Does the Xbox 360 Elites CPU use the new 45nm process?

Quick answer is no.




Long answer is:

1) There is not a new 45nm process. There will be a new 65nm process.
2) It has been questioned rather or not the new 65nm process is already being used to manufacter the Elite and future 360s.
3) Nobody really will know until its on a store shelf and someone buys it.. rips it apart.. and tells you for certain if the processor is different or not.

I'm sure if the 65nm was in the system they would advertise that immediately. Though I'm sure once the 65nm is ready to go in the 360, it will be in there as soon as possible and hopefully by October when I buy a 360 :P

Not till the Fall.

No..not untill later this fall, in fact when it does happen you won't even notice it's there.

I'm sure if the 65nm was in the system they would advertise that immediately. Though I'm sure once the 65nm is ready to go in the 360, it will be in there as soon as possible and hopefully by October when I buy a 360 :P
Since when does a manufacturer advertise that a chip inside a device was manufactured using a given silicon wafer size? It's entirely too obscure to advertise to anyone, even under "Technical specifications". It might be disclosed during an interview, but certainly they hawk the system on its capabilities, not on the size of the die.

Since when does a manufacturer advertise that a chip inside a device was manufactured using a given silicon wafer size? It's entirely too obscure to advertise to anyone, even under "Technical specifications". It might be disclosed during an interview, but certainly they hawk the system on its capabilities, not on the size of the die.

true, but one of the reason the 360's been to said to die is because of overheating, and a cooler running, more efficient cpu will fix that. it wont be on the box, but it definately would be advertised on gaming and news sites.

true, but one of the reason the 360's been to said to die is because of overheating, and a cooler running, more efficient cpu will fix that. it wont be on the box, but it definately would be advertised on gaming and news sites.
But they would only find out after getting a system and opening it up. It's not something Microsoft would make readily available.

Hell, they don't even admit there's a problem with overheating...

overheating problem??? Get outta here.....read sig

But they would only find out after getting a system and opening it up. It's not something Microsoft would make readily available.

Hell, they don't even admit there's a problem with overheating...

they may not admit it, but there damn sure is 1. im luckily on my 1st system, but its been acting up for the last couple months or so. lockups, wierd cryptic errors playing certain games, etc. the 360 is a timebomb!!

The problem is not with the die size, it's the cheap thermal paste and thermal pad they use the on the CPU and GPU. If you open your 360 and change it to some quality Arctic Silver 5, your 360 will last MUCH longer. Shrinking the die size will certainly help overall heat output, but the current die size could be more reliable had the manufacturers of these units not chose to use a cheap thermal paste which dries up, hardens, and becomes brittle with use.

not entirely true, a smaller die is capable of making as much or more heat.


i dont know why everyone is so fixated on this. the size of the cpu process used it towards the bottom of the list as far as causes/problems with the 360's overheating issues.

...or MS could of simply designed the cooling system correctly in the first place.

Given that just about everyone that's actually checked the error code has found memory overheating, and that the DRAM was supply constrained for a long time, I'd guess MS loosened qualification requirements on that part and have not lived the issues that caused down to this day.

i agree, this is also why some consoles will probably run "forever" and other consoles will die "fairly quickly"

not entirely true, a smaller die is capable of making as much or more heat.


i dont know why everyone is so fixated on this. the size of the cpu process used it towards the bottom of the list as far as causes/problems with the 360's overheating issues.


If the transistor count stays the same, and it will, the smaller die size WILL produce less heat. A smaller die could produce as much or more heat only if the transistor count increased, but then we would be talking about a different CPU.

...or MS could of simply designed the cooling system correctly in the first place.


Have you looked at the cooling in a 360? It's really not bad at all, the heatsinks are very large and well designed, the problem is the thermal paste and thermal pad used. It's cheap and causes problems down the road.

true, but one of the reason the 360's been to said to die is because of overheating, and a cooler running, more efficient cpu might fix that. it wont be on the box, but it definately would be advertised on gaming and news sites.

Edited :D

This is really speculation, and we really don't know if the newer chip will fix anything. Further, the failure rate is overestimated to begin with, so even if there are "improvements" it may be very difficult to measure anecdotally. These aren't failing in controlled environments after all.

If the transistor count stays the same, and it will, the smaller die size WILL produce less heat. A smaller die could produce as much or more heat only if the transistor count increased, but then we would be talking about a different CPU.

not entirely true, smaller dies can leak more electricity, more leaked electricity = more heat.

well built dies with power consumption in mind address this with higher quality components to reduce leakage, but with the quality of components MS has been choosing, i highly doubt they have this in mind.