Xbox 360 Arcade Power Supply Views

General Goods

The initial motherboard version was known as Xenon and used a 203W power supply. The Zephyr revision was largely the same aside from the addition of an HDMI port. Falcon incorporated a 65i nm CPU, new 80[21][22]) used both a 65i nm CPU and GPU, as well as 256MB of flash memory on-board (this was to help run a then-recent Dashboard update. Without this internal memory, a hard drive or memory card was required). The power supply was also reduced to 150W in the Jasper revision. The power connector on the back of the system incorporated a keying system that will prevent plugging a lower-rated power supply into an older system.[23] Some stores used to exclusively carry units with the Jasper motherboard. A new motherboard version called Vejle has also been released into public in the form of the slim Xbox 360 S with a 45r nm integrated CPU, GPU, and eDRAM (i.e. all in the same chip package).[24]

Gamestop/EB is no longer allowed to sell product replacement plans on the Xbox 360. Just FYI. Also, using a higher wattage power supply with a Falcon will do nothing harmful, basically the Falcon will draw only the power it needs but the bigger (older) power supply will have left over reserve power that is not utilized.

In addition to the (we hope) improved reliability, we wish the upgraded version of the console had included a few more substantive fixes as well--a smaller power supply, a quieter disc drive, and built-in Wi-Fi. Nevertheless, the addition of HDMI, a best-in-class game library, and the cheapest price to date ($50 lower than the original console) make the Xbox 360 an offer that few gamers will be able to refuse.

The Xbox 360 has two big design shortfalls: its oversize power supply and its incredibly noisy disk drive. The power brick is the largest you'll ever see on a consumer device--easily half the size of a cinder block. Meanwhile, the 360's DVD drive often sounds like a helicopter taking off while you're playing a game--and the system's exhaust fan is audible as well. All in all, the system is just a lot noisier than it should be--definitely more so than rival consoles from Nintendo and Sony.