The amazing 360 GPU shrinks to 65nm this Fall

The elite I picked up seems to run quiet and cool enough for me. I don't think the chip change will be that big of a deal but I know there are some guys just dying for the new chipset so cheers to that.

"And we all know the benefits of 65nm technology."

Umm. I don't?

If this confirms true, then I will wait for the fall to upgrade. Seems like bad timimg for MSFT for this news to come out, but again, msft should have waited for the 65nm chip to introduce the elite.

When a chip has a die shrink (in this case from 90nm to 65nm), the chip typically requires less power to operate and therefore is able to run cooler.

Additionally, since the chip itself is smaller, you can fit more chips onto a silicon wafer, so you're getting more chips out of the same material. This means that the chance that any single chip will have a flaw is lower (surface area is smaller, flaws are typically distributed more or less at an even rate per sqare inch). Additionally, you are getting significantly more chips out of each wafer.

So more chips, and more of them are fully working chips, so you are cost reducing chip production.

By die shrinking, you make the system consume less power, run cooler, and cost less to produce.

Those are the benefits of a die-shrink :D

So, yeah, price cut incoming.

Nice another version that will be breaking down all the time

Ahh, I've been waiting for this release for some time now so that I can buy a couple additional 360's (one for each room- stream burned movies, MCE entender, LAN gaming, etc., the ultimate entertainment hub). Now if only I was able to buy downloadable HD movies and save them to my Windows Home Server, it would be full bliss.

I had a Xbox 360 from launch day and it was quite noisy but it didn't overheat or breakdown. Then, one day, I observed the ring of death. I had a warranty. Anyway, I now have a Xbox 360 that was manufactured more recently and the fan noise along with heat emissions are much less on my current Xbox 360 (manufactured in August 2006). I just don't see an all out need to purchase a 65nm Xbox 360 when it will run slightly cooler and quieter than the one I have now. If I was in the market to purchase a Xbox 360, then I might wait until the Elite sported this chip. I still don't think it is that big of a deal though. Too many people read too deep into things like HDMI, 65nm, etc., etc.

Yes, it will disperse less heat, but not to the point where you can significantly tell that it is... people are making too much of a deal about this. The difference in DVD drives floating around in all of the 360 makes the most noticable difference when it comes to noise and speed... I'd be more concerned about that.

I think the 65nm chips will help the system to run cooler and more reliably.. but as far as noise, I'm not convinced. Most of the noise comes from those damned DVD drives, especially the Hitachi. My 360 ate it a few weeks ago and I was sent a refurb'ed box with a Hitachi drive. It was unbearably loud in comparison to my old box, which i think had a Samsung drive. I'm sending the piece of crap back today for another replacement. I wish MS would care just a bit more about the quality of their parts. It's sad that they're still using those obnoxious Hitachi drives in the new "Elite" model. I'd try to return mine if I got a brand new 360 with that piece of crap [jet-engine/blender] drive.

I'll get a new one if they get rid of the powerbrick. That would be awesome since I carry it around a lot to lans.

I think this is bull crap. They come out with an Elite then they come out with somthing like this. There needs to be changes or at least turn in your original and just pay the differance.

My 360 (bought in december, not sure when it was made) has felt like a furnace recently.

I'm looking to get 1 of those laptop coolers and set it underneath the 360.

"I'll get a new one if they get rid of the powerbrick. That would be awesome since I carry it around a lot to lans."

So, you're saying you want it to run on batteries?

i have a feeling all these hardware failures for Xbox 360 are intentional. look at PS2s success. the hardware was poor yet people kept repurchasing it because the games were there.

i think many xbox owners will be glad to repurchase the xbox 360 once it is down in price and the hardware has improved.

it simply does not make sense for microsoft to continually roll out faulty units, unless its intentional.

An elite...on a 65nm chip with a quieter drive will warrant a new purchase from me. or maybe a couple months after the 65nm chip is in production and in use all new consoles i'll "brick" mine (since it has an endless warranty) and maybe get one with the 65nm chip and a nice quiet drive. :D

wait...isn't the next update supposed to make your drive run at less RPMs when not being used much? (kinda like when you have a game paused...)

I'm still on my 1st 360 unit purchased back in Jan. 06. Still works (knocks on wood) but it is loud when the system is on more than 5 minutes and that is without a disc in the system. Whether it's playing Live Arcade Titles or streaming a movie over my network, it is loud. The only time it's quiet is at boot up or if I play a standard DVD. The HD DVD add on takes up alot of recourses and drives the fans up to full blast. That might be OK but sometimes a movie has a quiet moment and you can't help but think of the noise the 360 unit is making. All that being said, I will be trading in my unit before my 2 year replacement is up and hopefully get an Elite with the new hardware inside.

This is why I did not "upgrade" to the "Elite" it uses the same hot chip same power brick and even the old load dvd drive (they didn't even use the BenQ version but the old LG/hitachi). if microsoft would've include these actual elite parts I would've gotten one.

pricecut will come the day halo 3 is released.

My launch day 360 gave me the red ring of death so I got to take it to Best Buy yesterday and get the 360 Elite for a lil more. So far I personally think that it does not seem as loud as my launch 360 did. So I'll probably be content with the Elite...

I am in the market for a 360 and I will probably pick up an Elite. However, now that the 65nm might be coming out in the fall, I might just have to wait...

I don't see what the big deal about the powerbrick is; it takes a heat generator out of the 360 and isn't any more luggage than you'd have to take with a laptop if you're toting it around. Agreed on the loud DVD drives though.

I'll definitely upgrade to an Elite when they start using 65 nm chips, but will Microsoft have any marketing info on the package to help pick the right one? Probably not. Ah well.

Well i have an elite and its runs super quiet. I also noticed it only uses a 2 prong power cord for the brick and wall plug instead of the original 3 prong. This means less power consumption also. I dont really care though. There is NO WAY That microsoft will lower the 360s price even with cheaper technology of the 65nm cores.

Maybe, just maybe, it'll have wireless built-in.