Xbox 360 to get 32nm chips next year?

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 12th December 2007
Comments (15) Stumble
Will Microsoft switch to a 32nm CPU or stay with the 45nm instead? Only time will tell.

Will Microsoft switch to a 32nm CPU or stay with the 45nm instead? Only time will tell.

IBM today announced that it will have 32nm chips to offer up to partners by the second half of 2009. Now, that's noteworthy in and of itself, but it also means that Microsoft could be using the technology in a hardware revision of the Xbox 360.

According to MacNN, AMD will also be making use of the technology as it pushes forward with new designs.

Microsoft has been talking about using 65nm CPUs in the Xbox 360 for a while, albeit under the codename of 'Falcon'. For a while it was suggested that 45nm chips would make a more sensible replacement to that, but speculation now is that Microsoft will delay past the release of 45nm upgrade until late 2009 and opt to use 32nm CPUs instead.

IBM reckons that the 32nm chips will offer power savings of up to 45 percent and speed increases of up to 30 percent over the last generation of hardware.

"This industry-leading development comes from leveraging the collective engineering talent across the six partner companies, as well as world-class R&D facilities, such as the Albany Nanotech Research Center, in order to maintain an aggressive road map," said Gary Patton, vice president of IBM's Semiconductor Research and Development Center.

What do you think? Will Microsoft try to improve the Xbox 360 again or just let all of us plebs cope with the current hardware? Let us know your thoughts in the forums.
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Quote DrFreeze 12th December 2007, 07:43
i'd think skipping 45nm wouldnt be on microsofts mind. Not only would they be jumping very early on a new (potentially buggy) process, giving them low yields, they would also have to pay a relative premium for getting this 32nm gig early.

I think MS will just go over to 45nm later next year, when the process is very dependable and mature, like they did with 65nm.

And besides, why is this article focussed on the 360? the PS3's cell is an IBM chip as well isnt it?, same goes for the CPU in the WII for that matter
Quote liratheal 12th December 2007, 07:50
I'd honestly prefer a redesign of the entire internal layout of the 360. I don't care what size the chip die is, because they always turn the cooling to crap to, presumably, save money. I think that M$ would be better off spending time researching airflow, because so far they don't seem to have the foggiest, and it really does cause problems. Quieter DVD drives wouldn't go amiss, either.

DrFreeze: I think the focus is on the M$ console because it has a lot more heat related issues. IIRC the Wii has never failed due to its own heat, and the PS3 issues are not so common that they have their own t-shirt.

Don't get me wrong, I love my 360, but I do feel it could be better designed (Thermals wise), and in all honesty, I'm tempted to give it a bash myself.
Quote K.I.T.T. 12th December 2007, 08:02
the way i see it, aside form everything why bother spending the money on using the 32nm CPU's because its not like they're going to be able to utilise the 30% possible speed increase. So to be honest i think it makes most sense to to wait like DrFreeze said till the 45nm process is fuly working and has all the bugs worked out and then settle on a hardware revision centered arouynd that.

....and learn how to make heatsinks, that'd help too cause Aluminium is just a poor effort. its not like theres even a copper core to the sink either.
Quote leexgx 12th December 2007, 09:15
PS3 does not have heat problems, the older Xbox 360 ones do, with the 65nm been made now i consider getting an xbox now as i could not be bothered with pot luck with the RROD (Nice how M$ invent names for it self like BSOD and RROD, but i guess the Wii is not out of the naming with Updates Bricking them {but thats most customers fault using mod chips and putting USA updates onto an EU box or EU to USA})

the speed increase of the 32nm chips would most likey run at lower speeds so that thay run at the same speed of an 95mn ones (dono what size thay started with) but thay could use the power for HD decoding and faster FPS in games
Quote HourBeforeDawn 12th December 2007, 10:03
this is like one of the only things left in the 360 that Im waitinfg for them to take care of, then I will buy one lol....
Quote RedDethX 12th December 2007, 15:37
Interesting, but I wouldn't buy a new one for just that >.> but it's good for those who don't have one and stuff. Also getting a Ps3 for christmas, so that, plus Xbox 360, and PC gaming will keep me entertained. /rantover.
Quote devdevil85 12th December 2007, 17:00
Quote:
Originally Posted by liratheal
DrFreeze: I think the focus is on the M$ console because it has a lot more heat related issues. IIRC the Wii has never failed due to its own heat, and the PS3 issues are not so common that they have their own t-shirt.
That is very true, but the reason why I, too, would want to know if the PS3 is going the same route as MS is that with every drop in CPU size, a pricedrop follows, so that is why I would want to know that as well....

I honestly feel like the current-gen 360's are a safe bet, and a change to 45nm should easily seal the deal on the RRoD issues....
Quote 500mph 12th December 2007, 19:21
wasn't the Halo edition shipped with a 45nm?
or was it originally a 90nm, then changed to 65nm?
Quote Lucidity 12th December 2007, 22:11
The PS3 may not have heating problems, but it certainly is louder and emits much more heat than the 360. I have to make sure to turn my room fan on before I run my PS3 because it literally heats up my room, and my room is on the larger size.

Microsoft should keep with the 45nm and go to the 32nm if it makes sense, no reason to waste all the dev on the 45nm that has been done though.
Quote DXR_13KE 12th December 2007, 23:11
and make the cooler better, and improve air flow, and improve the fans.....
Quote kempez 12th December 2007, 23:36
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucidity
The PS3 may not have heating problems, but it certainly is louder and emits much more heat than the 360. I have to make sure to turn my room fan on before I run my PS3 because it literally heats up my room, and my room is on the larger size.

It certainly isn't louder. Not in a million moons

I admit it tends to heat up a room fairly significantly, but to me that shows how efficient the cooler is :)
Quote liratheal 13th December 2007, 07:51
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucidity
The PS3 may not have heating problems, but it certainly is louder and emits much more heat than the 360. I have to make sure to turn my room fan on before I run my PS3 because it literally heats up my room, and my room is on the larger size.

I disagree about it being louder. Both my 360 and PS3 are on the same desk, and if you run them both you can hear the 360 over the PS3, no question.

As for it coughing out a lot more hot air? Surely you can't be irked by the cooler doing its job? And as a comparison, the 360 coughs out a lot of hot air, not as much, but then the 360 isn't exactly known for its cooling capacity, hell only two of the video ram chips are anywhere near the heat-sink, and I doubt they even get cooled by it, I'd be more willing to believe it's coincidence that they're under the POS that M$ uses to 'cool' the GPU.

As an aside, for those of you that W/C your 360. Koolance full card coolers for X800 series cards have a nice little cooling block, and with some modification to the 360, it covers the chips nicely, nothing a little bit of thermal epoxy wouldn't hold down either ;) Also, fringe benefit, has one of the low profile gold blocks.
Quote completemadness 13th December 2007, 11:34
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucidity
The PS3 may not have heating problems, but it certainly is louder and emits much more heat than the 360.
what are you smoking? the PS3 is extremely quiet, although it does emit quite a lot of heat

the 360 on the other hand sounds like a small jet aircraft, and emits a lot of heat (which emits more heat, i don't know, i would guess the 360)
Quote talladega 13th December 2007, 19:19
what really amazes me is that MS took the power supply out of the console and made it in a seperate huge brick and the system overheats yet the PS3 has its PSU inside and it still doesnt overheat.

BTW anyone see that thermal pictures of the PS3?

oh and the ps3 is ultra quiet. i dont see how it heats up a room. probly not that anyone would notice. whoever said that probly just looked at a thermometer or is in a cubical.
Quote liratheal 14th December 2007, 15:40
Quote:
Originally Posted by talladega
what really amazes me is that MS took the power supply out of the console and made it in a seperate huge brick and the system overheats yet the PS3 has its PSU inside and it still doesnt overheat.

BTW anyone see that thermal pictures of the PS3?

oh and the ps3 is ultra quiet. i dont see how it heats up a room. probly not that anyone would notice. whoever said that probly just looked at a thermometer or is in a cubical.

I have to admit, if it's just the PS3 running, there isn't a temperature change that you can feel.

If I run my PC and PS3, that coupled with the TV heats my room up better than the radiator, it gets to the point where I have the fan on and two windows open to get some cool air through the room, even in the dead of winter. Summer's murder.
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