XBOX is a awsome game console made ​​by Microsoft. (with the rummor of xbox 720)

Xbox




Xbox is a sixth generation game console made ​​by Microsoft. The console was releasedon November 15, 2001 in North America, February 22, 2002 in Japan, and March 14, 2002 in Europe and Australia. Xbox and Xbox 360 is the precursor to the first consolelaunched by Microsoft into the game console market. This console to compete with thePlayStation 2, Dreamcast, and Nintendo GameCube. The integrated Xbox Live serviceallows players to play online.
Xbox production stopped in 2006 although the last video game, Madden NFL 09, newlyreleased in August 2008. Support for the Xbox consoles was discontinued in the warranty expiration date of March 2, 2009. Currently, all console repairs that are stillwithin the warranty period will not be done again and a console that defects will be exchanged with the Xbox 360. As support for Xbox Live expires on April 15, 2010.
Some video game consoles are renowned for, among others, Dead or Alive 3, amped:Freestyle Snowboarding, Halo: Combat Evolved, Fuzion Frenzy, Project GothamRacing, and Jet Set Radio Future.

Xbox 360



Xbox 360 at the time of the development known as Xenon or Xbox 2, is the successor toXbox video game console of Microsoft. Microsoft officially introduced on MTV on May 12, 2005, and detailed information about the launch and the game unfolded at the end ofthe same month in Expo Electronic Entertainment (E3) are well known. When it was released on 22 November 2005 in North America and Puerto Rico, December 2, 2005in Europe and December 10, 2005 in Japan, Xbox 360 became the first console was launched simultaneously for the three major areas. It is also the first product to the latestgeneration of game consoles and will compete with Sony's PlayStation 3 and NintendoWii. Xbox 360 is the first console that can play HD-DVD movies by buying the packagefirst, which will be released later. Xbox 360 also is the first console to use a wirelessstick. Xbox 360 is the mainstay of graphics and its online capabilities. Xbox Live is one of the online features offered by Microsoft as an Xbox 360 in 2010 produsennya.Padaoffered latest software feature called Kinect.

Central processing unit


The Xbox 360 takes a new approach to hardware compared to its predecessor. The XCPU, named Xenon at Microsoft and "Waternoose" at IBM, is a custom triple-core 64-bit PowerPC-based design by IBM. The CPU emphasizes high floating point performance through multiple FPU and SIMD vector processing units in each core. It has a theoretical peak performance of 115.2 gigaFLOPS and is capable of 9.6 billion dot products per second. Each core of the CPU is simultaneous multithreading capable and clocked at 3.2 GHz. However, to reduce CPU die size, complexity, cost, and power demands, the processor uses in-order execution in contrast to the Intel Coppermine128-based Pentium III used in Xbox which used more complex out-of-order execution. The original chip used a 90 nanometer process, although a newer 65 nanometer process SOI revision is currently in the market. A 21.6 GB/s front side bus, aggregated 10.8 GB/s upstream and downstream, connected Xenon with the graphics processor/northbridge. Xenon was equipped with a 1 MB Level 2 cache on-die running at half CPU clock speed. This cache is shared amongst the three CPU cores. The CPU also contains ROM storing Microsoft private encrypted keys, used to decrypt game data. The heat sink implemented to cool the CPU is composed of aluminum fins with copper base heat pipes. The heat sink is cooled by two 70 millimeter fans at the back of the console. There are several types of fan used in the 360 from manufacturers Nidec, Sunon and Delta Electronics.






Graphics processing unit




While the first Xbox's graphics processing unit was produced by Nvidia, the Xbox 360 had a chip designed by ATI called Xenos. The chip was developed under the name "C1" and "R500" was often used to refer to it. The GPU package contains two separate silicon dies, each built on a 90 nm process with a clock speed of 500 MHz; the GPU proper, manufactured by TSMC and a 10 MB eDRAM daughter-die, manufactured by NEC. Thanks to the daughter die, the Xenos can do 4× FSAA, z-buffering, and alpha blending with no appreciable performance penalty on the GPU. The GPU also houses additional capabilities typically separated into a motherboard chipset in PC systems, effectively replacing the northbridge chip. Due to the GPU frequently overheating in early motherboard models, Microsoft revised the GPU heat sink in order to better move heat away from the GPU die though not completely.








Memory and system bandwidth






Xbox 360 Bandwidth Diagram
The console features 512 MB of GDDR3 RAM clocked at 700 MHz with an effective transmission rate of 1.4 GHz on a 128-bit bus. The memory is shared by the CPU and the GPU via the unified memory architecture. This memory is produced by either Samsung or Qimonda.
The Xbox 360 has an extensive amount of bandwidth in comparison to its competition; however this statistic includes the eDRAM logic to memory bandwidth, and not internal CPU bandwidths. The eDRAM internal logic to its internal memory bandwidth is 256 Gbit/s. The high bandwidth is used primarily for z-buffering, alpha blending, and antialiasing; it saves time and space on the GPU die. Between the eDRAM die and the GPU, data is transferred at 32 GB/s. The memory interface bus has a bandwidth of 22.40 GB/s and the southbridge a bandwidth of 500 MB/s.








Audio and video


All games made for the Xbox 360 are required to support at least Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound. The console works with over 256 audio channels and 320 independent decompression channels using 32-bit processing for audio, with support for 48 kHz 16-bit sound. Sound files for games are encoded using Microsoft's XMA audio format. An MPEG-2 decoder is included for DVD video playback. VC-1 or WMV is used for streaming video and other video is compressed using VC-1 at non-HD NTSC and PAL resolutions or WMV HD. The Xbox 360 also supports H.263 and H.264 MPEG-4 videos. Unlike the original Xbox, voice communication is handled by the console, not by the game code, allowing for cross-game communication. There is no voice echo to game players on the same console; voice only goes to remote consoles.
Initially there were no digital video outputs such as DVI or HDMI on the Xbox 360; instead, HD-quality output could only be produced over YPBPR component video (used by both the 3 RCA component cable and the Japanese D-terminal cable) and later VGA (via a software update). An HDMI port was introduced to the Xbox 360 by July 2007 with the introduction of the Elite model. All Xbox 360 SKUs currently manufactured feature an HDMI port. A wide array of SDTV and HDTV resolutions are supported by the console hardware; up to 1080p after the October 2006 software upgrade. While most games are rendered natively at 720p, the video from all games can be scaled by the hardware to whatever resolution the user has set in the console's settings; from 480i NTSC and 576i PAL all the way to 1080p HDTV.










DVD storage


Early production runs of the Xbox 360 are equipped with a 12x DVD drive, capable of a maximum read rate of 15.85 MB/s. The original production DVD drives were manufactured by both LG and Toshiba. Beginning in November 2006, a new model the BenQ VAD6038 was introduced, which is said to run faster than the previous models and, in addition, is much quieter. There is a new drive by LiteOn.

Games are stored on standard dual-layer DVD-ROMs with 6.8 GB on the older XGD2 (Xbox Game Disc 2), but the newer XGD3 discs contain 7.8GB of usable space available for game content. The option to apply a regional lockout to games is available to publishers, although DVD region codes are always enforced for movies. Microsoft has implemented methods to prevent hacking through the drive. Later drive models have the external debug triggering removed and black hard glue added to cover all the chip and controller pins. The drive is able to read both DVD±R and DVD±RW in addition to being able to play DVD-Video out of the box, unlike its predecessor, which required the purchase of an add-on remote. The system is also capable of playing standard CDs along with CD-R/RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM XA, CD-Extra, WMA-CD, MP3-CD, and JPEG Photo CD. Some users reported problems with the disc drive, as when a user changes the console's orientation, the inserted disc may brush against the drive's pickup assembly and incur scratches to it. The users manual advises against changing the console's position while there is a disc in the drive. Other users report experiencing disc scratching during normal horizontal usage.
Announced at CES 2006 and first publicly shown at E3 2006, an external HD DVD drive was released in North America on November 7, 2006 (for US$199.99) and in Japan on November 17, 2006 (for ¥19,800). In the UK, France and Germany, the HD DVD drive was released for €199.99/£129.99. The HD DVD drive was bundled for a limited time with an Xbox 360 Universal Media Remote, as well as an HD DVD copy of Peter Jackson's King Kong. The drive plays HD DVD movies, although all Xbox 360 games will remain on the DVD format. Microsoft has no plans to include an internal HD DVD player in future Xbox 360 designs. The drive connects to the Xbox 360 via USB and contains two integrated USB ports on the rear. Games can not be played on the HD DVD drive.
Microsoft has since discontinued the HD DVD add-on since the format was officially dropped by Toshiba. All remaining drives on store shelves have been drastically reduced in price by an average of US$50.00 to US$129.00 Some retailers have lowered it to as low as US$50.00 to clear it from their inventory.
Original style Xbox 360 hard drives
See also: Xbox 360 accessories → Detachable hard drives
The Xbox 360 uses standard 2.5" SATA hard disk drives (HDDs) held within custom enclosures. These units have a custom connector to facilitate connection to the Xbox 360 and the drives themselves feature custom firmware (making stand-alone drives incompatible). The drives are detachable, making it possible to move data from one console to another, and to upgrade the size of drive on a console. The hard drives themselves are manufactured by various companies, including Fujitsu, Seagate, Samsung, Hitachi and Western Digital.
The original Pro configuration of the system came with a 20 GB hard drive, which was also available to purchase separately (for the Core model, and later the Arcade model, which did not include an HDD). This was upgraded to 60 GB in September 2008, and the 60 GB HDD was also made available at retail. In April 2007, Microsoft released the Elite console, which included a black 120 GB HDD; a grey 120 GB drive was also later made available at retail. In November 2009, Microsoft released the "Super Elite" console, as a bundle with the highly anticipated game Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. This console was like the typical black Elite, but with Call of Duty graphics added and for the first time included a 250 GB hard drive (which holds up to 228 GB of data after system information is stored). This was followed by various other 250 GB special/limited edition bundles. No standard (non-special edition) configuration of the original console ever included a 250 GB drive, but they were later made available at retail.

In June 2010, Microsoft announced a new version of the console, the Xbox 360 S, which used a new form factor for its 250 GB hard drives. As such, original style hard drives cannot be used in Xbox 360 S consoles, and vice versa, without modification. In June 2011, Microsoft announced a specially branded "Gear of War 3 Limited Collector's Edition" Xbox 360 S console to coincide with the launch of Gears of War 3. At 320 GB, the included hard drive is the largest available for/with any Xbox 360 model.
Approximately 7 GB of a 60 GB drive is reserved for system use (4 GB of that portion is reserved for game title caching and other hard drive specific elements in games that support the hard drive, and an additional 2 GB is reserved for use by the Xbox 360 backwards-compatibility software). This leaves just under 54 GB of free space, rounded down to 53 GB in the dashboard, for saving game files, Xbox Live Arcade downloadable content, and media files (such as music and video). Similar figures apply to other hard drive sizes.
Other independent companies have manufactured 250 GB hard drives using hacked firmware since 2008. Many of these allegedly infringe trademarks of Microsoft, including the Microsoft logo, Xbox 360 logo, and the likeness of the removable hard drive design.








Networking


All versions of the Xbox 360 come with a built in 10/100 Ethernet network adapter. Proprietary USB WiFi 802.11n and 802.11g adapters can be purchased separately. The Xbox 360 S, or slim, has built in wireless N 2.4Ghz networking.










Motherboards


Microsoft avoids outright announcements of new motherboard production runs and their subsequent appearance in the market in part due to uneven distribution causing buyer's remorse and to prevent purchaser delay. However, several major (and many minor) motherboard revisions are introduced in an attempt to build systems more cheaply (and thus increase profits), and as a happy side effect, to allow them to run cooler while consuming less power. Note that there is no clear divide between the appearance of motherboard revisions in retail. Due to individual stock production, distribution and rotation, it may become difficult to find specific versions.
The power connectors on the back of these systems incorporate a "keying" system that will prevent plugging a (newer) lower-rated power supply into an older system (which needs more power). The keying system does, however, allow older power supplies to be connected to newer systems, as this poses no problem. The initial motherboard version was known as "Xenon" and used a 203 watt power supply, and lacked an HDMI video port. The "Zephyr" revision was largely the same aside from the addition of the HDMI port, and an improved GPU heatsink. The "Falcon" incorporated a newer 65 nm CPU, the original 90 nm GPU, and it required less power so it came packaged with a 175 watt power supply. "Jasper" (released late August or early September 2008) used both a 65 nm CPU and GPU, as well as 256 MB of on-board flash memory. (This was to help run a then-recent Dashboard update. Without the addition of this internal memory, a hard drive or memory card is required.) The "Jasper" revision required even less power, and so the power supply was also reduced to 150 watts. Some stores used to exclusively carry units with the Jasper motherboard. Xbox 360 S introduced a new motherboard version called "Trinity" with a 45 nm integrated CPU, GPU, and eDRAM (i.e. all in the same chip package) In 2011 a second model of the Xbox 360 S motherboard has been released known as "Corona" which integrates the HANA chip into the southbridge chip.




Connectivity to accessories






An Xbox 360 Wireless Controller



The Xbox 360 features three USB 2.0 ports (two on the front, one on the back).The new Xbox 360 S, however, has five USB 2.0 ports (two on the front, three in the back) along with a dedicated Kinect port. These are used for connection of accessories such as wired controllers, the wireless networking adapter, the Xbox Live Vision camera and USB storage devices. Although the number of wired controllers is limited by the number of ports, up to four may be used through the use of a USB hub.
The Xbox 360 also features wireless connectivity of accessories via a proprietary 2.4 GHz radio system. This is mainly used to connect the official wireless controllers, but is also used for other devices such as the wireless racing wheel and wireless headsets. With the exception of some rhythm game controllers, this wireless connectivity is limited to first-party Microsoft accessories.

The Xbox 360 can connect to Xbox Live over the internet through the built-in 100 megabit ethernet connector or an optional wireless network adapter. These can also be used to connect two consoles together directly for LAN play on supported games.
The console also has two front-mounted memory card slots for the system's proprietary Memory Unit. These can be used to transfer profile and game data from one Xbox 360 to another. Memory Units up to 512 MB are available from Microsoft. The "Arcade" model formerly came with a 256 MB Memory Unit, but with the Jasper motherboard revision of September 2008, the "Arcade" model began to include 256 MB of built-in flash memory. This was later increased to 512 MB.
The Universal Media Remote can be used to control several functions of the console, including the Windows Media Center functions if connected to the network. It communicates with the console via infrared through a receiver port on the front of the console.
All standard controllers for the system feature a 2.5 mm headset jack to allow the use of wired headsets for voice chatting. They also feature a custom USB connector, which is currently only used for connection of the chatpad keyboard accessory.
Various other accessories for the console exist, such as decorative faceplates to change the physical appearance of the console.








Physical appearance





Left: Xbox 360 Elite, Right: Xbox 360 S with new-style controller
The physical outline of the original style Xbox 360 is 310 mm × 80 mm × 268 mm (12 in × 3 in × 10 in; width × height × depth) when placed horizontally and is similar in form factor to its predecessor. It is slightly slimmer in every dimension and is slightly concave, while the original Xbox was noticeably convex.
It comes as standard in either black or white, with other colors available as special editions. It was designed by Astro Studios in cooperation with Hers Experimental Design Laboratory. In June 2010 a redesign of the console, known as the Xbox 360 S, was announced. This version of the console retains the same basic shape but is noticeably smaller and more angular than the original version. It comes as standard in either matte or glossy black; like its predecessor, other colors are available as special editions.

The front of the console features a "ring of light", which displays 4 illuminated quadrants either in red or green (green only on the redesigned console). When the lights turn red, the console has encountered an error, with the number of sectors illuminated informing the user what category the error falls into. Since the redesign of the console removed the red LEDs, this error reporting system is no longer used.
The original Xbox 360 weighs approximately 3.5 kg (7.7 lb), about 350 grams lighter than the original Xbox. The console uses an external power supply with a 10 A/100–120 V or 5 A/220-230 V (AC) input and DC output rated at 203/175/150 W (depending on revision). An estimated 2 W of power are used while the console is in standby mode giving a yearly usage of approximately 17.5 kWh. Saving the console size and weight, the power supply displaces 1300 cm³.














xbox 720 rummored


Microsoft has yet to announce a successor to the Xbox 360, although lots of rumors and speculations have recently surfaced about the company's next home console. The information on this page is based on sourced, reasonable speculation, rumored features and alleged leaks.


According to Crytek's senior technical designer Sean Tracy, the Xbox 720 is reportedly codenamed "Durango."  Previous reports referred to the next Xbox as "Loop." 


Pricing and Release


In regards to the announcement of the Xbox 720, Microsoft stated, "For us, 2012 is all about Xbox 360-and it's the best year ever for Xbox 360."  the company said, "While we appreciate all the interest in our long-range plans for the future, we can confirm that there will be no talk of new Xbox hardware at E3 or anytime soon." 
Tech site Fudzilla reports that "any hope for a holiday console release in 2012 seems unrealistic, according to our sources." 
British trade magazine MCV claims that a 2013 release window has been confirmed. 


Hardware Specs


Reputable blogger MS Nerd stated that the Xbox 720 will be smaller than the existing console, and will be cheaper to help drive Kinect adoption. He continued by saying that "It will use a Zune HD-like hardware platform—a 'main' processor with multiple dedicated assistive cores for graphics, AI, physics, sound, networking, encryption and sensors. It will be custom designed by Microsoft and two partners based on the ARM architecture." 


The Xbox 720's System on a Chip began production in late December 2011, according to tech site Fudzilla, and is being made by IBM and Global Foundries for Microsoft. They continued by saying "the power behind the next Xbox will be a PowerPC CPU that is married to an ATI Southern Islands GPU, or modified 7000 series." 


In March 2012, British trade magazine MCV stated that Microsoft's next Xbox will not use an optical drive. Instead, a solid state drive will be used to store games. 




On February 10, 2012, Xbox World magazine reported that the new Xbox's controller will be "an HD screen surrounded by the traditional 360 buttons and sticks" and that it “could be a remote control when you're watching TV, a browser when you're on the internet, extra buttons and information when you're playing a game or a portable display when you want to take your game with you." 


VG247 reported on April 2, 2012 that the next Xbox will feature a blu-ray player and pack an extra processing punch powered by two GPUs, "like two PCs taped together." The graphics card is reported to be equivalent to AMD's 7000 series. CVG (Britain's Xbox magazine) reports that the devkits sent to developers last month purportedly pack a 16-core IBM Power PC CPU.






3-D Graphics
There are plenty of rumors flying around about the Xbox 720, but as of right now, it appears that it will be powered by a massive AMD dual core processor that is powered by an Intel 6 core processor and that the gaming graphics from the Xbox 720 will rival that of the hit movie Avatar. With that level of 3D technology coming to games, the interactive gameplay makes the mouth water for anticipation!






Ultra High Definition
Can you imagine 33 megapixels? You can expect Ultra High Definition with the Xbox 720 at an amazing level of 7680×4320 at a 16×9 ratio. It is available on televisions as of last year, which means it will easily be available for Microsoft’s future gaming console in 2012 or 2013. With this sort of resolution, you’ll be able to expect free ranging worlds that are not only interactive, but completely realistic and immersive environments, especially when combined with the expected 3D.


Better Artificial Intelligence Capabilities


The controller for the 720 is supposed to have an integrated touch screen similar to the new upcoming Wii U.

In addition to the 3D and Ultra High Definition graphics, with the future gaming platforms that are forthcoming, highly improved and interactive artificial intelligence is expected in the games. Yet with the Microsoft Xbox 360 and similar platforms, all three console manufacturers have repeatedly stated that the games being released for their systems do not match the level of complexity in graphics and sustainability that the console can handle, so if games are not keeping pace with consoles five years later, it is a depressing thought that the Xbox 720 might be able to do much more as a console than the games released for it for years to come.


Direct X 11!


Expected release date in year 2367, the future Xbox 3000. Taking pre-orders now! 
The latest video games in development utilize Microsoft’s Direct X 11 platform, and it is expected that this will be incorporated into the Xbox 720 gaming platform. In fact, rumor is that Crytek is creating a game right now for the new Xbox 720 and that it will utilize the three key features of Direct X 11: tessellation, multithreaded rendering, and compute shaders. We’re ready for the Xbox 720… are you? Be sure to bookmark xbox720x.com to stay on top of any future developments, any future rumors that are reliable, and of course the latest in breaking news from Microsoft about their future gaming platform. Not only will we be one of the first to be announcing the official release date, but we will also be one of the first places to hook you up with a presale offer for the Xbox 720 too. So until the next time we see each other, fellow gamers, go forth, be fruitful, and enjoy your Xbox 360 until it gets replaced with the awesome Xbox 720.