Been to the gym lately? If not, then let this be your new motivation. What we're looking at here is a purportedly forthcoming
Xbox 360 motherboard redesign that takes aim at
slimming down the portly figure of
Microsoft's console. Sure, there's a small chance that this diet could be the work of a scarily
talented console modder, but it'd still be a near-impossible task to work in what appears to be a CPU / GPU combo chip (pictured after the break) under that greatly reduced heatsink. Note that there's also an extra SATA port at the top left corner. Perhaps this is the "
Valhalla" revision that we've all been
waiting for? On a related note, Microsoft is currently hiring a Motherboard Design Engineer for the Xbox 360 Console Development team, with such saucy tasks as "specifying, designing, implementing and verifying the mother-board and other various sub-system boards that make up the XBOX 360 product line." Feel free to sign up if you think you can hack out a better motherboard.
posted March 17th 2010 10:04AM
Nice CPU fan...
@VictorBush
I bet it has Blue led's!
@VictorBush
Fan? That's not a fan, and this isn't a picture of a motherboard. It looks like a spy satellite photo of the top of a top secret military installation, and that's a helicopter parked on the roof of the building.
@Spiny Norman
You, sir, are awesome.
@Spiny Norman Good eye
@VictorBush
That looks nothing like the Valhalla map.
@VictorBush - Still ugly, basic and PC'ish though. Not a work of art like the PS3 innards (Fat and Slim). Sayin...
@Frankenstein Black XBOX 360.5? Maybe they could drop it in some crude oil and it will look like our PS3's? But actually I want it to be Silver and look like a GameCube so it doesn't look like my Wii either, and I want it to have WiFi-N and a microSD slot and I want it to have interaction with my DVR... Can we build it? ((((yes we can)(?))
@VictorBush
I looked at this thinking it was a Kirf until they removed that heatsink. Only Microsoft would bring back the X bracket. Oh, and what is the deal with all the input ports populated over the entire mobo?
@VictorBush Cooler Master V8 or bust.
The 360 already has DVR support. The windows media center extenders works great and lets me send my recorded tv ony computer to my tv upstairs.
Hopefully their making it thin enough so they can stick a 1 TB internal HD and possibly the Natal sensor/N-wifi built in......
@mailbox01
Natal will never ever be combined with the box. I think its crazy to even suggest that. Its a camera and you want the camera in the best position possible which would be close to the TV. A lot of people have their boxes enclosed in racks separate from their TV.
@arnavdesai i agree on the Natal thing. But they HAVE TO integrate Wifi. This joke of a 70$ wifi adapter as been long enough : (
@mailbox01
Not gonna happen.
@smover I know it. I mean they need to do something cause PS3 cost the same comes with Blu Ray, Free WiFi, and Free (atleast for now) PS Network. The 360 is great and I am surprised they sold more than both Wii and PS3 lately (Keep it up XBOX) but they will need to do something
@angermeans It's called an ODST & Forza 3 elite bundle for $300. That will keep selling, as it's an amazing deal! BTW, they're unfortunately not gonna include WIFI on this generation, because they just released a new $100 accessory that makes them like a 1000% profit and is selling a ton. Amazon.com is selling more wireless adapters than consoles! http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/videogames/14220161/ref=pd_zg_hrsr_vg_1_2
"Valhalla"? Isn't that the place where dead warriors went? Hm. Given the previous Xbox history, perhaps that wasn't the wisest choice for a name?
I have only had one of my three Xboxes sent off to Valhalla, myself. I guess that's not a bad spin on what actually happened to it...
@whySoSerious
hahaha u sent your 360 to Valhalla nice one .. +1
@whySoSerious Valhalla was a hall overseen by Odin. He chose half of those who died in battle to reside in this hall and they were guided there by Valkyries.
Given that... I guess you'll know when you can get your hands on one of these when a crazy chick on a horse brings you to it.
@whySoSerious
valhalla is a halo 3 map DUH, and its a cool modding program on the pc that can edit xbox 360 game saves.
@MichaelB
Norse mythology circa 11th to 18th century.
Halo3/XBOX360 circa 21st century.
Norse mythology was around before XBOX360 and Halo 3 (but only just) /s
@ChazClout
Did that noob XBOX of yours have to ask around to find the north-western FP in Ice Crown?
Been wondering when the "Xbox slim" (fully integrated board using the Valhalla codename chip) would be coming out. Should make for insanely cheaper Xbox360's, or higher profit margins for Microsoft.
Let's hope this is it, and it will be coming out soon.
@James5mith i hope so too :) thats the only reason ive kept my older xbox model chugging along :) cant wait for an xbox slim :)
@James5mith
Would that mean an actual profit margin not a loss? Big step. Ninty still the only one that sells at profit out the gate.
Or did MS finally got passed the loss per unit sometime last year I think.
@James5mith Agreed.... if this turns out to be true then its nearly confirmed there will be a new 360 announced at e3. (which many already expected but there haven't been many leaks yet)
@James5mith Slim is great, quiet is better.
@Cy Starkman From what I understand, MS has been making a profit since switching to the Jasper manufacturing technology in the last platform refresh. (65nm GPU & 65nm CPU).
@James5mith A quieter Xbox 360 slim for around $150 would definitely replace my aging PS2.
Already saw this up on slashgear, but always nice to know Engadget has me covered too.
And here I thought the 360 werent getting any newer versions such as a slim??? Thought thats what was said on an interview that was posted up here not too long ago...hmmm, well anyway, should be interesting......years after its first release the 360 finally comes out the way it should have (assuming this i will not be getting the RRoD.
Coming soon: Xbox Waif.
This isn't going to help the XBox overheating problems much...
@Kulith The new chip and possible new solder/soldering technique might.
@Kulith
Please explain.
@Kulith Well, it is true that putting two hot components close together makes cooling more difficult (that big "chip" is undoubtedly a MCM - multiple dies on a single package). But the bigger question is how much heat is being put out in the first place, and what kind of cooler they put on it. One of Microsoft's big mistakes was going too cheap on the cooling.
I wonder how small it would be if they did everything on a super cutting edge 20nm ish process. which may not even be possible yet.
@excelsium not possible, we are somewhat close but no there yet
@excelsium
Even if it was possible who is going to pay £1000 for a console ?
@excelsium
Intel (the generally recognized world leader in silicon manufacturing) just started making products on a 32nm process. A number of test wafers (think big slabs of NAND gates) have been produced at 22nm, and some research firms have very, very early 16nm prototypes.
TSMC (which I assume is where the 360's chips are made) generally lags Intel by 6 months to a year. These new chips are almost certainly 45nm, with a small chance that they are 32nm.
@fourthletter
*devious grin* People pay the youknowwhoanddwhat Tax, I'm sure some would do the same for some super sexy small special edition console.
If this is legit, this is pretty darn small... but then again, you also aren't seeing the PS, DVD drive or HDD, so that's gonna add a little to the overall size.
I could see it being about 1/2 the size of the current XB360... then again, I never really thought the 360 was all that huge to begin with.
@Hazdaz Well its using the same type of plug for the power supply as the old ones so we can assume the power supply will still be external. Tho the power supply will likely also be shrunken a bit as this board will likely use less power. My Jasper PSU is 2/3's the size of my older ones.
@a5ehren TSMC JUST got on top of producing enough 45nm chips just for ATI.
@Hazdaz
True, but its still too big to fit into my glove box.
Looks like someone just placed a CoolerMaster heatsink on top of a bare 360 MoBo.
@Nitesh No it doesn't. Current boards would have two big chips (CPU/GPU), not just one like this one where the CPU/GPU are consolidated.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Jo45OgGa0fk/ScUkzfNAawI/AAAAAAAAAY4/19patclKk44/s320/Xbox360motherboard.jpg
Such a crappy repair rate, I hope this fixes the issue. If not, then I'll wait for Xbox 720.
Notice the onboard Optical TOSLINK :) and some other connectors...
And some more unknown ones...
Looks like it will be about 10" square, pretty small!