is Xecuter CR4 XL the current best option?

[Dragn]

Recently purchased 2x 360 slims and decided to mod them for some fun, spent the last 48 hours reading over various forum posts here and just wanted to ask a few questions

1. Is the RGH2 with Xecuter CR4 XL + JRP V2 still the best way to go?
2. Any way to check the kernel version or is the only way to do so to dump the nand via JRP? If so then i'll just have to wait until it gets here
3. If I don't intend to play games I've actually purchased on xbox live is there any purpose to even having access to xbox live? I'm debating if I want dual nand or not
4. Would this be the best guide you guys recommend for RGH2 / CR4 XL Modding? - https://team-xecuter.com/forums/threads/147806-CR4-XL-SLIM-Trinity-Install-Guide-(RGH2-)

All the tutorials seem to be fairly dated and depending on where you read people recommend diff things and it gets confuseing to figure out which one is the latest and greatest

I've purchased a Xecuter CR4 XL + JRP V2 from modchipcentral and am just waiting on it to arrive

For the record the machine I'm doing (Only checked 1) has the following specs:

S model (Trinity, 12V 10.83A)
Dashboard: 2.0.17511.0


Sorry for the newbie questions but I figure might as well ask now before i start screwing with the machine

 

[WNYConsoles]

1. RGH2 is the only method for XBOX 360 Slim. Please note late model Slims are not RGH'able (Winchester motherboard 2014)
2. You can get the kernel/dash version from the console settings > system info page.
3. You can play online with an RGH using XBL Ninja
4. There are plenty of guides on the site.

 

[Dragn]

Hello WNY, Thank you for responding. Before I move forward in the post I'd like to respond to your comments:

1. I'm aware RGH2 is the only method for the slim, and as stated in my OP from the guides on this site I determined I have a Trinity motherboard. You didn't actually answer my #1 question here, but I guess too late now as I've ordered the parts and they've arrived (which brings me to my next issue in a moment)
2. Thanks for the clarification
3. I'm not interested in a paid service as I doubt I'll be actually playing any xbox 360 games. I'm doing this primarily to have an all-in-one emulator for retro games (yes I'm aware its hit and miss with available options for the 360, i got these free from gamestops black friday rebate deal so want to have some fun)
4. I'm aware that there's plenty of guides on the site, that's why I asked about a specific guide as linked in OP. Again you didn't actually answer my question, I was asking if this was the best/most current guide to use for my specific circumstances

Anyway, I know what it's like to have randoms come in and ask newbie questions so I understand why you gave me kind of a cut and paste set of answers. I originally was going to leave it at that, but sadly I've come across my first (most likely extremely noob) roadblock and need some help.

Parts arrived in the mail, got the CR4 XL and a J-R Programm V2 and all necessary equipment, began following the tutorial I mentioned in OP question 4 and ran into a problem:

In the tutorial it shows to connect the blue wire as such:

but on my board the copper pads have no solder on them...what do i do? I'm new to soldering and I don't want to just assume I can drop solder on the pad and burn something out in the process. Here's my board:

Any advice you guys could give would be great. I've double checked the chart to figure out what motherboard I have and everything points to it being a Trinity, I've gone through the guide 3-4 times plus every other video tutorial I can find on youtube to try and figure this out but every single one either uses different parts than what I have and connect to completely different areas, or those pads have solder on them.

 

[gavin_darkglide]

And to answer the original question, the CR4-XL is a great chip, but since it has come out there have been some new glitch timings(S-RGH, RGH1.2, R-JTOP, and Project Muffin). Now to explain these different hacks, is fairly simple. Project Muffin is the same wiring as RGH2+ and R-JTOP is the same as R-JTAG+, so these are essentially clones of the CR4. S-RGH is basically RGH2 with much better timings, so you get cr4 like boot times, with a cheaper chip. RGH1.2 is basically rgh1 wiring(Exception of post out 0 vs post out 1) with a RGH2 image on the board. This will work with a basic coolrunner, or matrix chip, but only works on phat consoles.

Now all of that being said, I personally have laid all of this out in my guide on RMS: https://www.realmodscene.com/index.php?/topic/4959-every-thing-you-need-to-know-about-your-rghjtag/

The guide is a little dated, but has all the information you need to get started.