Post by: XanTium on November 24, 2005, 04:29:00 PM
ChipWorks inside Microsoft's Xbox 360 Silicon-- Posted by XanTium on November 24 18:29 EST
Chipworks Inc., an industry leader in reverse engineering and analysis of semiconductor chips and systems, today announced that they analysed the key chips of the Xbox 360. Their full report is not available for public viewing, it can only be bought for 'private' use:
Chipworks monitors advanced semiconductors and systems, and creates detailed reports of what is inside technology. Their customers use this information to maintain their competitive advantage, benchmark their innovations and improve their business costs.
"Microsoft has developed creative relationships with some of the leading-edge chip suppliers in order to meet the performance needs of the Xbox," said Gary Tomkins, manager of Technical Intelligence at Chipworks. "We wanted to see how advanced the process technology is that is being used, considering the pressure to keep the component costs down."
The extensive use of state-of-the-art technology in the Xbox illustrates the trend that the consumer market is driving technology these days," continues Tomkins.Most of the dedicated parts have the Microsoft X-logo on them, including the silicon die markings, not the design or IDM origin. We could call this Microsoft inside'," added Tomkins. "So far we have identified the IBM, ATI, and NEC parts, Samsung GDDR3 SDRAM, Hynix NAND flash, and other chips whose origin we are investigating."
Chipworks also reports that the NEC embedded DRAM is co-packaged with the ATI processor, rather than being integrated into the same piece of silicon. This allows the processes to be optimised for the separate devices, without forcing a compromise to achieve what could be a false economy.
You can see there full press release here.
Post by: Cichlid_Guy on November 24, 2005, 06:50:00 PM
Post by: eDeus on November 24, 2005, 07:58:00 PM
(It does sound interesting even if it wouldnt be useful)
Post by: throwingks on November 24, 2005, 08:02:00 PM
Post by: koufontinas on November 24, 2005, 08:05:00 PM
Why else would you pay for information on the console's insides? But I am sure it would take quite some time for the first stable chips to come in the market, especially when the console itself isn't working properly lol.
Post by: alexh on November 25, 2005, 03:25:00 AM
The fact that they are using phrases like "co-packaged" rather than the industry term "Multi-Chip-Module" or MCM makes me wonder if they are indeed experts.
Post by: wumarkus on November 25, 2005, 03:46:00 AM
Post by: koufontinas on November 25, 2005, 04:59:00 AM
The fact that they are using phrases like "co-packaged" rather than the industry term "Multi-Chip-Module" or MCM makes me wonder if they are indeed experts.
Or perhaps they want their major audience (that is, the ones that do not have a degree in computer architecture) to know what they are on about.
Post by: WaferJ on November 25, 2005, 01:32:00 PM
Here's their "About Us" which gives some insight into why they do it.
At Chipworks, we find out whats inside technology specifically, whats inside chips, devices, software, almost anything electronic you can think of. Whether youre involved in patent protection or litigation, researching your latest product design, or just trying to find out what the competitions up to, let Chipworks do the analysis for you. We have the expertise to take apart the product or the patent to discover its secrets. An internationally-recognized leader in patent portfolio management and technical competitive analysis, Chipworks is headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, with offices and representation worldwide. .