Other Features
On the back of the XBox there is a Network socket this is available due to the MCP-D integrated solution. This means that the XBox is internet ready. You can connect Xboxes together via the network socket using cross over cables.The memory used in the XBox is DDR based, you get 64 MB and it is made by Samsung, it is using 5ns memory which is 200MHz. Using the DDR though of things, this gives 400 MHz bandwidth. When you integrate this in to the 128Mbit memory using by NVIDIA you get 6.4GB/s bandwidth this is shared by the IGP and the CPU. The 133 FSB of the processor means that there is a limit of around 1GB/s for the bandwidth used by the CPU- this leaves a lot for the rest of the system. There is only 64MB of RAM present but we have read that the development boxes had 128MB present; this is strange that Microsoft didn’t go for the 128MB ram, the PS2 has 32MB and the GC has 40MB.
Within the system there is a hard drive which is why it is a "PC system" this is ideal for a console it has mass storage and many problems are resolved by it, Microsoft Choose to use the Seagate and WD drives, they are only 5400 RPM but they are near silent. There is no shock protection present on the disks, so don’t throw your XBox across the room. At the moment the hard drives seem reasonable speed for what the system needs, we will update you if we notice anything different.
This unit comes with a DVD drive built in, and with the way they have developed it - the NV2A which is present can handle DVD playback and decoding. The games come on DVD disks which are 9GB in size, they are written with the data on the outside of the disk unlike previous systems. The drive is nothing more than a PC drive, which can read the DVDs. The only difference is the back plane connections where there are a non standard power feed. To play DVDs you need to buy a £29.99 DVD playback kit, which are a controller and a single module. As yet we can not comment on the quality of the playback due to us not getting a DVD playback kit with the product. It seems a lot for an IR port and a remote, when you can not turn off the system or power up with the remote - this is a downer. But it is easy to use with lots of features like zoom etc. It is a very easy controller to use.
