Xbox 360

Xbox 360 logo

Microsoft's Xbox 360 console was first launched in November 2005 in the USA and Canada. As of June 2006, 5 million units have been manufactured.

Xenon Processor

The main CPU is a Xenon chip made by IBM, it is based on IBM's PowerPC and has three cores. It is also known as an XCPU.

CPU specifications: 3 cores, each running at 3.2 Ghz each core has 32KB of L1 instruction cache and 32KB of L1 data cache 90nm process with 165 million transistors 5.4 GHz Front Side Bus

IBM Xenon CPU

Xenos GPU

The graphics processing unit is a Xenos which is made by ATI.

The Xbox 360 supports HDTV up to 1920 x 1080 in progressive mode. PAL and NTSC are also supported. 

GPU Specifications and features:

• 48 unified shader units
• vertex shading
• pixel shading
• 500 Mhz clock speed
• 4x FSAA
• z-buffering
• alpha blending

Memory

The Xbox 360's memory is produced by either Samsung or Infineon Technologies.

• 512MB of GDDR3 running at 700Mhz.
• 128bit

Audio

• Dolby Digital, six channels
• Over 256 channels
• 32 bit processing
• supports 48 kHz 16 bit sound
• games use Microsoft's XMA sound format
• MPEG-2 supported for DVD videos
• VC-1 and WMV supported for streaming video

Networking

The Xbox 360 can connect to the Xbox Live service over the Internet using a suitable router. 

• 100BASE-TX RJ45 Ethernet port
• Three USB ports

Drives & Storage

• Optional: 2.5" 20GB 5400 rpm hard drive
• 12x DVD drive, read speed is 16.0 MB/s
• games are provided on 7GB DVD-ROMs and are region coded
• Optional: External HD-DVD drive 

Xbox 360 with contoller pad

Peripherals & Accessories 

Xbox 360 game pad controller

Xbox 360 HD-DVD player

Software & Games

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter - screenshot

Known Issues

1. Overheating: The Xbox 360 has a high power consumption and may overheat and crash unless the unit is well ventilated during use. Some owners have fitted their own cooling solutions to avoid overheating issues.
2. Scratched Discs: If the unit is moved whilst a disc is inserted, the disc may become scratched. Some owners report scratched discs, despite having not moved their machines.
3. Machine Recognition Failure: On occasion the system reports "This game can only be played on an Xbox 360" when a disc is inserted, despite the fact the unit is an Xbox 360.

Internal Links

Custom case for Xbox 360

Game: Gears of War  

External Links

www.xbox.com Official Xbox website

blogs.msdn.com/xboxteam/ Official development blog

www.xbox-scene.com Xbox-Scene

www.teamxbox.com Team Xbox