SmartXX
LT OPX HARDWARE Review - February 2005
Where
to buy::
USA and
Canada:
BMMods.com,
Extreme-Mods.com,
Divineo.com
Europe:
FreakWare.com,
Divineo.co.uk
Rest-Of-World:
Divineo.cn
Official
Website::
http://www.smartxx.com
Review::
The SmartXX
LT OPX
(SmartXX
LiTe One
Point
siX) is
the little
brother
of the
SmartXX
v1/v2
modchip.
It's a
generation4
modchip
aswell
as the
modchip
comes
with it's
own OS,
a 'lite'
version
of the
SmartXX
OS.
This
is the
default
SmartXX
LT OPX
package.
You get
the modchip
itself,
a pre-cut
pre-stripped
wire for
the D0/LFRAME
point,
a pinheader
and a
SmartXX
case-sticker.
As we are used to see from SmartXX, the build quality is once again very good. While the modchip 'feels' a bit less solid then its big brother (probably because the PCB is thinner - done so it doesn't touch the case when you fit the modchip at the backside of the motherboard), the finishing is on the same high level as the SmartXX v1/v2. The modchip also comes with a 1 year warranty (nomatter where you buy it from) which confirms SmartXX's own
confidence in their product.
As you
can see
the shape
of this
modchip
is somewhat
special.
This is
because
the modchip
can be
directly
'quicksoldered'
on the
back of
a Xbox
v1.6(b)
motherboard.
That's
also the
reason
the SmartXX
LT OPX
has a
'break-off'
headerpin,
as it's
too high
when installing
the modchip
on the
back of
the motherboard.
Installation:
* PinHeader:
Nothing
special
to say
here,
it's a
typical
pinheader
install.
For the
D0/LFRAME
wire you
get a
pre-stripped
wire that
you have
to solder
on both
ends:
modchip
and D0/LFRAME
motherboard
point.
Special
is that
D0 (xbox
v1.0-v1.5)
and LFRAME
(xbox
v1.6(b))
have different
pads on
the modchip.
Difference
is that
it's not
grounding
LFRAME.
While
no real
problems
arise
when grounding
LFRAME
Team SmartXX
has found
it's safer
not to
ground
it all
the time
and therefor
decided
to make
a separated
pad for
it.
* Wire-Install:
There
are pads
on the
modchip
if you
want to
install
it using
wires.
No plug
or wires
are delivered
with the
modchip,
so this
means
you will
have to
cut, strip
and solder
each wire
on both
modchip
and xbox
motherboard.
So unless
for some
reason
you really
want a
wire install
I suggest
you just
do the
headerpin
install
on Xbox
v1.0-v1.5
and QuickSolder
install
on Xbox
v1.6(b).
For D0/LFRAME
the wire-install
uses the
same separated
points
as explained
above.
Freakware
also told
us the
modchip
has been
specially
designed
so wires
can easily
be 20cm
long without
causing
any problems
(they
even tested
it successfully
with wires
of 40cm).
I did
not test
this myself.
* QuickSolder v1.6(b): You probably already know the "LPC repair PCB's" ... well the SmartXX LT OPX is a repair LPC on it's own. That's great for all Xbox v1.6(b) owners. The modchip has tinned holes on the PCB so you can place the modchip on the back of the Xbox motherboard and (quick)solder the modchip directly on the motherboard. So no need to do a headerpin install and then using a LPC repair PCB or repair the points manually with wires (where you have to cut/strip and search for each point manually).
Was also a good idea from SmartXX to put the solder pads for the LCD addon and external switches on the border of the modchip so that they stick out of the Xbox motherboard border. So this makes these points accessible from the top side of the Xbox motherboard aswell.
* Solderless v1.0-v1.4: There is no solderless adapter made by SmartXX yet (althought they plan to release one soon), but the SmartXX LT OPX works fine with any universal solderless adapter. Pin4 of the headerpin is internally linked with D0.
The Modchip::
More Pictures:
* SmartXX LT OPX from another angle
* SmartXX LT OPX back of PCB
The
flashchip
is 1MB
and
comes
pre-flashed
with
the
legal
linux
based
SmartXX
Lite
OS.
This
OS is
256KB
and
is based
on the
full
SmartXX
OS used
on SmartXX
v1/v2.
This
means
you
will
have
768KB
left
to store
your
own
Xbox
bioses
on.
Word
from
Team
SmartXX
also
told
us a
possible
2MB
version
of the
SmartXX
LT OPX
will
reach
the
stores
soon.
The SmartXX LT OPX has a highspeed and secure QuickLogic FPGA syscon. While for the end-user this only means it's a quality/solid controller, it also means the chip is very hard to clone. So this also means endusers will most likely never end up with a low quality clone chip.
As
the
modchip
comes
pre-flashed
with
its
legal
OS,
once
installed
you
can
directly
flash
all
bioses/kernels
you
want
on the
chip.
You
can
flash
from
a file
on the
Xbox
HD or
CD/DVD
and
if your
xbox
is connected
via
network
with
your
PC you
can
flash
using
a handy
web
interface
or using
SmartXX'
remote
flasher
program
(win32)
aswell.
More
details
about
the
SmartXX
Lite
OS will
be posted
soon
in a
SmartXX
OS review.
An OS upgrade seems to be safe as it uploads the new OS in 2 steps, the old OS build will only be replaced by the new after the upgrade-procedure checked the newly flashed OS is OK.
There are lots of solderpads on the modchip for external (optional) addons:
* It's possible to connect an LCD screen with the modchip. It can be used in the SmartXX Lite OS and in XboxMediaCenter and maybe later in more homebrew programs. There are solderpads for all the points you need for an LCD screen. For the constrast control there's no pot (trimmer) on the modchip like on the SmartXX v1/v2, but there are solderpads to install a constrast controller yourself.
* Quatro I/O bus solderpads for eventual future upgrades. It's a fast external port that could be used for many things. For now there's no addon released using it.
* Soderpads to install an external status led
* Solderpads to install external switches for 'hard' bios bank selecting
POSITIVE::
+ Cheaper
+ Good value, probably modchip with most features in its price category.
+ Works with universal solderless adapters on Xbox v1.0-v1.4
+ You can 'quicksolder' the modchip directly on the back of an Xbox v1.6(b)
+ Very good build quality
+ Has many external 'ports' to install bank-switches, leds, lcd and a generic 4x I/O.
+ Pre-flashed with own made, linux-based legal 'OS'.
NEGATIVE::
- All external 'ports' are solderpads, no easy plugs.
