Best Chip to use for the PS2

[RuBiQ]

Going to either buy a chip tomorrow or get someone to do it for me but want to know which is the best,most reliable one on the market atm.

Will the chips allow me to load import games as normal and do they allow both USA and JAP games to play on my PAL PS2 ?

Thanks in advance
RuBiQ

[lostn]

Matrix Infinity is the best one right now. It has mode detection, so you don't need to fiddle with holding the reset button for a few seconds or holding down a certain button on the gamepad.

Also, it includes the PS1 import fix, so NTSC imports will run in full screen 60hz, and not bordered slow 50hz.

And yes it does everything you asked for above.

And it's very easy to install compared to other chips. Not too many wires.

[RuBiQ]

Nice One
The Matrix it will be then

[roobarb]

Does it matter which generation PS2 you have?

e.g. will it work on my trusty old 1st gen PAL PS2 ?

[lostn]

It will work on any model from any region, from v2-v10. But it's best to read the specs and make sure first...

[RuBiQ]

Got the Matrix today, cost me ?60 nicka, looks the biz, bought winning 11-7 though like a cock thinking it was the latest one instead of winning 11-8

Dont suppose anyone knows where I can pick a copy of this up cheap as chips this week do you rather than waiting for a online shop to send it me,


I need this nowwwwwwwwww

thanks

[lostn]

Did you get the right chip? Are you installing it yourself? Have you done it before?

[Rhys]

Where did you buy your Matrix chip from? I'm wanting to get hold of one myself!

[RuBiQ]

from Bowlers in Trafford park mate

[nips]

I've got a Matrix Infinity v1.2 on a brand new PAL Silver PS2.

Stunning stuff. I've had no problems with it. All you do is put the disc in press reset and it'll play, np.

I just got an RGB cable for it as well and the image is so crisp. Not that it has anything to do with the chip I should imagine, but I have been playing Rez on it, and man, that game looks mint.

[lostn]

I'm sure you don't need to press reset after inserting it... It should be like inserting originals. Have you tried?

[womblingfree]

Yep, got my PS2 chipped with an Infinity, works like a dream.

I was told not to use copies in the machine though as this can fk up the laser or summit?

Having said that I don't use em anyway, just thought I'd spread the word.

[lostn]

They just say that to sound ethical in not condoning backups and getting themself off the hook for modding.

In theory backups can damage the laser, but only if you're writing to crappy media, and even then it's highly unlikely. The PS2 is more prone to failure from many other causes than backups.

[Saurian]

Poor quality media does cause laser failure on PS2s - so does running games ripped from DVD and amended to fit on CD, as the file structure is different the laser is all over the place.

Someone I knew just recently ruined a brand new V5 in under a month cos the brer uses nothing but really budget CDR copies - serves him right and he aint the only person I know who's done the same (V5 and V7 models), but seriously lostn it's not just something we say to people.

[will2003]

In theory backups can damage the laser, but only if you're writing to crappy media, and even then it's highly unlikely. The PS2 is more prone to failure from many other causes than backups.

Actually, I can totally 100% disprove this. I have repaired 6 v9 / v10 machines recently that haven't been even shown what a screwdriver looks like, let alone modded. These were consoles used to watch extremely low quality car boot sale movies on various no-brand crappy DVD-R discs, and were dead within a month.

Laser failure in PS2s is quite a basic thing really, especially in the newer versions. As I've explained here before, all optical media, original pressed discs or dye-based recordable media, has a laser reflectivity quality, necessary for the laser beam to bounce back to the lens with the information it has picked up from the disc surface. An original pressed disc may have a relfectivity of anywhere between 80% to 95%. In effect, the PS2 laser can read the disc just fine with a minimum of effort. As you start to slide down the scale, from good recordable media, to average media, to piss poor media, this reflectivity can drop as low as 30%... meaning the PS2 has to adjust for this, increase the power of the laser, continually scan the same disc area multiple times before the data is error free, etc etc. This places a huge amount of strain in the laser itself, and the coils that control it. You can destroy any version of PS2 this way, even the comparatively robust V5 and V7 models. To make matters worse, due to a flaw in the v9 and v10 design this can in turn actually damagae the overworked coils so badly that it in turn permanently damages an IC on the PS2 mainboard, rendering it basically past economical repair. PS2s are extremely sensitive to poor media - a professionally installed mod in no way affects the lifespan of the PS2 - all they do is modify high speed data lines with patched bytes on the fly, proper microelectonics - nothing to do with the more physical problems brought on by using poor media.

Not being provocative lostn, but:

They just say that to sound ethical in not condoning backups and getting themself off the hook for modding.

is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read

A modder does not need to get himself off the hook for anything, it's the user who chooses to use backups that has screwed up his machine, not the modder. That's like suggesting a barman needs to warn his cutomers of the danger of drink driving before serving them, to get himself off the hook if a customer crashes his car driving home pissed...

I modded a v1 almost launch model JPN PS2, the hardest PS2 ever to mod, and the one most prone to general harware faliure, 2 years ago. This guy keeps it immaculately clean, only plays original import games on it, and it's as good as the day it was made.