New CPU technology can reduce temperature and lower cost

Microsoft will upgrade the CPU used in its Xbox 360 games console early next year, the CPU's manufacturer announced today.

The new CPU will be built using technology that can reduce heat and power consumption, as well as potentially increasing speed. It will also help Microsoft cut the console's cost.

The improved Xbox 360 CPU will be manufactured using 65 nanometre technology starting in the first quarter of 2007, Chartered Semiconductor of Singapore said. The existing CPU uses 90nm technology.

Although the launch of the Xbox 360 last November was generally hailed as a success for Microsoft, the console has been troubled by reports of overheating causing games to crash or freeze.

These have come despite the unit using a pair of powerful fans, together with heat pipes, to carry heat away from the CPU core.

Microsoft acknowledged last year that it had received "isolated" reports of problems. One US buyer has initiated a class action suit against the company, alleging that both the CPU and power supply were prone to overheating.

As is common with advances in chip building methods, the 65nm technology that the new Xbox 360 CPU will use can provide lower power consumption and reduced heat output compared to older production methods.

While the new CPU may help Microsoft alleviate any overheating problems with the existing Xbox 360 design, it is standard industry practice for hardware makers to take advantage of newer semiconductor technology as it becomes available, simply because this helps them reduce manufacturing costs.

Although hardware vendors generally sell consoles at a loss when they are launched, steady advances in technology mean that the manufacturing cost is typically cut by 50 per cent or more during the first five years of production.

The new 65nm technology is also capable of running software faster than that used in the existing Xbox 360 CPU, Chartered said.

But the company did not state whether the CPU's performance when running software would be upgraded in any way to take advantage of this potential.

It is uncommon for manufacturers to increase the speed of chips in games consoles which are already on the market, because this can cause unexpected compatibility issues with games developed for the original hardware design, as well as bad feeling among existing owners.

The term '65 nanometre' refers to the size of interconnections and individual components on the CPU. Reducing these sizes allows the manufacturer to shrink the entire CPU.

Although manufacturers do not release cost details, smaller CPUs are cheaper to make because of the economies of scale the builder can achieve by packing more of them onto each 300mm silicon wafer.

The triple-core Xbox 360 CPU contains 165 million transistors. Chartered is one of two manufacturers of the CPU; the other is IBM, which designed the chip.

IBM also helped develop the silicon-on-insulator technology that Chartered uses to make the CPU.

"We plan to continue with our strategy of dual sourcing from Chartered and IBM's fabs, which are operationally aligned and compatible, to give us the consistent product quality and flexibility we will need," said Larry Yang, general manager of Xbox console development at Microsoft.

Chartered said that it is also working on yet more advanced 45nm chip making technology, but has not said whether this will be applied to Xbox CPU production when it becomes available.

In related news, Chartered today reported revenue of $368m in the first quarter. The company's net profit was $25.3m, improving on an $84.4m loss for the same period last year.