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Xbox Mod Chip in Beta Testing
Odinson writes: "Well it looks like a modchip design has been completed for the Xbox. The most interesting thing is that 'Modified XBE's and custom code can boot' with the chip The chip costs $65 list in U.S. dollars." Wake me up when standard X86 code can run on the Xbox :)
Hey wait, I could also just stick with my goddamn PC!
If RIAA goes on like that, we'll need PC modchips soon, anyway...
So, can it be that M$ tries to boost the absymal X-Box sales by cracking their own copy protection?
Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect. -- Linus Torvalds
And as for microsoft, the standard of console design is to sell the hardware at a loss and make all the money back by forcing you to buy games for a proprietary platform...
Do the math.
$90 GeForce 3 +
$85 733-megahertz (MHz) Intel Pentium III +
$50 (estimate) mobo +
$20 8GB HDD +
$20 NIC +
$20 3D sound card
$30 DVD-ROM
$8 64MB ram
_______________
$323 total. I believe they retail for $199 now
and that's not counting the costs of cabling and controllers... MS will be reamed if modding becomes commonplace... hehe. Score one for the almighty h4x0r.
From the article"
All wiring points are VERY easy - no IC's to solder to - all presoldered pads.
Anyone knows what an IC is?
You're wrong about render farms and video cards. The GPU's on 3d accelerators can be used by software to do vertex calculations and whatnot faster than a cpu on its own.
High-end workstations are usually fairly specialised, but if you're planning on building a farm of pc's, gpu's in those machines can make a world of difference.