New Xbox 360 model may be Red Ring killer

Reports of the "Jasper" model of the Xbox 360 have been reported to have been in stores since as early as late September, and now a newer report gives us some better details on what to look for, particularly the output voltage on the power brick.

The Jasper chipset is, essentially, supposed to be better in every way, this including the amount of power it requires. So it seems, any 360 made after October 23, 2008 should have the chipset. My only question is: why the heck wouldn't this be advertised and on the box? I guess if they did that a lot of unsuspecting customers would have suddenly been suspecting, meaning less sales since launch. Still!

VentureBeat reporter and "renowned Microsoft digger" Dean Takahashi has done a write-up on the new model giving us all the details on what to expect, and basically concludes the new model should kill the infamous Red Ring of Death problem. "We’ll see if the systems prove reliable. But logically, they should be a lot better," he writes. Note that Dean was behind the massive six-part series on the thing, so as far as journalists go, he's about as qualified as you get for the subject.

The first change is the graphics chip -- it's now 65nm and doesn't run as hot as previous versions (meaning, hopefully, no overheating issues), or consume as much power. As such, it should fit nicely into the motherboard socket, meaning less system failures due to the chip coming loose. It's smaller size and less expensive production costs also explain why Microsoft has been price dropping like crazy since September! Some new information on the new chip vs. the old one has surfaced, too. Dean explains:

The main failure cause [with the older 90-nanometer graphics chips and the boards that came with them] was “thermal fatigue” of the leaded C4 connections between the graphics chip die and its organic carrier. The underfill had too low a glass-transition temperature for the amount of heat generated. That caused cracking over time, resulting in graphics chips coming loose.

In previous versions, Microsoft addressed this with better heat sinks. The temperature sense diode was off in a corner and didn’t reflect the true temperature in the core regions. Jasper has shifted to a material with a significantly higher transition temperature. Coming up with this fix took time, since the new material had to be identified and tested. The smaller 65nm chip die also helps since the stresses that cause the thermal fatigue are related to size.

It's frustrating it's not possible for them to just build this optimally from the begining, but such is technology. Under the circumstances, though, I imagine any 360 owners that have had problems are probably feeling pretty ripped off at the moment. There really should be some kind of rebate program, no? Combine it with a recycling program, sure.

The second thing is the internal memory -- it's now been bumped up to 256mb from a petty 16mb, which means its capable of storing the New Xbox Experience (NXE), meaning even Arcade users can acquire it. Notably, Microsoft was nice enough to offer the extra memory for those users before, but for those that haven't picked up a 360 yet and are considering it, this is good news. Note that LIVE Arcade games can be saved on this too.

In conclusion, and for fear of sounding like a courtesan for Microsoft, it would indeed seem there's never been a better time to pick up a 360, if you've been putting it off. I've been more or less slamming the system (not in articles) but especially lately, I think it's really come around. Between NXE (which has gotten mixed reactions, but seems pretty cool overall), the new technology, this year's killer line-up (Soul Calibur, Gears, Fallout, anyone?), and the price drops -- Microsoft's really got this one in the bag. I would even go so far as to say it's not impossible for them to overtake the Wii, eventually...Will be interesting as well to see if this translates to at least decent sales in Japan, where the console has long been mostly ignored. I don't like to stay mad, so Microsoft: thanks for not sucking.