Xbox 360 Elite red limited edition review

red elite jasper 65nm GPU CPU quiet xbox 360 resident evil 5
What seems to be the first Elite "Jasper" has now reached the market, in a red suit. I take a look at the package, noise and power consumption of the new Elite unit.

The backside of the box

The new Elite comes from the rebranding team, ADUE. Lot number is 0908 and manufacturing date is 15 of January.

12.1A on the 12v rail, as demanded for "Jasper" units.

Another look at the backside

Front view

The Package is of an elite, as is the pad below, with lots of black parts. As you can see, the HDD caddy is the same as the regular model.

The power supply:

Falcon on the right, Jasper on the left

The power supply is of the same size but has a few holes in the middle, while it's also a lot more quiet. The PSU of the Falcon unit is noisier than the the console itself, while the one from jasper is barely noticeable - it's almost required for you to put your ear next to it. The new unit is also lighter.

Nothing to see here

The said "breathing" holes.

Backside of the 150W PSU

Power consumption


These are the figures, as measured with a Brennenstuhl PM 230. The HDD only takes up about 3W, maybe less and that means this Elite looks more like a Falcon than a Jasper. Still, this isn't a particularly high quality power measuring device, so that should be the problem.
New measurements have showed that this particular sample has a PSU with not very good efficiency, which explains the similarities in power consumption. The 203w PSU brings the load power down to 123w.

Conclusion

The new Jasper Elite fixes noise and temperature issues, especially noise. The fans of the console are still a bit on the noisy side and the temperature of the air they move is comparable to the one from the Falcon, albeit slightly cooler. The power supply unit is a lot more silent than the old high pitched noise one, which makes it a better fit as a media center device.
I must say that most of my hopes for the new version have been met, it's only a shame that the "ketchup" Elite was the first one to come around.
I'm also happy to report that the D-Pad has also improved: the rubbers have a better response than the old ones, which was a problem for most fighting games in the system.
The noise from the DVD drive one seems to be lower, since I can actually hear the drive lens move while reading discs, something I can't say for the Falcon Benq drive - it still ain't quiet though.

It's a highly recommended package - as it would be for the hardware alone - which also brings Resident Evil 5 and Super Street Fighter 2 HD for the same base price of $399 or 299eur.