Xbox 360 Getting 65nm Chips. Production Starts in May

Just getting off the faulty Xbox 360 Elite topic, the Chinese publication Commercial Times quoted their sources as saying that "an engineering version of the 65nm-made Xenos has been sent out and production will start in May. TSMC projected sales contribution from 65nm would amount to 5% during mid-2007." So that means we'll be seeing the new systems during fall this year.

Great, what can I say? What about that Elite though? Wasn't it supposed to come packed with the 65nm chips already? The black, elusive console hasn't even launched properly and owners are already experiencing faulty operation, or, in some cases, no operation at all. The machines just lie dead on their floors.

What do the 65nm chips do anyway? Keep the inner temperature of the machine at a low level, while gamers are busy pressing the buttons, or while watching DVDs. Sony's PS3 has already received a third party cooling unit (the Pelican Air Flo cooling device), so you see how important this aspect is with next-gen consoles. Yet, Microsoft didn't quite think overheated machines were an issue.

OK, maybe they aren't, but then what does the Elite do better than previous SKUs? What, that HDMI output is supposed to sell it on its own? Maybe it's the bigger hard drive unit (120GB)? No, this one isn't such an impressive asset either. You see, disk space isn't that big of an issue with console gamers and had it been an issue, an extra 20 GB HDD for your Core SKU is more than enough. Heck, you can get one at Gamestop with last night's not-going-clubbing savings.

Anyway, it's better than nothing that Microsoft's giving the Xbox 360 65nm chips in fall, but will gamers still have faith in the system with all that's going on with it today? 65nm chips don't sound like alien technology anymore, you know.