is there a hardware difference between the elite system and the other consoles (other than hard drive size)?
they were supposed to put the smaller die in there but ive heard they havnt.
Here ya go: http://www.llamma.com/xbox360/news/inside_the_xbox_360_elite.htm
Our first pleasant surprise is a Hitachi GDR-3120L FK78 DVD drive inside. I was hoping not to see a BENQ drive as there are no flashing utilities available at the moment so there is no ability to replace the DVD drive or use this as a parts motherboard. Extracting the drive key and flashing the firmware of this unit wont be a problem!
Next, I wasted no time in removing the CPU and GPU heat sinks as I was dying to know if they had implemented the anticipated 65nm CPU core. Both the CPU and GPU both sport different revision information on the chips but its hard to say whether or not 65nm has been implemented. One of the more interesting observations that seems to point to lower power consumption implying a possible 65nm core is the fact that there are some capacitors and transistors that have been removed on this revision of board. Many speculate that because the die is not smaller its not the new core. One argument against this theory is this; if the power requirements drop by half and the die size surface area to dissipate heat is decreased by half; it really is not more thermally efficient. There is a good article at overclockers.com about this topic here. It makes sense to actually change the transistor size but keep the larger die. But still… its all speculation and hopeful thinking.
Is it truly a 65nm core? I wouldn’t put my neck out and say it is for certain but what little inspection we have done seems to point to a possibility it is. When we get more time I would like to measure the power consumption of this unit verses the original box. Aside from removing the die from the wafer and measuring transistors with a microscope (yeah right) I don’t know how we will know unless someone can confirm the revision information of the chip itself or Microsoft confirms.
One a side note, we all had a good belly laugh here at the shop when we saw Microsoft’s most creative measures to minimize the dreaded Xbox 360 3 flashing red lights “ring of death” error caused by poor BGA connections of the CPU and GPU. It seems that that the good ol’ a dab will do ya methodology applies here. Take a look at the epoxy surrounding the CPU and GPU which is intended to prevent the BGA connection from popping as the board warps. This has to be one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Will it do the job, we have our doubts, but it will remain to be seen. It certainly seems like taking the easy way out instead of fixing the real problem.
Take a look at the animated gif below and note the lack of the yellow capacitors above the GPU and CPU and the fact that there is half as many transistors on the right hand side of the board where most of the voltage regulation goes on. This seems to be most telling sign of a possible new core
If you would like to see individual hi-res photos here they are: elite board original board
One of the most important and sought after addition to the Xbox 360 Elite is the new 120 GB HDD. Finally some space to save all of the paid content your heart desires. We disassembled the drive and found a Fujitsu MHW2120BH 120GB drive inside. Our initial attempts at dumping sector 16 using The Specialist’s hddhacker application was not a success. It appears that the tool does not yet support the new 120GB drive. Without the sector 16 you will not be able to upgrade your stock 20GB drive to 120GB the cheap way. We will keep you posted on any changes to this situation.We welcome the return of our good old friend the chrome hard drive caddy spacer. Our last few Xbox 360’s sported a grey plastic piece instead of the chrome which was very disappointing to us as it was much uglier.
Once other small difference you will find is the fan header. It has been switched from a 4-pin Molex Mini-Fit connector to a standard good old three pin fan header style connector. This will render the Talismoon whisper fan useless without some sort of adapter. Fortunately the Llamma has solved this issue already and has the adapters in stock ready to rock.
Get them at Shop Llamma here!Last but certainly not least is the key upgrade to the system; the HDMI port. This was the major let down of the Xbox 360 launch and a key difference between the Xbox 360 and the PS3. Finally the wait is over for those who want true 1080p without using the washed out VGA connection or dont have a TV with VGA or a 1080p compatible component input. There has been a million pictures of the HDMI port and HANA the HDMI scaler chip but here’s a couple more for good measure.
My question is put a 1080i TV and then a 1080p TV on this pig and whats the difference in picture quality. I’d like to experience it first hand side to side.
there is none, lol
people get all bonered up over 1080P and you can hardly see a difference.
I can tell you just from seeing those pics that is not the falcon board.
[quote=“BuickGN,post:5,topic:35362"”]
there is none, lol
people get all bonered up over 1080P and you can hardly see a difference.
[/quote]
Ding, winner.
1080p runs smoother then 1080I, from what i’ve heard.
[quote=“BuickGN,post:5,topic:35362"”]
there is none, lol
people get all bonered up over 1080P and you can hardly see a difference.
[/quote]
ding ding.
tho, i’m sure it’ll be the next standard, just as 720p progressed, but w/e.
on the 61" DLP, i struggle to notice any difference from 5’ out to 20’.
Harddrive is the only real reason IMO. $100 for 100 more gb.