Hey guys looking for some advice .... I have an extra Xbox laying around the house... The one that I use from time to time is softmodded i pretty much just use it for Final Burn and CP3 Emulator . Now my question for you .. should I send out the extra guy to get Hard Modded ... which chip is the best and why ? I know when you chip the xbox its easier for you to swap hard drives without worrying about it being locked etc. With it being chipped could i throw any SATA harddrive in there with an adapter?
So long as it is not a v1.6, you're best off doing a TSOP flash. It's not difficult and is a good way to learn the system, plus you'll get all the benefits of a chip without the cost.
I was scared of Tsop and now having done it, it's so easy and you can throw virtually any Hdd in and away it goes, just make sure the DVD drive will read burned DVD's and use the Hexen disc and it's all plain sailing.
TSOP is best method. Only 2 points need to be bridged for most boards. A few do need a short wire run for certain EEPROM chips to clear out the old BIOS during the flash but it's easy too. If you have trouble with some games slowing down then you might try getting the console 128MB RAM modded and using MAMEoX128 Plus. Sped up a few games I was testing with. But the RAM mod only works on board revisions 1.0 through 1.5. 1.6 revisions can't be 128MB modded...
Honestly most people that do not use a X3 chip uses a X2 bios on the modchip anyways. With a TSOP flash you are adding the very same X2 bios that you would be using on your modchip to the TSOP. I do recommend that you use a 1.0 or 1.1 motherboard. They have the 1mb TSOP and you have so many more options of bioses.
My 1.4 board is 128MB modded and I run IND-BIOS 5003 on TSOP. It's my main console and has been running fine for months since I got the board from n64 freak. The X3 is better true but for those with 1.2 through 1.5 boards have to go the IND-BIOS route if they don't have a modchip but do have the 128MB RAM mod. It's the only BIOS I know of out there that has 128MB RAM support, LBA48, and is sized at 256K. I did have a X2.6CE with the Xecuter 5035 BIOS on it for some time but decided I didn't like the look of the switch panel. If you don't care for the 128MB RAM mod then you can TSOP in the Evox M8+ BIOS. Next best thing for the 256K chips. I actually ran that before getting the RAM mod done.
I think it's feasible to create a debug BIOS that fits in 256k. There are a lot of DbgPrint and RtlAssert strings that just take up a ton of space that almost nobody looks at. These strings could be put into a file on the hard disk so that they don't take up space in flash.
Not any SATA drive will work, there's also limitations if you get a shit SATA>IDE adapter. For ease of use, make sure you don't go crazy with super large Hard Disks like 1TB (it's a waste of money) for the XBOX. I also vote towards h178 with TSOP. No need for a chip and if you have 1.0 to 1.1 you have a 1MB TSOP so you can have the best X2 5035 BIOS installed anything up to 1.5 you're limited 256K I believe.
