? about old STI Driver plus Magnum upgrade

**JonnieBlaze** · 02-15-2012, 07:36 AM

Hey everyone, have been on this forum reading many many times in the past year, but I finally joined today because I have a couple questions regarding the STI's and Redline. Instead of buying a new RD, I'm going to try to find a used STI Driver and get the upgrade to the Magnum for another $100.

So my understanding is the STI Driver originally had the same hardware (LNAs?) as the Redline does now. But sometime in the past couple years, they changed to the lesser performing set of hardware that is found in the Magnum. But, by upgrading one of those older STI Drivers to the Magnum firmware, you can get Redline performance. If you upgrade one of the newer STI Drivers to the Magnum firmware, you truely only get Magnum performance (which I've read is near the Redline, but still not quite as good)

So my questions are:
1. When did the STI hardware change from the Redline type hardware to lesser performing hardware?
2. How do you determine the build date of an STI Driver.
3. According to this thread as of mid 2011, the Redline beats the pants off the STI Driver. Will an older STI Driver, upgraded to Magnum, still be beat out by the Redline? If so, I think it would be wise for me just to continue searching for a used Redline.

**JonnieBlaze** · 02-16-2012, 03:18 PM

Originally Posted by JonnieBlaze

2. How do you determine the build date of an STI Driver.

Found the answer to this one. It is the last for digits of the serial number in MMYY format. So s/n "XY012345670809" was manufactured in August 2009.

**TwoLitersOfFury** · 02-21-2012, 04:24 AM

So my questions are:
1. When did the STI hardware change from the Redline type hardware to lesser performing hardware?
2. How do you determine the build date of an STI Driver.
3. According to this thread as of mid 2011, the Redline beats the pants off the STI Driver. Will an older STI Driver, upgraded to Magnum, still be beat out by the Redline? If so, I think it would be wise for me just to continue searching for a used Redline.

1. Sometime in 2008.
2. Look at the bar code sticker under the unit. You'll see the serial number then a space and 4 digits. The first 2 numbers are the week and the last 2 are the year.
3. Old STI upgraded to Magnum - Damn near the same as a Redline. Mine is an 07 STI Driver upgraded to a Magnum (now showing date code 3511) will be on par with my friends 2010 production Redline.

Frankly even the new Magnums are no slouch...