So, a top-secret document has popped up over at the Cheap Ass Gamer forums from a reliable source, detailing some Xbox 360 name changes. Unfortunately, we have no idea what those names mean for us, since they're fairly idiotic, could just be internal code names, and could be fake altogether. We're trying not to believe Microsoft is going to hit the market with the Xbox Lean, Xbox Granite and Xbox Pure, unless the "Lean" is actually slimmed down, and the "Pure" version is truly the purest of all Xboxes. HEXUS has a theory that these could be names for that 65nm unified-chip Valhalla Xboxen due for the end of the year, which may actually be feasible, but implications that the Pure could be a full-on sequel to the 360 seem preposterous at best.

Update: Turns out this is a fake.

[Via HEXUS.gaming]

We think we've already got a handle on the various chipset revisions planned for Microsoft's too-beautiful-for-this-world Xbox 360*, but it looks like that planned 45nm "Valhalla" combined CPU / GPU motherboard design we've been hearing about might also come in a redesigned, smaller case. That's certainly news to us, but TG Daily has the refresh happening on the same fall-2009 timeline we've been hearing about, so at least all these sketchy rumors line up. We'll see when we see -- it sounds like the 65nm Jasper units are coming off the line for that August release in the meantime to keep us all warm at night.

*Guess which Engadget ed had his 360 go RRoD over the weekend? You only get one try.

[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]

While our primary gripe with the 360 continues to be drive noise, any improvements to the console that might subdue the impression it's eating our games and heating our continent would certainly be welcome. Microsoft's Jasper 65nm chipset has been in the works for the Xbox 360 for a while, and now reports are coming fast and furious that Taiwanese companies are picking up the contracts for the chips, and the new setup will be sucking down less wattage and pumping out less heat by August of this year. After that attention will turn to the rumored Valhalla, to be built by the same Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which will combine the CPU and GPU into a new super-efficient chip for fall of '09 if these reports are anything to go by.

[Via Joystiq]

Although word on the street is that Microsoft is planning to release the successor to the Xbox 360 in 2010, the company is still apparently planning on updating the 360 design several more times in the next couple years. Just like the "Falcon" motherboard now on shelves updated the original 360 design with a 65nm CPU, the upcoming "Jasper" revision should take the GPU to 65nm as well -- but that's more or less common knowledge. What we're hearing now is that all those RRoDed 360s sitting in warehouses are going to be retrofitted with the same 65 / 90nm CPU / GPU combo as Falcon, but on a mobo design called "Opus" that fits the original Xbox case molds. That means no HDMI, since pre-Falcon cases didn't have the openings -- but apparently MS is only planning on sending these out as warranty replacements. The real action, however, appears to be "Valhalla," a supposed final rev of the 360 that integrates the GPU and CPU into a single "superchip." Details on that are more than sketchy, and we're definitely skeptical -- especially since we'd been hearing chatter about 45nm CPUs, but nothing about a unified architecture. We'll see when we see -- as long as all these boxes play CoD4, we'll be happy.