Xbox 360 to get 32nm chips next year?

Author: Joe Martin
Published: 12th December 2007

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.