Wooktroop
10-03-2007, 02:40 PM
http://gear.ign.com/articles/824/824183p1.html
October 1, 2007 - Though the community has long been aware of its existence, it has remained a mystery for months as to exactly when Xbox 360s built upon the new Falcon motherboard and driven by the smaller 65-nm CPU would hit the street. It has been Microsoft's strategy to soft launch hardware revisions to the Xbox 360, so as with the addition of HDMI to Premium consoles, it has been up to fans to carefully inspect their new console hardware in hopes of discovering a change. Today, thanks to Xbox.com Forums member JWSpeed, it has been confirmed that consoles with the new mobo and CPU are in circulation.
JWSpeed made his discovery after disassembling a brand new Halo 3 edition Xbox 360, identified by its lot # of 734 and a manufacturing date of 8/24/07. Other users have confirmed that not all Halo 3 edition consoles are built on the Falcon mobo, so prospective buyers in search of a revised console should shop hard to find units manufactured on the same or later date, ideally also of the same lot, 734. Such manufacturing information is printed on the outside of Xbox 360 boxes, so just ask to inspect the box before purchasing.
Recent buyers can find out if their consoles are the newest version by looking hard through the bottom vents on the console with the help of a flashlight. If a copper tube (the heatpipe) is visible, the console is the older version. No heatpipe means it's either a very old console, or the new Falcon model.
Xbox 360s that make use of the new CPU and motherboard will benefit in a couple of ways. The new 65-nm CPUs will run cooler and more efficiently than the older models, so while there will be no boost in processing performance, less heat will require less cooling and will lead to quieter operation. The new heatsink on the Falcon motherboard abandons the weak X-Clamp that secured the heatsink over the old 360's GPU (and was the cause of the famous three red lights of death) in favor of a burlier four screws that should not warp the PCB. As such, Falcon Xbox 360s should finally be immune to hardware failures that have famously plagued the console.
October 1, 2007 - Though the community has long been aware of its existence, it has remained a mystery for months as to exactly when Xbox 360s built upon the new Falcon motherboard and driven by the smaller 65-nm CPU would hit the street. It has been Microsoft's strategy to soft launch hardware revisions to the Xbox 360, so as with the addition of HDMI to Premium consoles, it has been up to fans to carefully inspect their new console hardware in hopes of discovering a change. Today, thanks to Xbox.com Forums member JWSpeed, it has been confirmed that consoles with the new mobo and CPU are in circulation.
JWSpeed made his discovery after disassembling a brand new Halo 3 edition Xbox 360, identified by its lot # of 734 and a manufacturing date of 8/24/07. Other users have confirmed that not all Halo 3 edition consoles are built on the Falcon mobo, so prospective buyers in search of a revised console should shop hard to find units manufactured on the same or later date, ideally also of the same lot, 734. Such manufacturing information is printed on the outside of Xbox 360 boxes, so just ask to inspect the box before purchasing.
Recent buyers can find out if their consoles are the newest version by looking hard through the bottom vents on the console with the help of a flashlight. If a copper tube (the heatpipe) is visible, the console is the older version. No heatpipe means it's either a very old console, or the new Falcon model.
Xbox 360s that make use of the new CPU and motherboard will benefit in a couple of ways. The new 65-nm CPUs will run cooler and more efficiently than the older models, so while there will be no boost in processing performance, less heat will require less cooling and will lead to quieter operation. The new heatsink on the Falcon motherboard abandons the weak X-Clamp that secured the heatsink over the old 360's GPU (and was the cause of the famous three red lights of death) in favor of a burlier four screws that should not warp the PCB. As such, Falcon Xbox 360s should finally be immune to hardware failures that have famously plagued the console.