well, thanks for the input. not really what i was trying to find, but at least people took the time. on a personal note: i like soft mods. they are very easy to fix if you screw something up, and if you do it a few days after you buy the xbox, you can always return it with a factory seal. plus you can't beat the price; a few downloads, patience, and renting a game. i've seen some chip modded xbox's and the only thing that really made me jealous was that they had new(larger) hard drives, but as for all the other stuff? man, i just wanted to play mario again. plus, if you learn to soft mod, all the other emu tweaking stuff makes alot of sense, it's definately a positive learning experience.