If you've been waiting for the Falcon -- the 360 motherboard housing a smaller, cooler 65nm chip -- to arrive before making your 360 purchase, you may be waiting a few months yet. According to Xbox 360 guru Dean Takahashi, the first 360s housing the new chip are probably on there way from China right now. So, why will it take months for them to make it onto store shelves? First of all, the new 360s have to make a 6 week trip on the boat. The second reason is inventory. See, Microsoft still has plenty of 90nm Xbox 360s to sell out at retail before the Falcon starts cropping up. The real question then, is how long that's going to take. As Takahashi points out, Halo 3 and the recent price cut will likely drive sales, which should help thin the 90nm population, but ultimately it will take a few months before the Falcon is readily available. In Takahashi's estimation, "it's probably just in time for Christmas." Of course, he also points out that there is no way to tell one Xbox from the other. At this point, the only way you know you have a 90nm box is if it doesn't have an HDMI port. Even then, there are 90nm boxes with the HDMI port, so you still won't be sure when the Falcon arrives. All we do know is that the new chips are coming.The way we see it, you can A) wait until Christmas, or B) buy one now and have it replaced with a Falcon after it Red Rings. Remember, the Xbox 360 is all about choice.
[Via Joystiq]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
8-23-2007 @ 3:35PM
xenocidic said...
bend over, early adopters!
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8-23-2007 @ 3:38PM
Knary50 said...
I have a RROD one sitting at the house now and my Elite is running fine. I guess I should just wait till January
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8-23-2007 @ 3:39PM
DjDATZ said...
Guess my buddy's gonna have to scam walmarts till this comes out... lol oh well. lol
And once this all comes out, I might even pick up an elite with a 65nm chip... but that wont be till early 08 at at the EARLIEST.
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8-23-2007 @ 3:42PM
Neeko said...
Iam on my 2nd box. 1st on RROD after 4 days. But now my 360 SOMETIMES freezes during saves of BOMBERMAN LIVE GAMES.
Anyone else having this problem? I would hate to have to delete the game and lose all my saves.
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8-23-2007 @ 3:48PM
TORO said...
Lol "the Xbox 360 is all about choice", tell us about it!
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8-23-2007 @ 4:05PM
upz said...
"The way we see it, you can A) wait until Christmas, or B) buy one now and have it replaced with a Falcon after it Red Rings. Remember, the Xbox 360 is all about choice."
That logic doesn't make sense. The replacement 360s are refurb units - meaning that unless the Falcons are failing also and getting sent to the service centers, the service centers won't have any Falcons to send out. Better to just wait this one out.
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8-23-2007 @ 4:16PM
Critter3 said...
"meaning that unless the Falcons are failing also and getting sent to the service centers, the service centers won't have any Falcons to send out. Better to just wait this one out."
Exactly upz! I'm thinking/hoping the Falcon will be the end of the RROD. I'm pretty sure I'll be selling my old box for a new one in the new year.
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8-23-2007 @ 4:18PM
MYPS3KilledMy360 said...
hmmm? i cant figure this one out. So i have to wait till everybody buys the old model like i did to get the more reliable one. but but.... i dont want to make the same mistake of getting the same faulty system.:( OMGZ i have to wait till january till all the people out of touch with the new development unknowingly buy a system that is almost promised to break down and red flagged by a 3 year warrenty right before the revolution begins and the failure rate is non exsitent. Once again i hate MS and i know a lot of people who own 360s hate them too. 360 is very powerful system despite what people mays say i meen there owned by company that sells and produces high performance gaming computers.
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8-23-2007 @ 4:21PM
edhe said...
Just in time for BT's IPTV offerings...
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8-23-2007 @ 4:30PM
Josh said...
@# 6 depends on what they have to do to fix and if they do replace it since we know that they will replace them sometimes. I guess now is a good time to be out of the US since they get theirs replaced not repaired.
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8-23-2007 @ 4:32PM
Josh said...
@ # 8 MS doesn't make computers, They make software.
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8-23-2007 @ 4:45PM
DjChad said...
That stuff about not being able to tell from the box if the 360 is 65nm is probably a lie. If he did tell you how you could tell then no one would buy the 90nms and that inventory would take longer to go through. Someone will figure out how you can tell the difference and it will probably be as simple as saying "falcon" on the serial num sticker.
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8-23-2007 @ 4:56PM
EMaster said...
I still think the Falcons will come out AFTER Christmas. Why? Black Friday, Boxing Day (In Canada) and Christmas are excellent times to liquidate their old stock of 90nm chipped 360s. Once they are cleared out they will release the Falcons (and not they hounds).
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8-23-2007 @ 5:37PM
Outinthedark said...
[quote]
The way we see it, you can A) wait until Christmas, or B) buy one now and have it replaced with a Falcon after it Red Rings. Remember, the Xbox 360 is all about choice.
[/quote]
Edit this out...that makes no sense...
Why would they upgrade your console, if it RRD's, to a newer motherboard...they are refurb consoles not repaired consoles...
Wait till someone posts up the UPC/SKU # to know for a fact your getting a Falcon console...
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8-23-2007 @ 5:51PM
machrc said...
other then no more RROD because of of less heat draw ..
will he new 65nm process yield faster loading times or perforamce increase on the system?
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8-23-2007 @ 6:41PM
popozao said...
XBOX fanboys...it's not too late...you can still buy a Playstation 3 instead of wasting your money on a console doomed to mechanical and economic failure. If you are upset with my post, it's ok. If you look deep within you will see this is true. When you have accepted the truth, we will be waiting for you with open arms...
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8-23-2007 @ 6:58PM
DjDATZ said...
My 360 ate my ps3.
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8-23-2007 @ 7:00PM
DjDATZ said...
"XBOX fanboys...it's not too late...you can still buy a Playstation 3 instead of wasting your money on a console doomed to mechanical and economic failure. If you are upset with my post, it's ok. If you look deep within you will see this is true. When you have accepted the truth, we will be waiting for you with open arms..."
you'll get this same argument until you get some good games...at least we have games to play on it instead of leaving it on just to fold@home.
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8-23-2007 @ 10:25PM
ZeroCorpse said...
"buy one now and have it replaced with a Falcon after it Red Rings."
Right, because every current console WILL Red Ring..?
I'm so sick of this. I HAD A LAUNCH CONSOLE. NO RED RING EVER. I HAVE A SPRING 07 CONSOLE. NO RED RING EVER.
When you say crap like "after it Red Rings" as if it's a fricking CERTAINTY, you do no service to the console you're supposedly blogging about. For this being a fan site, you guys sure seem to f'ing hate the goddamn thing a lot.
With friends like this in XBox 360 Fanboyism, maybe I *should* consider a PS3. At least they don't seem to rag on the console and make up false rumors about it's failure rate.
There are TONS of current consoles out there that have never, and WILL never get the RROD. Stop distorting the truth to make it seem like young console death is a certainty with the 360--- That's just NOT the case, and you know it.
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8-23-2007 @ 11:34PM
mattydread said...
According to the pattern on my XBox360's disc tray, I've got the earliest model. I almost always accidentally leave it on all night spinning a DVD disc since I forgot to set the sleep timer. Once, like the second time I played it, PGR3 locked up on me, and it's never happened again with any game. Another time when I went to watch a movie, the screen went black and the console was locked up. Rebooting it got it back to normal. Besides those two problems, my 360 has held up great! I'm not sweating the smaller chips.
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