Whats your opinion?

[ndelliott]

Heres the deal. I got my xbox for xmas (from me to me) I am a 16 year old comp geek who lives in the middle of nowhere. My box is a v. 1.6, and my soldering skills are non existant. I was wondering, should I learn to solder then install an X3, wait for the solderless adapter for the X3 (if so, any idea when it is coming out? ), or should I just get a solderless v. 2.6 lite? Any thoughts? Thanks. Oh and great forum as this is my first post.

 

[HoBoZ]

Heres the deal. I got my xbox for xmas (from me to me) I am a 16 year old comp geek who lives in the middle of nowhere. My box is a v. 1.6, and my soldering skills are non existant. I was wondering, should I learn to solder then install an X3, wait for the solderless adapter for the X3 (if so, any idea when it is coming out? ), or should I just get a solderless v. 2.6 lite? Any thoughts? Thanks. Oh and great forum as this is my first post.

IMHO and about 99% of the ppl here soldering the pin header is the only way to go. As for the 2.6, if you are a computer geek and like to tweek things the x3 is for you. But if all you want to do is play backup games and music then go with the 2.6. The x3 is much more enriched than the 2.6 that there is no contest.

 

[Dslrmark]

All I have to say is, If I can do it anyone can. :lol:

 

[TokenUser]

If you are not so sure about soldering skills, then you might want to look for the Xapt3r - the solderless adapter for the X3. I was supposed to be shipping in December, but I am not sure if anyone has stock yet (though a number of sites are taking pre-orders).

Definately go the X3 route. There are a number of addons coming that look amazing.

If you cant wait for the Xapt3r, find an old video card or something similar, and practice soldering on it first. There are tuts out there on soldering, and getting the job done right ... its nerve wracking for the beginner, but definately worth the effort.

And then READ, READ, READ. Tutorial are available for a reason - read the stickies in the forum (esp the install forum), and the general tuts over at Xbox-scene. THEN ask questions - the answers you get will a.) be far more helpful, and b.) be far more meaningful.

good luck.

 

[rumblpak]

im a 17 yr old computer geek who has just about the same amount of soldering skills that you do, in fact soldering the pin head was my first time ever soldering. just go slow, and clean the iron, you should be fine. btw i have a 1.6 w/ a x3.

 

[Jzor]

Go to radio shack or frys or somewhere and get one of those little circuit kits that has a PCB and components for you to solder on to make a little radio or some thing to practice up on soldering

 

[Shibz]

I have had a bad experience with solderless chips. I bought an x2.3 lite plus (solderless) and opened up my xbox only to find out that my holes were filled with solder, I said "f**k this" and just installed the chip over top of the solder, the chip would pop out every few days and I got so mad at having to open the case every time that I learned that slamming my xbox on the ground seemed to help re allign the chip (no joke). Just get an x3 install it with pinheader and you can't go wrong. But just in case, I'd read a few soldering tutorials and practice on an old computer, cat, or something else you don't care about. Also read these:

Become a Fearless Soldering God- I doubt this will help unless you want to upgrade your xbox ram, but you do want to be a god, dont you?

Soldering guide- Great tutorial.

 

[ndelliott]

Thanks for the advice, I think I will go the solder route with the X3, once I get my hands on some more cash (I weed-wack in a ditch for 5/hour on a farm) I might add the LCD screen. I have alot of experience in fine woodworking, so dremeling the case shouldnt be too bad.

 

[Floppy Mohawk]

I think I will go the solder route with the X3

Excellent choice. Take the practicing advice it will help out a lot to ruin a practice board before you work on the xbox.

Also there os an excellent soldering tutorial in one of the sticky's here on this site. Search the forums, it shouldn't be too hard to find.

Good luck.

Floppy

 

[tonylott]

Here are some tips I put in another thread for someone about to solder for the first time.. Hope they help... PM me is you have any queries.

Few tips to help you.....

Get a fiberglass pen to clean your solder points before you start. This will help the solder to flow. Also get pre-fluxed solder and if you really want to make life easier, get some flux paste as well... These all help the solder to flow nicely.

As junkman22 said, get some .022 guage if you can and also make sure the tip on your soldering iron is a really fine one (not a cheapo thick one).

Tin your wires before soldering them....This means coaing the exposed end of the wire with solder before you fit them (they come tinned but a little extra really helps...Especially on the D0 wire). Also, especially on the D0 wire, make sure the exposed bit of the wire is no more than 3mm as you may risk it touching an adjacent solder point when you tape the wires down (look at the pics of the 1.0 to 1.5 installation guide and you will see how NOT to do it.. Far too long).

Make sure you "wet" the tip of the iron before each solder joint (this means putting a little solder on the tip of the iron).

Finally (Again especially on the D0 solder point) you should not be holding the soldering iron on the solder point for more than about 1/2 a second. This is a major cause of people lifting the solder points from the mobo.

Finally, finally. Read Read & read again these forums and TAKE YOUR TIME!

Good luck buddy

 

[manu_xl]

Go to radio shack or frys or somewhere and get one of those little circuit kits that has a PCB and components for you to solder on to make a little radio or some thing to practice up on soldering

yeah, that's also how i learned to solder. those kits are also not very expensive.