Those smaller, cooler 65nm processors -codenamed Falcon- will be powering 360s soon, according to Dean Takahashi, author of The Xbox 360 Uncloaked. "Falcon is coming your way this fall. The first Xbox 360s with it are probably on ships coming from China," he stated in a recent article for the Mercury News. It makes sense for both gamers and Microsoft, as the 65nm “chips generate less heat (as long as they deal with the leakage, or standby heat, properly), and they operate more reliably. What’s more, smaller chips require fewer materials so the smaller chips carry lower costs...”
However, Takahashi doesn’t think that you’ll be able to distinguish between the different hardware configurations, stating that “Some of those Xbox 360s with the HDMI ports, especially the Xbox 360 Elites, are being made with 90nm chips on Zephyr boards. Some of them will have 65nm chips on Falcon boards. I really don’t know how you’re going to be able to tell the difference. If you’re buying an Xbox 360 without HDMI, then for sure you aren’t getting Falcon ...”
The reliability of the Xbox 360 hardware’s been one of the major marks against it and hopefully these new chips should help cut down with those Red Rings of Death which have become almost synonymous with mentions of Xbox 360 hardware. It's probably going to come as less relief to those already with an Xbox 360, though.
As Takahashi points out, “Microsoft has no intention of telling you which box has 65nm chips on the inside.” I think it's pretty unlikely that the Redmont Giant is going to reveal which Xbox 360s were getting the new chips, or even parade the fact that the new chips are going in. Marketing the chips as more reliable could be seen as an admission of the previous iteration as less so, something that MS probably don’t want.
However, Takahashi doesn’t think that you’ll be able to distinguish between the different hardware configurations, stating that “Some of those Xbox 360s with the HDMI ports, especially the Xbox 360 Elites, are being made with 90nm chips on Zephyr boards. Some of them will have 65nm chips on Falcon boards. I really don’t know how you’re going to be able to tell the difference. If you’re buying an Xbox 360 without HDMI, then for sure you aren’t getting Falcon ...”
The reliability of the Xbox 360 hardware’s been one of the major marks against it and hopefully these new chips should help cut down with those Red Rings of Death which have become almost synonymous with mentions of Xbox 360 hardware. It's probably going to come as less relief to those already with an Xbox 360, though.
As Takahashi points out, “Microsoft has no intention of telling you which box has 65nm chips on the inside.” I think it's pretty unlikely that the Redmont Giant is going to reveal which Xbox 360s were getting the new chips, or even parade the fact that the new chips are going in. Marketing the chips as more reliable could be seen as an admission of the previous iteration as less so, something that MS probably don’t want.
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