Inside an Xbox 360 Jasper: Ben Heck dissects the mythical console, then tells you how to find one

"Gentlemen! I give you... JASPER!" [lightning crackles, thunder sound FX]

Ace modder Benjamin J Heckendorn (aka "Benheck") has found -- and immediately dissected -- an Xbox 360 Jasper. As widely reported, it was inside an Arcade unit. In the following story, he not only details what he finds inside, but will also clue you in on how you too can find this model on store shelves. Read on for the exclusive Engadget look at the guts and the glory!

This was a FDOU team Xbox 360, manufactured on 10-22-08, lot # 0842X.

For starters the Jasper does indeed have a large amount of on-board memory. With NXE installed, the system shows an "MU" having 214MB free. It'll be interesting to see if the 60GB Pro Jaspers have this... I would bet yes, having NXE on-board would be handy, but as we all know it still runs even with your hard drive removed.

That's all well and good, but enough of this running the Xbox, let's rip it apart! It's a "super unboxing!"

Here are the main internals of the unit. The GPU still has the extended heat pipe installed -- guess they're not taking any chances with this one. Good for them! CPU heatsink has not changed from the Falcon.

Looks like a Phillips drive. I took a picture of this since some people obsess over which DVD drive they use. Moving on...

The motherboard thus far. The amount / locations of toroidal coils and electrolytic capacitors has not changed at all from the Falcon unit. In fact I've come across Falcon units that actually use much smaller caps on the right hand side of the CPU, but as we all know there's scores of hardware revisions.

I would suspect this sticker pretty much confirms what this unit is. In the past this location would have stickers saying things like "RMA Heatsink" -- so apparently they called it a Return Materials Authorization heatsink in-house? Interesting. I like "extended heatpipe" heatsink personally... to each his or her own I guess.

So far so normal...

Whoa! The bottom-mounted memory is back -- who woulda thought? As the world's foremost buyer of Xbox 360's (I pretty much have to be) I've seen this flip-flop a lot... some have bottom memory, some don't, some with bottom memory had pads heat sinking it to the RF shield, again, some don't. Weird.

X-clamps haven't changed, nor has the layout of the circuitry below the GPU. Well, nothing drastically noticeable...

Hello, what's this? Traces for some kind of controller and a memory unit. This is right under the ring of light, wonder what the purpose could be?

OK here's the star of the show -- the new GPU. The main body is the same size as the past GPU's, which I did not expect, but there are a lot less components on the surface and the main heat die is considerably smaller and not centered on the package, either.

Old 90nm GPU for reference.

The CPU hasn't changed much from the Falcon.

I'll do some heat tests with this unit once I inevitably slap it into an Xbox 360 laptop. Now let's move onto how you can spot one of these new units in the store!

The Xbox 360 box has a hole at the top of it where the bar code of the console is visible. Clerks usually scan this when you buy one. What you need to do it look at the lower left corner of this box. If you peer closely you can make out at least half of the voltage/amperage rating of the unit. The # of amps used by the 12 volt rail is the key to determining which console it is. The photos below show this in detail.

14.2 amps equals a Falcon unit (65nm CPU, 90nm GPU). Please keep in mind there's nothing wrong with having one of these, I play mine a lot and it's fine. You might not be able to see the whole voltage listing just through the peep-hole, but you should at least be able to see if a 14.2A or 12.1A is just to the left of the "5V".

12.1 amps equals a Jasper unit (65nm CPU, 65nm GPU). This voltage rating is also listed above the power input, but of course you can't see that when it's in the box.

There has been a lot of discussion about lot #'s, power supply ratings, and things of that nature being used to find Jaspers. I have found those to be unreliable. For instance, this Jasper was lot #0842X. However at Circuit City today I saw a 0843X Arcade unit, but it was 14.2 amps.

Also this particular Jasper came with a 175W power supply (like the Falcons used). They are probably trying to use up all the older PSU's and thus it was packed with the unit. Keep in mind that even if this Xbox only needs 150W it's not a issue to power it with a 175W supply, just like people who put 700W PSU's in their PC's for no apparent reason.

Above we see the power port of the Jasper 360. Note how it has a slit in the middle of the top plastic bar. The plugs on the PSU's are designed in a way to be forwards not backwards compatible. That is, an original 203W PSU will fit in any Xbox 360, but because of these 'keying", a new 150W PSU will only fit in an Jasper. Likewise a Falcon PSU will fit in a Jasper but not vice-versa.

So yes, check the amperage rating of the unit at the back -- it's the most sure-fire way to find a Jasper from what I have seen.

OK that's about it for the Jasper autopsy. I look forward to using these in my Xbox 360 laptop-building endeavors!

-Ben Heckendorn
www.benheck.com

[intrglctcrevfnk @ Dec 10th 2008 6:11PM]

Awesome! 3 months too late for me! Oh well falcon is chugging along pretty well...

First? no way....

[titanium man @ Dec 10th 2008 6:40PM]

"tells how you can find one"
So what, am i supposed to buy ANOTHER Xbox360????
So this is how Xbox360 increases its installed base!
Ah, i see, this time it actually works so all is well!

[yopladas @ Dec 10th 2008 6:53PM]

I love it when people reply with a completely irreverent comment to the first one so their comment shows up second.... lol just dead with the fact that your comment is not any better and doesn't deserves 2nd... as if anyone cares that it is second...

[KezMondo @ Dec 11th 2008 9:08AM]

Your Comments are just ghosts in a sea of FAIL. Have a Nice Day!

[kjb434 @ Dec 10th 2008 6:16PM]

I'm guess the memory switching sides of the mobo and other oddities could come from having more than one manufacturing outfit in China, which is entirely possible.

[Kris120890 @ Dec 10th 2008 6:16PM]

I just sent mine for repair. Whats the chance of getting a jasper added after everything being gutted? It weren't RROD though.

[tcc3 @ Dec 10th 2008 9:15PM]

Pretty low. I just got mine back. I figured the odds were low they'd still have 1st gen boxes laying around, but they do. Hopefully this one wont rrod till the next gen. {crosses fingers}

[Sudo @ Dec 10th 2008 6:19PM]

"just like people who put 700W PSU's in their PC's for no apparent reason."

Making me feel bad with my 1000W PSU.

[Jeremy K. @ Dec 10th 2008 6:30PM]

haha I have a 180W PSU!

[Matthew C @ Dec 10th 2008 6:53PM]

Haha I have a 90 W PSU ... for my laptop - Does a power adapter qualifies as a psu? or is that the battery?

[me @ Dec 11th 2008 2:06AM]

65W! how could ANYBODY top that?!

(how much have eee psus?)

[Abuzar Baloach @ Dec 10th 2008 7:42PM]

The power adapter is a PSU. All a PSU does is convert AC power to DC power, which is what your power adapter does. That's why you don't need a PSU in your laptop, as everything is already DC.

[Aguiluz @ Dec 10th 2008 9:55PM]

Heh, 65W laptop PSU here.

[who? @ Dec 10th 2008 10:21PM]

60W PSU here, NEXT!

[JAmerican @ Dec 11th 2008 6:03AM]

My EEE 1000H has a 36W PSU :) I win!!

[Ghen @ Dec 11th 2008 8:45AM]

Wattage on a power supply does not need to be exactly the power required. You actually get more efficiency by not having the power supply running at full capacity. So in this case, the original poster (1000W) probably gets the best efficiency per wattage used as well as having the best electric bill per Kw used.

I always over-purchase with a power supply. Spending that extra $20 now will probably get close to paying for itself over 5 years, not to mention the lower fluctuation of output voltage going to the rest of your computer equipment.

[Wwhat @ Dec 11th 2008 9:46AM]

Ghen is proving that half a clue is no better than no clue.

[Chris @ Dec 11th 2008 11:34AM]

30W for my Acer Aspire One power brick. I win.

[Ghen @ Dec 11th 2008 2:18PM]

minor flaw in my math, electric bill statement is dumb :P sorry

[DWells55 @ Dec 11th 2008 5:01PM]

Haha, I have a 700W ToughPower, guess I got called out by BenHeck.

Even though I know I'm not gonna come close to using all that power (C2D 65nm @ 3.46, 4GB RAM, 8800 GT, DVD+RW, 2 7200RPM HDDs) the reason I bought such a powerful PSU is because the higher-end ToughPowers are extremely well built and very well reviewed. So I didn't have a problem paying a bit more for power I wasn't going to use if I knew that the quality of the overall unit was very high.

[badhack @ Dec 11th 2008 5:09PM]

Most power supplies have worst efficiency at the lowest and highest utilization. So it really depends on your supply and your load. It's usually best to be in the middle.

[Danny Ahdout @ Dec 11th 2008 8:20PM]

hahaha,
this makes me feel terrible.
my computer has a 1200w psu.

[Kevin Fox @ Dec 10th 2008 6:22PM]

Turns out I got a Jasper Arcade box right after they lowered the price to $199 two months ago.

Another possible way to tell the difference is the DVD-tray. On my older 360 it's chrome, and on the new one it's the same white plastic finish as the rest of the body.

[EskimoPie @ Dec 10th 2008 6:28PM]

I thought that only meant the difference between a pro and an arcade.

[TimmyRaa @ Dec 10th 2008 6:29PM]

I could be wrong, but the silver tray indicates a premium Xbox package, and the normal white plastic tray is the basic/arcade/whatever version. At least that's how it used to be.

[Pc_Madness @ Dec 10th 2008 6:48PM]

Yup, White for Arcade/whatever that older entry level one was called units.

[Evan @ Dec 11th 2008 2:44AM]

I really hope you are just being sarcastic Kevin.

[MRCUR @ Dec 10th 2008 6:20PM]

Ben Heck and Engadget do it again! They make a big to-do about Ben Heck finding all this amazing Xbox info when there have already been posts about this, even with multiple links to established guides.

My proverbial hat goes off to you guys, really though, job well done.

[/sarcasm]

Maybe you could support the greater Xbox community a bit for Engadget. But no, you just want the "exclusive" Jasper guide from your idiol Ben Heck. Good job my ass...

[The Joker @ Dec 10th 2008 6:37PM]

Why so serious?

[MRCUR @ Dec 10th 2008 7:06PM]

Because this has happened before with Mr. Heck...

[Esteban @ Dec 10th 2008 8:17PM]

When you can make a "laptop" out of a game console, then come back and talk trash. Until then, you can shut the fuck up.

[polobunny @ Dec 10th 2008 8:39PM]

Esteban that has nothing to do with the topic. There's a large Xbox scene which isn't built by Ben Heck, you know. Not saying Ben Heck isn't doing good work or anything, but MRCUR is right in saying that Engadget only seems to publish what he does, even if it's rehashing relatively "old" information.

[Zorque @ Dec 10th 2008 8:58PM]

You name me one non-Microsoft employee who knows more about the 360 than Ben and you'll have a valid point. Otherwise, kindly shut the fuck up.

[Mick @ Dec 10th 2008 10:01PM]

@Zorque
powerslave from xbox360-hacks.com will put ben to shame. and most M$ employees

[MRCUR @ Dec 10th 2008 10:07PM]

What would you like to know? I'm pretty sure my guide is pretty damn close to what Mr. Heck has written here, probably a bit more concrete at that. And you can find everything he said in the ensuing discussion of my guide if I don't already have it there.

It's interesting to see how the comments which aren't in 100% support of Ben get low ranked...

[Evan @ Dec 11th 2008 2:41AM]

Maybe they feature Ben Heckendorn more than other modding enthusiasts because he is a GUEST COLUMNIST ON ENGADGET. Did you see who wrote the article?

This guy knows his stuff, and he mods a lot more than just 360's, any tech blog would love to have a guy like Ben Heck writing columns for them. You can talk about the 360 modding scene all you want, but Ben's been doing it for years on multiple platforms, and very few mods ever come close across the board to his quality. You are getting down ranked for attacking a guy who is just a great modder, you act as if he is doing a disservice to all of us for posting these pictorials.

[Abuzar Baloach @ Dec 10th 2008 6:20PM]

You call yourself an Ace modder? I mean, you're good, but calling YOURSELF that? I can understand if I say it or someone else says it.

[j_c_dunn @ Dec 11th 2008 11:48AM]

Her didn't write the intro, the people here at Engadget said that. Pretty easy to tell from rerading comprehension though I suppose they should have placed a : after the Read On line to more easily differentiate the writers.

[Kris120890 @ Dec 10th 2008 6:28PM]

I think someone else helped write this. That said prepare to be low ranked.

[Jon Nelson @ Dec 11th 2008 1:36AM]

@ kris

Seems like that kinda backfired on you, didn't it?

[Evan @ Dec 11th 2008 2:43AM]

I'll put a few monopoly bucks down on betting someone else wrote the lead-in.

[Kris120890 @ Dec 10th 2008 6:24PM]

Oh I forgot to say I love you Heckendorn.
In fact I love you so much I may turn gay. You give me nerdgasms with the things you do.

[Lowest Ranked @ Dec 10th 2008 8:09PM]

Tango Mike India

[1adam1 @ Dec 10th 2008 6:25PM]

*Nerdgasm*

[Samboini @ Dec 10th 2008 6:41PM]

Share the goodness.

[collegekid13 @ Dec 10th 2008 6:24PM]

i'm sad. bought mine 3 days ago and if id known this id have waited longer. oh well my ps3 will always work

[Hotrod @ Dec 10th 2008 6:29PM]

You should be able to return it unless you got it from eBay or something similar.

[substance90 @ Dec 10th 2008 6:28PM]

What`s so special about this xbox version?

[Ysleiro @ Dec 10th 2008 6:31PM]

You must have not read the post my friend.

I will not do your job for you. READ !

[iLive @ Dec 10th 2008 6:42PM]

it has a smaller GPU, less likely to melt or RROD.