Months after launching the revamped Xbox 360, Microsoft has detailed the machine's new processor and graphics configuration. The "slim" 360 uses a 45nm SoC called "Vejle" that crams a CPU and GPU onto one piece of silicon. It has 372m transistors, is 50% smaller and draws 60% less power than the original 360's 90nm CPU/GPU combo.

The solution allowed Microsoft to cut production costs because it requires less chips, heatsinks and fans, not to mention a smaller motherboard and power supply. Replacing many components with fewer, more efficient parts leads to less power consumption and heat generation, which inherently means the machine is more quiet and reliable.


None of that is surprising, but Ars notes something that you may not know. Instead of connecting the parts with a speedy internal connection, Vejle has an on-die "FSB replacement block" with the same bandwidth as the bus that connected the CPU and GPU when they were separate. Microsoft bottlenecked the system so it wasn't faster than its predecessors.