The Xbox 360 System Specifications

One of the things that excites me the most about the Xbox 360 is its advanced hardware specs. Yes, yes, I know, Microsoft says that “in the HD Era the platform is bigger than the processor” and I agree with that, but I can't help thinking about the things that this hardware will be able to pull off. 

The Xbox 360 represents a technological breakthrough only possible because of the hard work of hundreds of masterminds around the world who converged to create the ultimate gaming machine. Unreal Engine 3-powered games running at 1280x720 with full screen anti-aliasing? Not a problem for the Xbox 360. 

Хboх 360 System Performance - Draft
Custom IBM PowerPC-based CPU	3 symmetrical cores running at 3.2 GHz each 2 hardware threads per core; 6 hardware threads total 1 VMX-128 vector unit per core; 3 total 128 VMX-128 registers per hardware thread 1 MB L2 cache
CPU Game Math Performance	9 billion dot product operations per second
Custom ATI Graphics Processor	500 MHz 10 MB embedded DRAM 48-way parallel floating-point dynamically-scheduled shader pipelines Unified shader architecture
Polygon Performance	500 million triangles per second
Pixel Fill Rate	16 gigasamples per second fillrate using 4X MSAA
Shader Performance	48 billion shader operations per second
Memory	512 MB GDDR3 RAM 700 MHz DDR Unified memory architecture
Memory Bandwidth	22.4 GB/s memory interface bus bandwidth 256 GB/s memory bandwidth to EDRAM 21.6 GB/s front-side bus
Overall System Floating-Point Performance	1 TFLOP
Storage	Detachable and upgradeable 20 GB hard drive 12X dual-layer DVD-ROM Memory unit support starting at 64 MB
I/O	Support for up to 4 wireless game controllers 3 USB 2.0 ports 2 memory unit slots
Optimized for Online	Instant, out-of-the-box access to Xbox Live features, including Xbox Live Marketplace for downloadable content, Gamer Profile for digital identity and voice chat to talk to friends while playing games, watching movies or listening to music Built in Ethernet Port Wi-Fi Ready: 802.11 A, B and G Video Camera Ready
Digital Media Support	Support for DVD-Video, DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, WMA CD, MP3 CD, JPEG Photo CD Stream media from portable music devices, digital cameras, Windows XP PCs Rip music to Xbox 360 hard drive Custom playlists in every game Windows Media Center Extender built in Interactive, full screen 3D visualizers
HD Game Support	All games supported at 16:9, 720p and 1080i, anti-aliasing Standard definition and high definition video output supported
Audio	Multichannel surround sound output Supports 48 KHz 16-bit audio 320 independent decompression channels 32-bit audio processing Over 256 audio channels
System Orientation	Stands vertically or horizontally
Customizable Face Plates	Interchangeable to personalize the console

Key Highlights

Hardware, software, and services: Unveiled to the world on MTV on Thursday, May 12, 2005, Xbox 360 represents a dramatic leap forward in high-definition gaming and entertainment experiences.Fusing powerful hardware, software, and services, Xbox 360 fully engages you in a gaming experience that is more expansive, dramatic, and lifelike, where the possibilities are limitless and your imagination knows no boundaries. The next generation is here.


Xbox Live Marketplace: Keep your favorite games fresh with instant access to new content. Xbox Live Marketplace is a one-stop shop to download new game trailers, demos, and episodic content, plus new game levels, maps, weapons, vehicles, skins, and more. Accessible to everyone who establishes a broadband connection with their Xbox 360, Xbox Live Marketplace lets you personalize and extend your experience, on demand.

Games: Xbox 360 redefines what games look like, sound like, feel like, and play like to engage you like never before. With Xbox 360, epic worlds are alive with detail, from thunderous skies rumbling over a mountain range to tiny blades of grass rustling together in the breeze. Vibrant characters display depth of emotion to evoke more dramatic responses, immersing you in the experience like never before. You'll see all Xbox 360 titles at 720p and 1080i resolution in 16:9 widescreen, with anti-aliasing for smooth, movie-like graphics and multi-channel surround sound.

Digital entertainment: Amplify your music, photos, video, and TV. Watch progressive-scan DVD movies right out of the box. Rip music to the Xbox 360 hard drive and share your latest digital pictures with friends. Make the connection, and Xbox 360 instantly streams the digital media stored on your MP3 player, digital camera, Media Center PC, or any Microsoft Windows XP-based PC.

PlayBook Browser Trouncing iPad RIM Shows Off BlackBerry

The side-by-side comparison shows the iPad browser being schooled by the PlayBook in a number of ways. The PlayBook manages to load web pages at almost desktop speeds. The iPad, while fast, cannot compete. Rendering on both devices is similar, but the PlayBook also loads Adobe Flash content. HTML5 performance was also demonstrated, giving the PlayBook the clear win there as well.

The iPad might still have the edge in that you can actually buy it, but the PlayBook is looking more compelling than it might have at first. Do you find this demo convincing, or will you only believe it when the product is real?

One of the most important aspects of any mobile device in this day and age is the quality of the browsing experience. While the iPad is understood to have a great browser, it might have met its match in the upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook. RIM is going all out to promote their tablet, and this new video is turning some heads.

Windows Media Player Power Tips 14 xbox

There are always going to be ways to tweak your experience with any multimedia application. Some are inherent to the program itself, some require a modification or a tweak to unlock, and others can be seen as a kind-of total converstion: a third-party application that works in tandem with your multimedia app to bring forth some kind of awesome new functionality.

We’re fans of all three scenarios at Maximum PC. And let’s face it: Windows Media Player might be entrenched inside of your operating system worse than a camper in Call of Duty: Black Ops, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t build it up into the Greatest Media Player Ever with a few (or more) helpful tips. We’ve split our list into sections based on the difficulty of the tweak—let’s get started!

cheapest xbox 360

Origin today unveiled "The Big O," the company's latest gaming rig that's as orgasmic (from a hardware standpoint) as it sounds. Not only will The Big O get frisky with any PC games you throw at it, but it also tosses monogamy out the window and pulls double duty as an Xbox 360 gaming console.

A baseline config includes a Danger Den Tower 21, Intel Core i7 930 processor overclocked to 4GHz, Rampage III Extreme Edition motherboard, two Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 graphics, 6GB of Corsair DDR3-1600 memory, two 50GB OCZ Vertex 2 SSDs flanked by a 2TB Western Digital hard drive, 1500W Silverstone PSU, Creative Fatal1ty soundcard, fan controller, LED lighting, liquid cooling all around, and of course Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. This little gem will set you back $7,700.

What's in the Box?

Our Xbox 360 system was the $399 unit, which comes with the following:

- Xbox 360 console
- 20GB Removable Hard Drive
- Wireless Controller
- Headset
- DVD Remote
- Ethernet Cable
- Component AV Cables
- External Power Supply

Click to Enlarge

The $299 core system gives you the same console (with a white DVD tray cover), a wired controller, and standard composite AV cables; there's no hard drive, headset or remote.

By now you have undoubtedly heard about the massive external power supply that comes with the Xbox 360 and you can see it in the lower left hand corner of the picture above. Remember that in the original Xbox, the power supply was internal.  But with the power requirements of the Xbox 360 being significantly higher than its predecessor, while featuring a noticeably smaller case, the only solution was to take the power supply out of the Xbox 360.