Jasper Is Here: A Look at the New Xbox 360
by Anand Lal Shimpi on December 10, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
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Confirming Your Jasper
If you can physically open the box, there's another way of confirming that you have a Jasper without even opening the plastic bag that the console comes in: look at the power connector on the Xbox 360 itself. Each Xbox 360 generation has a power connector that's keyed differently so you can't use a lower powered power supply on a console that requires more power. Now all Xbox 360 power supplies will work on newer consoles, but you can't use newer power supplies on older consoles. Make sense? Let me explain:
The first Xbox 360 (Xenon) needs a 203W power supply. Falcon needs a 175W power supply but can also work with the 203W unit (it just doesn't need to draw that much power so the 203W unit is overkill, but it'll work). Jasper needs 150W but can work with a 203W and a 175W. In other words, the Xbox 360 power supplies are forwards but not backwards compatible.
If you get a Jasper it's not guaranteed that you'll get a 150W power supply, Microsoft still has a lot of Falcons and Falcon-parts in its distribution system so some Jaspers have been sighted with 175W power supplies. If you end up with a 175W unit it's not a big deal, it's going to be slightly less efficient than the 150W unit and your system may end up drawing an extra few watts but it's not a big deal at all - you'll still be far cooler/more power efficient than a Falcon (and possibly be red-ring-free).
To prevent an under powered power supply from being used in the wrong Xbox, Microsoft keyed each of the three Xbox 360 generations differently. The chart below explains it all:
If you see one flat bar on top and a square peg in the middle of the power connector on the console itself you've got a 1st generation Xenon or Zephyr board, these machines use 90nm CPUs and GPUs. If you've just got a flat bar on top with no square peg in the middle, you've got a 2nd generation Opus or Falcon board, these things use 65nm CPUs and 80nm GPUs. Finally if you've got a flat bar split in two on top with no square peg you've got a Jasper, that's a board with a 65nm CPU and a 65nm GPU.
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tipoo - Wednesday, May 28, 2014 - link
So 6 years later, how did that go?Cougar21 - Saturday, July 16, 2016 - link
I'd like to know too. So far my 3 Jaspers are running fine.Snarks - Friday, December 12, 2008 - link
my xbox is 16.5 amp rated but has the 2nd generation console plug...?!?!?!?!?!?!
araczynski - Friday, December 12, 2008 - link
ditto.BeefyJed - Friday, December 12, 2008 - link
Had a quick look at mine and it's the same, 16.5A and 2nd gen connector.The PSU brick however says 14.2A. Which do I believe?
Build date is 29/11/2007.
leonzain - Friday, December 12, 2008 - link
hi, well, first of all, awesome article, seriously, thanks a lot dude, you really know your stuff and you make it fun to read, at the moment im almost literally dying to get my hands on an xbox, but i made the decision to wait for the jasper, only problem is, i live in mexico, and i want an elite, so i dont know where jaspers are coming to my country, maybe ill have to wait a month or so to get an arcade jasper, but i want the elite, and maybe thats more waiting, i dont know, id like to know whether or not elites have the jasper motherboard already, and i was thinkingm if anyone knows it must be you, have you spotted a jasper elite? do you know anyone who has spotted a jasper elite? please answer, id really like to know, thank youmariush - Thursday, December 11, 2008 - link
It says in the chart on the left of the Guaranteed word, it should be 12.1A at 5V, not 12V.mariush - Thursday, December 11, 2008 - link
Nevermind, there's a crease in the plastic in the picture, which made me mistake. Sorry.taltamir - Thursday, December 11, 2008 - link
when comparing the three wattages the author pointed out that going from 155 watt to 101 watt was a 50% decrease, while going from 101 watts to 93 was 8%...The 8% figure is close to the truth on sheer luck, but the 50% is retardedly wrong.
Percent reduced = ((original - new) / original) * 100
35% = ((155 - 101) / 155) * 100
Anand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, December 11, 2008 - link
woops, good catch :) I've updated the numbers.-A