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Inside the Xbox 360 Elite Part 3 Now that we've had a few days to play with our new elite we have a bit more in depth details for you. We ran the elite through its paces and got some interesting data to share. The feed back from the first two articles has been impressive, thanks for all the support out there. Hopefully this wraps up our look into the elite and answers the last few questions that have been popping up. Power consumption - Similar Our test bed uses the same controller and power supply. The same 120 GB hard drive is connected to both units. The best method of measure we could come up with was using an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) to supply power to the Xbox 360. The UPS has an LCD screen that displays power consumption in kilowatts. It should be noted that this is not accurate to the 3rd decimal, for instance in our DVD movie test on the original the reading fluctuated from 105-113, it never read 110 always either 105 or 113 most of the time it read 113 so that is what we used for our reading. If anyone has some old diagnostic equipment out there in need of a home send it on over we will put it to good use! Note that in the photos below we see a swing of 7 or 8 watts, this is the minimum measure the UPS is capable of so these are really close, and most likely closer than the difference that is displayed.
Considering the margin of error in our test setup all readings should be considered nearly identical across all units. The small difference we see points toward no change in processor die revision. We would have expected to see a drop of about 30Watts if this were the 65nm revision. Noise Production - A little quieter Our setup consisted of the quietest room we could find, the ambient noise was in fact under 50Db so it worked. Our Radio Shack Decibel meter is capable of 50db through 130Db all of the readings were at the bottom of the scale but on the scale. To read this meter you set the switch to the Db range you want to measure in this case 60Db. When the gauge reads zero it is actually reading the number the switch is set to (60Db) the gauge displays as much as -10Db or +6Db, so from one extreme to the other the 60Db setting reads 50Db to 66Db. For instance here is a close-up of the meter when measuring 54Db
A: The idle readings are higher due to the fan speed being higher at idle than when playing a DVD or a CD. The 360 actually slows its fan speed during CD and DVD play to reduce noise. So it makes sense that the CD and DVD would be quieter. Q: But why wouldn't the game disc be the loudest since everything is cooking? A: Well, um you see... its like... well... I
don't really know. I remembered thinking it was unusual during the test
and I double-checked my photos and find a total of four photos of
readings at idle for the Benq 60, 59, 60.5, 60.5 Vent Exhaust Temperature - Similar. The highest reading we could get on either unit using a laser sighted no contact thermometer reading right at the rear vent fan is a consistent 128 degrees Fahrenheit with an ambient room temperature of 73.
Conclusions: The Elite is a bit quieter, uses slightly less power but does not sport the 65nm die. We have come to this conclusion for the following reasons. The power consumption is basically unchanged, the heat output is unchanged if this were the 65nm die it fails to address either of the items it was intended to improve.
See also
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