Hardware Xbox Series X - Update firmware or not?

[Seraphic]

Found out that it appears that during the initial setup of the XSX you are required to update the firmware before you can do anything else (even assess dashboard or play disc games). But is this a good idea if one wanted to hold out for custom firmware in the future? Would it better to no setup the system at all or better to update now with current firmware then update it later with "improved" firmware they may patch entry points? Thanks

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Don't bother waiting, just update. You probably won't see CFW for the Series X at all, because Microsoft has again done the very smart thing and given everyone access to "Dev mode", which allows anyone to run "unsigned" code on their Series X (albeit in a sandbox with limited access to hardware), just like you could on the Xbox One. People have already gotten Retroarch to run on the Series X, including the Dolphin core which runs fairly well (and could run much better, given a bit more dev time).

Because of that, no one is going to bother making a CFW, just like on the Xbox One (which has a few private exploits that were never released because there's no reason). We effectively have homebrew access already, and the only thing CFW will really give users is piracy and cheats, the former of which is usually a big fat NO from most devs looking for exploits and the latter of which isn't particularly interesting to most devs.

 

[Seraphic]

That is interesting. I heard about DEV Mode with Xbone, but never really looked into it that much and what it could do. With the XSX though, does DEV Mode access to the full power of CPU/GPU within its sandbox, or is it a limited %? I understand what you are saying about CFW and ill uses, but CFW on the XSX would be one HELL of a mini PC for the price.

What are your thoughts on the PS5 in this same CFW situation? Unlike the XSX, you are able to complete the PS5 setup process completely offline so staying on the factory firmware and waiting it out for a couple months is indeed possible.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

We don't know the performance of dev mode at this time for the Series X since MS (AFAIK anyways) hasn't told anyone the actual difference, but it's a 100% guarantee you don't have complete full access to the hardware. For the Xbox One, Dev mode only gave you access to 4 cores of the CPU, 1GB of RAM, and something like 50% of the GPU power, so it's likely somewhere around that ballpark (probably 4 cores of the CPU, I'd imagine more RAM probably, and at least 50% of the GPU). But again, you're really not going to see CFW for the Series X, especially not to the extent that you can install an OS on it, so you might as well give up on that dream. Maybe when it's EoL, but I'd doubt it even then TBH.


As for PS5, nobody knows. You might get the same circumstances as the PS4 with it's 1.76 hack, but it's literally been less than a week since it's been out so nobody has any idea. IMO I sort of doubt it, given the PS4's security was quite tight and we only really got a few exploits (and most of them on lower firmwares with no easy way to downgrade) in its life so far, but you just never know. But I can say you'd be better off buying a PS5 for exploits as opposed to a Series X, because at least the PS5 has no method to already run homebrew so it'd be actually interesting to get unsigned code running on it.