Sorry your browser is not supported!

Hey, I got my first xbox 360 today! But because I'm super cheap and rarely pay for anything new, I got an old XBOX 360 Arcade for £47 on ebay including free games, power brick (my god it really is a brick!), cables, memory card and the worlds most grubby looking wireless controller (nothing 3 minutes with a dettol surface wipe didn't fix.) The guy even threw in a headset, that's obviously designed for a kids head, I think the right head grip is actually trying to force it's way through my skull! But never mind, no one wants to talk to me anyway ** plays worlds smallest violin **

Anyway, the first thing that struck me about this xbox was THE NOISE! I've never appreciated before now, just how silent my Wii is. I love you Nintendo! I don't really like using my desktop PC because that's pretty loud, with a full size nVidia 8800GTS in it. But somehow this XBOX is even louder than that! And the heat the thing puts out is astounding. I'm assuming Microsoft just over-clocked a custom PC and threw it inside a white box with the cheapest fan's possible.

I'm a bit of a noise snob, I really don't turn on my desktop PC all that often, and when I do, it's left in another room to wurr away on whatever video encoding, CGI or uploading task I bestow it. Then it's back to my iPad and Asus 1005HA netbook combination.

At first I thought, this can't be right! It's an old XBOX 360, perhaps it's on it's way out! Or the fans need replacing. After talking to a few guys online, and having my brother pop over to take a listen they all confirmed it sounded like a perfectly normal xbox 360 to them! Even the sound of the roaring DVD drive didn't make him batter an eyelid.

Anyway, this isn't a complaint, I have to admit, for £47 a complete working (apparently normal sounding) xbox 360 is a great bargain. The graphics are much better than those found on my Wii, and they rival my desktop PC when playing Oblivion, and Assassin's creed. The difference in visual quality on a TV further away than my PC monitor isn't worth mentioning so overall I'm quiet happy with it.

I was amazed to discover Microsoft had not included a web browser.

But I was pleased to find Sky Player.

Updating the system for the first time confused me, I assumed any "updates" made would "flash the bios" or overwrite some other internal architecture, rather than reducing my 256 memory stick down to a mere 41MB.

The lack of a hard drive wasn't a problem, my 16Gb SanDisc flash drive has replaced the need to go get one, and it runs nice and fast despite the warnings given to me.

Some of the games are super cheap as well. Batman Arkham Asylam for £4.99! I've just ordered myself Duke Nukem Forever (because I'm getting old, and Duke Nukem is from my generations gaming history).

Ultimately I only bought this XBOX so I could play two new games coming out later this year (both already on pre-order).

Mass Effect 3
Skyrim

I'm already thinking of Christmas presents this year, and I'm starting to think grabbing a few old xbox's and reconditioning them will be a pleasant surprise for the two brothers who don't have one.

I'm wondering about finding a second cheap one and doing a custom case mod on it, and a video of the project. Just for fun. There has to be a quieter drive I can install, and much better fans. Something to think about one day.

Anyway, it's always great to find a bargain, don't you think?

I don't think the drives are replaceable, because they have some anti-piracy stuff built into them. Replacing the fans would definitely be a good idea tho.

All hardware is replaceable. I replaced my cousins Rom(Drive) a few years back. Its a simular concept as a PC. just a few extra ribbon cables and their a little thiner. Anyway, if their is a noise, that drive is bad likely or the laser that reads the drive is likely faulty. so good luck throwing money at the used Xbox. Probly would of been wise to purchase brand new. Used eletronics is like buying a used omputer, its kinda pointless. Not trying to sound mean but its a honest statement. Never buy used part unless your phy present and an phy inspect the parts.

lol, up until 3 years ago, all my equipment was self built often using bargain parts or second hand parts. I've often sold parts myself, all of them good and tested. Never had any complaints. Buying these things has an element of risk I agree, and xbox 360 has a horrible history of RROD's and other failures. Having said that, from what I gather most of these problems can be sorted out with better heat compound, a few cooling pads, and new fans all of which I've got hanging around in my desk. The drive isn't much louder than the cheap DVD drive I have in my desktop, theirs no grinding, or skidding sounds (that would concern me).

The fact is I'm so used to the silence of my iPad and netbook combo, anything sounds loud to me, even my Sky HD box sounds pretty loud when it spins up, in comparison.

I'm not concerned, from everything I've read and observed on various youtube video's this xbox 360 isn't very unusual.

I just finished a 3 hour session on Assasins creed, so far, all is good and well. And if it breaks, hell I could easily sell the controller and power brick for a £10, the game would prob get a fiver, and from what I've seen from other ebay auctions even RROD'd and consoles not reading discs are going for £20 + postage. I might loose £15 on this deal if it goes wrong, but hell. I've spent more than that on pizza! At the end of the day, a new xbox 4gb £134.99 on amazon, and I've already quadrupled that things capacity with a USB key I've had for years.

It's too soon to tell! But so far I'm up £87.99!

Thanks for the drive replacement info, I've seen various replacement drives hanging around on ebay as well. I had assumed it wouldn't be that different from a PC. I'll do my due research before I attempt anything of course.

P.S. I still can't get over the size of this things power brick! It's freaking massive!

Yah, the original 360 was a loud, LOUD beast. The new black ones are much better sounding and much better looking.

Contrary to what old_School says, I'm fairly sure it's not an easy thing to replace the parts inside the 360. You can add an official hard drive, but those are rather expensive. I would recommend it though as many of the Xbox Live Arcade games top 1GB in size. Replacing the optical drive is probably impossible, though, because as far as I know the 360 reads discs backwards to that of regular PC DVD drives. Also, this is not a regular PC-in-a-box like the original Xbox. The 360 is RISC-based and would be closer to that of a Mac than a PC. I remember playing around with an original Xbox 360 dev kit which was actually a Mac computer!

You can't just shove "any" replacement dvd drive into it that's for sure. It needs to be an XBOX 360 specific drive however a quick google search as listed the following manufacturers.

Hitachi
Toshiba
Ben Q
Samsung

Each of these companies produce replacement XBOX 360 drives. I'm not planning to replace the drive anytime soon, but if I were. I'd also research whether or not certain generations of the console would only work with specific drives. There's little point guessing when we've got google

But Jeku is likely right, it won't be as easy as just slipping in a new drive, the way the xbox 360 I've got is built, it's a much tighter fit. But he's right that "the concept" is the same, it's a drive with power and data cables like anything else. Whether or not they have SATA style board slots or those fiddly ribbon clips that are so easy to break is a specific issue. On the other hand, I've been replacing laptop drives and building desktops for years, on top of that I did a BTEC in electronics so I've got plenty of experience under my hat. I wouldn't recommend any average joe with a screw driver who once fitted an electric light switch give it a try. But for us techies and geeks who've been doing it a while. Even if we fail, I suspect it will still be a lot of fun.

But before I attempt it on a working XBOX 360, I'll pop on ebay and grab a non-working model first, they are going for a tenner and it might be the difference between failure and success. Plus who knows, I might be able to fix and sell it for twice the amount

Mostly I get old stuff because it's fun, and because it's old it really doesn't matter if I break it. If I'd just shelled out £134.99 for an xbox 360 under warranty it would be a totally different story.

P.S. You won't find me modding the xbox 360 for pirated games. Remember people, support the developers! If you're here, you might be one yourself one day! I'm sure you wouldn't like your hard work stolen.

P.P.S I didn't bother going for a hard drive, my 16Gb USB flash key has completely replaced the need for it and it's one less noisy component to deal with.

If it's anything like the first generation Xbox's, then no it isn't. The original Xbox DVD-ROM drives read discs backwards and were incompatible with any retail drive. You had to FTP into the Xbox in order to put things on its hard drive, instead of going through the disc. But as you say, if the 360 is a standard drive, then all the best luck to you.

And I think you'll be wanting more than 16GB after a few weeks. Most downloads are over 1GB.

BUT THE FANS are just power and cables like everything else
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=xbox+fan&x=0&y=0
both external and internal.

yeah but if I'd gotten a full priced 4gb model I'd only be 4gb better off. Besides I've got a portable 160Gb HDD hanging around if I really get desperate for space, I tested it, it works fine.

Though I'm not too bothered about the downloadable games, I'd rather buy them on DVD, when I'm done I can trade them for something else or just sell it on ebay.

Duke Nukem Forever came in the post today it captures the spirit of the originals well. Though I must admit the controller's accuracy makes me want to plug a mouse in. Nothing like a mouse for FPS game control!