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Looks like I may finally be picking one up, sooner or later....but I wanna go about it the right way.

How can I make sure that the system I get is compatible with a no-solder mod chip AND has a Samsung DVD drive? Is there a way to tell just by looking at the serial number while in-store?

Is there an Xbox purchasing FAQ that might be worth consulting?

 

[siamesedreamer]

9 times out of 10 the Samsungs have serial numbers ending in 06.

I used that aproach twice and both were Samsungs.

 

[Kudie]

Yes, and there is a belief that serial numbers ending in 05 have the Philips drive. Also, I hear that the green SE Halo Xbox systems seem to have more Philips drives than the allegidly more reliable Samsung ones. In fact, when I bought the SE green Halo Xbox a few months ago, I got the Philips drive. So, I think you're best bet to get the Samsung drive is buying the regular black ones.

 

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Does anyone have a link to that comparision screenshot, so you can tell which drive you've gotten by looking at the disc tray? My friend picked up a system last night (not the Halo pack) and I'm curious what he ended up with.

 

[Semjaza Azazel]

The Samsung's have big quarter sized holes in the tray, I believe.

 

[Ryu]

What's the difference? Is one more faulty then the other or something?

 

[DopeyFish]

Thompson's have DDE errors and is the slowest
Philips is midway in amount of DDE errors and is a little faster
Samsung drives are the fastest (going to my friends house has a good few seconds improvement on load times) and DDE errors are very rare if you have a perfect disc.

 

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My Thomson drive has never had a dirty disk error even once.

 

[The Faceless Master]

people just worship samsung because they read cdr and don't break down much...

thomson is the best IMO... tho they also have the highest failure rate...

philips is the worst though... low compatibility... and failure rate closer to thomson...

though i hear the "new" philips are good, haven't actually seen any yet...

oh yeah, almost forgot...