Chip rumour time! Word is that Microsoft is moblising IBM and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co to roll out the rumoured Jasper chipset for the Xbox 360. Compared to the current Falcon chip, Jasper uses less noise and simpler cooling systems. Not confirmed, but the chip apparently drops in August, the dead of summer. Fitting!
New Chips [X-bit labs via Videogaming247]

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According to The Mercury News' Dean Takahashi, having successfully unrolled the Falcon chipset in the Halo 3 Edition Xbox 360s, Microsoft is looking to further cut costs (and heat) from their console. The next project is codenamed "Jasper". And where the Falcon shrunk the Xbox CPU to 65nm, the Jasper will continue the shrinkage, miniaturising the graphics chip to 65nm to match. And memory chips will become smaller as well.

Takahashi also claims that Microsoft engineers feel like the heat problem is under control with both the recent Falcon's and older Zephyr's heat sink solutions, so buyers shouldn't beware when picking up new machines. While we're not waiting until the new chipset hits next August to buy a machine, we're not so certain the Microsoft has solved all their manufacturing issues just yet.

Xbox 360 secrets: After Falcon comes Jasper [via mcv]

It's coming. Obviously. Later this year, Xbox 360s outfitted with 65-nm chips should be hitting store shelves according to The Xbox 360 Uncloaked author Dean Takahashi. Dubbed "Falcon," these chips are smaller than the current 90-nm processors and should use less energy. And that *should* lead to fewer Red Rings of Death. Well, theoretically! We won't know until these consoles are out in the wild, performing under real world conditions. However, Takahashi has confirmed that the chips are in the first batch of consoles currently being made, meaning that they could be there by fall. But Microsoft isn't going to disclose to customers which consoles have what.

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Brave NeoGAF member and Kotaku Defence Force lieutenant "wonderkins" was bold enough to crack open the chassis on his brand new Xbox 360, one of the newly released Premiums with HDMI output. This inside look at the gory internal workings of the newest Xbox 360 is now largely assumed to be off the "Zephyr" variety, following the motherboard and heatsink form factor of the Xbox 360 Elite. What's that mean? The latest hardware release from Microsoft is most likely not of the "Falcon" 65nm manufacturing spec, meaning the arrival of cooler, smaller, hopefully more reliable CPUs is still unknown.

On the plus side, wonderkins did provide a photo of the new Premium's hard drive, the quieter BenQ variety. More shots of the hardware in the gallery below and at the original NeoGAF thread. Thanks to wonderkins for the original photos.

The Falcon and the Snowman: Greatest Movie Ever or The Greatest? [NeoGAF]