All we know that the x box have p3 733MHz CPU so can we overclock it? or mybe we can replace it with faster one

Although I'm not certain, I doubt that the BIOS would allow this.

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Knowan likes you. Knowan is your friend. Knowan thinks you're great.

umm..i read an article about someone opening up the xbox, and it actually isnt a p3...
it is a mobile celeron2....which, is basically a p3, but it has less cache...
AND, it has 64 megs of ram....but has space for another 64, which would make it be able to handle larger files and such.
eh, i think that they did all this just to cut costs, but think about this, ram is cheap as hell....
and how much more would it have cost them to put a full fledged p3?
i mean, you are paying $300 or something for it!!!!!!!!!!

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

lol, and you'll have a crashing game console!!!

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor

Doesn't he already?

Wabbit season! Duck season! AMD season! INTEL season!
Hmmmph--whatever...

there is something that you can do to up the performance of the xbox...at least when it comes to ripping cd audio...
dont know if it helps with the time it takes for games to lead or anything.
replace the ata-33 cable with an ata-66/100 cable.
supposedly cuts 2 minutes off ripping a cd to the hd for game audio.
which in my mind is an extra 2 minutes that you could be playing.
too bad i dont have an xbox to try this on.... oh well, i guess i will have to live with playing at best buy...

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

Haha, probably. Do XBOXs crash often?

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor

YOu can probably replace it with a PIII 866, 933, or 1000EB. The standard power supply should have enough headroom to support the 933 I think. That is, if you're handy with a solder gun!

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

i dont think that the bios will let you swap it out...
the thing is, someone tried to swap to a slightly bigger hard drive, and it wouldnt take it...it would not even boot.
so if it wont take a hard drive, then maybe it wont take a new processor...
unless you know how to write a new bios for the thing...
now that would be sweet....
you could massively upgrade that thing if you could...and supposedly, you CAN install another 64 megs of ram...
the thing is, it has to be the same exact chip as already installed, and you have to be REALLY careful.
the developer box (the super xbox, in the clear case) has 128 megs of ram...
but they were told to make the games work in 64megs...
too bad too, they would be able to do so much more i think.
adding another 64 megs of ram to the xbox wont help the games much, since they are made for 64 megs of ram, but who knows...maybe it will help something...
as of now, the easiest and most "Effective" upgrade is the ata cables...
i personally wouldnt mess with it...i would just change the ata cables...
i would be too scared to solder on a brand new xbox!


-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

Now understand that the following is all theory and conjecture. I don't actually have an xbox and am basing all my assumptions on the review at anandtech.com (which did an excellent job by the way).

Replacing the CPU: Nearly impossible

The CPU uses a BGA (ball grid array) to attach directly to the mobo instead of the standard pins in a slot that we are used to. The xbox doesn't even have a slot; the CPU is soldered directly onto the mobo. It would be nearly impossible to remove the current CPU and even if you could you would then have to find some way to solder in a new chip that uses a non-existent BGA interface instead of the standard pins. This aint no zif socket here.

BIOS: This is purely conjecture here. The anandtech article didn't mention this at all, but can you even flash the bios in an xbox? Why would Microsoft use a flash upgradeable bios when the hardware itself is standardized and it is cheaper/easier to use a fixed bios? What would be the point? I think that you'll find that the xbox bios is non-upgradeable, but once again this is just a theory.

So even if you could replace the processor, it is unlikely that you could get the bios to recognize it.

RAM: While it is true that there are solder points enough to double the RAM, once again it is a lot more difficult to do this then it is to simply add a stick of RAM. The RAM chips themselves are directly soldered to the MB. You would first have to find Ram chips (chips now, not sticks) that are capable of running at the same speed (5ns 200 MHz DDR) and solder them directly to the MB. In the event that you can't find the loose RAM chips (can anyone tell me where I can get some?) you would first have to de-solder them from a working stick of PC RAM.

HARD DRIVE: The Hard drive has a proprietarily OS (based on XP) that would somehow have to be ghosted onto the new hard drive (not yet possible, even with Nortons Ghost). Even if you do manage to ghost it, there is then the problem of getting the bios to recognize it.

DVD Drive: The xbox DVD drive reads from the outer tracks towards the inner tracks, which is backwards from a standard DVD drive. It is also much more efficient since the outer tracks can be read faster than the inner, but that is beside the point. Good luck finding a DVD drive that is capable of doing this outside of the xbox (and gamecube). Good luck copying xbox DVD games as well, since there is currently no DVD burner capable of burning a disk from the outside in (or backwards).

And even if you could double the RAM, replace the hard drive and upgrade the processor, what would be the point? All the games written for the xbox will be written with these limitations in mind. I don't even see the point in replacing the hard drive cable, since all files written to and read from the hard drive will likely be small and infrequently used. Increasing the bandwidth to the hard drive will likely be unnoticeable (except in the rare instances of large file transfers, such as copying a disk to the hard drive).

The whole point of a games consol is to develop a uniform hardware and software standard. This uniform standard allows games to be developed quickly and easily, and reduces the cost of building the machines. Unlike a PC, a game console is not supposed to have multiple possible configurations, since that would make programming for the things much more difficult.

There is one possibility for upgrades though, and it is not one which I have heard mentioned yet. The controllers (joysticks) are attached to the xbox through a modified USB port. In theory it should be possible to attach any USB device to the xbox by simply modifying the connection jack. In theory you could add an external USB hard drive to the xbox. Of course, getting the bios to recognize it would be something else.


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Knowan likes you. Knowan is your friend. Knowan thinks you're great.

i would upgrade the ide cable because i would be using my own music on that thing...
especially for sports games and the likes.
and cutting the time that it takes to do that, buy like 2 minutes sounds like a good idea to me.
but like you said, upping the ram, changing processors, and flashing the bios would probably be USELESS because if it worked, then great, your xbox would play the games faster...oooooo........
it plays them fast already...
and soldering the ram chips on is going to be a pain...i was just pointing out something...because the dev kits for xbox have 128 megs of ram.
kinda odd that they made them down it to 64.
that is kinda dumb.
and i dont think that you can even ghost a new hard drive in.
they have proprietary hard drives...made special for the xbox...kinda like the dvdrom...
i think that you cant attatch any new ide devices..
they will not be recognized, and will not function.
oh well, whatever....the xbox is fast enough already...too bad i dont have one....would be fun...
and when they release the networking support for it...
oh yeah, that reminds me about somehting else...
there is a way to fake the xbox into doing network right now, and you can play against people already.
you have to use a computer to fake it into going through a gateway...i think only linux can do it right now.
kinda funny that they didnt releas the network already...maybe the have since i was reading about this..i dunno.


-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

Why on earth would you like to increase the performance of a game console? All games for xbox MUST be playable at confortable frame rates any time. Thats why you buy your console. To get rid off upgrading and plug-and-playing (no special 3D setup etc).

So, even if you upgrade the P3 733 to P3 1000, you wouldn't feel any difference at all.

If some games play slow on X-Box than thats the fault of the game producer, not the X-box. Did you see any games that play at low FPS on PS2? Haven't seen one yet, sorry!

<font color=blue>Get a T-Bird...
Impressive CPU + House heater in one package. What do you need more?</font color=blue>

I agree.
Why try to make your game console crashing?

i am not saying that the games perform slow...i am saying that changing the ata cable to ata-66 from ata-33 will make ripping a cd to the hard drive, so that you can use YOUR OWN CHOICE OF MUSIC during the game.
it takes about 2 minutes less, and does NOT cause crashing...
we are not talking about soldering, or replacing chips, or flashing the bios, or even changing the hard drive...
we are talking about swapping out a cable to decrease the time it takes to RIP A CD TO THE HARD DRIVE!
i know that they have to make the game work fast on what the console already has, but since we are talking about ripping a cd, which has nothing to do with the actual gameplay, other than you choice of music blaring in the background, i dont think that it really matters.
microsoft should have put in an ata-66 cable to begin with..
they didnt to save money...
the x-box is great, AS IS, but if i had one, i would be ripping cd audio to the hard drive so that i didnt have to listen to the SAME SONG OVER AND OVER AGAIN!
i got tired of listening to the music on gran turismo2 on psone because when you play an endurance race, the same song loops over and over again. and those races can end up being 2 hrs.
sure, you can turn off the music, but the music should not loop. but with the x-box, you have to choice to take your choices of music, and play that instead, and if it takes 2 minutes or more, less than it would, i think i would be willing to open it up, and put in an extra ata-66 cable i have laying around.


-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

just a side note, the XBox is 300 bucks... and MS looses 130 bucks on each one.... I guess they think they will make it up in the games or something.... They are expensive to make..... try putting together a computer like that for 300 bucks and then actualy having the stores make a profet off it.

hopefully it wont go the way of the dreamcast.
sega was loosing like 200 or something each box sold.
would be too bad to see the xbox die, and the only thing left be gamecube.
ugh.
that would suck

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-