the best deal, or "lose" the game and go for a more recent console?

Also, I'm thinking of getting a VGA cable to connect the 360 to my Philips 170C.
I have a Creative Inspire 5100 speaker system. Is there any way I can connect the console to the speakers? I can live without 5.1 sound, if necessary.

[SwedBear]

CoD3 unfortunately was pretty bad so I'm not sure you should select an older Premium just for that game. You should be able to pick it up pretty cheap anyway as it is old.

I would rather suggest you get a brand new Premium just to make sure you get one of the newer ones or even an Elite if you know you will use the Video Marketplace.

Using VGA works fine but I would say that if you can you should first test it with component. I used to use component a long time before I got the Elite and started using HDMI. If you get a new Premium you get HDMI so if your TV supports it, use that.

as for your speaker system. Nope, you cannot hook it up directly. As far as I can see your speaker system has three calbes that connects to the sound card on a pC. The 360 on the other hand either uses simple red/white RCA cables or an optic cable. What you need is something like this: http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=4&subcategory=136&product=9468

which will give you full 5.1 sound with your speakers.

My GamerTag is SwedBear. Feel free to add me (make sure mentioning that it is you when sending friends request) when you have your 360.

/B

[s_gibson]

Ditto to what Bear said. I'd opt for the newer console. HDMI allows you 1080p and also allows you to upconvert your DVD's (not that I buy consoles to use as DVD players).

If I were going to buy a new one I would buy the Elite. I could care less about it being black. As a matter of fact, I wish they sold a white one also. The 120gig hard drive is something I never figured I'd need, but I've I'm starting to get to a point where my 20gig is full and new 20gig drives are $99. New 120gigs are $179 which I think is crazy. For an additional $100 at the start you can get a 120gig and have 6 times the space. If you get a lot of arcade games, addons for you other games, movies and enjoy downloading and playing demos you might get about a year out of it if your lucky, before you have to start deleting stuff or give them the $100 anyway. With the XBox Classics on there now you can suck up space even more quickly.

I guess I'm on of the ones that is in the minority for COD3. My son and I both enjoy it much more than COD2. We didn't buy it at first because we heard it was terrible and buggy, but found a copy for $20 and played it almost daily until Halo 3 came out. I would not get a non HDMI console just to get it, considering I have been seeing them in bargain bins around here.

[SwedBear]

I must admit that I never played COD3 much so you might be right that it is better than its reputation. COD4 though is absolutely brilliant. I finished the campaign pretty quickly (plan on replaying it on harder difficulty) and am really enjoying the multiplayer.

As s_gibson said, the 20 GB can fill up after a while. When I had it though I usually deleted demos when I stopped playing them so it never was near filling up even though I had it set to download every trial version of the Xbox Arcade games. The original Xbox games though they are offering now will suck up space though so the Elite is a nice choice.

/B

[slugbug]

The COD3 XBOX 360 bundle is from earlier in the year. Newer Premium units come with an HDMI connection and have better cooling.

[Kenobi]

Unfortunately, I only had the chance to read your replies after I got home from work - already with the Cod3 pack. It was the only one left, so I decided to take the chance. I would get CoD3 anyway, and that game costs 30 € new - which means that I basically got that game for free.

HDMI means little to me, as my TV doesn't have that type of connection. As for the RROD, well, nobody proved that the newer batch of consoles is immune to this kind of error, so I guess that one way or the other it's a matter of luck.

I really appreciate the replies, everyone. This really is a helpful community.

For anyone who might care, I grabbed Halo 3, Mass Effect and The Darkness. I've yet to set up my console, though. I felt that I should be nice to my wife and let her watch CSI tonight :D

[Goliath182]

I have a the second batch of 360s and ive only got the red ring once and that was because i forgot to plug in my av cable lol but other than that ive had no over heating issues even after running it for 5 hours in a 80 degree room.

[slugbug]

My Nov 2005 xbox 360 just died last month from the RROD. They sent me the shipping box and I had a replacement unit back one week later. The replacement has two cooling fans at the rear and an improved gpu heatsink.

[cotex]

Keep it cool, buy the after market cooling device for it. I personally know 4 out of the 10 xbox360s that had to go back multiple times.
Make sure you get a new one, maybe the halo3 ver. you know that's new..

tex

[s_gibson]

http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3152&p=1

[Xero (1)ne]

Yah i think hte RROD is a heat issue. My 360 is one of the batches close to release. My dad got it for us the christmas it came out. We've had absolutely no troubles with it whatsoever except one little thing:

DO NOT TILT OR MOVE THE CONSOLE WHILE A DISK IS SPINNING!!!!!!!!

This is how NFS:MW got turned into a coaster. :frown:

But a rather tastefull coaster at that. ;-):lol:

[borschtBomber[SS]]

You mean a game disc got turned into a coaster? How does that happen, should the laser only be for reading?

[asterasy]

Because if you tilt the console while the disk is spinning, it knocks it off balance and it gets torn up.

[tomato]

Why would anyone move the console while it is working and/or accessing the disk drive?! :? :?

All 360's sold from launch WILL die at some point in their lifecycle. M$ has acknowledged that, and is doing all it can with damage control and offering to replace them for free (as they should).

The new 360's should be fine, as they have more/better cooling and a cooler (?) CPU. If you are wondering how to tell the difference, ALL the newer 360's come with an HDMI port. There is supposed to be a sticker of some sort on the box to let you know that. Besides that, there are serial numbers that can be tracked, but I'm not sure how to go about doing that.

[srpeters18]

Sadly, my XBOX does not have an HDMI port. This is something still fairly recent. Mine was purchased Feb '07 and did not have one. Haven't had any problems thus far, but several people I know have recommended picking up the intercooler for it ($20 at Wal-Mart)

[Instigator AG]

My original Xbox finally died not too long ago (out of warranty I might add), so I took it to Gamestop and traded it in towards the Halo3 Version 360 (I wanted HDMI). I must say so far so good and someone help me as I seem to be addicted to COD4!