Put it in the Elite and damn you MS you might just make a sale.

Now we wait. Elites started dying not long after release should you trust teh anecdotal intarwebs.

If the green boxen start kicking the bucket old-school, we know it's a deeper problem.

@Balance_In_Life: Seconded. seriously.
i dont know if anyone's expecting another price drop or not by the holidays - tho its possible, if sony does so first, mebbe? - but while the premium's got HDMI now, im digging the drive space of the elite. Confirm theyre in the wild, and im a paycheck or two away from joining in.

Either way, this is great news.

Well it's one thing to have them in the system. Now we have to wait and see the results. I do believe this will alleviate the problem, or most of it at least, but not so steadfastly to jump right in. For now I'm gonna sit tight, wait, and see.

@Balance_In_Life: Give me reliability over a price drop anyday.

No one likes paying for the same console twice, no one.

@bernbaum:
"Give me reliability over a price drop anyday."

Both would be nice though. ;-)

@bernbaum:

DS Ultra Lite. Coming Christmas 2008.

I'm just kidding. But seriously

If this puts an end to the RRoD, I'll be on board in a New York minute. Maybe less.

@TheIrishNinja: Elite is black. Thats the only reason I want one. I won't use HDMI because my TV won't hit it anyway. Plus I ran out of HDMIs /cry... Component will hit 720p anyway, thats all I need. Damn though, I won't be able to be called a Sony fan boy at work anymore. Gonna kinda miss being the only guy backing Sony 100%. Now only 99%

@Balance_In_Life: My TV won't hit 1080p i meant.

So... Where do I get one without the crappy-green box?

I wonder if they will put this in units that has RROD:d with the old CPU. I mean we have a 3 year warranty and we kind of want it to not break again. Anyone have any info on this?

@Balance_In_Life: haha, keep on truckin' then, man.
also, if youre just hard up on the color, why not go with a premium and get one of the skins from decal girl's site? i got a sharp wii one offa there, no complaints.
check the black knight case they got:
[www.decalgirl.com],4150.htm

This person already got the 3 red lights with his Halo 360, but I'm not sure if he had the new CPU or not: [forums.gametrailers.com]
Looking at his pictures, tt also seems his was made a few days before the date mentioned above.

@zlimness:
Personally I doubt they'll put it in any returned consoles. After all it'll need a whole new motherboard right? I doubt it's able to just be stuck in there and run.

That said, if you return a RRoD console you can always request a brand new console rather than just letting them refurbish your old one. It makes for a longer delivery time from what I recall but that would probably get you a falcon chip if it happened Q4 and beyond.

It's nice that the falcon chip is out but RRoD from overheating isn't the only problem the 360 got. The entire console needs an overhaul and have fully integrated components rather than just buying components from other companies. All of it has to be made by the console manufacturer just like Nintendo and Sony are doing.

Microsoft not only has RRoD, but its DVD drive is constantly changing as well. It's like 3 actual SKUs for one announced SKU.

@TheIrishNinja: GLOSS PIANO BLACK!!! /drool... Yes I think i just might have to do that one. I was thinking about adding a coat of high gloss clear coat to my Elite when I got it. But this makes much more sense. Sorry I'm really anal when it comes to my set up. If it isn't gloss black. Or Black gunmetal it just doesn't go up there. (Other then my HD Dish Network box. Those bastards haven't made a black one yet and my dad won't let me paint the thing.)

Man, I know my 2 friends wish for these chips. Too bad you cant send the old system into MS and have them replace it.

I've heard that this might not solve the problem because a lot of heat comes from the GPU (which still uses 90nm) and not the CPU. Is this true?

That's great! One year, and six freaking months after I bought mine. It hasn't died on me yet, but I am expecting it to. I say a prayer everytime I turn it on too. Really... I do.

What should be looked at more is if the GPU is still in that boneheaded position (underneath the DVD drive).

So it's JUST the Halo 3 consoles? Interesting sales pitch, but supremely lame. I'm not buying one of those damned things.

When do the new Premium-SKU consoles start shipping with the falcon chips and hdmi out? Someone on Kotaku told me they're out [i]now[/i], but I'm skeptical.

@Whoaness:
"All of it has to be made by the console manufacturer just like Nintendo and Sony are doing."

Seriously? I mean, Sony had significant problems because they had to buy RAM at a high price initially in the production stages of the PS3 and there was an article stating that Chinese companies were expanding to meet demand on the Nintendo Wii. Nintendo/Sony certainly don't internally manufacture their whole console.

@Witzbold: A mate of mine will only commit to getting a 360 if it's carrying the new thinner chips. He's hoping that Halo 3 would have spurned a spike in hardware sales, allowing for falcon-bearing 360s to work their way through the pipes a bit quicker.

[www.thebitbag.com]

They called it in August. A little late here.

If Microsoft had rolled out their "new and improved" 360 before the Halo 3 launch, the sales figures would have turned Redmond into a giant cumstain.

But how does it SOUND? Do you still need hearing protection and eggtrays around the console?

Waiting for confirmation on wether or not I should hold off till the 65nm gpu's are out... or just wait for the 45nm altogether.

Yeah it's not possible for any of them to produce their entire console, but I'm sure Sony provides the factories with many of their own internally made components since they are an electronics hardware company afterall. Nintendo and Microsoft, on the other hand, have to get all of their parts from some other company since they are software companies.

I just got my replacement 360 back a few days ago, and I have to say that it burns just as hot as ever. Already had it lock up a few times too. No, this isn't boding well...

Hopefully Microsoft has learned their expensive and painful lesson here, and the next generation xbox will be rock-solid.

Removal of the heatsink reveals a new CPU with "CANADA" written on it."

So, if this one breaks we blame Canada?

Congratulations to the people who paid MORE for the "halo 3 edition" when it costs Microsoft LESS to produce.

@bnpederson:

"No one likes paying for the same console twice, no one."

Which is why MS gets much, much applauding for the way they're handling the situation. No one need pay for the same console twice. At least, for 3 years.

Of course, that applauding is after all the booing and hissing for causing the situation in the first place... but still...

Hmmm... MS needs to put this on ALL models. If they do I won't hesitate to buy one right now...

@Whoaness: You do know that Sony gets the Cell from IBM and the RSX from Nvidia, right?

@splines: Apologies, the RSX is more than likely made by TSMC, or similar.

Nvidia don't have any fabs to speak of.

@yonderTheGreat:
You're thinking of bernbaum. It's understandable, we're both awesome dudes who so won't be banned today who post around the same time. Also we are teh sex. Oooh yeah baby.

Reliability is good, but what about the noise? Is the Halo 360 quieter? I'm really getting a bit fed up with how ridiculously loud my June '06 360 is. I played on a friend's PS3 recently and it was whisper quiet. Of course, the games were boring and I'd take my 360 any day, but the quietness... I know once you turn the volume up the noise gets drowned out, but that's not always an option for those 3AM gaming sessions. :(

Finally! Time to wait for them to put it in the Premium console.

@versellios: verification > speculation

@Whoaness:

can you explain to me how having a different cd drive creates a new stock keeping unit? it seems like someone does not know whan an SKU is

It is already confirmed, Halo edition of Xbox 360 do crash and have all childish problems as the other vers, someone at sweclockers [www.sweclockers.com] Reported that he had his crash 2 hours after he bought it...

And PS, it was never the CPU who had the problems, it was the GPU.

And I just bought an Elite two weeks ago. Fuckers!

Wait! Just the CPU has been changed? The CPU that had little to do with the overheating problem in the first place?

It's all about the GPU, thats the RRoD problem.

Umm, how does the label "CANADA" identify this new chip as a 65nm Version?
Is there any confirmation from Microsoft?
Why didn't they announce anything?

Sorry I don't get why people think this would be a 65nm Version.

@Whoaness: What are you on about? None of the other companies manufacture any significant part of their console. With the exception of Sony (who did a significant part of the R&D for the Cell chip), none of them were even significantly involved with any of the design work for their processors.

Let's hope this helps. Because the problems were caused by the GPU, it's not yet clear whether reducing the heat output of the CPU will help - but it certainly should take some of the stress off the cooling systems.

Incidentally there should be another way to tell whether you have a newer console without opening it up - run a specific sequence of a game while measuring the power consumption, on an old system and a new one (repeat a few times to verify). Power consumption should be significantly down, probably 10W or so?

Of course, differences in other components (DVD drive, HD) might also make slight differences in power consumption, so I'm not sure this would actually work. But overall it'd be interesting to see how much the power consumption differs between new and old models and whether this is measureable.

Wait, I thought the GPU was causing the overheats?

@Kreean:
Maybe they're worried people won't buy the 90nm models if the 65nm supposedly better version is out.

A friend of mine bought himself the new Halo360 yesterday.Hes had a premium 360 since launch which has never had any issues with it,but after an hour of play his new 360 got the RROD.Now i have to wait a month or so before i get the chance to buy his old one off him :(

@tehFluffz:

Yeah maybe, but still I don't get why people think this would be the "Falcon".

The only way to confirm that the CPU is 65nm is to measure the size of the die then compare it to the 90nm chip from the older 360. Since the back of the silicon is directly visible when the heatsink is removed, this is possible.

All he needs to do is take a picture from the very top of the chip, straight down. Then it can be measured relative to the size of the green package (which should not have changed in size). Then you can compare that to the old one.

So from some of the comments, and stories here of the dreaded RRoD, the downsize did little on the consumer end. I mean it's a little early still, but if reports are already coming in, it seems this merely reduces MS's production cost.

Canada = teh awesome!

That's right I said it...

People expected this to somehow fix the 360's problems, but it likely wont do much at all. The 360's issues are far greater than just the chips. On the official site and other places, lot of folks are still getting red rings with the new hardware

@quen: Well since the GPU sits right beside the CPU, its not a leap of logic to think that reducing the heat on the CPU will reduce overall internal heat, making the GPU run cooler indirectly. Of course we all know the primary intention of going to 65nm is cheaper manufacturing, not solving the RROD issue so don't be surprised if this is in fact not the case.

I lied in that earlier post; Sony did make the Blu-ray drive, which might be considered a 'significant component' (I guess).

According to isuppli's original analysis, the Bluetooth module is also a Sony part, and so is the PSU. I wouldn't consider either of those significant. The main chips are all manufactured (and except for parts of the CPU, designed) elsewhere, as is the memory and HD.

Regardless, a simple comparison of the manufacturers shows that having a console built entirely from other people's components doesn't necessarily cause major problems. In fact, wasn't the first Xbox pretty reliable? That was built from standard components too.

So, this issue is a red herring; it's about system design or possibly manufacturing quality standards, and not about the components. 360s die because of overheating, not because Microsoft didn't make the DVD drive or the Bluetooth module.

If this did fix the typical red ring issue, great. However, only one of my four have gone in due to the dreaded red blinking eye. The rest have to do with the overheating of the graphics card (started artifacting,) chewing on my disks like a dog on a Frisbee, and just plain old disk read errors (like what is going on currently on box #4.)

The entire thing needs an overhaul.

I bought a 360 two weeks ago and asked for the new ones and was told they aren't available in Canada, only in the US. The only way to get the new cooler one with HDMI was to buy that fugly halo 3 edition. I went for the older/hotter/louder one. That Halo one is bunk.

@PapaBear434: How common are these other issues anyway? I would guess, not so common. The vast majority of warranty issues involve 3RL (RROD), I haven't heard of disk read errors until now (that is, if you're saying it happens a lot rather than on the rare occassion).

anybody know if these are in the elites already?

@quen: Its not just overheating that's causing RROD, I believe its a combination of a poor quality board that flexes, coupled with the heat generated by the console. I wouldn't call this overheating as the console is supposed to run at that temperature. I'd say that if they incorporated a better motherboard that doesn't flex easily (like that which comes with most PCs) then heat would not be an issue at all..

The PS3 runs pretty darn hot too (try putting your hands on the exhaust vent) but I would guess that using a better quality motherboard and better positioned drive avoids the heat issues the xbox 360 has.

After having lost my 4th 360 (waiting on its return). I will take the wait and see. I hope for people new to the 360 that they have no issues with these new units. Nothing is more frustrating then constantly having to ship you console out for repair.

@Kyle81:

i would like a source to that statement.