DIY Replica Alpha II Tower XDK

[CyrusDevX]

This is My own Version of A mini TUT to build you very own Alpha II
​

Ok So The Xbox Alpha Tower's I and II were the first ever prototype Xbox kits ever produced, They are EXTREMELY Rare!

Picture of what they looked like.

Xbox Retail specs:
CPU - 733mhz PIII
GPU - GeForce 2 NV-1017
RAM - 64MB SDRAM
HDD - 8-10GB IDE Drive
DVD - Standard DVD drive - Special firmware + custom power / eject function port - IDE

Xbox XDK Final Prodution specs:
CPU - 733mhz PIII
GPU - GeForce 2 NV-1017
RAM - 128MB SDRAM
HDD - 8-10GB IDE Drive
DVD - Standard DVD drive - Special firmware + custom power / eject function port - IDE
Onboard FPGA system - RS232 Kernel Debugger And DVD Drive Emulator Board
Raptor PCI Card for PC - DVD Drive Emulation

Pictures:

~Main Topic~​

So You Can Build a 98% functional Replica Of this system. Other 2% is audio, which there is not fix for at the moment. Cheap to compared to the retail price of the official ones. Around $200(only around 200 if you have zero parts to start with... i mean ZERO - including the controller, etc.) Lowest price i got for just the bare parts listed was around $120.

These are the ABSOLUTE Required Parts for the Kernel and OS to boot and operate as the official would.

1. 128MB RDRAM - RAM Single DIMM
2. Continuity RIMMS - Single (this is a Dummy Ram chip, needed for the unit if the motherboard uses RDRAM. Which in this case we do, Since most VC820 mobo's have 2 slots. One for the 128MB DIMM and the other for the RIMM "Dummy".)
3. INTEL VC820 OR CC820 - MOBO
4. Nvidia GeForce 2 AGP NV-1017 OR MS-8837 -- With 64MB RAM - GPU
5. OPTi 82C861 - USB Card
6. Intel Pro 100 M - Ethernet
7. Slot 1 Intel PIII XXXXMHz - CPU

Note that the CPU can be over 733Mhz, It just needs to be Slot 1 type, and fit the VC820 board. you can easily use a 1.0GHz chip.

You also might want a Case - PSU @ 250Watts - HDD with >= 20GB (min of 20GB!). And also a Xbox controller with the usb port mod. The original xbox controllers were just masked USB ports. If you cut open the wire on the controller, it will have, RED = v5, Black = GND, White = D-, Green = D+. There is also a yellow wire. It does nothing. Just cut a standard USB Male A plug and wire it up. This goes into the back PCI Card usb ports.

Note That all the Motherboard features, such as Onboard usb, audio, graphics and what not DO NOT WORK with this OS and kernel. Only the RS232 port works. Hence the PCI and AGP cards .

So build the unit like any other pc... Slap a regular IDE CDROM drive in it, burn a special recovery iso that i have if you want ( i also have the SDK for developing on the tower). Boot from disk, it will install the Xbox OS and kernel loader to the HDD, No modifications Required AT ALL.

Build -> Burn -> Boot -> Install -> Program = Joy!

I will be Building my own withing the next 14 days. Ill keep you posted once i get started .

 

[bananaswag]

Looks pretty cool. I'm going to build one of these at some point.

 

[Space]

yeah this is cool bro nice share

 

[CyrusDevX]

Np people .

 

[Crippler_]

Those specs...... lol

Man have we come a long way.

OT: So has anyone actually built this? Or did you just grab a parts list and hope it will work?

 

[CyrusDevX]

yes its been built before. just no audio due to MS building a custom AMR slot card... On Assem gamers some people are building a replica card. and they also have posts of there builds

 

[MSX]

IIRC the way the kernel is coded the system won't boot any alpha games unless you have the sound card. There were a couple members on ASSEMblergames trying to make a replica sound card.

I used to have a later alpha prototype controller. Traded it away someone who has quite a dev collection and somehow got a hold of a new(?) Alpha tower.

 

[CyrusDevX]

Yes the alpha games wont boot without audio. you will get error code 03, theres a method to patch them but i dont know of it atm.

 

[bananaswag]

Quick question as I never really got into Original Xbox stuff, why would you build this for around $200, when I see actual debug kits going for $50 more. Are there any perks to it?

 

[MSX]

Quick question as I never really got into Original Xbox stuff, why would you build this for around $200, when I see actual debug kits going for $50 more. Are there any perks to it?

The Alpha towers are prototype Xbox hardware while the debug kits are final dev hardware. A real tower costs $1k if you can find one. It's a prototype Xbox. The debug would be equivalent to a 360/PS3 test kit.

 

[CyrusDevX]

The Alpha towers are prototype Xbox hardware while the debug kits are final dev hardware. A real tower costs $1k if you can find one. It's a prototype Xbox. The debug would be equivalent to a 360/PS3 test kit.

Couldn't said it any better . its not anything super useful i guess... well without the AMR card that is. but its just cool imho to have built one