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The Parts of an Xbox 360

Microsoft's Xbox 360 has seen a lot of changes over the course of its life, and new parts come and go. The 2010 iteration of the system has better cooling systems and power efficiency, as well as built-in Wi-Fi and a smaller case with a sleek black color.

Processor
- The Xbox 360 has a custom-designed IBM PowerPC-based Xenon CPU with three processor cores that each run at 3.2 GHz. Each core can process two threads, for six threads total. These cores are modified versions of the cell processor designed for the PlayStation 3.
Graphics Processing
- Xenos is the name for the graphics processing unit in the Xbox 360. It was designed by ATI and features a 500 MHz DRAM and a 500 MHz GPU made with a 90nm, 65nm or 45nm manufacturing process.
Cooling
- To keep all this hardware at a stable temperature, both the GPU and CPU have heatsinks and fans to draw hot air away. Both heatsinks use copper heatpipes to help conduct heat from the processors to the fins, where it can dissipate more efficiently. Two 60mm exhaust fans push the hot air through the rear of the console.
Hard Drive
- SATA hard drives for the Xbox 360 come in either 20, 60, 120 or 250 GB sizes. The newest model of the Xbox 360 (as of August, 2010) enables support for external USB drives, including non-Microsoft branded options. The drive is detachable and can be swapped out for travel or storage.
DVD Drive
- Originally, the Xbox 360's DVD reading and writing was provided by a 12x drive manufactured by either LG or Toshiba. Since 2006, Microsoft has switched to BenQ and LiteOn drives, but the drive specs have remained unchanged. The drive supports both DVD+R and DVD+RW formats, as well as CD-R/RW, CD-ROM, CD-DA, WMA-CD and MP3-CD.
Networking Hardware
- Each console uses a 10/100 Ethernet network adapter that connects to your home Internet connection via a standard network cable. 802.11n and 802.11g Wi-Fi adapters can be purchased for all models. The newest Xbox 360 available in August of 2010 features a built-in 802.11n wireless adapter.
Motherboard
- Many different motherboard revisions have been made over the life of the console. The original motherboard was a Xenon model with 90nm manufacturing, no HDMI and a 203 W power supply. This model is no longer in production; it was replaced by the Vejle, a 45 nm board with HDMI and a 135 W power supply for greater efficiency and quieter functioning.

Xbox 360