Topic: Slimbox 360 on the horizon?

[BlackNMild2k1]

Looks like Xbox360 is getting a new slimmer model to coincide with that Natal release.

The whole new motherboard w/ CPU/GPU combined(code named Valhalla)


A peek under the heatsink & fan


This looks like a much more compact 360 (about 25% smaller motherboard) and is rumored to have a combined CPU/GPU chip(Valhalla), which could mean that SlimBox will be getting another price drop (making it cheaper than a Wii again) or could be re-branded and paired with Natal this fall with a brand new casing and overall appearance. Put all that up next to Halo: Reach this fall and Xbox could be having a pretty good Xmas

http://bbs.a9vg.com/read.php?tid=1393868&fpage=&toread=&uid=&page=7
http://bbs.a9vg.com/read.php?tid=1393868&fpage=&toread=&uid=&page=8
http://bbs.a9vg.com/read.php?tid=1393868&fpage=&toread=&uid=&page=10

Remember that China did leak the PS3 Slim well ahead of it's official reveal and E3 is less than 90 days away. So now we play the waiting and speculation game.

edit:
Here is where the Valhalla 360 was "confirmed" to be in the making 1 month ago (Feb. 15, 2010)
http://blog.seattlepi.com/digitaljoystick/archives/132014.asp

But this has been rumored for quite a while now.

I'm just hoping that RRoD is now dead, Wifi is built in and HDD become reasonably priced or built in to lower the cost and a price drop for the non Natal version.

*If ATi & IBM can work together to combine the Xbox360 chips, then that means good things for the future of a price reduced (budget gamer edition) Wii in the not so distant future.*

[TJ Spyke]

I doubt the system will be smaller, the motherboard on the system has been shrunk more than once before.

[Ian Sane]

For MS eliminating the RRoD should be their absolute TOP priority.  Otherwise there is no point in redesigning the hardware.  I specifically bought a PS3 instead of an Xbox 360 entirely because of the RRoD.  It was the deal breaker.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

The Wii will get so small, 20 GameCubes will fit inside.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Here is a nice write up on the motherboard pics by Digital Foundry
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-xbox-360-slim-blog-entry

[Chozo Ghost]

Nice to see they've beefed it up with a huge ass fan to keep it from over heating.

Seriously, MS could market their 360 console in infomercials as a way to heat up your home. Just like those Amish fireplaces.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

The power supply still needs a fan.

[KDR_11k]

Wasn't the problem that the fan fell off, not that it was inadequate?

[SixthAngel]

So the xbox will be squished and thin.

The red oval of death?

[BlackNMild2k1]

Looks like the Xbox is also getting a USB storage update too. 16GB cap though, but that means no more wallet raping "proprietary" HDDs, now if they would only include Wifi out of the box, then I might actually get a 360 (after the redesign releases).

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/03/18/xbox-360-gaining-usb-storage-support-in-2010-update/

[GoldenPhoenix]

Slimmer and hotter, cook your eggs in seconds with the compact RROD Xbox 360 coming to a store near you.

[broodwars]

This model interests me, but only if it's especially cheap and the RRoD issue has been completely fixed.
 
*really wants to play Tales of Vesperia, and possibly the 2 Mass Effect games and Lost Odyssey.

[TJ Spyke]

EVERY piece of electronics has some failure, so you will never get any system that has a 0% failure rate (including the Xbox 360). The RRoD problem has been fixed. While some people will still get it, the percentage now falls well within the normal rate for electronics.

I don't care if this speculation (it's not even a rumor yet) is true or not, I think the current size of the Xbox 360 is fine. Does that mean I don't want systems to be as compact as possible? No, but the physical design of it is fine (unless the PlayStation 3, which was huge before the slim model).

[BlackNMild2k1]

That is an actual motherboard and it's been known that MS was working on a new one for about 2 years now. They have even put our job postings for that type of work (hardware revision). MS is not very good with keeping secrets so this board is a little past the stage of speculating "if" and more towards the area of speculating "when".

What is being speculated is if it will move away from the tray drive and go with a Slot drive and use the slightly smaller motherboard to make a new casing and re-launch this version of Xbox360 with Natal.

[TJ Spyke]

They have shrunk the motherboard of the Xbox 360 several times before. It is still nothing but idle speculation that thy will release a small Xbox 360. Let's keep that clear.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I thought you were referring to the smaller MB being speculation, not if MS was going to revise the system size. This is actually the 4th MB revision for Xbox360, so I thought you were doubting that it was real.

[TJ Spyke]

Sorry, I thought I had been clear on that. I have no doubt that this smaller motherboard is real since they have shrunk it before, it's just the speculation that this could lead to a Xbox 360 Slim that I disagree with (as these rumors happened each previous time Microsoft decreased the size of the motherboard).

[KDR_11k]

They have shrunk the motherboard of the Xbox 360 several times before. It is still nothing but idle speculation that thy will release a small Xbox 360. Let's keep that clear.

Read the Eurogamer article, the board design makes it impossible to fit this into a regular 360 case.

[BlackNMild2k1]

First Pics of Slimbox360 (codename: Napoleon)?

http://www.vg247.com/2010/03/30/rumour-360-slim-gets-revealed-in-unofficial-shots/

If these pictures from Dutch website GameKings are any proof, what you are seeing is the  much talked about slim version of Xbox 360, literally straight out of  the box by the looks of it.
The hardware, apparently codenamed  “Napoleon,” is compared to the present model, and is noticeably smaller  and slimmer than the fat 360.
Currently, only two shots are on the site, but if they are both real,  LA is going to be rock to the core come June. But as always with  rumour, do take with a pinch of salt [A massive one - Ed].

Follow the gamekings link for the 2 unboxed pics.


Hopefully these pics aren't fake(could be the HDDVD drive), but even if they are, E3 should be a good one this year.

Microsoft:
360slim (rumored)
Natal

Sony:
Move
PSP2 (rumored)

Nintendo:
3DS
Vitality Sensor
Zelda
Retro Studios game (rumor)

I don't know which games are being anticipated for Sony & MS, but that is 2 pieces of hardware from each of the BIG 3, so big things are gonna be happening this year at E3.

[Arbok]

Looks like the HD-DVD drive to me, as everyone in that article is pointing out as well. Right size for the drive, and the same "vent" pattern.

[BranDonk Kong]

I missed this thread somehow - the first pic is completely fake, as is the latest one.

They have shrunk the motherboard of the Xbox 360 several times before. It is still nothing but idle speculation that thy will release a small Xbox 360. Let's keep that clear.

No they haven't. The motherboard is the exact same size inside every Xbox 360. Some capacitors and inductors have been removed over time, The GPU and CPU have both gone from 90nm to 65nm (but are still the same physical size) and the ANA chip was replaced by HANA (with the addition of HDMI), but the motherboard itself is the exact dimensions it has been since launch. I have a Xenon, a Zephyr, a Falcon, and a Jasper all on hand right now if anyone wants to see pictures.

[BlackNMild2k1]

If you want to post pics, then lets see them.

[BranDonk Kong]

I don't feel like taking apart all 4, but I'll post a Xenon (first revision) and a Jasper (latest revision) so you can see they're the same. The mfr dates are 4 years apart. If you really want I can take apart the other two after work. Gimme a few minutes.

[BlackNMild2k1]

It's up to you if you want to. It would settle the dispute once and for all and we would have all 4 boards to compare against should a slim model actually be released.

Can you put a ruler next to board so that we have something to measure each board against.

[BranDonk Kong]

No need, they're side by side. Here you go. BTW, you can find images of any 360 motherboard online...all over the place. The images are pretty big (10MP camera), so if they take a while to load, it's because your connection sucks. Also you'll notice the extended GPU heatsink (GPU is on the left, the heatsink extends to the front of the CPU now) - they've been doing that since early 2007, and they also put them in all refurbished consoles.

Here's the two side-by-side - Xenon is on the left, Jasper is on the right. Both have had the DVD-ROM removed, since it would take up nearly half the picture.

Here is a closer image of the Xenon

Here is the Jasper - the green wire going across the NAND is in place because this console is JTAG hacked (plays homebrew, 500GB HDD, etc)

And here's a shot of them turned around, so you can see the Xenon (no HDMI) and Jasper (HDMI - under the regular A/V port) dissimilarities.