Xbox 360 Falcon CPU arrives

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 1st October 2007

The new Falcon chipset has been spotted in a new Halo 3 Special Edition 360.

The Xbox 360 has had a troubled history and for a long time it has seemed like Microsoft has been on the defensive as they try to please customers and improve the 360 hardware.

Microsoft has coped quite admirably with the continued hardware failings of the Xbox 360, issuing out a new heatsink, extending the warranty and adding HDMI. However, reliability is still seen by many as a weakness for the console.

Well, the new update should fix that. Falcon has landed.

The new 65nm CPU, codenamed Falcon, has been spotted on a new version of the Halo 3 SKU. Microsoft has always refused to tell anyone what the cause of overheating in the Xbox 360 is, but it's commonly thought to be the fault of the CPU and this new update is inteded to address that.

A new owner of the Halo 3 SKU, known only as 'JWSpeed', dissected his console recently and found not only a new CPU, with a 'CANADA' label on it and a new simplified heatsink. The new heatsink design has no heatpipe, indicating that the cooling requirements of the new chip are less than the old version.

For reference, the console examined to have the new hardware was built on August 24, 2007 from team “FDOU” and lot number 734.

The Xbox forums are currently hosting a guide detailing how to find out what hardware is in your 360, so with that in mind why not let us know just what you're Xbox is packing? Drop your specs in the forums.