Link

Remember this? While being only a blog, the guy seems to have accurate sources. Opus is now apparently shipping. This means if your 360 gets a RROD, it will be replaced by a completely new motherboard that has a 65nm CPU. This will probably only apply to first generation 360' s (Xenon).

1. It will be mailed to you by Microsoft Xbox repair after your Xenon Xbox 360(No HDMI) died and you mailed it in.
2. It will have a power adapter that will take 175 Watts of power.
3. No HDMI but it will run cooler and quieter than your old Xbox 360 and hopefully much more reliably.

Y' know Unlucky... I' m glad I' m not the only one here who keeps up with console SKUs. I was this close to posting something on it.

This guy' s been bookmarked in my browser since his original post. Reliably reliable sources are so few and far in between these days.

I' m not entirely sure why Microsoft is bothering with Opus though, to be honest. They' re only downsizing the CPU to 65nm... and the CPU has never been the 360' s design flaw.

My personal opinion (confirmed by nothing more than prior performance and a strong hunch) is that they created an excess of 65nm CPUs with the recent Elite and Halo Special Edition, and are now trying to put them to good use.

True, but I suppose every little bit helps. Less heat means less chance of the PCB warping.

Its to save costs, smaller units cost less to produce as well,

True, but these aren' t models that they' ll be producing en-masse for retail distribution. This is a repair-center proprietary SKU, and while it would technically cost less to make new 65nm process chips for their CPU, it costs nothing to keep the ones they' ve got, which aren' t the real issue.

I think there' s a motive for this that I' m missing. If it were more widely publicisized, I would say that it was a stunt to give consumers a little more confidence in the 360, but even I heard about it late, and I' m usually right on the ball with this kind of stuff.