Falcon chips already in 360s?

Customers picking up a special edition Halo 3 consoles have reported seeing the new 65nm "Falcon" processors inside.

These cheaper and smaller CPUs use less power, leading to suggestions that units using them will require less cooling as well as be quieter and more reliable.

However, we're still waiting for confirmation from Microsoft that it is the Falcon processors people are seeing, and if so, which consoles feature them.

The unconfirmed word is that 360s sporting them were build on 24th August this year by Canadian outfit "FDOU". Apparently if the barcode sticker on your box shows a lot number of 734 or greater, then you could be in luck.

Or you can get hands-on and try to look through the bottom of your console at your heatsink. Falcon CPUs have no heatpipe, supposedly, so you won't see a coppery pipe if you have one. You can even whip your heatsink off and check to see if your CPU was made in Canada, if you like.

Even if Falcon chips are being put into new consoles, there is still considerable debate as to the actual effect they will have on the performance of the system. It is worth pointing out that many of the overheating problems leading to the infamous red rings of death are caused by the GPU, and not the CPU.

For more debate and a look at the pictures in question, head over to the official Xbox forum thread.