Xbox 360

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The Xbox 360 "S" redesign

Xbox 360 is Microsoft's successor to their Xbox video game console, referred to during development as "Project Xenon," "Xbox 2," or "Xbox Next." The console was released on November 22, 2005, in North America (two days before the American Thanksgiving and three days before Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year in the United States), December 2 in Europe, December 10 in Japan, and elsewhere in early 2006. The Xbox 360 will compete against the upcoming generation of consoles, including the Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii. The Xbox 360 was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, a week before E³.

Information

Prices

The system's current retail strategy involves two different configurations. (For differences, see Components and Accessories.)

  • Xbox 360 S (4GB)
    • $199.99 USD
    • £149.99 Pound sterling
    • Launched: August 3, 2010.
    • Status: In production.
  • Xbox 360 S(250GB)
    • $299.99 USD
    • £199.99 Pound sterling
    • Launched: June 14, 2010.
    • Status: In production.
  • Xbox 360 Super Elite SKU
    • $399.99 USD (10/23/09)
    • Status: Discontinued on June 19, 2010.
  • Xbox 360 Premium (60GB) SKU
    • $349.99 USD (8/1/08)/$299.99 (9/5/08)/$249.99 (clearance)
    • Status: Discontinued on August 28, 2009.
  • Xbox 360 Arcade SKU
    • $279.99 USD (10/27/07)$199.99 (9/5/08)/$149.99 (clearance)
    • Status: Discontinued on June 19, 2010.
  • Xbox 360 Elite (120GB)
    • $479.99 USD (4/29/07)/$449.99 (8/6/07)/$399.99 (9/5/08)/$299.99 (08/28/09)/$249.99 (clearance)
    • Status: Discontinued on June 19, 2010.
  • Xbox 360 Premium (20GB) SKU
    • $399.99 USD (11/22/05)/$349.99 (8/6/07)/$299 (clearance)
    • €399.99 Euro
    • £279.99 Pound sterling
    • $499.99 Canadian Dollar
    • ¥39,795 Yen
    • Status: Discontinued on July 13, 2008.
  • Xbox 360 Core System SKU
    • $299.99 USD (11/25/05)/$279.99 (8/6/07 clearance)
    • €299.99 Euro
    • £209.99 Pound sterling
    • $399.99 Canadian Dollar
    • Status: Discontinued on October 27, 2007.

Additionally, first party (Microsoft Published) launch titles, such as Perfect Dark Zero and Project Gotham Racing 3, are priced at $49.99USD, while some third party (published outside of Microsoft) titles such as Need For Speed: Most Wanted, are going to be priced at $59.99USD.

While the Xbox360 was predicted by some to become one of the most expensive consoles ever offered at launch, mainly because major online retailers only offer the console as part of a bloated "premium" package [1], this notion has been proven to be false [2].

Hardware specifications

Specifications are also available at the official Xbox website.

Central processing unit

Custom IBM PowerPC-based "Xenon"

  • 90 nm process, 165 million transistors
  • Three symmetrical cores, each one running at 3.2 GHz
  • Two hardware threads per core; six total
  • One AltiVec VMX-128 vector unit per core; three total
  • 128 VMX-128 registers per hardware thread
  • 1 MiB L2 cache (lockable by the GPU)

Graphics processing unit

Custom ATI R500-based "Xenos"

  • 337 million transistors total
  • 500 MHz parent GPU (90 nm process, 232 million transistors)
  • 500 MHz 10 MB daughter embedded DRAM Framebuffer (90 nm process, 105 million transistors)
    • NEC-designed eDRAM has internal logic for Color, Alpha blending, Z/Stencil buffering, and Anti-aliasing
  • 48-way parallel floating-point dynamically-scheduled shader pipelines (ALU's for Vertex or Pixel Shader processing)
  • Unified shader architecture (This means that all pipelines are capable of running either pixel or vertex shaders).
  • 16 filtered & 16 unfiltered texture samples per clock
  • Maximum polygon performance: 500 million triangles per second
  • Pixel fillrate: 16 gigasamples per second fillrate using 4X MSAA
  • Shader performance: 48 billion (48,000 million) shader operations per second (96 billion shader operations per second theoretical maximum)
  • Dot product operations: 9.6 billion per second theoretical maximum (Microsoft figure), 33.6 billion per second when combined with CPU power (theoretical maximum)

Memory

  • 512 MB 700MHz GDDR3 RAM (unified memory architecture)

System bandwidth

  • 22.4 GB/s memory interface bus bandwidth (700 MHz x 2 accesses per clock cycle (one per edge) on a 128bit bus)
  • 256 GB/s eDRAM internal logic to internal memory bandwidth
  • 32 GB/s GPU to eDRAM bandwidth (2 GHz x 2 accesses per clock cycle on a 64bit DDR bus)
  • 21.6 GB/s frontside bus (Aggregated 10.8 GB/s upstream and downstream)
  • 1 GB/s southbridge bandwidth (Aggregated 500 MB/s upstream and downstream)

Overall System Floating-Point Performance

  • 1 TFLOPS theoretical peak performance

Audio

  • All games support at least five channel (5.1) Dolby Digital surround sound
  • Supports 48kHz 16-bit audio
  • 320 independent decompression channels
  • 32 bit processing
  • 256+ audio channels

DVD Drive

A DVD-ROM drive, capable of reading DVD+R/RW discs, will be part of the console, with game titles shipping on single or dual-layer DVDs. The other supported formats are: CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R/RW, WMACD, MP3CD, and JPEG Photo CD.

Recently, it was announced that future revisions of the Xbox 360 may include HD DVD drives as part of Microsoft's partnership with Toshiba. The source of this information is the following statement made by Bill Gates on the 28th of June in Japan:

The initial shipments of Xbox 360 will be based on today's DVD format. We are looking at whether future versions of Xbox 360 will incorporate an additional capability of an HD DVD player or something else.

The HD DVD and Blu-Ray Disc formats have already developed an intense rivalry to become the de facto successor to DVD for high-definition video, and if Microsoft chooses to add HD DVD it could make the Xbox 360 a more competitive multimedia device from a marketing perspective.

Since HD DVD would not be standard across all models of the Xbox 360, however, it would only be used for video playback, and not for game distribution. Unfortunately, as such, any games for the Xbox 360 will be limited to the 9GB storage available on a dual-layer DVD as compared to the 54GB available on the Sony PlayStation 3's BD-ROM. Should the Sony backed Blu-Ray format become the dominant standard, Xbox 360 users will have to suffer the consequences of incompatibility as they will not be able to play any Blu-Ray media at all. Further, it is very unlikely that users will be able to purchase a BD-ROM drive for their Xbox 360 later on, considering that Sony has helped create the format.

Physical characteristics

  • Weight 3.5 kg (7.7 lb)
  • 309 x 83 x 258 mm (12.15 x 3.27 x 10.15 in)

Miscellaneous

  • Support for WMV HD and progressive or interlaced DVD video playback.
  • Media Center Extender capability
  • All games must support a 16:9 aspect ratio, and a minimum of 720p HD resolution with 2x full-scene anti-aliasing enabled. The embedded Microsoft WebTV chip can downsample 720p to lower display resolutions (including 480i SDTV and 480p) and dynamically crop or scale 16:9 to fit 4:3 screens. Some games will optionally support native 1080i and 480p video resolutions as well.
  • 3 USB 2.0 ports
  • All games support custom soundtracks.

Components and accessories

The console will ship in two configurations (SKUs) in the US and Europe, an Xbox 360 Core System and an Xbox 360 "premium edition". The Core System will not be available in Japan, instead Microsoft will offer a package identical to the Xbox 360 premium edition at a MSRP of ¥37,900 ($343.20). This move is frequently criticized, as customers in Japan can buy the Xbox 360 for a lower price than people in other countries. Japanese developers are also free to fully utilize the hard drive since it is part of the default system configuration. However, because the U.S. and Europe offer a Core System edition, Microsoft has required that all developers who are producing games for those markets must ensure that their games do not require a hard drive. It should be noted that the Xbox 360 uses an abstracted storage layer, and therefore views memory cards, hard drives, and other read/write storage media as a single read/writeable data storage device with consistent functionality regardless of the actual physical medium.

Xbox 360

This premium edition has metallic silver detailing and includes the following components and accessories:

  • Xbox 360 console
  • Detachable 20 GB hard drive
  • 2.4 GHz Wireless controller
  • Xbox-Live Headset
  • Component HD-AV cable
  • Xbox Live Silver membership
  • One month limited trial membership for Xbox Live Gold
  • Ethernet cable
  • Bonus Media Remote (a limited time offer for the initial Holiday season shipment)

Xbox 360 Core System

This basic edition includes the following components and accessories:

  • Xbox 360 console
  • Wired controller
  • Standard AV cables
  • Xbox Live Silver membership
  • One month limited trial membership for Xbox Live Gold

Controller

The Xbox 360 has the ability to support four wireless controllers. Additionally it can support two wired controllers through the use of its USB ports at the front but the third USB port will not support a controller. The wired controller is compatible with Windows XP USB-equipped PCs and has a nine foot (2.74 m) long cord with a breakaway feature. This version of the controller has a MSRP of $39.99/€34.99/£24.99/C$49.99/¥3,675. The wireless controller has a battery life of up to 25 hours on the Li-ion rechargeable battery pack (optional) and a range of up to 30 feet (9.14 m). The wireless controller has a MSRP of $49.99/€44.99/£32.99/C$59.99/¥4,725.

The controller for the Xbox 360 is a similar version of the Type-S gamepad for the original Xbox. The Xbox 360 controller adds a Xbox guide button, which has the appearance of the Xbox 360 emblem and is surrounded by a ring of neon green light. Pressing the Xbox guide button will bring the Xbox 360 out of sleep mode or bring up the "Xbox Guide" for access to digital movies, music and games libraries. The ring of light lights up to designate what controller "port" the gamepad is currently using and which console (if more than one) the controller is connected to. The black and white buttons have been redesigned as shoulder buttons, now referred to as bumper buttons, located above the left and right triggers. The rear of the controller includes a port where the player can connect a headset. This port replaces the two non-standard USB connectors on the front of the Xbox controller.

Play & charge kit

This kit will allow the controller to be recharged while playing. A warning will be provided when the end arse of battery life is nearing, allowing the gamer to connect the cable for recharging. The Play and Charge Kit also includes the rechargeable battery pack. This kit has a MSRP of $19.99/€19.99/£14.99/C$29.99/¥2,100.

Rechargeable battery pack

This Li-ion battery pack provides up to 25 hours of continuous gaming for the wireless controller. It is recommended in place of disposable AA batteries (which differ slightly in voltage) and has a MSRP of $11.99/€14.99/£9.99/C$14.99/¥1,365.

Detachable hard drive

A detachable 20 gigabyte hard drive is used for the storage of games, music, downloaded trailers, levels, demos, player preferences, and community-created content from Xbox Live Marketplace; it may also be used to transfer such content between Xbox 360 units. A hard drive is also required for the user be able to play backward compatible Xbox games. The individual drives will come pre-loaded with a promotional video about the making of the Xbox 360, additional Dashboard skins, songs, additonal Xbox Live Gamertag images, and Hexic, an Xbox Live Arcade game. This content will be included on both the bundled hard drive and the stand alone product. The detachable 20 gigabyte hard drive has a MSRP of $99.99/€99.99/£69.99/C$129.99. This drive will not be sold seperately in Japan at launch and will not be included in the Core System bundle.

According to J Allard, the chief of Microsoft's Xbox division, Microsoft may sell larger capacity detachable hard drives for the Xbox 360 in the future, and territories outside of North America may have a differently sized hard drive in the retail unit.

Memory Units

The memory unit is a portable device which allows the transfer of saved games, in-game achievements and unique gamer profiles to other XBox 360 consoles. The 64 MB version has a MSRP $39.99/€34.99/£22.99/C$49.99/¥3,360.

Wireless Networking Adapter

The Wi-Fi (802.11a, 802.11b, and 802.11g) adapter is sold separately and has a MSRP of $99.99/€79.99/£59.99/C$129.99/¥8,925. Using an official or third-party wireless bridge the console will automatically detect and link up with other Xbox 360 consoles that are within range and form a mesh network.

Headset

The headset allows gamers to talk to ea ch other when connected to Xbox Live, and has an in-line volume control. It has a MSRP of $19.99/€19.99/£14.99/C$29.99/¥2,625.

Universal Media Remote

This remote allows the user to play DVD movies and music, and offers controls for a TV or Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005-based PC. It has a MSRP $29.99/€29.99/£19.99/C$39.99/¥2,625. (The universal media remote is a bigger version of the bonus media remote that will initially be shipped with the premium edition.)

AV connection cables

  • Xbox 360 Component HD-AV Cable
This set provides component RCA cables for both high and standard definition output to TVs.
  • S-Video AV Cable (U.S., Japan, and Canada only) or Xbox 360 SCART AV Cable (Europe only)
This set of cables connects to high-definition as well as standard-definition TVs that have S-Video or composite video inputs. It has a MSRP of $29.99/€24.99/£17.99/C$39.99/¥2,625.
  • VGA HD AV Cable
This set of cables allows for high-definition on flat-panel TV or computer monitors that have a VGA connector. It has a MSRP of $39.99/€29.99/£19.99/C$49.99/¥3,675.

Faceplates

The default white (or as Microsoft describes it, “chill”) faceplate can be replaced with a range of custom designs, each to be sold seperately. Microsoft announced that a "chrome" faceplate will accompany the premium edition of the console. Microsoft had also created two promotional faceplates, one which was distributed at E3 2005 and another which was handed out to the VIP X05 attendees.

Software development

Procedural synthesis

For the Xbox 360, Microsoft has drawn on recent research in computer graphics to enable a new method for game programming. In traditional games, all content is statically stored and generally immutable; that is, textures, meshes, and other game content is stored on a storage medium. As complexity in each rises, the demand for storage rises as well. A newer approach to generating content is utilised for Xbox 360 titles, a method referred to by Microsoft as procedural synthesis. Procedural synthesis, better known as procedural texturing, is an approach to generating game content via algorithms. For example, trees are one of the most complicated objects to render in a game, due to their organic complexity. A game with only one model for a tree will appear odd, as nature is far more random; the game loses some of its immersion as a result. Instead, a general recursive algorithm will generate the tree's model and textures, so that each tree looks different from the next, and do so with high efficiency. The Xbox 360's architecture was designed with this approach in mind.[3] When running procedural texturing algorithms, one of the Xenon CPU's cores may "lock" a portion of the 1 MB shared L2 cache. When locked, a segment of cache no longer contains any prefetched instructions or data for the CPU, but is instead used as output space for the procedural texturing thread. The Xenos GPU can then read directly from this locked cache space and render the procedurally generated objects. The rationale behind this design is that procedurally textured game content can be streamed directly from CPU to GPU, without incurring additional latency by being stored in system RAM as an intermediary step. The downside to this approach is that when part of the L2 cache is locked, there is even less data immediately available to keep the 3 symmetric cores in the Xenon CPU running at full efficiency (1 MB of shared L2 is already a rather small amount of cache for 3 symmetric cores to share, especially considering that the Xenon CPU does not even support out-of-order execution to more efficiently use available clock cycles).

Procedural texturing is also found outside of the Xbox 360 in the advanced freeware FPS game .kkrieger, where such techniques have reduced the size of the visually stunning game to a mere 96 kilobytes. Other interesting examples of procedural synthesis are shown in old and new code demos.

XNA

In March 2004, Microsoft announced a new game development software strategy dubbed "XNA", which Microsoft claims will enable game studios to cut development times by a third if developing across multiple Microsoft platforms, by means of tools created with the increasing difficulty of programming for a machine with three processor cores in mind. The Xbox 360 game development will be centered around the XNA Studio game development platform. XNA Studio covers three synergistic areas: Content Creation, Production Processes and Game Technologies. XNA Studio will enable collaboration between content creators, programmers, management and QA staff to speed the game production process. Based on Microsoft's Visual Studio 2005 Team System, the XNA Studio is the Visual Studio for game development; an integrated, team-based development environment tailored for game production. XNA Studio will provide versions of key production tools such as asset management, defect tracking, project automation and work lists. These tools are designed to work together to automate common development tasks and present interfaces tailored to the different functions within the team. XNA Studio will allow team members to collaborate using familiar techniques and tools, even when elements of the team are distributed geographically, an increasing trend in game development. Microsoft believes that this will give developers more time to generate unique content and reduce time running the content process. It is debatable whether the XNA studio development platform will be on par to development tools that are be available for PS3 and Nintendo's Revolution. Although, to date, some prominent developers have endorsed XNA Studio. For example, John Carmack stated at QuakeCon 2005 that the Xbox 360 had "the best development environment" he has seen for a console.

Backward compatibility

During Microsoft's E3 Press Conference, Robbie Bach, Microsoft senior vice president and chief Xbox officer, said that the "Xbox 360 will be backward compatible with top-selling Xbox games." Steve Ballmer in an interview with Engadget has confirmed this and clarified that while Microsoft is making sure that best-selling first-generation Xbox titles are compatible, universal backward compatibily is unlikely.

Richard Harris of ATI has since revealed that the backwards compatibility will be accomplished "purely through emulation (at the CPU level)". The enigmatic "best-selling titles" statements are further elaborated upon, revealing that the system will likely ship with a certain number of "emulation profiles" for games, with new profiles being made available as auto-updates over the Xbox Live network. [4] Peter Moore stated in a recent interview that an official list of backward compatible games will soon be released (within the next few weeks) and that Microsoft will continually add support for specific titles "until consumers show [a] lack of interest."

Xbox Live on the Xbox 360

With the launch of the Xbox 360, Microsoft's online gaming service, Xbox Live will go through a major upgrade adding a basic non-subscription service (Silver) to its already established premium subscription-based service (Gold). The Silver status is inherently available to all Xbox 360 owners with high-speed internet, and allows for the downloading of new content. The subscription-based Gold status builds upon new content downloads by allowing multiplayer gaming among users. Microsoft has allowed for previous Xbox Live subscribers to maintain their profile information, buddy lists, and games history when they make the transition to the Xbox 360. Microsoft has announced that each Xbox 360 system will come with Microsoft's Xbox Live service. The optional Hard Disk accessory or Memory Card is required to connect to the Xbox Live service. There will be two different types of the service to choose from. The first, Xbox Live Silver, is free of charge and allows users to create a profile, join on message boards, access to Microsoft's Xbox Live Arcade, and talk to other members but not to play any games online (with the exception of MMORPGs). The second, Xbox Live Gold, will have the same features as Silver plus online game playing capabilities and video conferencing. However, video conferencing will not be availible when the console is first released. The price for an Xbox Live Gold account will run $49.99 USD per year.

Xbox Gamer Guide

The Xbox Game Guide is a tabbed user interface that can be accessed instantly by pressing the Guide Button on any Xbox 360 controller. It offers the following selections:

  • Xbox Live
  • Marketplace
  • Favorites List
  • Custom Playlists
  • Friends Lists
  • and others

Marketing

The marketing for Xbox 360 began on March 14, 2005, with the opening of an Alternate reality game and viral marketing website called Ourcolony.net. Through March and April, the website gave challenges to its community and if they were solved would give out a reward, usually a picture of the system or an obscure screenshot from a launch game.

The official unveiling of the system occurred on Thursday, May 12, 2005, on MTV in a program called MTV Presents: The Next Generation Xbox Revealed hosted by actor Elijah Wood with a musical performance by the band The Killers. The Xbox 360 was also featured on the cover of Time magazine's May 23, 2005, issue with Microsoft chairman Bill Gates holding up one of the units (see left). In the article he says "It's perfect...The day Sony launches [the new PlayStation], and they walk right into Halo 3." [5]

The system, along with some playable games, were shown off at E3 2005, the demos were running on Xbox 360 Alpha Development-Kits, which turned out customized and optimized Apple PowerMac G5s. Microsoft claims that most of the games were running at 25-30% of full capacity because they were not running on actual systems.

OrigenXbox360.com is a new viral marketing campaign from Microsoft. Until recently, the website displayed a flash animation of a Bonsai tree, with a countdown to 12:00 PM GMT on September 27, 2005. Now it appears that this is a European-only marketing campaign, to the chagrin of many who have followed this site's development. Different European flags now hang from the tree, representing the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal and Greece. Clicking on the appropriate flag presents the user with two rabbits, who discuss 'Origen', which is speculated to be the name of a pre-launch Xbox 360 event. Then the user is able to click on one orange bundle of fruit, with three remaining green and unclickable, presumably temporarily. One of the rabbits then eats the chosen fruit and has a psychedelic vision. Then one can enter personal information and answer three basic trivia questions about Xbox 360's features and launch, as well as answer the open ended question, "Xbox 360 is the best thing since..." This website appears to be a type of raffle, where winners from each of the countries supposedly win a chance to play the Xbox 360 before it launches.

Hex168 was the name given to the October 2005 viral marketing campaign by Microsoft for its upcoming console, the Xbox 360. The [6] campaign focused on perpetuating a number of images of crop circles over popular Xbox websites which culminated in a link to the afore mentioned site. The page itself was filled with a number of references to '360', from locations with postal codes "360" to the anagram near the top of the page "Hex alert: e-seer prefers yetis" which translates to "Free pre-release Three-Sixtys".

To boost marketing and Xbox 360 awareness in Japan, an "Xbox 360 Lounge" has been constructed for $410,000 and will officially open on November 2, 2005[7]. It is situated in the A oyama district in Tokyo, not far away from Omotesando (a popular shopping region). The lounge has three main areas: a 256 square meter event space that offers five large display screens, an area containing Xbox 360 game kiosks, and a 70-seat café. Doors will be open daily from 10:00am to 11:00pm.

Models

The Xbox 360 has undergone several hardware revisions in an attempt to improve efficiency, lower manufacturing costs, and include extra features such as onboard flash memory.

Prototypes

Xbox 360 underwent 10 revisions before it was released to the public. Since prototype Xbox 360s were used for development purposes only, they can run unsigned code without any sort of modification.

Beta 1 (rev. X801054 001-004) - These Xenon's (which was the codename for the Xbox 360) were the very first to be produced and as a result feature the most drastic differences from the final. These models feature an Alpha version of the Xenon CPU (codename XCPU), rubber doors that cover the front USB ports, and a daughterboard with dipswitches (named the 'Titan' board) that seems to connect the hard drive to the motherboard.

These early models were the only ones to use .elf files as their main executable file. As a result, they're capped off at kernel 1888.

Beta 2 (rev. X801054 005-007) - These prototypes were the first models to be called Xbox 360. Otherwise, they're cosmetically similar to Beta 1's and feature several internal revisions.

These models use .exe files as their main executable file. As a result, they're capped off at kernel 4548.

Pre-release Xenon (rev. X803600 008-010) - These Xbox 360's are very similar to launch models both cosmetically and internally. By revision 008, the Xbox 360 had moved out of beta phase, and revisions 009 and 010 only include minor internal changes. They were manufactured from July - August 2005.

Retail

Xenon - The first Xbox 360 released on the market. It was first released on November 22, 2005 in both a 'Core' and 'Premium' package for $299 and $399, respectively. They were very difficult to obtain for their first months on the market due to demand greatly exceeding supply for the 2005 Christmas season. Because of this, they were sold on various online shopping sites like eBay for over $1000.

Xenon's featured a 90nm CPU and GPU, both of which created a lot of excess heat. This heat had the potential to damage several important components on the motherboard. To further the damage, the CPU and GPU were applied to the motherboard with non-leaded solder balls, which are less durable than their leaded counterparts. These events made way for the errors the Xbox 360 became infamous for, namely the "red ring of death" and "Error E74".

While Xenon's have been received with much negativity for their unreliable hardware, many have praised Microsoft for their efforts to address the problems with an extended 3-year warranty for the RRoD.

A lot of inexpensive preventative maintenance (such as new heatsinks, thermal paste, and 12v fans) can also be done on these models to avoid the RRoD if it's out of warranty.

Zephyr - The Zephyr was first included with the Xbox 360 Elite which launched in April of 2007. It was the first model that included HDMI out. Microsoft attempted to address the RRoD by gluing the CPU in place and adding a slightly improved GPU heatsink, but their attempts didn't work out too well and the RRoD continued to haunt Xbox 360s across the world.

In July 2007, Microsoft began to include the Zephyr with Xbox 360 Premium models.

Falcon - The Falcon was first included with the Xbox 360 Elite and Premium models in September 2007. It is less likely to receive the RRoD than it's predecessors due to it receiving improved heatsinks and a 65nm CPU.

It also consumed less power than it's predecessors. Unlike the Xenon and Zephyr, which both consumed 203 watts, it only consumed 175 watts.

Opus - The Opus is a Falcon-based motherboard that began to surface in 2007. It was never officially released to the market but instead served as a replacement for Xenon repairs. Since it was designed to fit in a Xenon case, it does not include HDMI.

Jasper - The Jasper began to surface in September 2008. Many significant improvements were made to this model. The GPU was now reduced to 65nm which limited the chance of receiving the RRoD even further than before. It also included 256MB (and later, 512MB) of on-board flash memory so that owners of the Arcade model could update to NXE without a hard drive or memory unit.

Since the GPU was reduced in size, it created less heat and consumed less power. As a result, the Jasper only consumes 150 watts.

Valhalla - The Valhalla was launched with the Xbox 360 S in September 2010. It features a combined CPU+GPU that's only 45nm in size, which brings the chance of general hardware failure down to a much lower number. It is the first model that doesn't flash the RRoD to indicate hardware failure. Instead, the power light itself will flash.

The Valhalla isn't entirely free of criticism, though. Due to the lack of rubber padding within it's DVD drive, discs can pivot around the spindle and get scratched.

Box Scans

  • Xbox 360 Core eu box front.jpg

    Xbox 360 Core EU box (front)

  • Xbox 360 Core eu box back.jpg

    Xbox 360 Core EU box (back)

  • Xbox 360 Pro eu box front.jpg

    Xbox 360 Pro EU box (front)

  • Xbox 360 Pro eu box back.jpg

    Xbox 360 Pro EU box (back)

  • Xbox 360 Arcade eu box SST.jpg

    Xbox 360 Arcade EU box (Sega Superstars Tennis bundle)

Further reading

External links

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