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Thread: Rumours: 360 Slim & General 360 USB HDD Update

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    Senior Member A7's Avatar
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    Default Rumours: 360 Slim & General 360 USB HDD Update

    Rumours flying around right now are there is a 360 slim (perhaps) in the midst, others claim it's the Valhalla revision (just smaller but not actually slimmer) many have been awaiting where both the CPU and GPU are combined in one chip.

    The other rumour is that the 360 (all) will see an update allowing USB HDD's, but wait, before you shout some obscenities out loud in joy (or something not obscene ) there is a limit, 16GB to be precise (however 2 are allowed at the same time meaning 32GB).

    FIRST THE 360 SLIM RUMOUR:







    Some have called this a fake and with reason I guess as right now there's nothing to prove its validity.

    Digital Foundary/EuroGamer seem to think it's likely.



    Leaked photos have emerged purporting to show a new, smaller revision of the Xbox 360 motherboard, provoking speculation that Microsoft is set to relaunch its console later in the year. Xbox 360 Slim any one?

    Similar to the PS3 Slim leaks last year, the pictures emanate from an obscure Chinese message board, and the shots of the motherboard certainly look genuine, with enough of the original 360 components in view to suggest authenticity. They also display several new, original features, plus of course a smaller form factor.

    By comparing parts common to the current model, it appears that this most fundamental of components is over a third smaller in size than the Jasper revision 360 board.

    Two shots have been revealed so far. The first is a top-down view of the board itself, suggesting a smaller, squarer layout topped off with a conspicuously off-the-shelf Coolermaster fan. The second shot sees the leaker removing the cooling assembly to reveal what appears to be an integrated Xenon and Xenos CPU/GPU combination package, which ties in nicely with the so-called Valhalla revision of the 360 first mentioned a couple of years back and also believed to be based on a single combined processor set-up.

    While the single heatspreader underneath the cooling assembly strongly suggests a unified design for the core hardware, the leaker hasn't had the courage to remove it completely and expose the dies below, which would settle the issue completely and would also allow us to ascertain whether Microsoft is using a 45nm or even smaller fabrication process for the unified chip.

    Smaller parts mean a cooler, more power-efficient, cheaper-to-manufacture system and even the current, apparently reliable 360 is still running a 65nm process for both chips. The PS3 Slim in contrast runs at 45nm for the CPU and 65nm for the RSX, and a single package within the 360 would allow Microsoft to pursue an even more aggressive price-cutting strategy if it needed to do so.

    What is interesting is that the board has doubled the number of SATA connections to two over on the top-left of the first picture. In current 360 hardware, only one is used for connecting up the internal DVD-ROM drive.

    This could mean that Microsoft is planning support for internal drives, but bearing in mind the success of its Arcade SKU, it is unlikely that the firm would commit to HDD-integrated machines: laptop drives don't generally get cheaper, they just get bigger in terms of storage, and for Microsoft to surrender one of the factors behind its price advantage is unlikely. It's more probable that the drives will come in new Slim-friendly caddies.

    Another curious change appears to be the complete omission of any mounting holes for the DVD drive, which clearly sits to the left of the fan. Either a variant of the existing DVD drive attaches to the case in a different way, or else an entirely different assembly is used. Assuming the costs work out, we could even be getting a thin, slot-loading drive similar to the PlayStation 3.

    The location of the optical drive itself is a big improvement over the existing Xbox 360 design, which places the DVD-ROM directly above both CPU and GPU, further complicating the cooling of the hottest parts of the console. The cooling setup doesn't really tell us much. The Coolermaster fan would be way too large for a production console, plus you'll note that the fan itself is only secured in one place to the heatsink below.

    There's nothing on the board that suggests any kind of onboard Natal, meaning that the new 360 still requires a decent array of USB ports, though it looks as though the MU readers have been cut down to just a single slot.

    In part understandable but at the same time rather disappointing is the omission of any kind of Wi-Fi chipset on the motherboard, so it does seem as though extortionately expensive wireless internet dongles will remain the standard if the pics are valid.

    On the bright side, however, the just-as-stupidly expensive audio dongle appears to be a thing of the past, with what looks very much like a Toslink SPDIF optical output directly above the fan to the left, next to what we can assume is the current Xbox 360 AV port, with HDMI output to the left of that.

    Other than that, no surprises, though we can assume that the top-right socket is for the power supply, which will almost certainly remain external in contrast to the neat internal PSU in the PS3 Slim.

    Comedy cooling fan aside, there's nothing here to suggest that this isn't the real deal. It's just too well-designed to be a fake and in a world where PS3 Slims turn up months in advance on in a Philippines marketplace, leaked pics surfacing on a Chinese forum are eminently plausible.

    Even if it's not a 360 Slim, the radical change in form factor and mounting holes means that this revision of motherboard cannot physically fit inside the current shell and certainly not with the current DVD drive.

    A 360 relaunch for Natal then? Microsoft has already issued its obligatory "we don't comment on rumour and speculation" line.
    I like to keep in mind, the actual news was sourced from the same guys who leaked the PS3 slim photo's...

    Here's one with what well known modder Ben Heck thinks the components may be.



    THE 360 USB HDD SUPPORT RUMOUR:





    Documentation obtained by Joystiq – and subsequently confirmed with two separate sources – reveals that "USB Mass Storage Device Support on Xbox 360" will soon be a reality. The document, authored by a senior software development engineer at Microsoft, states that due to "increased market penetration of high-capacity, high throughput USB mass storage devices, a 2010 Xbox 360 system update" will allow consumers to save and load game data from USB devices. The update is purportedly coming in Spring 2010.

    Once the update occurs, Xbox 360 owners will be able to download Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox Live Indie games, Games on Demand, DLC and Title Updates to the storage device. "USB storage devices may, however, have far greater memory capacity than MUs (at the date of writing, the largest MU is 512 MB), and may therefore support previously infeasible operations-such as installation of a full disc-based title." That's right, you can also store disc-based games to the USB device; however, it will require the disc to be in the tray for authentication, identical to the current functionality.
    Gallery:USB Mass Storage Device Support on Xbox 360


    According to the document, the USB mass storage device must be at least 1GB and the system will do a compatibility check. "The system partition occupies 512 MB of space, and by default the consumer partition occupies the remainder of the device capacity, or 16 GB, whichever is smaller." Upon inserting a blank USB storage device, "consumers are offered two choices: 'Configure now' or 'Customize'." The "Configure now" option will use "the entire device capacity, up to the maximum of 512 MB plus 16 GB" meaning, regardless of the overall size of the device you're using, the Xbox will only enable 16 GB of usable, non-system storage. The "Customize" option will allow you to "preserve some pre-existing, non-console data on the device" such as music.

    It should be clear by now that Microsoft is simply pulling out of the Memory Unit business and not the highly lucrative Xbox hard drive business. With an artificial cap of 16 GB – still shy of the 20 GB hard drive that shipped with the original 2005 Xbox Pro and a fraction the size of the currently shipping 120 GB hard drive – USB storage support simply removes the onerous requirement for a Memory Unit on Xbox 360 Arcade units, and brings the Xbox 360 platform a feature that's been present on the PlayStation 3 since that console's 2006 launch.

    If you're intent on circumventing Microsoft's cutthroat hard drive pricing the Xbox 360, you can use two USB storage devices for a maximum of 32 GB of usable storage; however, the console "has a fixed limit of two external USB mass storage devices" regardless of whether they're "formatted for the Xbox 360 or not." If you fill all three USB ports on the console, only the first two to be connected will be recognized.

    With talk of a new (slim?) form factor for the Xbox 360 picking up, and plans to abandon (or at least obviate) Memory Units underway, we're guessing those Memory Unit slots could be cut entirely from future iterations of the console.
    Some are saying if true; it's about time... Others are saying 16GB (or even 32GBif doubled up) means crap all.

    Either way I'm anticipating news at E3 (NATAL + smaller 360 and lower price).
    Main PC: INTEL CORE i7 4930k | ASUS P9X79-PRO | 16GB G-SKILL 2400MHz RAM | GTX 780 3GB PHANTOM GLH EDITION | SAMSUNG 840 PRO 256GB | 2 X 1TB WD RE4 | 2TB WD GREEN | SILVERSTONE STRIDER 1200W GOLD | HAF-X w/ DEMCI FLEX FILTERS | SWIFTECH H320 AIO | WINDOWS 8.1 PRO w/ MEDIA CENTRE x64.



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    Default USB addition confirmed

    The rumour of the Slim is stillone that is unproven however the USB rumour is now confirmed and coming.

    April 6th!



    Launching on April 6th, Xbox 360 owners will be able to use USB storage devices on their Xbox 360 consoles for increased memory. Supporting 16GB USB devices, you'll be able to plug two units into your system and get an extra 32GBs of storage for your Xbox 360. With early adopters now running low on storage -- if they refuse to upgrade to a bigger HDD -- this is very welcoming news, since you can increase your storage space via USB for a far cheaper price than a Microsoft HDD.

    Microsoft stated: "You can have 2 USB flash drive devices connected to the console at a time, (up to 16GB each) enabling up to 32GB of simultaneous storage."

    If you have a USB drive lying around, you'll soon be able to put it to good use on the Xbox 360 on April 6th.
    Main PC: INTEL CORE i7 4930k | ASUS P9X79-PRO | 16GB G-SKILL 2400MHz RAM | GTX 780 3GB PHANTOM GLH EDITION | SAMSUNG 840 PRO 256GB | 2 X 1TB WD RE4 | 2TB WD GREEN | SILVERSTONE STRIDER 1200W GOLD | HAF-X w/ DEMCI FLEX FILTERS | SWIFTECH H320 AIO | WINDOWS 8.1 PRO w/ MEDIA CENTRE x64.

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