If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
Upcoming & future Xbox 360 motherboard / chipset revisions aJasper, Opus and Valhalla - The Valhalla to have 65 or 45 nm combined CPU-GPUin 2009
http://www.8bitjoystick.com/index.php
There is not one but two secret Xbox cats that Microsoft has kept in the bag. Currently there are three more Xbox 360 motherboards in the works right now. They are.. dun dun dun.. Jasper, Opus and Valhalla. If you are skeptical about this keep in mind that I've been early and correct about this stuff before. The original Xbox 360 motherboard is called the Xenon with both a 90 nm CPU and 90 nm GPU, there has been system cooling revisions to it. Next was Zephyr motherboard with HDMI that was introduced with the Xbox 360 Elite and and some had newer "heat pumps". Currently on the market is Falcon with a cooler 65 nm CPU but still the same hot GPU as the Xenon. It's well known that the next Xbox 360 motherboard is going to be Jasper and it going to have both a 65 nm CPU and a 65 nm GPU. Jasper is going to be a major advancement in reliability since it is going to run much quieter than previous Xbox 360 systems. Jasper's reliability is in part to the fact that there is no place on the motherboard that is going to be running as hot or as much power as previous Xbox 360 systems, also it might run a lot quieter since it will not need as much power. When Microsoft hired IBM and ATI to provide the original Xbox 360 CPU and GPU Microsoft put it in the contract so that the Xbox team will own the technology for the chips and can make subsequent reduced cost revisions to the chips. The Xbox one had leased technology from Intel and Nvidia and that is one of the main reasons for the change in CPU and GPU venders. Jasper is very real and they are testing prototypes right now. Word from Redmond is that progress on Jasper is going well and on schedule and you can expect it fall of 2008. My birthday is in October and I am probably going to upgrade to a Jasper Xbox 360 if my Xenon lasts that long. Now on to the big news. Are you ready... cue dramatic music.. The next two Xbox 360 motherboard names are "Opus" and "Valhalla"!!! The Opus project is a "Falcon" generation motherboard designed to fit in a Xenon case. You can expect an 90 nm GPU but a 65 nm CPU. Opus solves a major hardware recycling and inventory problem since Microsoft currently has millions of used Xenon cases from RRODed dead systems and this lets them use most of the good parts from the millions of dead Xenons but with a newer tested more reliable motherboard. There is no HDMI on Opus since the Xenon cases don't have openings for the port. Opus is a third generation Xbox 360 in the case of a first. I would trust an Opus Xbox much more than a "zombie repaired" Xenon since you are getting a fresh motherboard. These will probably never be boxed and sold directly to the public in stores so the only way to get an Opus motherboard is to turn in a RRODed dead Xenon in late 2008 and you might get one returned. Opus is the "Zombie Xbox" killer. It's the recycle repair special and is the sort of repair and refurbished Xbox 360 that they should have had done in the first place. Now they are also in the very early stages of designing the fourth generation Xbox 360 called Valhalla. Think Technoviking cool, we are your overlords. At the heart of a Valhalla Xbox 360 is a combined 65nm CPU and 65nm GPU on a unified super chip. This also would only need one cooling system and be much quieter and hopefully more reliable than previous Xbox systems (if they include hardware JTAG testing reporting into the design). It is really early in the design process but there are engineers at Microsoft working on it as you are reading this. Heck they are probably reading this since this is the first that you are going to hear about Opus and Valhalla. You can probably expect a price cut for Valhalla since it is going to be a major cost reduction. Valhalla might be the final Xbox 360 motherboard design but that all might depend of the future progress of the third generation Xbox team (the Xbox 720 or whatever they call it) and the overall market success of the Xbox 360 platform. Microsoft has planned on near annual changes to the Xbox 360 motherboard generation designs. First was the Xenon motherboard from 2005-06, then followed by the Zephyr motherboard 2006-2007, then the Falcon Motherboard 2007-now. Probably later on this year we will see the Jasper Motherboard 2008-2009. Then then comes Valhalla the year four motherboard in late 2009 or mid 2010. Oh yeah third generation Zunes are totally confirmed. Be on the look out for Orion. Around 2011-2012 we might expect a third generation Post 360 Xbox but all I know is that it's being worked on. I wonder if they have started tapping my Xbox Live account after I started posting this stuff. __________________________________________________ ________________________ http://www.mcvuk.com/news/29632/Micr...ware-revisions Microsoft readying two further 360 hardware revisionsBen Parfitt Today, 2:32pm Sources claims that two new motherboards are on the way as Microsoft looks to address reliability issues With most on-the-shelf Xbox 360's currently built on Microsoft's third- generation motherboard, the Falcon, online sources are claiming that the platform holder has a further three revisions to its hardware in the works. In October MCV reported on the emergence of what will be Microsoft's fourth 360 motherboard configuration, named Jasper, which is yet to hit the marketplace. However, the fifth and sixth iterations of 360 are already in development, according to 8bitjoystick - the site which recently claimed to have interviewed an Xbox 360 manufacturing insider. First off, the Valhalla motherboard looks set to represent the biggest advance in 360 engineering to date. It will allegedly include a unified chip that incorporates both a 65nm CPU and 65nm GPU. The reduction in heat and power consumption will mean the machine will need only one cooling system and should, in theory, be far quieter than current machines. Valhalla should also be significantly cheaper to produce, paving the way for future Xbox 360 price cuts. Another iteration of the motherboard is also said to be in development. The Opus will reportedly not be used for newly manufactured 360's, but will instead be utilised as a way of reusing all the Falcon motherboards Microsoft has supposedly got stockpiled from all the faulty Xbox 360s it has supposedly had returned. Opus will add a 65nm CPU to these existing motherboards, allowing them to fit into the casing for a Xenon machine, thus allowing Microsoft to whittle down its reserves of hardware. Therefore, the only consumers who can expect to receive an Opus are those who have returned a faulty machine to Microsoft. Unlike the Valhalla, Opus machines will not have HDMI ports. If you're confused (and we wouldn't blame you) here's a run down of the existing and current Xbox 360 hardware configurations: 1st Generation: Xenon (2005-2006, launch machines) 90nm CPU and 90nm GPU, heatsink has since been modified, no HDMI 2nd Generation: Zephyr (2006-2007) HDMI ports introduced on some machines, heatsinks revised 3rd Generation: Falcon (2007-present) 65nm CPU and 90nm GPU, includes HDMI 4th Generation: Jasper (TBC, expected this year) 65nm CPU and 65nm GPU, includes HDMI 5th Generation: Opus (TBC) 65nm CPU and 65nm GPU, no HDMI, further heatsink revision, reconditioned Falcon but in a Xenon casing 6th Generation: Valhalla (TBC) Combined 65nm CPU and 65nm GPU, single heatsink, includes HDMI If you're in the market for a new Xbox 360 and are keen to get your hands on one of the newer Falcon machines, the easy way to know what you're getting without opening the box is to check the box's barcode. Amongst all the information on there is the machine's power usage - if it says 203w it's a Zephyr or Xenon machine. If, however, it says 175w, it's a Falcon, as those machines use less power. There's also a school out there who are very in particular about which DVD drive they want in their new machines. If you want to join these fussy legions, this web site will tell you how to identify the make of a 360 DV drive, and this web site will help you find a particular one. However, be warned - opinion on which drive is best is very much divided, though the BenQ's do seem to be the favourite. __________________________________________________ ________________________ http://opa-ages.com/forums/index.php...dpost&p=100158 "Ok, I did some searching. The article contains some errors." Jasper : 65 nm CPU + 65 nm GPU. Summer 2008 Valhalla : 45 nm CPU+GPU ASIC. Summer 2009. Likely final X360 chipset revision before the arrival of Xbox 3. |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Upcoming & future Xbox 360 motherboard / chipset revisions a Jasper, Opus and Valhalla - The Valhalla to have 65 or 45 nm combined CPU-GPU in 2009
AirRaid writes:
Now they are also in the very early stages of designing the fourth generation Xbox 360 called Valhalla. Think Technoviking cool, we are your overlords. Most fanboyish post ever? -Miles -- In New York, most people don't have cars, so if you want to kill a person, you have to take the subway to their house. And sometimes on the way, the train is delayed and you get impatient, so you have to kill someone on the subway. [George Carlin] |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Upcoming & future Xbox 360 motherboard / chipset revisions a Jasper, Opus and Valhalla - The Valhalla to have 65 or 45 nm combined CPU-GPU in 2009
On Fri, 15 Feb 2008 12:46:40 -0800 (PST), AirRaid
wrote: 1st Generation: Xenon (2005-2006, launch machines) 90nm CPU and 90nm GPU, heatsink has since been modified, no HDMI 2nd Generation: Zephyr (2006-2007) HDMI ports introduced on some machines, heatsinks revised 3rd Generation: Falcon (2007-present) 65nm CPU and 90nm GPU, includes HDMI 4th Generation: Jasper (TBC, expected this year) 65nm CPU and 65nm GPU, includes HDMI 5th Generation: Opus (TBC) 65nm CPU and 65nm GPU, no HDMI, further heatsink revision, reconditioned Falcon but in a Xenon casing 6th Generation: Valhalla (TBC) Combined 65nm CPU and 65nm GPU, single heatsink, includes HDMI If you're in the market for a new Xbox 360 and are keen to get your hands on one of the newer Falcon machines, the easy way to know what you're getting without opening the box is to check the box's barcode. Amongst all the information on there is the machine's power usage - if it says 203w it's a Zephyr or Xenon machine. If, however, it says 175w, it's a Falcon, as those machines use less power. Now, exactly which version of these will have an integrated Blu-ray drive???? If you do not know, you had better keep your hands firmly clutching your wallet. It is going to happen sooner than later now that HD-DVD is firmly dead. Seems as if the current Xbox360 is now at a dead-end, at least as far as Microsoft's ambitions of it being the living-room media-center in combination with being the family games-machine. A $200 Blu-ray peripheral does not cut the mustard, with price of a complete PS3 now at $399. And it will be $200, as it requires serious internal programmable smarts to track the evolving Blu-ray standard. The internal drive in the PS3 gets these 'smarts' for free. Plus the PS3 can play future Blu-ray-capacity games, of course. Seems as if Microsoft's penny-pinching on the Xbox360 has finally caught up with them. John Lewis |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Upcoming & future Xbox 360 motherboard / chipset revisions a Jasper, Opus and Valhalla - The Valhalla to have 65 or 45 nm combined CPU-GPU in 2009
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips John Lewis wrote in part:
Now, exactly which version of these will have an integrated Blu-ray drive???? If you do not know, you had better keep your hands firmly clutching your wallet. It is going to happen sooner than later now that HD-DVD is firmly dead. Just because HD-DVD is dead does not mean Blu-ray will thrive. There is competition from upscaled DVDs: http://www.economist.com/daily/colum...ry_id=10610923 As always, the question will be "Is the difference worth it?" Not something a techie can answer. It depends on mass market perceptions. If Joe Sixpack can plug a [sinfully expensive] HDMI cable into a decent DVD player and his HDTV and see a picture as good as s/he remembers from the BigBox store Blu-ray, why would they switch? Only if the blu-ray players become really cheap, there might a movie or two the SFX or other visuals will be worth the premium. Please remember, Sony PSP, Apple iPod, airline seat backs and personal DVD players all show fewer than 400 lines. People still watch. -- Robert |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Upcoming & future Xbox 360 motherboard / chipset revisions a Jasper, Opus and Valhalla - The Valhalla to have 65 or 45 nm combined CPU-GPU in 2009
Robert Redelmeier wrote:
Just because HD-DVD is dead does not mean Blu-ray will thrive. There is competition from upscaled DVDs: http://www.economist.com/daily/colum...ry_id=10610923 Seen 'em. They suck worse that leaving the DVD alone and nost trying to "upsample" them. As always, the question will be "Is the difference worth it?" Not something a techie can answer. It depends on mass market perceptions. If Joe Sixpack can plug a [sinfully expensive] HDMI cable into a decent DVD player and his HDTV and see a picture as good as s/he remembers from the BigBox store Blu-ray, why would they switch? Only if the blu-ray players become really cheap, there might a movie or two the SFX or other visuals will be worth the premium. They will become cheap, HD displays are getting cheap (you can't hardly buy one that isn't HD any longer). People will want to watch HD, not "upsampled DVD", on their HD displays. It's inevitable. |
#6
|
|||
|
|||
Upcoming & future Xbox 360 motherboard / chipset revisions a Jasper, Opus and Valhalla - The Valhalla to have 65 or 45 nm combined CPU-GPU in 2009
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips John Lewis wrote:
in combination with being the family games-machine. A $200 Blu-ray peripheral does not cut the mustard, with price of a complete PS3 now at $399. And it will be $200, as it requires serious internal programmable smarts to track the evolving Blu-ray standard. The internal drive in the PS3 gets these 'smarts' for free. So, in theory, will the hypothetical Xbox 360 blu-ray attachment: the standard changes are all on the playback side, and that'd be done in software. The attachment would just be a dumb drive on a USB2 cord, same as the current HD-DVD attachment. -- Nate Edel http://www.cubiclehermit.com/ preferred email | is "nate" at the | "A sufficiently advanced incompetence is posting domain | indistinguishable from malice." |
#7
|
|||
|
|||
Upcoming & future Xbox 360 motherboard / chipset revisions a Jasper, Opus and Valhalla - The Valhalla to have 65 or 45 nm combined CPU-GPU in 2009
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips Robert Redelmeier wrote:
Just because HD-DVD is dead does not mean Blu-ray will thrive. There is competition from upscaled DVDs: http://www.economist.com/daily/colum...ry_id=10610923 As always, the question will be "Is the difference worth it?" Not something a techie can answer. It depends on mass market perceptions. If Joe Sixpack can plug a [sinfully expensive] HDMI cable into a decent DVD player and his HDTV and see a picture as good as s/he remembers from the BigBox store Blu-ray, why would they switch? Except, of course, upscaled DVD is nowhere near as good as the blu-ray player. In fact, upscaled DVD players only better than regular DVD players if you have a *cheap* HDTV which doesn't already have a good upscaler built in. Higher-end ones have had them since HDTVs first hit the market, and often better ones than the typical $100 upscaling DVD player. Of course, the question is not whether it's "as good," but whether regular DVD is "good enough." DVD had huge advantages over VHS even if you take the picture quality when new out of the picture. HD-DVD/Blu-ray has much better picture quality, but if regular DVD is "good enough" then I can only see a few advantages left for HD-DVD/Bluray. One big one is that you can fit a heck of a lot more content onto one disk, if you're not hung up on getting HD quality content. I've yet to see anyone DO it, but one killer app I've predicted for a while is the ability to put a full season of older non-HD shows on one disk. Please remember, Sony PSP, Apple iPod, airline seat backs and personal DVD players all show fewer than 400 lines. People still watch. Personal DVD players vary by the quality of the individual player; some DO show a full 480p picture. The older ones which basically did broadcast NTSC quality suck. Further, all of those are either portable or captive applications. -- Nate Edel http://www.cubiclehermit.com/ preferred email | is "nate" at the | "A sufficiently advanced incompetence is posting domain | indistinguishable from malice." |
#9
|
|||
|
|||
Upcoming & future Xbox 360 motherboard / chipset revisions aJasper, Opus and Valhalla - The Valhalla to have 65 or 45 nm combined CPU-GPUin 2009
On Feb 19, 11:48 am, chrisv wrote:
Robert Redelmeier wrote: Just because HD-DVD is dead does not mean Blu-ray will thrive. There is competition from upscaled DVDs: http://www.economist.com/daily/colum...story.cfm?stor... Seen 'em. They suck worse that leaving the DVD alone and nost trying to "upsample" them. As always, the question will be "Is the difference worth it?" Not something a techie can answer. It depends on mass market perceptions. If Joe Sixpack can plug a [sinfully expensive] HDMI cable into a decent DVD player and his HDTV and see a picture as good as s/he remembers from the BigBox store Blu-ray, why would they switch? Only if the blu-ray players become really cheap, there might a movie or two the SFX or other visuals will be worth the premium. They will become cheap, HD displays are getting cheap (you can't hardly buy one that isn't HD any longer). People will want to watch HD, not "upsampled DVD", on their HD displays. It's inevitable. I'm with Robert on this one. The increase in quality with my upconverting Phillips DVD player is most impressive! Given that there's no broadcast standard (yet) for 1080p because of the bandwidth demands, I happily purchased a 720p set. I'm not a big gamer so none of my video sources even support 1080p. Watching A&E HD is simply marvelous at 720p. Perhaps a few years down the line I'll find it worthwhile to go with 1080p but I don't want to have to replace my movie collection with yet another format just now. I'll wait until the prices on plasmas come down or maybe OEDs will live up to their hype. Who knows? I even went with component video cables since I couldn't see a significant improvement with HDMI. Old eyes? Just cheap? ;-) But perhaps I'm not the only one who doesn't want to pay $140 for a 6' audio/video cable... YMMV |
#10
|
|||
|
|||
Upcoming & future Xbox 360 motherboard / chipset revisions a Jasper, Opus and Valhalla - The Valhalla to have 65 or 45 nm combined CPU-GPU in 2009
In article 771afeb0-1b6d-4e99-836c-f6f3abd9d012@
28g2000hsw.googlegroups.com, says... On Feb 19, 11:48 am, chrisv wrote: Robert Redelmeier wrote: Just because HD-DVD is dead does not mean Blu-ray will thrive. There is competition from upscaled DVDs: http://www.economist.com/daily/colum...story.cfm?stor... Seen 'em. They suck worse that leaving the DVD alone and nost trying to "upsample" them. As always, the question will be "Is the difference worth it?" Not something a techie can answer. It depends on mass market perceptions. If Joe Sixpack can plug a [sinfully expensive] HDMI cable into a decent DVD player and his HDTV and see a picture as good as s/he remembers from the BigBox store Blu-ray, why would they switch? Only if the blu-ray players become really cheap, there might a movie or two the SFX or other visuals will be worth the premium. They will become cheap, HD displays are getting cheap (you can't hardly buy one that isn't HD any longer). People will want to watch HD, not "upsampled DVD", on their HD displays. It's inevitable. I'm with Robert on this one. The increase in quality with my upconverting Phillips DVD player is most impressive! Given that there's no broadcast standard (yet) for 1080p because of the bandwidth demands, I happily purchased a 720p set. I'm not a big gamer so none of my video sources even support 1080p. Watching A&E HD is simply marvelous at 720p. I went with 1080p because at 42" there wasn't a lot of difference in price. The 42" plasma TV we bought (though it was on sale) was less than $100 more than the "same" TV in 720p. I considered the $100 as cheap obsolescence insurance. Perhaps a few years down the line I'll find it worthwhile to go with 1080p but I don't want to have to replace my movie collection with yet another I didn't want to replace the hardware either. format just now. I'll wait until the prices on plasmas come down or maybe OEDs will live up to their hype. Who knows? Plasmas have come down a *lot*. When I bought (November) the sweet spot seemed to be about 42". They with up rapidly from there. I even went with component video cables since I couldn't see a significant improvement with HDMI. Old eyes? Just cheap? ;-) It took me a while to get HDMI working. The stupid cable company... Grrr. Cables are cheap. So cheap I have mine wired up with everything from composite to HDMI. ;-) But perhaps I'm not the only one who doesn't want to pay $140 for a 6' audio/video cable... How about $6? It's a damned cable, not an investment! -- Keith |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Upcoming & future Xbox 360 motherboard / chipset revisions aJasper, Opus and Valhalla - The Valhalla to have 65 or 45 nm combined CPU-GPUin 2009 | AirRaid | General | 34 | March 14th 08 12:03 AM |
next Xbox 360 motherboard revision, JASPER, will have 65nm ATI Xenos GPU. Due in 2008 | AirRaid[_4_] | Ati Videocards | 12 | October 12th 07 12:08 PM |
Which chipset for future P4 | No one | Intel | 1 | March 13th 05 05:56 PM |
ALLARD ON THE FUTURE OF XBOX - PART TWO | Zackman | Ati Videocards | 2 | April 13th 04 07:40 PM |
Nvidia chipset and Motherboard chipset | [email protected] | Nvidia Videocards | 1 | July 9th 03 08:54 PM |