The issue with the Xbox 360 is mainly a GPU issue.
The issue with the Nvidia GPUs is a GPU issue.
The reasons why I bought it up is because of the parellels between the two issues with regards to solder/packaging issues of the GPUS brought about by partially by an increase in heat output of GPUs over time.
1. The Nvidia GPUs were tested by competent engineers by both Nvidia and the companies which installed them in the laptops. Since it passed at least two phases of competent testing and was installed in envirionments which were inside the specifications for the parts. The issues only became aparant once the devices were released into the wild. So saying that systematic quality control errors was the cause of the issue is moot if the problems can show up with several different companies who all tested the design and passed it through their own quality control procedures.
2. The issues related to the Nvidia GPU would have required a complete respin of the chip, so if the same were true of the Xbox 360 they would have had to remove the console from the market for a minimum period of 6 months and more likely 9-12 months of testing and design work. For that reason had an issue become aparant in the PS3 GPU they would have likely faced a further 9 months of redisign and testing and the PS3 would have been forced to release in 2007 and thats a huge issue, not to mention the cost of the already manufactured PS3s. Could you really say that the executives at Sony would have held back the PS3 for a further 6-9months to fix a GPU problem and let the Xbox 360 gain an unassailable lead?
3. This is an issue that was always going to creep into the computer industry at some point or another. The problem is that thermals are increasing, not decreasing with time and newer process shrinks are not helping the problem at all. This is all especially true of GPUs which have increased their thermal output over time quite considerably. The GTX 280 uses more power than the Xbox 360 or PS3 as a whole. Its just one chip!
Tease.
