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Forums - Microsoft Discussion - Next Xbox 360 Designs are "Opus" and "Valhalla"

elnino334 on 15 February 2008

http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/digitaljoystick/archives/132014.asp?from=blog_last3

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Next Xbox 360 Designs are "Opus" and "Valhalla"

There is not one but two secret Xbox cats that Microsoft has kept in the bag. Currently there are three more Xbox 360 motherboards in the works right now. They are.. dun dun dun.. Jasper, Opus and Valhalla.

If you are skeptical about this keep in mind that I've been early and correct about this stuff before.

The original Xbox 360 motherboard is called the Xenon with both a 90 nm CPU and 90 nm GPU, there has been system cooling revisions to it. Next was Zephyr motherboard with HDMI that was introduced with the Xbox 360 Elite and and some had newer "heat pumps". Currently on the market is Falcon with a cooler 65 nm CPU but still the same hot GPU as the Xenon.

It's well known that the next Xbox 360 motherboard is going to be Jasper and it going to have both a 65 nm CPU and a 65 nm GPU. Jasper is going to be a major advancement in reliability since it is going to run much quieter than previous Xbox 360 systems. Jasper's reliability is in part to the fact that there is no place on the motherboard that is going to be running as hot or as much power as previous Xbox 360 systems, also it might run a lot quieter since it will not need as much power. When Microsoft hired IBM and ATI to provide the original Xbox 360 CPU and GPU Microsoft put it in the contract so that the Xbox team will own the technology for the chips and can make subsequent reduced cost revisions to the chips. The Xbox one had leased technology from Intel and Nvidia and that is one of the main reasons for the change in CPU and GPU venders. Jasper is very real and they are testing prototypes right now. Word from Redmond is that progress on Jasper is going well and on schedule and you can expect it fall of 2008. My birthday is in October and I am probably going to upgrade to a Jasper Xbox 360 if my Xenon lasts that long.

Now on to the big news. Are you ready... cue dramatic music..

The next two Xbox 360 motherboard names are "Opus" and "Valhalla"!!!

The Opus project is a "Falcon" generation motherboard designed to fit in a Xenon case. You can expect an 90 nm GPU but a 65 nm CPU. Opus solves a major hardware recycling and inventory problem since Microsoft currently has millions of used Xenon cases from RRODed dead systems and this lets them use most of the good parts from the millions of dead Xenons but with a newer tested more reliable motherboard.

There is no HDMI on Opus since the Xenon cases don't have openings for the port. Opus is a third generation Xbox 360 in the case of a first.

I would trust an Opus Xbox much more than a "zombie repaired" Xenon since you are getting a fresh motherboard. These will probably never be boxed and sold directly to the public in stores so the only way to get an Opus motherboard is to turn in a RRODed dead Xenon in late 2008 and you might get one returned. Opus is the "Zombie Xbox" killer. It's the recycle repair special and is the sort of repair and refurbished Xbox 360 that they should have had done in the first place.

Now they are also in the very early stages of designing the fourth generation Xbox 360 called Valhalla. Think Technoviking cool, we are your overlords.

At the heart of a Valhalla Xbox 360 is a combined 65nm CPU and 65nm GPU on a unified super chip. This also would only need one cooling system and be much quieter and hopefully more reliable than previous Xbox systems (if they include hardware JTAG testing reporting into the design).

It is really early in the design process but there are engineers at Microsoft working on it as you are reading this. Heck they are probably reading this since this is the first that you are going to hear about Opus and Valhalla.

You can probably expect a price cut for Valhalla since it is going to be a major cost reduction.

Valhalla might be the final Xbox 360 motherboard design but that all might depend of the future progress of the third generation Xbox team (the Xbox 720 or whatever they call it) and the overall market success of the Xbox 360 platform.

Microsoft has planned on near annual changes to the Xbox 360 motherboard generation designs.

First was the Xenon motherboard from 2005-06, then followed by the Zephyr motherboard 2006-2007, then the Falcon Motherboard 2007-now. Probably later on this year we will see the Jasper Motherboard 2008-2009. Then then comes Valhalla the year four motherboard in late 2009 or mid 2010.

Oh yeah third generation Zunes are totally confirmed. Be on the look out for Orion.

Around 2011-2012 we might expect a third generation Post 360 Xbox but all I know is that it's being worked on.

I wonder if they have started tapping my Xbox Live account after I started posting this stuff.

Posted by 8bitjoystick at February 14, 2008 10:50 p.m.
---------------------------------------------------------
Seems like a long time to wait for the next revision.  I was thinking this summer we see the 45's.  By the way I think the OPUS is actually available now which explains why I got a non-hdmi version when I get a new system back in November.  Was wondering how could a system manufactured in October would not have HDMI.  Basically you will never get HDMI from MS unless you already had it. Kind of a bummer.


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BMaker11 on 15 February 2008

why is M$ talking about a new Xbox already? Isn't the 360 successful....or are they gonna pull the same move, and cut off their consumers again



Mummelmann on 15 February 2008

Lol @ wannabe viking in that pic!
There's a lot of them here, call themselves Vigrid, they're mostly nazi's with no life.



elnino334 on 15 February 2008
BMaker11 said:
why is M$ talking about a new Xbox already? Isn't the 360 successful....or are they gonna pull the same move, and cut off their consumers again

If you read the article the OP expects a new xbox maybe in 2010-2011 which depends on the progress of the next system and market share of the 360 etc.  By the way it is common knowledge that all three companies are usually hard at work on the next version as soon as they finished with the current. 



BMaker11 on 15 February 2008

^note taken



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ChronotriggerJM on 15 February 2008

Thats so cool, I wish Sony had some badass names xD As far as I know the plastation components have relatively boring names that don't really match a theme :/



From 0 to KICKASS in .stupid seconds.

SleepWaking on 15 February 2008
Mummelmann said:
Lol @ wannabe viking in that pic!
There's a lot of them here, call themselves Vigrid, they're mostly nazi's with no life.

Dude never mess with Techno Viking!!!



gebx on 15 February 2008
BMaker11 said:
why is M$ talking about a new Xbox already? Isn't the 360 successful....or are they gonna pull the same move, and cut off their consumers again

 

Those are the names of the new motherboards for the 360's...

Proud Member of GAIBoWS (Gamers Against Irrational Bans of Weezy & Squilliam)

                   

Strategyking92 on 16 February 2008

I hope it makes framerates even smoother.



And that's the only thing I need is *this*. I don't need this or this. Just this PS4... And this gaming PC. - The PS4 and the Gaming PC and that's all I need... And this Xbox 360. - The PS4, the Gaming PC, and the Xbox 360, and that's all I need... And these PS3's. - The PS4, and these PS3's, and the Gaming PC, and the Xbox 360... And this Nintendo DS. - The PS4, this Xbox 360, and the Gaming PC, and the PS3's, and that's all *I* need. And that's *all* I need too. I don't need one other thing, not one... I need this. - The Gaming PC and PS4, and Xbox 360, and thePS3's . Well what are you looking at? What do you think I'm some kind of a jerk or something! - And this. That's all I need.

Obligatory dick measuring Gaming Laptop Specs: Sager NP8270-GTX: 17.3" FULL HD (1920X1080) LED Matte LC, nVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M, Intel Core i7-4700MQ, 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3, 750GB SATA II 3GB/s 7,200 RPM Hard Drive

Joelcool7 on 16 February 2008

Am I the only one who thinks the constant flow of new GPU's and motherboards only makes Microsoft look like it is poorly equipt to deal with the modern industry. I mean Sony has only made minor hardware changes and to my knowledge the only changes Nintendo has made were to thwort Pirates.

However Microsoft has had to make multiple revisions to its hardware just to keep it working. I'm an X-Box 360 Elite owner and invested heavily thinking that the Elite was Microsoft's fix. But to here that the Elite has almost as many flaws as the origional and Microsoft already is working on another model infuriates me.

The Red Ring Of Death has been plagueing the X-Box since the origional launched almost a decade ago. Microsoft has had ample time to fix it and to prevent over heating in the X-Box 360. Microsoft also had alot of time to perfect the hardware ahead of its release.

So while Sony and Nintendo have proven to be up to the challenge of building operable system (yes lots of defective Sony consoles). The point is when you buy the hardware day one you get almost the same quality as a year later from a manufacturer like Nintendo.

I bought my GameCube on the second week of its release. I found out that by the  end of the generation the hardware had actually been downgraded to make it cheaper to manufacture. I got the same if not higher quality buying the GCN on the second week as those who bought it in 2006-2007!

I got my money's worth, but I'm hearing now that the 360 Elite I spent 600$ on is already within half a year obsolete and being replaced by yet another hardware revision!

That just pisses me off! 



-JC7

"In God We Trust - In Games We Play " - Joel Reimer