360 models

[JamesS]

My 360 has finally died with the red rings today, so I need to get a replacement (I'm outside the three year warranty period).

Given I already have a 120 gig hard drive and all the controllers and cables and whatnot, is there any reason to get anything other than an Arcade unit? Are there any differences between the models other than the case colour and what peripherals you get in the box? I've not really followed all the changes to the range since launch.

[Paulos G]

If I were in your position I'd just get an Arcade unit.

[JamesS]

Ta. I wasn't sure if there were any other non-obvious differences (I vaguely remember some models still lacking HDMI ports after they were introduced, for example), but reading up more it looks like they're all pretty much the same basic unit now.

[Paulos G]

Yeah, that's my understanding. Just check the box to make sure it's got HDMI if you need it.

[JamesS]

Just got an Arcade. It's a fair bit quieter than my old one, which is a bonus I guess.

Bit crap that you have to reinstall any games you had on your hard drive, though. Given that they need the disk in the drive to run, I don't really see why you can't just use the existing installation.

[Robster]

Hijacking slightly here but I was wondering if someone can advise me what's best chip set is to get with hdmi and what models have said combination.

Im looking to upgrade to an Elite but have read they dont have the newest(most reliable) chip set - jasper is it?.

Thanks in advance guys

[tom-nook]

Yeah Jasper is the latest revision and, although it's early days, considered be the most reliable. iirc they have a 65nm rather than 90nm gpu which should mean less overheating issues and also lower power consumption.

Most of the Arcade and 60gb 360's in the wild should now be Jaspers. The Resi 4 (red) Elites are Jaspers too I believe but not too sure about the 'regular' Elites.

[JamesS]

Yeah, the one I got from Game yesterday is a recent Jasper with the 512MB internal memory (still says 256 on the box).