Post by: Xbox-Scene on May 14, 2006, 07:53:00 PM
Xodus Xenium 24k Gold Review-- Posted by HSDEMONZ on May 14 21:17 EST
Here's the Xbox-Scene review for Xodus' xenium Gold Xbox Modchip. This is not a review of the pre-production package but of the retail final with the keyring. It took a while, but once again you'll get the most informative, detailed and honest review you'll find on the net with quality pictures and several videos to give you a real-life feel of the chip and OS. A short excerpt of the introduction:
Quote
Just before Christmas of 2005 we saw the Xodus hype and announcements of the xenium 24k gold version. I was both excited, and a little dismayed at the same time. Xodus chips have time and again been a hardy breed, with a lot of fan support in the scene, and a lot of work behind the scenes by some great people work and tweaking their Xenium(info) OS(info). Xodus has time and again innovated, and came up with new and interesting ideas for the Xbox modding world. Xodus in their various incarnations gave us the first real Solderless solutions, and to this day despite a lot of competition I still hold them up as the best solderless solution on the market. (check previous reviews I wrote and filmed about their solderless solutions.)
That announcement though also seemed to hallmark a changing of the times for the scene. Xbox 360 had been around over a month.. and it was clear around the scene that the old guard was changing. This 24k Gold Chip, while a thing of beauty in those initial announcements screamed "last call" to those paying attention. (not necessarily for the team.. but for innovation/features in chips for the first Xbox console).
Clearly, the Xenium 24k Gold was cosmetic in nature. Designed to appeal to those easily swayed by it's simple esthetic beauty. Comments from TeamXodus indicate that this chip is an offering, to cement it's place in the scene and to say thanks to it's loyal supporters over the years.
Read our complete review that includes a full overview of the modchip, addons and the Xenium OS. All with pictures and several videos:
http://www.xbox-scene.com/hardware/xeniumgold-review.php
Official Site: http://www.teamxodus.com
Buy the Xenium Gold modchip: Divineo.com | Extreme-Mods.com | Divineo.cn | Divineo.es | Divineo.fr | Divineo.se | Divineo.de
Post by: Pantera Opeth on May 14, 2006, 09:07:00 PM
Post by: JonBOY on May 14, 2006, 09:10:00 PM
QUOTE(Pantera Opeth @ May 15 2006, 03:38 AM) 
I was under the impression that this chip was simply going to screw right into the xbox, without the need to solder or the need for a solderless adapter. But judging from the 360 degree view it looks as though I was wrong. I think I'll go read the full article now.
You screw the solderless adapter into place on the motherboard (either just he black adapter for v1.0-1.5 xboxs or the black adapter plus SP adapter for 1.6 xboxs) then slot the chip into position on top of that. No soldering is required. You could however opt for soldering in a pinheader if you wanted to.
As to the gold review, I'm definately a fan of the GOLD, installation is very simple and when its working properly the chips features are great, especially XOS HD upgrade wizard. I do however say 'when working properly' though as I'm continuing to encounter situations where peoples recovery function on their gold just wont work. I can recover the XOS on my ICE everytime using either the HDD method or DVD method. If I then remove the ICE and mount the GOLD, despite otherwise working perfectly the recovery function just does not work for HDD or DVD. I'm yet to be able to explain this.
Post by: pablot on May 15, 2006, 01:25:00 AM
There is one thing that I don't think is right, but not sure.
QUOTE
The Chip is smaller than its predecessors. Its a lot smaller, roughly two-thirds the size of the Xenium Ice Chip. The Xenium 24k Gold is still using the same AMD and Xilinx Chips that theyve been using for years now. Its also clear that the Gold is a consolidation, as it has fewer surface mounted components then its ICE predecessor. Less components, should equal cheaper to produce.
well, yes, the PCB is smaller BUT it is goldplated and it has internal signal layers, not just bottom and top layers like the old chip had. So I think the PCB might actually be a little bit more expensive. It even has gold plating, should be more expensive than normal white or so that they used before. As for the chip count its pretty much exactly the same. They have just squezed the components tighter together. But then again, I'm not sure. Just my guess.
regards
pablot
Post by: HSDEMONZ on May 15, 2006, 08:42:00 AM
Thanks for the detailed info regarding the PCB though. I got a quote from a local jeweller after the review, regarding the gold quantity. It's somewhere in the area of 2 bucks worth. the process of applying it being more costly than the material itself.
It's a fine chip, reliable.
QUOTE(JonBOY @ May 15 2006, 12:47 AM)
I can recover the XOS on my ICE everytime using either the HDD method or DVD method. If I then remove the ICE and mount the GOLD, despite otherwise working perfectly the recovery function just does not work for HDD or DVD. I'm yet to be able to explain this.
Interesting.
I didn't have any issues with recovery. Flash a fresh copy of the XOS and see if it continues. If it does, contact Xodus as I'm sure they want to know more about this.
Post by: HSDEMONZ on May 15, 2006, 09:43:00 AM
Post by: pablot on May 15, 2006, 10:15:00 AM
Interesting though that that the chip is put at a quite afordable price, if I weren't uninterested in these "expensive" chips I would probably give it a go. But a normal duox2 does the work for me =)
Post by: Pantera Opeth on May 15, 2006, 09:53:00 PM
Post by: JonBOY on May 15, 2006, 10:36:00 PM
As to the price of the GOLD, heres the SP pack for subtstantially cheaper then what you listed from an official Xenium reseller. I've already purchased 3 from these guys with no dramas, they're the cheapest I've found so far.
http://www.divineo.com/cgi-bin/div-us/dd-xb-goldsp
This post has been edited by JonBOY: May 16 2006, 05:39 AM
Post by: pablot on May 16, 2006, 03:56:00 AM
even cheaper at their chinese site. $50
Post by: habers on May 16, 2006, 03:47:00 PM
QUOTE(JonBOY @ May 16 2006, 12:07 AM) 
you'll be very lucky to find retailer with any Xenium chip
As to the price of the GOLD, heres the SP pack for subtstantially cheaper then what you listed from an official Xenium reseller. I've already purchased 3 from these guys with no dramas, they're the cheapest I've found so far.
http://www.divineo.com/cgi-bin/div-us/dd-xb-goldsp
fixed (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)
Post by: JonBOY on May 16, 2006, 05:59:00 PM
QUOTE(habers @ May 16 2006, 10:18 PM)
fixed
Haha, yeah you're probably right, even with production now supposedly in swing the GOLD is still a hard one to catch. Backorders everywhere.
Post by: JonBOY on May 16, 2006, 06:27:00 PM
QUOTE(pablot @ May 16 2006, 11:03 AM)
I see, thanks. I wonder if maybe it would be quicker buying from Divineo China since China is where the chips are made. I guess it would depend on whether the China website actually ships to customers from China or if all Divineo shipping is from a central location. The chips I've gotten have gone China Factory to Canada to Australia. Might as well just go China factory to China Devineo to Australia.
Post by: HSDEMONZ on May 17, 2006, 08:06:00 AM