According to Taiwanese industry news source CENS, improved 65nm Xbox 360s should be arriving later this year, even as soon as August.
The report adds that Microsoft has “already begun contracting out the production of 65nm chips,” which in turn should form part of the consoles long anticipated “Jasper” revision.
There was also word that there was a depletion of the current chipset, dubbed “Falcon” and that Jasper could be pushed up if the other chips are depleted. The Falcon’s main processor uses 65nm technology just like the Jasper chip but all the other components including the GPU use 90nm manufacturing.
The Jasper revision has been long anticipated as Microsoft claims it will help to eliminate the “red ring of death” failures that plague over 15 percent of all current consoles. The new revision should be cooler, quieter and less power-consuming.
Let us hope this new report proves to be true, as it must be getting expensive for Microsoft to replace all RROD Xbox 360s at its own cost.
Result for: ring of death
Despite their best efforts to replace Xbox 360 consoles that have failed, including upping the warranty for free, Microsoft is now facing a class action lawsuit out of California over the hardware failures.
The suit claims that an “excessive” number of consoles have failed giving users the dreaded “red ring of death.” The lawsuit also alleges that Microsoft had concealed the failure rate of the console in order to better compete with the pending launch of the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii in 2006.
The lawsuit cites articles published in credible gaming trade journals each of which show that Microsoft knew in November 2005 that over 50 percent of the initial sales launch Xbox 360 consoles were defective.
California is seeking an order that “Microsoft disgorge all profits attributable to its sale of the Xbox 360, as well as that Microsoft publicly announce and implement a refund program in California.”
