This info comes from dean takahashi, a guy whos right most of the time when he talks about the X360. Falcon is the name for the latest internal electronics in the Xbox 360. It will have an IBM microprocessor and an AMD/ATI graphics chip that are manufactured in a 65-nanometer production process. With smaller chips, Microsoft gets a bunch of benefits. They won’t generate as much heat. So the risks of overheating — one of the main reasons behind Microsoft’s billion-dollar write-off for repairs and extended warranties — are much lower. The chips may also cost half of what it took to make them before because they use less material and fewer manufacturing steps to produce. Microsoft is in the process of qualifying the new Falcon chips and motherboard this summer. I expect it will launch Xbox 360s with the new Falcon innards this fall. That is why the company has been able to say that it has solved its manufacturing quality problems. Microsoft is likely to spend a little more money on heat sinks to make sure that the overheating problem doesn’t resurface with Falcon. So rather than fix the problems with the 90-nanometer machine, Microsoft has the easier problem now of getting a 65-nanometer machine to work right. So basically if you want a X360 that wont set the house on fire wait until fall to be sure. Source
Why'd it take so damn long? Intel has had 65nm chips since last January, and Panasonic are making SOACs on 45nm processes now. This wait's been rediculous when the heat problem's so bad.
My 360 unit that died didn't burn the house down. It just wouldn't boot anymore. I'd love to get a 360 with 65nm chips in it but I'm not too worried about it.
It's not quite that simple. The XB CPU(s) are harder to scale down and there are issues with things like yield initially. Also, MS are working with third party manufacturers.
In reality, MS have chosen the name of the wrong bird. They should call it "Phoenix" for very literal reasons! Let's hope the new chip set does the job.
I myself was happy the system had a idle powerdown time, as I always would forget it was running... OT: good news, it this means a stable 360 (and not related but I really hope the DVD drive doesn't make as much noise as the old one) then I would consider buying one again!
I agree, but its all cuz MS is too cheap to hire better manufacturers, and lets not even talk of the FACT that the current X360s heat problems could be solved by just using a better heatsink... Its amazing how they came up with a cash sponge as the Xbox with very little results and now that they have a good console they go and try to save some pennies on critical aspects of the hardware. This is getting WAY too similar to the Dreamcast, the only difference being that SEGA didnt had the money at all, while MS is literally swimming in Windows licensences revenues...
None, but SEGA did cut costs on most things, even the logo which should be painted (like in the protos) and not a sticker. I just made that comment cuz a lot of people like the compare the DC to the X360...
cosmetic cuts and cost reduction for parts arent the same thing, let's not compare oranges to apples here i m confident that the new units will function as they should, for years to come, with the most risky component being as usual the optical drive
Yeah, choosing to use a sticker (which is great for us who paint systems once they get 'the yellows'), isn't the same as having a system that overheats and fails 30% of the time. I can see the DC in the push MS are making with online play, and their attempts to leapfrog the competition by releasing early, but this time it's seemingly working. People didn't drop the 360 like a bad habit once the PS3 came (maybe people are learning from the past).
I was just making a point with the post before that one, and that is that SEGA HAD to reduce costs since they didnt had the money, while MS which has no economic problems at all is being cheap on critical hardware parts while leaving cosmetics and meaningless details like the "ring of light" and bling-bling (read DVD tray cover and black paint in the elite) intact.
actually ms does have financial problems. If you study company law or anything business related you ll find out that the XBOX division is a seperate daughter-branch of the main MS pillar structure. As such, being deeply in debt due to brute-force market penetration, they have a duty against their shareholders to reasonably limit costs - or the directors could get in serious legal trouble.
There you go. The console world mutated into a clone of the PC one. Ragnarok!!!! RAGNAROK I SAY!!! :lol:
If they finally solve all the issues with this new revision I might actually consider buying one some day.
Yeah I know that, but the fact is that money still comes from MS, being that the main investor. In case of a meltdown they would fire that assclown moore or just get rid of the whole division...
