Cracking Open The Xbox 360 Elite
The Xbox 360 Elite
The Xbox 360 Elite includes two games and ships in this box. The Xbox 360 Elite is Microsoft's premier entry in its Xbox 360 console line that also includes the original Xbox 360 and the Xbox 360 Arcade models.
About Erik Eckel
Erik Eckel owns and operates two technology companies. As a managing partner with Louisville Geek, he works daily as an IT consultant to assist small businesses in overcoming technology challenges and maximizing IT investments. He is also president o...
Full Bio
Erik Eckel owns and operates two technology companies. As a managing partner with Louisville Geek, he works daily as an IT consultant to assist small businesses in overcoming technology challenges and maximizing IT investments. He is also president of Eckel Media Corp., a communications company specializing in public relations and technical authoring projects.
Awww Geez, Once again sending a "boy" to do a "Man's" Job... All that thin metal "heat shielding" isnt that at all. It's required shielding for inside that case to keep all the RF noise generated by the system inside the case and therefore get the FCC approval that any "computer equipment" must have to be marketed. Stick a radio near that thing with those metal sheets in place, and note how you can hear it, then remove them and turn it back on, and notice all the NOISE the radio now picks up. I've seen this n00b to electronics statement and more in other "Cracking Open" series, including bad calls on parts. WHY what seems to amount to 100's of pics of something already seen?!?!?!? WHY mis-name parts and show how uneducated one is on what is what?!?!?!? (I say uneducated, as I believe he can, if he takes the time to, learn the insides!)
Excluding the color and HDD size or lack of, What is the difference in the Elite and the Arcade now since they both have HDMI? I could just paint an arcade black and call it an Elite for half price.?
The arcade edition bundles games for the family. It also includes the wireless controller, which you need to pay for about 100$
I wounder if having 2 cooling fans makes the xbox 360 Elite louder?...because I have de normal xbox 360 and what I did was to duplicated the power of the fan..the only thing is that it sounds louder but I havent have any problems yet.
they are identical, same amount of noise, i have both and run them side by side, they sound like an jet plane at takeoff. which 98db.. lol
This is very disapointing. I would like to have seen what was beneath the heat sinks. I.e. the GPU and CPU. It's just too many useless pictures (some out of focus). It gets interesting around picture no 47 but ends abruptly. What is in the controller, what's in th power supply. How is the HDMI managed (what chip does it). The author diplsayed what was already publicly known. I could have told him myself and save him the hassle of opening his x-box.
It seems to me the author has wanted to get his hands on one of these devices, but does not truly own one himself--thus, caring for the small details techies would want to know. Why? Because as chernand commented, there is no indepth look into the CPU or GPU, which anyone who has kept up with this product knows that the 65nm CPU's are being put into the newer models. Even though existing information exist on 90nm and 65nm chipsets, I would like to see more indepth viewing of the machine components and parts taken all the way down to their core units such as the CPU and GPU.
If you would like to know this info, you could always crack open your own Xbox to educate yourself. I don't think I'd want to take my own Xbox apart at the level that you're talking, so I don't blame the author one bit for stopping when he did. The pics didn't offer me much either (the Xbox IS just a PC...they all look alike under the hood), but I can't offer any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism when I'm not about to open my own console...
I figured it was a laptop hard drive, and having to keep up with the gaming it would most certainly have to be a 7200 rpm. What i had been wondering sometime was if i were to buy the cheap hard drive add-on, 256MB and open it up and add my own drive, say a 160GB laptop drive which i can obtain much cheaper than the 200 they charge for it prassembled and put it back together would the 360 recognize the new hardware and would i be bale to use it at all.
I wonder what part has caused my Xbox 360 to display "Three flashing red lights?" I had to ship it back for repair. Right on Christmas day! Yikes
Micro seems to think that everyone has a buddy with an Xbox. They suggest as a first measure that you try a diffrent power supply. They changed the powersupply config so that not all of them even have aa AC ground input How stupid is that.It's a shame cause I really wanted one but I try to do my homework before spending Hard earned money and plenty of it on a toy to be used a few hours a week and then be expected to pay for shipping and wait to get it back. lets face it they aren't cheap.
how would you know about the issues with the xbox360 if you dont own one. take it from someone on e of 17 million whom does..... it is an awesome gaming console. great graphics, sound decent games most proted from PC games, maybe not as good as PC games but for the price of the rig, and the gaming with friends online it's unbeatable. i remeber last year the PS3 was the xbox360 killer. ha ha sony doesnt even have an online service close to M$ xboxlive. that is if you can even hook up to sony live or whatever lame name sony stamps on it.
I work with this stuff nimrod ! More likely than not your just some teenager who got a working unit for xmas with daddy's money. I agree it is an awesome gaming console when and if it works!
3 red flashing lights is a hardware failure. Pretty general and quite common on allot of models of the 360. If your power supply light is green then it's definitely an internal issue.
Kinda neet to see the inside of something your son plays and takes for grant it how it operates and what's inside that plastic case
One of the best cracks as of yet. Now I don't have to open mine! You could have left out pictures of the game boxes though. Thanks and job well done!
Allmost totally useless especially the begining! madison you work in the cubicle next door? kissin up for a free box of cheesits and a fresca ? Whats the deal with the failure rate if I was foolish enough to buy one ( allmost did ) I wouldn't wan't a temp fix ! I want the source of the problem.
The laymans source was too much hot air causing the system to fail. Somthing you look to know a bit about SMJTH.
Da bean-counters determine the price point to sell the stuff at. They decide the profit margin... and WOE TO THOSE WHO SUGGEST ANYTHING THAT ADDS EVEN A PENNY TO THE PRODUCTION COST in their eyes. I've seen and heard this phenomenon before.
"laymans source was too much hot air" Sounds like you figured it out DUH! MS needs to step up thier engineering to meet the price! They knew about the failure rate before it went on shelves. Just like some other manufacturers I spoke with that made pinball machines. They had PIA's on logic boards that were failing at a high rate. I suggested at least placing them in IC sockets so they could be replaced in a matter of seconds instead of an hour or more to take the board out desolder the IC and replace it then reinstall the board.I told them it would cost .75 cents per game max. They said but when you mulitply that times 20,000 units the cost really adds up. Soooo pass the cost on. Bottom line for MS is don't build it with components that run at borderline failure rate.
if you have a game console that doesnt have multiplayer online game support, you are definatly a ps2 guy and deserve to remain in the stoneage. have fun woth that ps3, i hear it makes a great file server once yellowdog is installed per the provided dvd from sony. useless hard ware with a blueray.
"If you have a game console that doesnt have multiplayer online game support, you are definatly a ps2 guy and deserve to remain in the stoneage." Hmmm, ignore the fact Final Fantasy XI was ported to the PS-2 (Granted, you needed the bundled HDD sold with it.) "have fun woth that ps3, i hear it makes a great file server once yellowdog is installed per the provided dvd from sony. useless hard ware with a blueray." useless hardware???? Ummm, that sounds like the red-ringed XBox360 to me. By the way, thanks for the suggestion for when the next generation of consoles come out, meanwhile I'll take my PS3 with wireless capability and play my on-line games. Also, I don't need Sony to get Linux on the PS3, Google linux for the PS3 and see for yourself.
in this electronic era, I would think solid state hard drive would be the way to go. maybe thats for the next model?
I always count on TechRepublic to give me an in-depth view of technology. This article only scraped the surface. It's my fault for assuming TR earns enough ad revenue to support taking apart items for our mutual benefit. I'm just left wanting more. Is an Xbox a sacred cow that we can't disassemble it further? I guess so.