*Edit: oops it's only the 65nm cpu that has been confirmed (to my knowledge), I should have linked to the original thread on xbox.com that this story refers to.

http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=21269

posted by malloc at 05:55 pm on 2007-09-28 

"News has come to light that some of the Halo 3 limited edition Xbox 360 consoles incorporate the 65nm CPU and GPU, which in essence make the console more reliable and less power hungry than the normal 90nm boxes which are to be found in every other Xbox 360 console released to date. We were all unsure when the 65nm consoles would hit, but it took us all by surprise that they have indeed debuted in the Halo 3 machines and not the Elite. However, finding out if you have the 65nm console isn't easy, as you need to take your console apart."

Hmm. i don't see anything solid here. Further, I don't see any evidence that they've moved from a 90nm GPU. The impression I was under was that IBM was moving their fab to 65nm but ATi's GPU fabrication would remain 90nm for a while yet.

I'd like to see one of these units taken apart with both chips exposed so we could examine physical differences.

[edit] The original source doesn't say anything about a 65nm GPU. It looks like maxconsole added that tidbit of information. We have no reason to believe they didn't move to a 65nm CPU, since they announced they would about this timeframe, but I'd still like to see a bit more about it. And since the GPU seems to be the primary culpret for the 3RROD error, we still have no reason to believe that the xbox 360 failure rate for the Falcon revision will be less than ~60% over 12 months.

I haven't been following this very closely, but isn't the problem more with a screwed up cooling system than with the GPU?

Yeah my mistake, I guess people are still up in the air about the cpu. I should have known not to link a maxconsole story without digging deeper.

When I get home, I'll post a site that has visual confirmation of the 65nm CPU. Apparently it is only in specific Halo 3 360's. GPU still 90nm though.

http://forums.xbox.com/47/14713652/ShowPost.aspx#15798030

If you look through these, a guy posts photos of his Halo 3 360 insides.

This is still rumor material, apparently, cause a lot of people are questioning it in the forum. There is a new heatsink in the Halo 3 360, and he also was testing power (ampage) of the cpu, and there are pics of that, too. 

I think I saw someone saying that power consumption goes down with this new model. That would prove that there's something to these claims!

There are two problems, one with cooling, the other with power draw.  A GPU that produced less heat and drew less power would be beneficial for both of these problems.

There are many problems, but several of the failure modes seem to originate from the GPU.  There are failures related to the DVD drives, hard drives as well as other components in the system and they're not uncommon.

It seems as though the GPU is the #1 culpret.  Rumor has it MS removed their foolish X-clamps with regular heatsink mounts.  So that's a very positive note, although I'll probably still wait for a 65nm GPU until I decide whether I'm getting a 360 or PS3. 

So, we've been hearing the (first) rumors, and then reports of the Falcon 65nm CPU for a while now.  Has anyone heard/read anything, anywhere about when the GPU will get the switch?

IBM made the switch... we're waiting on ATI to change up?!  You'd think they'd be tooling up by now.

PE