• Main Processor:
  The main core processor used in the x-box is the Intel Pentium III processor technology with Streaming SIMD Extensions. The processor runs at 733 MHz and rumors have it that Microsoft will be increasing the speed of the CPU to 1 GHz in a later re-build release. Microsoft has been very small to use this processor as the main control unit because it's cost effective (Less money than a P4 yet very good performance) and it has proved strong in the computer video gaming world. The PIII processor was optimized to handle 3D graphics when developed, which is another key factor in Microsoft's decision to use the PIII processor (see SIMD). Finally the x-box will be using a windows 2000 kernel which runs better in already pre-established hardware technology such as that of the PIII. The use of such a popular commercial processor makes it easy to adapt development environments for it and it allows the hardware to be scalable and widely supported for I/O devices already in the market.
   
• Graphics Unit:
  The graphics chip selected for the x-box is the NVIDIA's NV2A.  Although Microsoft and NVIDIA won't comment on this the X-box is said to have an optimized GForce3 Technology graphics chip.  The chip runs at about 200 MHZ and it has a a second vertex shader pipeline added that increases texture and pixel rate thus enhancing graphics performance.   A curios thing about the chip design is that many other optimizations were made in the GForce3 original version of the chip but they were not able to use by developers because of the lack of support from Direct 8 ( Software that handles graphics in windows).  Microsoft however has created a special version of direct X that will allow developers to fully exploit the hardware power of the new GPU.
   
• Main Memory:
  The memory used in the console is a 64 MB DDR chip with unified memory architecture with that runs at 183 MHz. Unified memory architecture shares the memory a centralized memory with Mater processing units other than the CPU such as the audio and graphics processors. UMA allows for faster communication amongst the processors thus faster performance.
   
• 10 GB Hard Drive:
  At this point we were not able to find details in the technology that the x-box hard drive will be using (Rotational Speed, Access Time, Cache Size, etc). All we know is that is a standard EIDE Hard drive that will have 10 GB (possibly 20 GB) of storage capacity.  Also it's important to point out that the hard drive could be used as a texture cache which means More Textures and Low Load Times.  In the industry of video games any technology that helps the graphics is welcomed and the x-box HD is a key future of improvement.
   
• 6X DVD Drive:
  The DVD drive for the X-box is also a mystery, but what's really known is that it would be used strictly for gaming purposes (Allow deliverance of large games). Although the drive can be used as a DVD movie unit, Microsoft will require user's to buy an extension to the console called DVD Movie Playback Kit to play DVD videos. On the other hand, the DVD will be based on DVD-9 standards with the capacity of 8.5 GB. DVD-9 will provide the largest capacity possible without having to go with double-sided disc which is very easy to get scratched and damaged.  No other hardware specs have been released about the drive and there is no rumors on the internet mentioning an increase of speed for the unit (Current maximum DVD market speeds are 16X).
   
• Intel Pro 100 MB Ethernet Card
  The network card in the network uses one of the new NIC technologies by Intel to
  Improve network response time. The card futures advanced management capabilities, such as Wake on LAN (Lowers cost of ownership by allowing remote power-up and upgrade of the system from a sleep state) and Alert on LAN (Allows systems to proactively inform a management workstation when there is a problem with the system, such as boot failure, overheating, unauthorized tampering or even component theft). It's really hard to think that Microsoft will be using the goodies included with this Network Interface Card but the Wake on LAN feature opens a new horizon of game development with true networking that uses full duplex communication, even when you are sleeping.
   
• Custom 3-D audio processor:
  Another top secret part of the X-box. Only secrets reveal were that this unit has 256 Channel AC3 encoded game audio.
   
• The Xbox Development Kit
   
• Intel VC820 Motherboard

For more information on the X-box and all of its components please use our links page

The information above is a small summary on the different components of the X-box video game system.  Because the console has not been released yet to the public, the information has been collected from official and unofficial sources in the web.  The authors have tried not to violate copyright infringement laws of source material used thus they take no responsibility on the accuracy of the provide  information and advice viewers to use such for educational purposes only.