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Hi,
I would like to know the opinion of others users on this thread. What do you think is the most/less durable console? I've heard a Saturn is really hard to break, a Genesis too. The original XBox too I think; well, I never had any of these consoles.
And for the worst, I've got no idea. Dreamcast? You know, when the lazer stop randomly working... Or possibly... GameGear (Sadly)?
Any thoughts?
For worst it has to be the 360 so far. We'll see how the Slim holds up.Quote:
Originally Posted by GameX
Best for me has to be my Atari 2600.
360?
I do not have a 360 (a Wii), but a friend of mine got the Red Ring of Death, and was really frustrated against the store who "repaired" the console.
Most durable : Genesis and Snes, no moving parts or lasers or breakable screens, also no battery packs that can die.
Least durable : Xbox360 with a failure rate of about 75% its the least durable console ever.
Well aside for the SEGA CD, all SEGA consoles have been pretty reliable and same goes for Nintendo. The original XBOX had it's share of overheating issues and power cord problems. Prior to the PS3, Sony had a legacy of bad gaming hardware.
Anything disc based will break much faster than a cartridge system. The same can be said about the games.
I'll have to Disagree w/ you on the SNES since most of them tend to turn yellow, as for least durable console I'd Say the Jaguar CD is even worse than the 360.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeoVamp
Personally my vote is the N64. There's still a crapload of them out there and they just keep working.
the original xbox is an m1 abrams battle tank!!
Ive got some savage young cousins who tear through consoles on a monthly basis, theyve had thier xbox for 2 years!!!
My Atari 2600 still works great, plus it has that sexy wood paneling (rowr!).
Also, the original Game Boy is an absoute tank... I think that thing could stop a bullet.
The 360's failure rate is not 75%, it's before the Jasper came out it was around 33%. After the Jasper chip set came out it's dropped down to about 10%, the same as the PS3. A lot of people still have early model 360's before the Jasper and Falcon chipsets came out.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeoVamp
As for the most durable console, a Cartridge based one will almost always win (asside from the original NES), but for disc based console's my vote goes to the Saturn. I dropped mine down the steps by accident when I was about 10 and it was perfectly fine. Just got a small white scratch where it rubbed against the wall.
I left my Saturn on for a week while on vacation and it still works fine. Thing's so quiet I forgot it was on. oops!
I have to agree with this, its a pretty strong piece of work,Quote:
Originally Posted by shinobimusashi
well.. once you fix the lead free solder problem in the power connector anyway.
But like with all disc based systems the laser will eventually burn out with heavy use.
But its a fucking tank all right.
actually depending on how you define "failure rate" deems at what percent it 'failed'
Sometimes depending if you count "one sale" as a failure eg. one person say bought one console and it failed 6 times the failure rate would be 600% if that was the only console sold, however if two consoles were sold the failure rate would then half too 300%.
now say two people bought a console and 'console one' failed 6 times and 'console two' didn't fail at all = 300%
then say that 'customer 1' had bought another console after the previous 6 fails that would then devide the failure rate again.
if you REALLY want an accurate figure in one repair centre I worked at (long before being a tattooist) the failure rate for the 360 came in at 120% when we had to report the figures back to 'HQ' but with all the multiple sales (people buying more then one) and repairs back in circulation in came in a %75 easily!
so to say the failure rate is 33% this is bollocks! near all 1st and 2nd gen xbox 360s have failed! in the first year we nearly had ALL launch units back some on multiple occassions back 1% - 5%
the 360 failure rate is astronomical! it has cost billions. an average failure rate for a company is roughly;
1% - 10% A grade
10% - 15% B grade
15% - 20% C Grade
D grade is unclassified.
Ive worked in upper managment dealing with these sort of issues, I won't lend to the company but it dealt with budget TV/Stereo/computers & Laptops.
the 360 is an abismal failure, but the 33% is founded on bollocks, ive seen the figures for a chain store and had to deal with the repairs, inhouse warranty issues etc so it's not hard to work out the failure rate.
id have to say a snes
i found one in the bottom of a dumpster wet from being rained on(or bum pee) and when i jumped in i stepped on it
it still works as of now
I watched... either Attack of the Show or Xplay, I don't remember which, and they did a durability test on the then current consoles (PS2, Gamecube, Xbox) by dropping them from 2 stories up onto concrete. The Gamecube was the only console still working without a problem!
The original gray brick Game Boy, no contest. Mine has taken quite a bit of punishment, and of course there's the infamous one that survived a SCUD missile in the gulf war.
I would have to say the Model 1 Megadrive/Genesis. I have run across a ton of model 2 systems with screwed up controller, av, and ac ports. I have found a few dead Snes systems and while its not the systems the ac adapters break often and can be difficult to replace. TH16 RF ports always get screwed up. Cd systems always die eventually though, some are better than others. The toaster Nes is a joke though the top loader is solid. The Master system is good. I don't have much experience with Atari systems.
I vote Core Grafx.
My vote for most reliable would have to go to the Genesis. Either of model 1 or 2. I hardly have problems with them.
The SNES, aside from the yellowing problem, hasn't given me many problems. The NES is another story. The cart connectors in the toaster NES suck.
I can't agree with everyone saying how great the Xbox 1 was. It wasn't. I've been through my share of them. Plenty of failed DVD drives, exploding capacitors on the motherboard (like destroyed the board exploding), power supply shorting, failing hard drives, etc. All the problems that come with a cheap PC, the Xbox had. The one upside it had was that if you modded it, replacing the hard drive was easy and you didn't really need the DVD drive any more.
Physical durability of the Xbox sucked too.
The board mounted to the front of the case, with the switches on it. If that get hit or has something wrong with it, game over.
Quote:
Originally Posted by InfraMan
Bullet?!?! Try bombs!!! This GB survived bombs at the Gulf War: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBeTXPaewMo
The original Sega Master System. The thing is a tank.
Most cartridge based systems are durable because of no moving parts,they only need slight maintenance and will run for decades!
The least durable has to be the 360,unbelievable failure rate! the ps2 was also notorious with the laser problems.
I say origional gameboy, ive seen and heard of them surviving some nasty shit.
the SMS I disagree with the plastic housing just cracks to easily....not that I beat people with them or anything.
the original game boy sucked evenry one i see in the wild has missing verticle lines all over on the screenQuote:
Originally Posted by 64k
Yet to have any problems with my Atari 2600VCS, 30 years and still going strong.
Sadly I have plenty of electronics from the same era that are not.
Easily the 2600.
Compared to game gear? :pQuote:
Originally Posted by bohokii
I thought this was about the durability of consoles that can take a physical beating & not the pitfalls of aging electronics?
The Gamecube without a doubt, at least out of the newer generation consoles (32bit+, the older consoles have less moving parts). Because of the example mentioned above, and also this.
Nintendo's hardware has always been pretty durable.
N64 is great! I saw a video, it resisted to the fire, and being crushed by a bike!
Original GB, too. My friend found it in the snow, with Tetris inside, still work perfectly! He gave it to us. :) Even if we don't play to it anymore (We have an ol' GBASP. :P), it still play right*.
I'm pretty sure this beats all:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...e_gulf_war.JPG
The Original Game Boy, as hit by a bomb in the Gulf War. Still functioning, and on display at Nintendo World in NYC. :)
:o Looks like it merely caught fire. Still amazing.
What's all the dissin' on the NES toaster?
These things are rock solid. Most of the time the famous flashing screen is caused by dirty cartridge contacts. Tell me of a Sega or Atari cart-based system that did not experience similar issues if you plugged in a dirty cartridge.
Has the Sega CD been consistently less reliable than the Saturn at similar ages? (ie were you seeing more problems with Sega CDs 3 years ago than you do with Saturns today?)Quote:
Originally Posted by the.importer
Hmm, I've never seen that...Quote:
Originally Posted by bohokii
Well I have seen it for simply dirty cart connectors (odd missing vertical lines with comb-like artifacts), but cleaning the carts/connector solves that completely. I haven't actually seen any GBs with dead pixels or similar problems. (and vertical lines wouldn't be normal LCD/capacitor issues either, so I wonder if you're simply thinking of dirty carts/slots)
On the topic in general: there's a difference in durability vs reliability: reliability could simply be consistent use under average conditions without problems for a long lifespan. Durability would imply more the resistance to excessive wear or poor operating conditions: ie on the floor getting beaten up/kicked around, full of dust/dirt, surviving drink spills, poor ventilation, excessively hot environments, humidity, etc.
I always thought this was a joke! OoQuote:
Originally Posted by Baloo
The sad thing is, it was probably in someone's back pocket.Quote:
I always thought this was a joke! Oo
My vote goes to any cart based console. These generally use minimum parts to build, and no moving parts.
N64s will be around longer than any of us will be and will still play like new. Xbox 360's have gotta be the most fragile.
I know plenty of people with launch model 360's that are still working fine and have yet to get a RRoD. And with the Falcon and Jasper chipsets it's dropped significantly. I'd trust Microsoft and the company that handles their warranties far more than I would a Game store pulling numbers out of thin air.Quote:
Originally Posted by 64k
One console failing multiple times still count's as one console. If a console fails 6 times it doesn't get counted as 6 consoles failing as it's not 6 specific consoles failing. If you counted that with any console the numbers would be skewed as you could have more consoles failed than consoles sold/produced.
I agree with that 100%. If you are looking for a reliable newer console I would suggest the Nintendo Game Cube. Although its library lacks a bit.Quote:
Originally Posted by NeoVamp