AnandTech: Microsoft's Xbox 360 goes 65nm: Falcon Dissection and Power Consumption

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Microsoft's Xbox 360 goes 65nm: Falcon Dissection and Power Consumption

Date: November 15th, 2007
Topic: Gadgets
Manufacturer: Microsoft
Author: Anand Lal Shimpi

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The New Chips

Microsoft never released die sizes for the Xbox's chips so we had to break out the trusty ruler and measure both the old and new chips, to get an idea of how things have changed. The table below shows our findings:

Chip	Old Die Size	New Die Size	% of Old Die
CPU	176 mm^2	133 mm ^2	75.5%
GPU	182 mm^2	156 mm^2	85.7%
eDRAM	80 mm^2	68 mm^2	85%

Here's what's interesting: the CPU, GPU and eDRAM die all seem to have gotten smaller, but at different rates. The CPU sees the biggest reduction in size, the new core being about 75% the size of the old one, while both GPU components are around 85% the size of their predecessors.

The old CPU

The new CPU

The old GPU

The new GPU

It's possible that all three chips are now 65nm, or a mixture of 65nm and 80nm (TSMC's 80nm half-node process was used in ATI's R600 GPU). Needless to say, the chips are all smaller, which should yield some nice power savings.

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43 Comments - Last by TheLoneWulf, 612 days ago

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Identification Process by jamesbond007, 816 days ago

Does the same techniques for identifying a Falcon-based 360 work on the Elite and Halo Edition consoles?

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RE: Identification Process by Anand Lal Shimpi, 816 days ago

Yes the same flashlight techniques work, although the lot numbers may not correspond. The Halo 3 edition consoles seem to have to be lot 734 or later *and* be built after 8/24. I had the best luck getting a Premium console with a lot 738 or later.

Take care,
Anand

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Heat? by Orbs, 816 days ago

What about heat? Can you put a thermometer through the "flashlight holes" in the case to see if temps improved too? Die shrinks should help but the less intense heatsink may offset that.

In terms of the RRoD question, if the cause was heat (which is not confirmed) a test like that would help show if this will in fact increase reliability.

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RE: Heat? by Locutus465, 816 days ago

I too was wondering about heat durring operation... Is there no way to gage this? I know it won't be totally accurate at the core level, but still relitive heat off the heat sink has got to tell you something.

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RE: Heat? by Jopopsy, 816 days ago

Yes Anand, please post some information about the heat coming off the Zephyr and Falcon PCs !!! Most of us, from a practical perspective, don't really care so much about the die size as much as we care about the heat (as the heat has been tied to RROD).

I for one bought a Elite 4 days ago. It was not a Falcon. It had a LG/Hitachi drive in it and it was definitely a Zephyr board. It was too loud for my tastes, and it was H O T ! ! !. It felt like a blow dryer out the back of the unit and my table was actually hot to the touch right behind my system.

Went back to the store, found a Falcon (Premium 360 HDMI Holiday bundle LOT 739 Team FDOU - components verified w/ flashlight inspection). It has a Toshiba drive in it, and after 2 hours of Halo 3 it was only warm out the back (remarkable differance).

I have some confidance that this Xbox might last (if it RRODs on me anytime soon I'm getting a PS3).

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Thanks for the info! by slashbinslashbash, 816 days ago

Good to see someone scientifically documenting the differences. I had read before that Falcon had only reduced the GPU size, not CPU. Good to hear that it's both.... I guess I'll probably bite the bullet and finally buy an Xbox 360 this holiday season.

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RE: Thanks for the info! by yacoub, 810 days ago

well the article doesn't really answer the important questions, like whether or not the GPU and CPU run cooler, so not sure why you find the conclusion that the hardware has changed enough reason to buy when we don't know if the changes actually make a bit of difference toward addressing the pressing issue of RRODs.

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capacitors by j00k, 816 days ago

The new xbox 360 mobo also appears to have some solid capacitors, which the old didn't seem to have any at all. I'm surprised that wasn't pointed out as I'm sure it should help quite a bit in keeping the system stable even at high temps. It's certainly a huge deal in the desktop mobo arena.

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RE: capacitors by sprockkets, 816 days ago

wonder why they did that, seeing as how they do not need to last long anyhow. Well, as long as the other caps were rubycon or japanese, that is ok. Wonder what the cost diff is between them and solid caps?

I like the last graph that the consoles use only 2.3 watts and 2.8 watts during the game.

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It's NOT possible BOTH components are on 65nm because MSFT has said... by Deusfaux, 816 days ago

that the GPU isn't yet, and that a platform with both @ 65nm is still coming down the pipe, expected next year and has the codename of "Jasper"

Where do I get this information? Oh, I dunno...

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=9248

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