My OG Crystal Xbox Upgrades! Internal HDMI With XboxHD+, OpenXenium, SSD & Noctua Fan

[@stevemcknelly5036]

She didn't just buy you an O.G. Xbox -- She bought you the clear crystal one. Definitely love, for real.

[@amalek.92]

Well said 😄

[@ctrlaltrees]

As always I've put some links to other videos that I found useful as well as the parts / software used in the description. I also wanted to mention that MakeMHz have their own modchip coming out soon - called Stellar - and I have one on order. I'll be upgrading and comparing the two once it arrives, but it looks like it'll allow XboxHD+ owners to get even more out of their consoles!

[@castawayarmy32]

I'm also a 90s baby I've had the og xb bad ass system n the ps2

[@billcar50]

Great video. I absolutely love how you strategically failed to include the thermal paste application!

[@mysticgreg]

It's the official @LGR - approved method of applying thermal paste on camera!

[@billcar50]

@@mysticgreg gotta hide it so people don't go mad in the comments! Doesn't matter how well you do it, there's always someone who thinks they know better.

[@mysticgreg]

@@billcar50 Completely agree, there's no way I'd show that on camera either!

[@Willowspov]

I always wanted to mod my xbox in early 2000's..Few weeks ago i found an OG Xbox at a thrift store for $35.. disc drive doesnt open but everything works... opened it up and found it was version 1.6 made in 2004.. waiting for the rubber belt to fix disc drive in the mail.. i regret getting rid of my xbox in 2009 but glad i found this one and knew right away how to fix the disc drive.. i will be adding a mod chip and hdd upgrade.. im gonnna make a custom circuit run off the usb ports on the mother board to add green led's under the console to give it a glow and paint the 'X' on the console a metallic green.. Happy Modding!!!

[@bluetonic9538]

Great video. My crystal Xbox decided to release the magic smoke last year. I like the idea of the hdmi mod, but $140 plus the inevitable import duty and my poor eyesight I'll stick with RGB on my plasma TV for as long as I can.

[@Lennymcgra]

Xedusa ;)

[@cjackfly]

No shame in that! Keeping mine just fine on Sont Bravia LED.

[@Lennymcgra]

@@cjackfly I thought the same until I recently updated my TV with a modern Xedusa hdmi adapter, puts new life into these classic games.

[@aussieknuckles]

Plasmas look so good on old console games.

[@GarthBeagle]

Nicely done! Soldering that works is a good job nonetheless!

[@AimingAtYou]

The explanation of how much cooling paste to use earned you a thumbs up!

[@Renk1]

Great video, thanks! I recently upgraded my Translucent Green Xbox with almost similiar setup minus the HDMI mod. OpenXenium, 2 TB SSD, new thermal paste etc. I mainly use it with RGB Scart and a JVC studio monitor or with Retrotink 5X on newer displays. Maybe I’ll switch the fan at some point like you did. I love the Xbox, so many great games that look and play amazing even today. And it’s not that expensive to collect for.

[@DavidAddis]

This is awesome, you went above and beyond!

[@AzumiRM]

A British person who pronounces the letter H correctly ... That's the real miracle in the video. Usually people say heych

[@davefigore7843]

Very Nice Mate ... A Fine Presentation. Been toying around with my Halo xbox to bring it up to date. You've done the things I've gone through.

[@RetroBytesUK]

I nice to see how well the hdmi mod works. Its not a dramatic difference compared to the upscaller as you said, but its definitely and improvement and does not tie up your upscaller.

[@winstonsmith478]

I have hand clamps like that and never thought of that great idea to use one on ribbon cable connectors.

[@kryan]

Sunk a huge amount of time in to KOTR and KOTR 2, my Crystal then did serious duty as a media center with XBMC for years.

[@cjackfly]

Any good links to that mod?

[@DosGamerMan]

It would be my Burnout 3 saves.... great video. Looks like i have another project to add to my todo list.

[@ahexadron]

This is incredible!

[@75slaine]

Big effort for a big reward. Fair play to you. Now, I'm dreading looking at my xbox capacitors.

[@BottIsNotABot]

Might be time to dig out my original XBOX, one for fun and two to check for leaky caps! Great video Rees.

[@RetrogradeScene]

I do like those crystal Xbox’s!!! I hear Xbox videos are all the rage at the moment.

[@tenminutetokyo2643]

That’s nuts! You can also get tiny little replacement inductors which are like 1/10th the original size.

[@PixelPipes]

The difference definitely didn't look subtle to me. It goes from looking like an early 2000s fake HD output to looking like a native PC. Much improved! Hmmmm.... _stares contemplatively at Xbox across the room_

[@ctrlaltrees]

Yeah, I was hedging my bets a bit there, if I'd said it was a massive difference the "acktewally" brigade would've jumped on me I'm sure 🤣 Apparently even greater things will be possible once MakeMHz's own Stellar modchip is up to speed - I have one on order so there will definitely be a follow up! I'm really pleased with the end result though, it looks fantastic on my 4K monitor.

[@jonny-b4954]

I love the game selection on the OG Xbox. Though, I don't have one, and play all of them on the backwards compatibility of the OG Xbox 360. Which works pretty great and plays almost half of the catalogue (you can mod it to run more of them too)

[@ronny332]

Great video, I like your humor. With the HDMI output, I still have my issues. It just feels wrong to me 🙂. I still use a mechanical hard drive and the original av kit (scart) with an 28" 16:9 Sony CRT. Most of the time I play in 4:3 (set in dashboard), to get bars left an right an the CRT and for 16:9 games even on top and bottom. The natural blur of the CRT combined with the mostly not existent input lag has it's own charm. Of course everything can be made better, but some thing may be kept on the same level, at least for me 🙂 Btw: you should use high quality flux and propranolol for such small soldering work. makes it much easier and looks better.

[@jasonmccomb280]

The capacitor problem, if I recall, was caused by a company stealing the chemical configuration from another, only they copied an incomplete recipe. I lost a motherboard from Abit because of this.

[@JshDav]

I think you'll find all the fine soldering will be much easier if you turn the heat on you iron up, it looks very cold

[@locallemonadestand8130]

MakeMhz tend to overcharge for a lot of things, I bought my xenium for around 40 euros incl shipping off eBay. Came with a 1.6 LPC rebuild PCB and pin header, and flashed with cerbios and PrometheOs. I could also choose the colour.

[@JohnnyStashh]

great video, this one made me subscribe!

[@Fmily]

Holy shit, I did not think it was going to look that much better! I was incredibly skeptical of the improvements we'd see with HDMI, but now I think I have to go for the upgrade! Now the question is do I get a second xbox to upgrade, or do I use the xbox I've had since 2003 ish?

[@ApexOT]

Great video!

[@Mr.Eldric]

Burnout revenge? Noo. I was a burnout 3 takedown fiend. Loved that game to the point a lost my job cos of it. 12 hour play sessions on Sundays will do that. I’ve got the exact same xbox. Think will do this to mine.

[@joelalain]

16:40 listen, i'm not a hater, but when you start Halo, you FINISH IT 😂

[@SteveM000100]

I used to replace these drives back in the day when you had to lock them with the security key etc lol

[@SteveM000100]

I'm sure you don't actually need the mod chip, you can soft mod these and flash the bios after a solder connection

[@andrewclegg9501]

Not on a version 1.6, no tsop chip to flash. Some games wont run when forced to 480p either on a 1.6.

[@SteveM000100]

@@andrewclegg9501 Aaaah yeah, cheers 1.6 - the loser of the OG Xbox's 😆

[@emerickscott]

you need fluuuuuux man :) If the solder is pulling off your board like an ice cream, you need more flux.

[@TimTam770]

Love it. swap it for a v1 bored and you can play with 16tb drives

[@cleanycloth]

I’ve been meaning to do this with my crystal Xbox because the HDMI adapter I have for it currently just sucks. Washed out colours and it looks like someone smeared Vaseline all over it. I was worried about getting the AV connector off but I didn’t even think about just hot air gunning it off lol

[@BladeBlur]

Your wife is 100% a keeper

[@Gleamoz]

Before I tackle a project of this magnitude, I need to learn soldering skills.

[@MikeDBloke]

And if she got you the Panzer Dragoon Xbox she owns your soul

[@ctrlaltrees]

Haha, well we're married now so she got her hands on it that way instead 😅

[@steven161183]

My girl bought me an oculus rift when they first came out. I know how you feel

[@darran311]

i had a similar stress inducing experience with a hdmi switcher got 5 different consoles into the thing and th nintendo switch was the only one being a bitch and cutting the screen to black until i lost its power cable and let it work passively , like you i had no idea that was possible

[@tuff_lover]

LOL that intro!

[@DAVIDE92KIRAthebest]

Hi I bought the first model of the XBOX (classic) at a Dell market used, then I apparently realized that it is modified, the fact is, however, that I really want to remove this mod, I don't need it, I have many original games (IF the problem is not a matter of chips or various stuff). I'll explain the problem practically if I turn it on using the eject button I get the error of sending the console for assistance, if instead I turn it on with the power button it turns on normally with the only exception that during the initial cinematic the writing "X Xbox " is red/orange after this you go to the date menu (from the normal green color) and then go to the classic menu always green. PS. no messages from some software above appear during power up.

[@davieslm]

I just picked up a great condition 1.6 Crystal with mod chip and will be dropping in a 500GB SSD that I already have. I settled with rails as I will not be removing the top heat shield. I do like that Startech fake 3.5” caddy though. I am hoping the console will be alot quieter with ditching that old IDE drive or is biggest noise maker the fan? How is the smaller Noctua been working out in keeping the console cool? Do you need to ramp up the fan speed more?

[@karaslam]

I need a friend like you. lol.

[@xboxgs]

Nice work! However, does an SSD via the IDE connection provides any substantial gain in term of loading speeds? The IDE interface has a maximum speed of 133MB/s, comparing it with SATA (1.5 to 6 Gbps), it makes a lot of sense to not invest at all doing it. Still the SSD will load faster than a mechanical disk, but it will be operating way down its technical specs right?

[@LaneDenson]

No, but it should be quieter and cooler.

[@PalaceofEternia]

Does Kung Fu Chaos works with the HDMI+ mod?

[@BadgerBrownie]

@ctrlaltrees Is the metal rf shielding necessary, do you know? The bottom one in my Xbox rusted out and I threw it away, but didn't know if I should work to acquire a replacement one or not?

[@APlusBPress]

Yup you know right then she’s a keeper.

[@TallTapper]

i agree

[@james.houlder]

Which hd plus kit did you buy, Legacy? It's confusing 😕

[@tuff_lover]

It kinda hurts you didn't replace the CPU, which is actually a thing in some households.

[@ctrlaltrees]

Yeah, I know that CPU and RAM upgrades are a thing but I don't think there would be any benefit for my use case (playing my old games again) and they can be a bit risky. Maybe I'll pick another Xbox up cheaply and really go to town on it maxing everything out. 😁

[@tuff_lover]

@@ctrlaltrees Can't wait for THAT video.

[@Mareka6969]

@@ctrlaltrees I did a 128mb upgrade on a 1.0 motherboard. Modzvilleusa has a nice video on it, you guys should check it out.

[@Bravo-ry9st]

After decades, I still have my two original Xbox, one of which I modded. BUT, my dear wife has always complained that I should get rid of them. You married your GF, what should I do with my dear wife?

[@NutSac78]

Wich one is more fun should make your decision easy.

[@Bravo-ry9st]

@@NutSac78 Yes, I have to keep the one that gave me kids, which will later give me grandchildren to pass the Xbox too.

[@BrightAngel007]

Crystal XBox is just a prison XBox. :0

[@danilodequeiroz9520]

have you set up a project stella og build?

[@5thunder]

My OG Xbox is already mod chipped and running Slayers evo x 2.7 Form your video what steps do I need to take to upgrade to a ssd

[@mepm]

Any plans on upgrading this with project stellar?

[@Dumby]

Clear electronics are still a thing. Just go to jail, they have to have clear stuff to make sure inmates aren’t hiding drugs in their prison tv

[@ErinGoBragh0930]

How do you update the xboxhd+ firmware going further? Is it done via the xboxhd+ app itself? Does the console need to be connected to a router via an Ethernet cable?

[@notanfningain]

I just can't get that GPU clamp off.

[@locust76]

How does the hdmi chip differ from the Xbox2HDMI I got from Electron Shepherd?

[@cdoublejj]

whats the pixel are space satellite desktop wallpaper? is there a link to it?

[@YugoStrange]

I have a crystal edition from south korea with the HDD corrupted. It has a mod switch to boot into evox and regular dashboard. Is there any way to fix this and reinstall evox? My xbox was able to play emulators and rip games and able to play them straight off the HDD. Can you or someone help?

[@GreySectoid]

Doesn't upscaling to HD use more GPU power on the XBOX or how does it work?

[@shadyshane8125]

Explain to me how you started the video saying you had retrotink5x ...then proceed to show us OSSC footage and said "that's the best I had". Because you knew damn well there is no need for Xbox HD with retrotink5x

[@SLYZANY]

I recently aquired a crystal xbox modded with some burnt dvd games.. i see the evo x in the top corner. And i see i have 50000+ blocks of storage. I just dont know how to put the games on the internal hard drive. Anyone help? Please..

[@MarioMyers-r8k]

Did Gabriel give you your Xbox back if so was it a hard drive in 80 or a 250 if it was open I brought it from the flea market for 5 dollar tsop but can you help me out can you let me have it back

[@zergmare7]

My game screen is shifted to the right and I have no idea why. Also, I get error code 3 whenever i try to calibrate the screen. Any ideas?

[@TheStrayHALOMAN]

Buy an mClassic and you can scale the 720p to 1080 or 4k.

[@Nomad-Rogers]

If you want transparent electronics you can buy them from you local prison.

[@redux1647]

done everything in your vid apart from the hd plus used project stellar instead don't know how to safety remove the Av port

[@memadmax69]

No cpu upgrade?

[@MrAxelStone]

i wish I knew how to solder lol.

[@CG_9870]

Why? Just by a series x or Xbox one.

[@kieranjohnstone6197]

@ctrl-alt-rees would you be so kind to give me copy of your c and E drive with the modified dashboard installed so I can make a hdd on pc and put in my Xbox as my Xbox dvd drive is dead Xbox it’s self chipped

[@SolidxSnakexDuke]

I dont see the diverents

[@4x5300]

nah 220$ CAD is way to much for any chip let alone a HD kit that lacks so many features wtf!? more than the console itself towards the end of its life...

[@TheWretchedWorld]

This isn’t for the average person.

[@jordangagat]

Great pitty did,nt not make this

[@cjackfly]

1.6... "OG" 😆

[@協420]

40 seconds ago

[@KintaroTakanori]

this could have been a great video but as a beginner i have NO clue what you did. you just say "i did this, this and this". very hard to follow what you did.