Anyone can take a hammer and rib-spreader to a new piece of hardware. But it takes someone like
Anand Shimpi, the man behind
Anandtech who has personally suffered through four out-of-warranty Xbox 360 failures, to bring sage analysis to a
teardown of the new Xbox 360. His reluctant
sixth Xbox 360 is the
new slimster (codename
Valhalla) which, for the first time, combines the CPU, GPU, and eDRAM onto a single chip -- previous Xbox 360 motherboards featured two discrete packages that split the CPU from the ATI designed Xenos GPU and eDRAM. The design allows for a single heatsink to be cooled by a single, larger fan making the new Xbox "noticeably quieter," measured at 45dB when idle or 51dB with the 1.5Gbps SATA Hitachi HTS545025B9SA00 with 8MB buffer spinning at 5400RPM -- that's down from 50dB and 54dB, respectively, as measured on late 2008 through 2010 Jasper-class 360s. Regarding power consumption, Anand measured a 50% reduction from the original 2005 Xbox 360 (25% less than
Jasper-class rigs at idle, or 20% to 17% less under load) and pulled just 0.6W when "totally off" compared to the 2W of vampire power pulled by older 360s. Anand speculates that Microsoft might finally be using cheaper 40nm components. However, we shouldn't expect to see a price cut anytime soon as it will take Microsoft awhile to ramp up the material and manufacturing cost savings. Regardless, with
Kinect and several new game titles on the horizon, Anand concludes that there's still plenty of life left in the old Xbox 360 platform for those looking to make the jump.
posted June 18th 2010 5:10AM
I'll miss the airplane jet :(
Microsoft I need Blu-ray player and Linux OS support and I am buying it.
@Beatnik You just asked for Linux OS support on a Microsoft product?
@Leachpunk Yh that was quite a mistake, though I still don't understand why people are banging on about Blu-ray. Adding Blu-ray would make a lot of Xbox owners anoyed and would mean future games on Blu-ray wouldn't be able to be played on older 360s.
@Beatnik Once geeks get blue-ray and linux they will find yet another thing to bitch about. Geeks are never satisfied.
@Leachpunk
Yes I know, they will never do it, but maybe someone will hack the Kinect module to be used on the playstation 3.
Whatever, dreaming costs nothing.
By the way, Should I wait for the Playstation 9?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcmtDAVM-3A
@Android looks Hacked Together
Bluray involves more than just Sony. Movie studios compete but use the same tech together, so do competing hardware companies. MS could get the drives like anyone else. (also- note the win7 commercials with all Sony electronics in them.)
@Duke
Adding Blu-ray would increase the price by $50 - $100. If they can add Blu-ray WITHOUT jacking up the price, then I'm all for it. Otherwise, I don't need it.
For the people that would be looking to buy a new 360 right this second, it would just be duplicating functionality at this point anyway.
They could have just added the Blu-ray drive for movies and kept the games on DVD. I think the read speeds are fast enough now. That would have been pretty cool.
@wemustcontrolpeople
i got my slim 360 yesterday, and let me tell you...I do NOT miss my airplane jet! the simple fact that my old 360 lasted 4 years without a hickup baffled me, everytime i turned it on i was waiting to be greeted by the red lights. got some trade in credit while i could and upgraded to the new one.
the db numbers don't do this thing justice. for example, the slim 360 after powered on for 2 hours and then ripping a game to the hard drive is QUIETER than my old 360 at idle after initial boot up. it is truly amazing, and almost unbelievable after 4 years of mild audible torture
@wemustcontrolpeople
I agree it would raise the price and is not needed right now, but I was just addressing the logic that Sony controls Blu-Ray, so MS won't use it. That continued logic people use is silly.
@Beatnik nobody cares if you buy it or not
@PBB the PS3 has a blu-ray player but has the same price as an XBOX 360 pro.
@Beatnik I think that if they do decide to add Blu-ray they should do what they did for the HD-DVD addon. Just make a separate drive which makes it cheaper to produce the console while allowing you to expand. That would mean you don't need to buy a new console in order to watch BD movies.
@Duke
I agree completely, MS isn't ignoring Blu-Ray because it is a Sony technology. Sony uses MS Windows on some of their laptops, ect. It's all about costs, revenues, and cash flows. IMO, they just went for HD-DVD at the beginning and it didn't work. I do think they should offer an attachment that can play BR Discs, but I believe it would be well over $100 to the consumer.
@Lowest Ranks Sony loses money on every unit sold. Where as MS actually makes money on the Xbox.
@Beatnik If anything, they'd only put Windows 7 on it. There's no way in hell Linux OS will ever been on Xbox.
@Lowest Ranks and doesn't break down so much...and has more exclusive titles coming out.....and runs quieter.....
@ajwoodhouse - more exclusive titles doesnt mean better titles. honestly, little big planet.... no. looks like its for five year olds. what else... infamous 2 looks ok, but looks like it could go both ways, depending. haze, looked at some gameplay, looks boring. besides, i havent heard of an xbox 360 fail in quit some time. and now that they use less heat and power, they probably wont fail again. now, xbox exclusives: halo reach, looks amazing. alan wake, never heard a bad thing about it. splinter cell conviction, nuff said.
@MrFluffyThing I believe that's what industry experts call a "Blu-ray Disc Player", available at many stores.
@flett Heard of a ps3 exclusive game called uncharted 2? Graphically it's amazing and the game is incredible. Killzone2/3, God of war 3, Gran Turismo 5 when it drops, metal gear solid 4, the ratchet and clank series look incredible also.There's plenty of great ps3 exclusives also bottom line.
@JimmyBoy killzone 3 looks pretty good, but not something id be worried if i missed. id say it looks like a rent. gran tourismo is just another racing game, nothing that exciting. uncharted 2, every thing ive ever heard about it was good, looked up some gameplay, looks way overrated. not saying it isnt good, but it looks like nothing special. god of war 3 i was interested in, almost bought for my psp, but again when i looked at the gameplay, the screen looked far too zoomed out (idk if that can be changed), and it looked just like another one of those games that you repeatedly tap the X button until you enemys are all dead. metal gear solid, never seen anything of it, heard its amazing, plus i heard its a stealth action game, always good. rachet and clank... looks childish.
@MySchizoBuddy
Who cares what current 360 owners think?
Hell put a bluray drive in it and don't support it for games would be one option? Or an external bluray drive like the failure HD-DVD drive another?
If the 360 had bluray I'd think about getting one to replace my PS3. Without bluray there's no point to buying one.
@Beatnik You're an idiot. Blu-Ray will eventually be devoured by downloads. Physical media's clock is ticking. You should ask for a user-upgradeable hard drive. And if you want Linux, get a computer.
@Beatnik They have Kinect on PS3. It's called Eye Toy.
Will be getting kinect, and possibly the new 360 so I won't have to share my brother's. The future looks great.
Wow, didn't realise the XBox had been around for 5 years. It's Microsoft's greatest achievement.
@The Joker
Sarcasm? You've heard of Windows, right?
@BryCivicSi The XBox is a greater achievement than Windows.
@BryCivicSi
Bah, your shitting me right? nothing has ever gone right with windows. Xbox is the only thing i like from microsoft
@Hamletpri2 I think being the most widely used computer operating system and making billions of dollars would be considered something "going right" as far as Microsoft is concerned.
@The Joker
Sarcasm, you've heard of... profit, right? How about J Allard, former invitee to the Microsoft Xmas party. Heard of him?
@Android looks Hacked Together
*walks into your kinect room and mutters "xbox - pause"*
>:)
@Wiggy Fuzz
I wish the PS3 was one of them :(
I went and got a replacement Xbox 360 :( I bought an elite about 2-3 months ago I regret it now. I so want the new xbox. Now I will have to wait and save up for it. The Kinect is better than I had thought at first.
@Eroded Fallacy me too, i bought a superelite 4 months ago..!
@Eroded Fallacy
Funnily enough, I think the Kinect is worse than I did at first... I'll probably be getting the Move instead now >.< It just seems like it lacks backing from "real" games.
@Shokz Yes, but those things take some time. I wouldn't be surprised to see Kinect titles growing rapidly around Q1 2011. So just be patient they will come. Personally I really am looking forward to the fitness games. Because once November hits in Ohio, I rarely leave the house due to the weather being absolutely horrid for the next 6 months.
@Eroded Fallacy But are you willing to pay $60 per game that you'll rarely play? Joy ride was initially going to be free, but now they've decided to charge for it. Maybe if gamefly carries the games I'll change my mind, but then I still wouldn't have them when people come over so it's pointless. I just want the voice control, so hopefully they'll add the to the mic to make my decision easy.
Man, looking at the teardown made me want to get one. My old 20GB Pro is obnoxiously loud! But I want to wait for the $199 model and see what features that MS cut.
By the way, I thought Kinect works with all existing 360s, right? Then what's with the special Kinect port?
@pika2000 it also powers the Kinect. Without the port the Kinect needs a separate power source.
@The Joker So how does the Kinect work with the regular 360s then? I'm guessing it will take up 1 USB port + an AC adapter? Or does it require 2 USB ports?
@pika2000 1 USB port, 1 power adapter, 1 Red Ring to Rule Them All
@pika2000 Your answering your own question, Mr. Smartypants!
@Android looks Hacked Together
I can imagine it now! you can dictate commands to your windows PC and have it do stuff! How awesome would that be?
I am certain some hacker will probably attempt to do something like that, if Microsoft doesn't beat them to the punch ;)
Yeay, it only took them 5 years to build a console the way it should have been in 2005. Good job Microsoft.
@TMOKOTOR
What a shame 2010 technology wasn't available 5 years ago.
Go f yourself, troll.
@Wesscoast So you mean the technology for building silent consoles without problems of overheating came 2010? Seems like you have missed a decade or two. And I am a 360-owner since 2005 so you can go and troll yourself.
@TMOKOTOR
I completely agree. I hardly think that anyone highlighting the gross number of system failures of the 360 can be accused of trolling. I've said this before and I'll say it again, even assuming that the hardware problems of the past have been fixed I still am put off from buying a 360 (which I'll say now seems to be the best current console for games) because it effectively rewards Microsoft for rushing the original model to market even when they knew of its flaws (i.e. the release now and fix later mentality). Regardless of the warranties provided, I would never buy a device if I had a high level of confidence that it would break and let me down.
The rush for more power in the previous few generations makes me think back with fondness to the days of consoles like the SNES where it never broke down and never made a sound. Frankly, I thought the games then were better but that's probably because I'm an old man.