IntensaFire Rapid Fire 360 Controller Mod Review

Do it yourself solderless rapidfire modchip for Xbox 360 wireless controllers

IntensaFire is now available from Llamma's shopping cart!

Most often with today's rapid fire mods from various suppliers you get 4 modes, off, dual wield, call of duty patched, and supa fast.  This fills the need for most users but does not offer forward compatibility.  When the next call of duty comes out do you think they wont change the cap rate?  With the Intensafire mod a 5th mode is added, program mode this gives you 255 settings for speed.  You get confirmation of the speed setting so you can share it with your friends.  This isn't just for new games its for old ones too, sometimes it is better to have just a bit slower of a speed to get the most out of the particular weapon you are using.  In COD 5 we see one of the the semi auto rifle takes an extra fraction of a second load time before the next round is ready to shoot.  If you can dial in the number just right you can get this this weapon to fire as fast as it can.  If your rapid fire  trigger pull occurs just before the gun is ready you get a small delay waiting for the next pull so if you can make the rate just right its a benefit.

high resolution	This board definitely is a new idea and something anyone can install quickly and reliably.  In the full retail version we see not only the board, a T8 security driver but also some "magic conductive paint" that eliminates the need for soldering.  From my experience I would recommend a soldered install to everyone, for reliability there is no substitute for good old fashion liquid metal.  But a soldering iron in the hands of the uninitiated can often lead to ruined electronics.  The beauty of this mod is that anyone can pick up the mod open a controller and be successful.  Even if you aren't successful at least you will not likely ruin your controller with a soldering iron.  Will the magic paint stay good for years to come?  I don't know but at least paint can be chipped away and re-applied.  If you know the soldered install is the method you prefer the mod is also available in an OEM/board only version for a lower price.
	This seems to be basically the same mod as previous PIC 12F683 controller mods instead of an 8 pin chip we see a Microchip.com PIC 16F684-I/ML used in this product.  The 16F684 is basically the same as the 12F683 but sports additional pins.  Note that though there are 16 pins on the package 2 of them not connected/not used by the chip, making this a 14 pin chip.  An additional two pins are dedicated to power and ground. One more pin MCLR is reserved for in circuit programming.  This means we have a 11 pins available for use.
	It looks like the additional pins were required to run the 3 surface mount LED's that are report back the mode and status of the mod.
	Also we find something a bit unexpected, the FSA 2467 is a dual pole dual throw toggle switch, this allows up to four inputs to be directed to one of two outputs.  In the spec sheet an example purpose described for use in a cell phone toggling 2 speakers between a stereo MP3 music and ring generator.  I see pin 10 going to the lower pin on the right trigger, this pin is high or low depending on the type of controller circuit board.  It appears this component is used to toggle the power source depending on the version of controller PCB.
	Currently two types of controller circuit board are in circulation CG or Matrix with this mod the only difference is where the SYNC button is connected.  It fits perfectly on either board.
	One of the first things I noticed on this board is the debug port, this is a 5 pin programming interface.  This has the potential to allow users to upload customized code to support more customizations.  Suppose you never play Halo, then the dual wielding mode is not really useful to you, this chip could be reprogrammed with a software that is more ideal to your style of game play.
	Also we notice two unused pads labeled button.  I suspect these are to allow advanced users to install accessory rapid fire buttons under the controller.  Why would you want accessory buttons when you can have the OEM triggers working as rapid fire?  Well you may find that the most important part of a rapid fire mod is to not have rapid fire when you don't want it.  For instance when on a full auto turret or a machine gun you can trip the cap rate just because the clip is so large, also you will notice "bursting" on some full auto weapons, or pauses with bursts of fire so you really are not getting the most of the weapon when rapid is on, if you are using a full auto load out you will want rapid fire shut off.

I should also mention the quality of this PCB, nice plated through holes, all surface mount components look well soldered and done by machine/reflow.  This is a big jump in quality from products we see from China.  It really speaks to how cheap labor is in other countries when surface mount components are soldered by hand, if you make it  in the US you have to do it by machine to be competitive but the big bonus is increased reliability of solder joints. 

I talked a bit about the product with the owner of BGR mods and was surprised to hear the level of quality checks.  First off these are made in USA, well as much as electronics can be anyway, the boards are designed and printed in the US and they boards are assembled here as well.  The chips/components themselves are made internationally.  once assembled they are electronically tested.  They are tested again in house at BGR mods before being packaged and shipped.  There is also a limited warranty of the product outlined in the instructions a service I have not seen from other suppliers.  So far I'm impressed.

Now I suppose I should actually install this thing and try it out!

Video installation tutorials available at BGR Mods

Youtube

I went with a soldered install on a newer CG board.  Letting the soldering iron heat up was the longest part of the process.  I probably spent less than a minute soldering the points.  Only one of them is somewhat difficult; the sync button, with the close tolerances of the the PCB it was pretty easy to make the connection.

Power it up and sync to my PC wireless USB thingy and I can check it out in the performance in controller properties dialog accessible from Control Panel/Game Controllers.  I see the controller continues to function normally with the mod disabled and can confirm rapid trigger(s) in all modes.

Mode 1 Player4 LED turns on, then off then on and stays on
Mode 2 Player 3 and 4 leds both turn on then off then on and stay on
Mode 3 Player 3 LED shuts off Player4 LED blinks 3 times and stays on
Mode 4 Player4 LED blinks 4 times and stays on
Mode 5 Player5 LED blinks 5 times and stays on
Mode 6 rapid fire is off and LED's are off

On to game play!  Load up COD 5 World at War set the mod to mode 3 and just as anticipated all semi auto weapons work in rapid fire and they do not trip the cap rate.  No complaints!  Until now we at Llamma have shied away from the rapid fire mods that are currently available since they are pretty difficult to install and we are not really interested in doing them for our customers since they take so much time to complete and ultimately require so many wired connections they are not always reliable.  Times have changed

Another thing we found out was this cannot be installed with XCM Lighted controller shell.  The test unit was a matrix controller, when rapid fire was enabled and I scrolled through modes I saw various results is various modes, some modes appeared to function normally, some the thumbsticks freaked out, in all modes when the trigger was activated the lights flashed as the rapid fire went off... which was pretty cool.  More research is required I believe this can be made to work but some wiring adjustments or programming adjustments will be needed.

Pros-
Easy Install
5 modes
program mode
high quality PCB

Cons-
-Not Compatible with XCM Lighted Controller Shells
-5 modes - this means you have to scroll through 5 selections to turn on and off (Ideally I would like the mode I am using to turn on and off with a single click of the sync button, instead of 3 clicks to get to on and 3 more clicks to get to off)
-As with any rapid fire mod when RF is on the controller no longer goes to sleep to save battery life.

Nit Picky Stuff-
-Mode one turns on the led then off then on and stay on...  I would have expected mode one to just come on and stay on rather than the blink, which kindof makes me think mode 2
-The indicator LED's on our pre release board are orange... not my favorite color
 

In conclusion, I like it.  Its a great idea and well executed.  It appears to be a quality product.  The solder glue is a great idea to make this a mod anyone can do themselves.  The functioning of the mod itself is as anticipated my expectations are met.

-Llamma