'Jasper' 360 sporting new 65nm GPU

As the writer of The Xbox 360 Uncloaked and Opening the Xbox, San Jose Mercury News tech writer Dean Takahashi already knows what's inside Microsoft's gaming machines. He also has some insight into what's around the bend for the console, and consequently Takahashi has reported that the next planned hardware revision for the system is codenamed "Jasper," and will debut next August.

The Xbox 360 has already undergone a handful of hardware revisions, first with the HDMI-enabled "Zephyr" motherboard that debuted with the Xbox 360 Elite (and has since found its way into standard Xbox 360s as well). Earlier this year, Takahashi also reported on "Falcon" 360 motherboards that sport cooler-running 65-nanometer CPUs under the hood, which reduces the risk of the console's now-infamous hardware failures.

Takahashi said that for "Jasper," Microsoft is giving the system a matching 65nm graphics chip and smaller memory chips. Like the 65nm CPU, the 65nm GPU will be smaller, cooler, more energy efficient, and be cheaper to produce than the 90nm chip used in previous Xbox 360 revisions. Takahashi said it is currently scheduled to roll out in new systems starting in August 2008.

A Microsoft representative told GameSpot, "We are constantly updating internal components on our consoles and therefore will not comment on details of specific components or manufacturing processes."