Numerous reports have emerged claiming that new shipments of 360 hardware will come with an updated motherboard said to be far less susceptible to RRoD than previous iterations.

Microsoft has told Edge that it cannot comment on issues regarding internal redesigns for the console, so this remains speculation, yet reports – along with pictures of the new console’s innards – are making convincing suggestions that the new hardware features 65 nanometer AMD GPUs (as opposed to the 90nm components featured in the console’s first edition), as well as a 150w power brick.

It is said that these additions will allow for a cooler system which would, in theory, greatly reduce or eliminate the chances of the notorious RRoD system failure. VentureBeat’s Dean Takahashi said that "the graphics chip will likely consume less power than previous versions, allowing it to fit snugly into its motherboard socket. That should lead to fewer system failures due to the graphics chips coming loose."

There are also suggestions that the newest versions of the console comes with 256MB of on-board flash memory which, if true, could happily store the 128MB of space needed to hold NXE without the use of a hard-drive or memory stick; a system which would be an ideal addition for Arcade versions of the console.

Though the new motherboard – codenamed Jasper – is believed to be in circulation in the US, it is not known if such versions of the console are being shipped anywhere else.

Update: Microsoft has sent through a statement, which we will leave for your own interpretaton:

"Regularly updating console components is commonplace within the industry and is a standard aspect of the business for a variety of reasons including cost reduction, improved manufacturability and improved performance. We do not provide details on these updates."