Second-hand XBox 360 gotchas

ectoraige

My 8-year-old has finally outgrown his Wii, he wants an XBox since he discovered FIFA 16 won't be on the Wii (he never copped FIFA 15 on the Wii is really FIFA 14 with different names).

Anyway, I've been looking at second-hand consoles, and there's so many versions available I'm wondering is there some to shy away from? The early versions had very little built-in storage, does this cause a problem with newer games, and if so, can you work around it with external HDDs?

Also, does it make a difference for Kinect whether the console has the proprietary connector, are there limitations using it with the USB adapter?

Finally, did the Red Ring of Death go away after a particular hardware release?

Any other tips or things to look out for will be much appreciated.

ZiabR

ectoraige wrote: »

My 8-year-old has finally outgrown his Wii, he wants an XBox since he discovered FIFA 16 won't be on the Wii (he never copped FIFA 15 on the Wii is really FIFA 14 with different names).

Anyway, I've been looking at second-hand consoles, and there's so many versions available I'm wondering is there some to shy away from? The early versions had very little built-in storage, does this cause a problem with newer games, and if so, can you work around it with external HDDs?

Also, does it make a difference for Kinect whether the console has the proprietary connector, are there limitations using it with the USB adapter?

Finally, did the Red Ring of Death go away after a particular hardware release?

Any other tips or things to look out for will be much appreciated.

Yes, the RROD is essentially gone on models with the Jasper Chipset and the Vejle Chipset. Anything before the Jasper Chipset "could" get the RROD.

The models are as follows:

XENON (no HDMI)
ZEPHYR
OPUS (no HDMI)
FALCON
JASPER
VEJLE

The first two are the original versions, OPUS, and FALCON are CPU in 65nm technology (instead of the original 90nm), JASPER has both CPU and GPU made in 65nm (which reduces power consumption and heat generation). The latest version is VEJLE – used in SLIM consoles. The older we have, the more we should be careful not to overheat it – because this will mean trouble in the future.

Check the UPS Output Power:

150W is JASPER
175W is OPUS
203W is FALCON a XENON and a ZEPHYR.

Akrasia

ectoraige wrote: »

My 8-year-old has finally outgrown his Wii, he wants an XBox since he discovered FIFA 16 won't be on the Wii (he never copped FIFA 15 on the Wii is really FIFA 14 with different names).

Anyway, I've been looking at second-hand consoles, and there's so many versions available I'm wondering is there some to shy away from? The early versions had very little built-in storage, does this cause a problem with newer games, and if so, can you work around it with external HDDs?

Also, does it make a difference for Kinect whether the console has the proprietary connector, are there limitations using it with the USB adapter?

Finally, did the Red Ring of Death go away after a particular hardware release?

Any other tips or things to look out for will be much appreciated.

Just buy him this one
https://ie.webuy.com/product.php?sku=SX360E002C#.VbofWvNVhHw
It's the latest model released in 2013 so it's not going to be any older than 2 years old, and it's the quietest version of the 360

There are no known reliability issues with this version of the console so it should last for years

You could get a S version for a few quid cheaper but it's probably gonna be an older machine

You'll need to get one with a decent hard drive to take advantage of the free games with gold and some games require that you install them to the hard drive so you're best to avoid the slim models that have no hard drive. (usually advertised as '4gb' models)

Trimm Trabb

Akrasia wrote: »

Just buy him this one
https://ie.webuy.com/product.php?sku=SX360E002C#.VbofWvNVhHw

I've been using a friends Xbox 360 to watch Sky go, Netflix and Youtube but he wants it back now - I never use it to play games or for anything else - would the above be suitable for me or could I get a cheaper one?

Is that a reliable site to buy from? I had a look on adverts.ie and there seemed to be loads of consoles selling from about 80 euro upwards.

TrustedApple

As crazy as it sounds but would you not invest in a xbox one for the 8 year old as he will be covered for the next 5 years at lest with games coming every year for it.

As this year is more or less the last main stream year for the xbox 360 as now its a 10 year old games console. MS soft isn't releaseing games for the console anymore and all the major hames expect CoD and Fifa have stopped being made for 360.

You can pick up a 2nd hand xbox one from about 250 + on adverts and new ones can be got every now and then with 2 games from argos for 330.

It might be double the cost of a xbox 360 but for the sake of 150 more you be covered in the long run with the new consoles. If you have a laptop with windows 10 now you can steam your xbox one games to so could be quite handy to have the little lad in the same room as you when watching tv.

Fifa on the Xbox one is a complete different game from the 360 ones.

My advice would be go for the xbox one now and forgot about the 360.

Akrasia

Trimm Trabb wrote: »

I've been using a friends Xbox 360 to watch Sky go, Netflix and Youtube but he wants it back now - I never use it to play games or for anything else - would the above be suitable for me or could I get a cheaper one?

Is that a reliable site to buy from? I had a look on adverts.ie and there seemed to be loads of consoles selling from about 80 euro upwards.

CEX is grand, they have loads of bricks and mortar shops all around the country and the prices are the same. The difference between CEX and adverts is that if there is a problem with the console, you'll be able to bring it back and they'll replace it.


If you are never going to play games then you'd be grand with something like this
https://ie.webuy.com/product.php?sku=SX360S4B#.VbtLVPNVhHw

It's got a 4 gb flash drive but you can use also USB keys to play many media files (not all of them) and it will play netflix, rte player, sky go etc.

You can also stream media files directly from your windows laptop to the xbox (and you can continue to use the laptop for other things at the same time)

I'd consider a hard drive to be essential for gamers because of the games with gold and all the sales and DLC you might need space for but for use as a media centre, the 4gb version should be fine.

Trimm Trabb

Akrasia wrote: »

CEX is grand, they have loads of bricks and mortar shops all around the country and the prices are the same. The difference between CEX and adverts is that if there is a problem with the console, you'll be able to bring it back and they'll replace it.


If you are never going to play games then you'd be grand with something like this
https://ie.webuy.com/product.php?sku=SX360S4B#.VbtLVPNVhHw

It's got a 4 gb flash drive but you can use also USB keys to play many media files (not all of them) and it will play netflix, rte player, sky go etc.

You can also stream media files directly from your windows laptop to the xbox (and you can continue to use the laptop for other things at the same time)

I'd consider a hard drive to be essential for gamers because of the games with gold and all the sales and DLC you might need space for but for use as a media centre, the 4gb version should be fine.

Very informative, thanks very much.

ectoraige

samapple789 wrote: »

As crazy as it sounds but would you not invest in a xbox one for the 8 year old as he will be covered for the next 5 years at lest with games coming every year for it.

As this year is more or less the last main stream year for the xbox 360 as now its a 10 year old games console. MS soft isn't releaseing games for the console anymore and all the major hames expect CoD and Fifa have stopped being made for 360.

You can pick up a 2nd hand xbox one from about 250 + on adverts and new ones can be got every now and then with 2 games from argos for 330.

It might be double the cost of a xbox 360 but for the sake of 150 more you be covered in the long run with the new consoles. If you have a laptop with windows 10 now you can steam your xbox one games to so could be quite handy to have the little lad in the same room as you when watching tv.

Fifa on the Xbox one is a complete different game from the 360 ones.

My advice would be go for the xbox one now and forgot about the 360.

Unfortunately about €150 is the most we can afford this year. There's enough of a back catalogue of decent games out there to get him through the next year or two, and he hasn't even gotten his teeth sunk into Minecraft yet. It might be a problem if FIFA 17 is dropped from XBox 360, but that bridge shall have to be crossed then, we really just can't afford any more right now.

ZiabR

ectoraige wrote: »

Unfortunately about €150 is the most we can afford this year. There's enough of a back catalogue of decent games out there to get him through the next year or two, and he hasn't even gotten his teeth sunk into Minecraft yet. It might be a problem if FIFA 17 is dropped from XBox 360, but that bridge shall have to be crossed then, we really just can't afford any more right now.

That is completely understandable. There are tonnes of games for the 360 so he will have plenty to get stuck into.