Charter still expects 65nm Xenon in Q1 2007

[Acert93]

September 28, 2006 - Vnunet.com reports today that Chartered Semiconductor of Singapore, manufacturer of the Xbox 360's CPU, will begin manufacturing a new version of the chip in Q1 2007. The current Xbox 360 CPU uses a 90-nanometer manufacturing process, a relatively old-fashioned technique compared to the cutting edge 40nm process soon to be perfected by Intel and AMD.

Chartered Semiconductor will update the 360 CPU to a 65nm process, the current state-of-the-art in chip manufacturing techniques. The new Xbox 360 CPUs will benefit from lower power consumption, and thus much lower operating heat.

In the same article IGN mentions the cost reductions of this move and offers commentary on the possible impact on unit quality/stability. Pretty basic stuff, but nice to see that things are still on track. I wonder what the time frame is for Cell/RSX and Xenos? Likewise memory modules (specifically GDDR3).

 

[pascal]

Good news.
Unfortunatelly they cant change cache size or core speed.

 

[AlNom]

Hm... any speculation as to how an end user will tell the difference I'm actually holding out on a 360 until the change happens. In the meantime, I rely on my friend's 360. But what about Xenos and the eDRAM? Are those remaining on the same process next year?

 

[pascal]

Cooler, maybe thinner and lighter and less noisy box.

 

[AlNom]

I meant from just looking at a retail box.

 

[akira888]

Well, for starters, hopefully it will no longer heat up your apartment by ~ 5 F/2 C after a few hours of use.

 

[ban25]

It's unlikely there will be any change to the unit's outward appearance, but it will definitely have a different model number, so you will just have to look for that.