Quick XBox purchase advice
Discussion
Ok I'll make this quick as it is a boring topic.
I want to play Forza 3 more than I've ever wanted to play a game in my life and the 3 threads a day about it's glorious gameplay is by no means helping! I'm not made of money however and don't own an XBox. So what I'm trying to do is pick up an XBox 360 2nd hand on Ebay and then go buy FM3. My questions:
XBox 360 + cables + controller is all I need correct?
You don't *need* xbox live do you?
Will my PS3 HDMI cable work for xbox to my HD tv?
How cheap am I going to be able to do this, roughly do you think?
Red ring of death: are there any tell tale signs?
Should I avoid the newly banned xbox 360s even if I'm not too bothered about going online and can get one cheaper?
Cheers
I want to play Forza 3 more than I've ever wanted to play a game in my life and the 3 threads a day about it's glorious gameplay is by no means helping! I'm not made of money however and don't own an XBox. So what I'm trying to do is pick up an XBox 360 2nd hand on Ebay and then go buy FM3. My questions:
XBox 360 + cables + controller is all I need correct?
You don't *need* xbox live do you?
Will my PS3 HDMI cable work for xbox to my HD tv?
How cheap am I going to be able to do this, roughly do you think?
Red ring of death: are there any tell tale signs?
Should I avoid the newly banned xbox 360s even if I'm not too bothered about going online and can get one cheaper?
Cheers
RobbieB said:
Should I avoid the newly banned xbox 360s even if I'm not too bothered about going online and can get one cheaper?
Although I still haven't tried online racing yet (waiting for Sky to activate my broadband), I'd advise against buying a banned console. Just in case you've got the racing bug and wanted to get online. You need Xbox Live gold to play online. @£35 for 13 months. I'm sure you can get it cheaper at some places.
Get a new copy of Forza so you can download extra tracks and cars. You need Xbox Live sliver membership as well, which is free.
There are plenty of deals out there for new consoles, £199 from Game with Forza and Modern Warfare 2 is a good one. You can always sell the Modern Warfare 2 to cex.co.uk, I think they pay £27+ cash.
No sure about PS3 HDMI. But you can get a HDMI cable for about £3 anyway.
wy906 said:
RobbieB said:
Should I avoid the newly banned xbox 360s even if I'm not too bothered about going online and can get one cheaper?
Although I still haven't tried online racing yet (waiting for Sky to activate my broadband), I'd advise against buying a banned console. Just in case you've got the racing bug and wanted to get online. You need Xbox Live gold to play online. @£35 for 13 months. I'm sure you can get it cheaper at some places.
Get a new copy of Forza so you can download extra tracks and cars. You need Xbox Live sliver membership as well, which is free.
There are plenty of deals out there for new consoles, £199 from Game with Forza and Modern Warfare 2 is a good one. You can always sell the Modern Warfare 2 to cex.co.uk, I think they pay £27+ cash.
No sure about PS3 HDMI. But you can get a HDMI cable for about £3 anyway.
I want to get everything I need for around £150 or less as I have a skiing holiday and christmas coming up! I feel a bit like a child again wanting something this badly and not being able to wait much longer, but I've waited long enough!
The 360 HDMI is a standard plug - so if your Sony lead is identical both ends then yes it will work.
I think second hand has big potetnial to be false economy - especially around issues with potential banning or chances of RROD (BTW - if you do get one, make sure it's stood on something hard, like a shelf or a magazine NOT carpet, (some people put spacers underneath too) and make sure it's got a few inches of clear air space around it - don't put it in a video cabinet and probably best to use it horizontal. These are probably verging on superstition but I'd wanted to give mine the best chance of survival!)
So it sounds like a good time to tap up any long lost relatives for that extra £50!
Eventually you'll probably want another controller (£25-30), you'll need an ethernet lead (£10 for 10m from Game is best price I got from a shop on the high street) or the wireless adaptor (£40) for connecting to live, (+ subs cost). The other thing you might crave for is a wheel (say, MS one for circa £60 these days?) These can wait, but just to bear in mind.
Hope this helps! BTW banned consoles won't be able to do updates for fixes or downloadable content (cars, new tracks etc.) so I'd really avoid them personally.
HTH
I think second hand has big potetnial to be false economy - especially around issues with potential banning or chances of RROD (BTW - if you do get one, make sure it's stood on something hard, like a shelf or a magazine NOT carpet, (some people put spacers underneath too) and make sure it's got a few inches of clear air space around it - don't put it in a video cabinet and probably best to use it horizontal. These are probably verging on superstition but I'd wanted to give mine the best chance of survival!)
So it sounds like a good time to tap up any long lost relatives for that extra £50!
Eventually you'll probably want another controller (£25-30), you'll need an ethernet lead (£10 for 10m from Game is best price I got from a shop on the high street) or the wireless adaptor (£40) for connecting to live, (+ subs cost). The other thing you might crave for is a wheel (say, MS one for circa £60 these days?) These can wait, but just to bear in mind.
Hope this helps! BTW banned consoles won't be able to do updates for fixes or downloadable content (cars, new tracks etc.) so I'd really avoid them personally.
HTH
RobbieB said:
I want to get everything I need for around £150 or less
In that case get it from GAME. Sell the MW2 so net price £170. Don't sell it to GAME cos they pay less, try cex.co.uk as they've plenty of shops nationwide and pay cash.Ethernet cable is included with the new Elite so you can go online to download new cars/tracks. Gold Membership can wait.
That's only £20 more than your budget, and that's what... 6 pints?!?
Or have salad for dinners the rest of the week rather than lobsters!I'm leaning towards getting a new one then. You lot have convinced me. My questions now lies in the difference between models. Scott above has offered me one but it doesn't have an HDMI port, so presumabley it is impossible to play games with it in HD? There are no other ways?
Is the difference between 360 elite and normal 360 an HDMI port and bigger hard drive? I've Googled it but not to much avail.
Is the difference between 360 elite and normal 360 an HDMI port and bigger hard drive? I've Googled it but not to much avail.
If the console hasn't got HDMI you can still get a HD picture through the component cable.
There are no physical differences between the consoles available on the market now apart from the colour. If you buy an elite pack you will get a larger hard drive but these sit on the top and are a 2 second job to change if you want to upgrade later. The only other diffences between the packs are what accessories that come with it, when I bought my Elite 2 years ago it came with a headset and network cable which the others didn't, I have no idea what accessories each one comes with at the moment but wikipedia does http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360#Comparison_o...
Personally due to the risk of buying a banned box and the potential warranty issues with the RROD I would buy a new console rather than risking 2nd hand.
There are no physical differences between the consoles available on the market now apart from the colour. If you buy an elite pack you will get a larger hard drive but these sit on the top and are a 2 second job to change if you want to upgrade later. The only other diffences between the packs are what accessories that come with it, when I bought my Elite 2 years ago it came with a headset and network cable which the others didn't, I have no idea what accessories each one comes with at the moment but wikipedia does http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xbox_360#Comparison_o...
Personally due to the risk of buying a banned box and the potential warranty issues with the RROD I would buy a new console rather than risking 2nd hand.
Ok so I'm thinking I'll trade in some PS3 games, sell COD:MW2 to cex.co.uk and perhaps sell my winter coat (it won't be that cold this year) to justify this venture to the missus. I'm on to a winner here. So the Game package for £200 elite + COD + FM3 comes with everything I need correct?
Sorry to be so anal, I've always been a PC man!
Sorry to be so anal, I've always been a PC man!
Also bear in mind if you buy second hand there will be a fair few people selling banned consoles (especially as a million have just been banned) without telling you they are banned. So unless you test the console online you wont know what you are buying.
In my mind the Elite with FM3 and MW2 for 200 is the best deal. You will probably find you love MW2 as well as it is a brilliant game.
In my mind the Elite with FM3 and MW2 for 200 is the best deal. You will probably find you love MW2 as well as it is a brilliant game.
I think mine's the premium. It came with a headset, 20GB drive, network cable, component cable. I think as a deal it may have come with a second controller too. About two years ago.
If I had my time again - I think I'd go for the 60GB, my drive has a few GB left, but some fo these games now have content from a second disk that needs to be saved to the HDD, e.g. Forza's is 1.9GB.
Check what you've got in terms of what you're plugging HD into. I've got a projector that doesn't like HD from teh Xbox through it's component inputs, so I bought a VGA cable and used that. If your display device can only take HD through HDMI, then you'll need a later XBox with the HDMI output. (Only the Elite came with the lead).
Also, beware that you can't necessarily get full HD with a VGA input - Sony TV we've got only goes up to 1440*900 (from memory) on VGA despite being a 1080P set.
If I had my time again - I think I'd go for the 60GB, my drive has a few GB left, but some fo these games now have content from a second disk that needs to be saved to the HDD, e.g. Forza's is 1.9GB.
Check what you've got in terms of what you're plugging HD into. I've got a projector that doesn't like HD from teh Xbox through it's component inputs, so I bought a VGA cable and used that. If your display device can only take HD through HDMI, then you'll need a later XBox with the HDMI output. (Only the Elite came with the lead).
Also, beware that you can't necessarily get full HD with a VGA input - Sony TV we've got only goes up to 1440*900 (from memory) on VGA despite being a 1080P set.
Which ever one you get (especially if buying second hand) make sure it has a 175w power supply. The ones with these are the later design which run cooler and quieter and are much less prone to RRoD. IFAIK the newer ones all have a HDMI port as well.
There are still a few with the older 205w power supply kicking about as microsoft refurbish them and send them back out when they RRoD, rather than replacing them with the newer better consoles.
There are still a few with the older 205w power supply kicking about as microsoft refurbish them and send them back out when they RRoD, rather than replacing them with the newer better consoles.
RobbieB said:
So the Game package for £200 elite + COD + FM3 comes with everything I need correct?
Yes. My brother bought the same package from GAME last Friday. I’m not sure what power supply he’s got but GAME sell in high volume so my guess is their stock turnover are pretty high so he probably has got the newer one.
Add the HDMI cable from your PS3, sign up to Xbox Live Sliver to download free cars / tracks and enjoy!
Be careful, cos you may end up liking COD:MW2 as well......
wy906 said:
RobbieB said:
So the Game package for £200 elite + COD + FM3 comes with everything I need correct?
I’m not sure what power supply he’s got but GAME sell in high volume so my guess is their stock turnover are pretty high so he probably has got the newer one.Got to add another vote for the £200 MW2 + forza 3 elite package.
Wish I'd bought that one lol.
I bought a cheap Xbox. 20 gig from Blockbusters. just under 12 months old, 1 wireless controller, headset and ethernet cable. £100.
I've ended up buying - A stack of games (duh)
Second wireless controller (£20 on offer in Game)
Play and charge kit (£10)
So we're up to £130.
Needed a VGA cable to hook it up to my monitor (although the Elite no longer comes with an HDMI cable so be warned) £25
Paid £26 for MW2 - best game of the year so far. Would LOVE Forza 3 but cant justify the pennies right now.
So you're getting two games that would cost £60-£80 for the pair right now, possibly the best two games of the year, a 120 gig hdd and a second joypad.
It's a no brainer and were they running that offer I'd have bought the elite rather than the cheap 20 gig I ended up with and it would - in real terms - only have cost a few quid more.
Wish I'd bought that one lol.
I bought a cheap Xbox. 20 gig from Blockbusters. just under 12 months old, 1 wireless controller, headset and ethernet cable. £100.
I've ended up buying - A stack of games (duh)
Second wireless controller (£20 on offer in Game)
Play and charge kit (£10)
So we're up to £130.
Needed a VGA cable to hook it up to my monitor (although the Elite no longer comes with an HDMI cable so be warned) £25
Paid £26 for MW2 - best game of the year so far. Would LOVE Forza 3 but cant justify the pennies right now.
So you're getting two games that would cost £60-£80 for the pair right now, possibly the best two games of the year, a 120 gig hdd and a second joypad.
It's a no brainer and were they running that offer I'd have bought the elite rather than the cheap 20 gig I ended up with and it would - in real terms - only have cost a few quid more.
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