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Xbox 360 Hardware Disassembled and Analyzed
Hack Jandy writes "Here is the first article I've seen about the Xbox 360 hardware internals. The article details everything from the storage devices to the CPU and GPU core."
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The article should point here.
Correct link : here
Try here: http://www.anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=26 10
But isn't this old news? I know I've read about all of this AT LEAST a month ago...
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Thats all i can say. I'm no big microsoft fan. I'm an open source, open idea and freedom of information zealot however the xbox 360 is just cool.
Been plenty of stories on it here but i have to agree with what others have said. The entire package of the 360, the games, the service (xbox live) and the experience is going to make for one hell of a system.
Marked for inflation the 360 costs less than what i spent on an atari years ago, and that is pretty amazing.
I'll be buying it at day one.
I've got 30-45 mins a day at max i can play, and the experience, ease of use and integration of the xbox and xbox live service is what makes it for me.
Game on!
Real Link..
It's all very well taking it apart and all, but have you installed Linux on it yet? Get your priorities right!
My Sega Genesis still works great!
The CB App. What's your 20?
http://www.anandtech.com.nyud.net:8090/printarticl e.aspx?i=2610
The site seems to be weakening (the images aren't loading)
and networkmirror & mirrordot have yet to get working link up
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Very appropriate for the, "hey here's a hot toy, lets take it apart!" With all the power that the next gen systems are reported to have I was expecting to see a glowing corona of pure energy (maybe like some blue and orangey colors) not a aluminum heatsink. When will manufacturers and designers make it look powerful as well as "be" powerful. *sniff* this is ruining a fantasy! :P
--Reed
When Anandtech did this for the original XBox and (after months of XBox fanboys saying 'it's a Pentium 3 processor, not a Celeron') they removed the heat sink to display 'Celeron' on the top of the processor.
The moral of the story is that Fanboys are dumb and uninformend.
No kidding. I realize they wanted to make the console smaller, since people griped about the size of the original-- but this is like making my car smaller by putting the back seat and the trunk in a trailer I have to pull around all the time.
there are a bunch of black plastic rectangles, a couple of fans, some ribbon cable, a hard drive and a few stray capacitors all soldered to a green circuit board.
I have discovered a truly remarkable proof which this margin is too small to contain.
Number 5 alive!
This is my sig. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
Inside Microsoft's Xbox 360
Date: Nov 16, 2005
Type: System
Manufacturer: Microsoft
Author: Anand Lal Shimpi, Kristopher Kubicki & Tuan Nguyen
Page 1
Microsoft's first try at a gaming console amounted to essentially a very affordable PC. It used standard PC components, including a mobile Intel processor (a hybrid Pentium 3/Celeron), a desktop NVIDIA chipset, a Western Digital hard drive and relatively standard PC DVD-ROM. The original Xbox was such a PC in fact that there were quite a few users that wanted to mod it simply to have a cheap PC, not even for gaming - including ourselves.
Before the Xbox was launched, Microsoft was very concerned with users thinking of the Xbox as nothing more than a PC branded as a gaming console, so it went to great lengths to reduce the association. For example, the strict ban on keyboard and mouse support, despite the fact that the console implemented the standard USB interface.
With the Xbox 360, Microsoft gained some benefits of the original Xbox success. Xbox didn't win the sales battle against Sony's PlayStation 2, but the first Xbox was strong enough to cement Microsoft's name in the world of console gaming manufacturers. For their second time around, there is less worry of the Xbox 360 being viewed as a just a PC, so Microsoft took a bolder approach.
Honestly, with the Xbox 360, Microsoft could have put forth another PC in a black box and it probably would have done fine. But with their second gaming console, the target was growth -- and Sony. With an established name and fanbase, it was time to take the market seriously and start to exert some dominance and thus the Xbox went from being a clunky black box of a PC, to a stylish consumer electronics device.
The Xbox 360 is smaller than the original Xbox, and its wireless nature makes it a natural fit in the living room - marking a thankful change from standard gaming consoles of the past. Despite looking like the offspring of an iPod and a DVD player, the Xbox 360 is still very much a PC on the inside. As such, it's got all of the components we're used to.
With less than a week to go before the retail availability of Xbox 360 consoles, we got our hands on one to give it the usual AnandTech once-over. And take it apart of course.
What's in the Box?
Our Xbox 360 system was the $399 unit, which comes with the following:
- Xbox 360 console
- 20GB Removable Hard Drive
- Wireless Controller
- Headset
- DVD Remote
- Ethernet Cable
- Component AV Cables
- External Power Supply
The $299 core system gives you the same console (with a white DVD tray cover), a wired controller, and standard composite AV cables; there's no hard drive, headset or remote.
By now you have undoubtedly heard about the massive external power supply that comes with the Xbox 360 and you can see it in the lower left hand corner of the picture above. Remember that in the original Xbox, the power supply was internal. But with the power requirements of the Xbox 360 being significantly higher than its predecessor, while featuring a noticeably smaller case, the only solution was to take the power supply out of the Xbox 360.
Page 2
What's in the Box, in the Box? (Taking it Apart)
Microsoft has shown the world that it's very swift when it comes to recovering from errors that it has made. With the original Xbox design, Microsoft was definitely testing new ground and thus had little experience when it came to protecting its intellectual property and hardware. The original Xbox was largely easy to open by most people with the most common of tools and was quickly adopted by the modding community as the ultimate "utility" console.
In an attempt to circumvent those with modified Xboxes, Microsoft added security and authentication features to its Xbox Live service that would detect whether an Xbox was in its original form or not. But the mod community did not sit idle and not long after, mod chips were introduced that were able to switch on and of
Just look at the big external brick used to power it in the Anandtech article! Take something that big out of the casing and it's bound to be smaller. It would have ended up the same size as the Xbox 1 otherwise.
1up has an in-depth review of the new Live setup http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3145585&did=1 along with a video of two guys talking about the thing. Not exactly like stripping her naked and poking around inside the box, but it is informative (the article, the video is pretty light weight).
Platform advocacy is like choosing a favorite severely developmentally disabled child.
It's a power supply!
Seriously, what was Microsft thinking when they build this thing?
Since the Xbox360 has USB ports do you think the FPS games would support a USB keyboard and mouse?
"I am the king of the Romans, and am superior to rules of grammar!"
-Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (1368-1437)
Not an easy disassembly.
The comment early in the article about Microsoft wanting to lock down their console just amazes me. The company has done a good job of placing themselves into an already competative market and securing themselves a place somewhere just ahead of Nintendo. But the idea that they could engineer themselves a completely tight console just shows the trouble they have with their customers. They are not exclusive in their anal-retentiveness, but the position that they have staked out is confusing. They are, after all, the company who gained the most from an open computer architecture.
Despite the fact that the 360 has a robust design and integrated hardware, it is still a PC. The GPU will probably have the greatest impact, but since the technology is shared between Microsoft and ATI, it will be exclusive. The Balkanization of game code will ratchet up one more level with this release.
I hope that the folks who have invested serious cash in game titles for the older console are ready for emulation. Or should I say, I hope the 360 can run them effectively. With a more powerful processor and amped up GPU, that shouldn't be a problem. Alas, things don't always sort themselves out so cleanly.
I personally don't believe that HD gaming is coming in a big way to the game market yet, but it is good to see Microsoft positioning itself to take advantage of the market when it comes. I guess we will have to see how the DVD wars sort themselves out, but having an HD-capable system now means at least on less add-on to convince consumers to buy later.
It would have been nice if Microsoft had provided some path for modification. I know they are not alone in controlling their equipment, but that added 'configurability' may have tipped the scales in Microsoft's favor. I know their are die hard fans of Sony and Nintendo who will never want (or, at least, admit to wanting) to move over to 360, but that nod to the modding community could have been a galvanizing moment for users.
Despite my gripe, it is a nice looking machine. I'd love to load an alternative OS on it.
"Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
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