I saw this posted on Gaf.

Fudzilla

It seems now that recent speculation that the new main System on a Chip (SoC) for the Next Xbox (or Xbox 720, if you like) began production is apparently accurate; the SoC did indeed start production in late December of 2011. Sources tell us that the code name for the chip is Oban, and it is being produced by both IBM and Global Foundries for Microsoft.

If speculation is correct, which our sources believe it is, the power behind the next Xbox will be a PowerPC CPU that is married to an ATI Southern Islands GPU, or modified 7000 series. Continued rumors of an x86 compatible CPU seem to be bunk, just based on where the chip is being fab’d.

This first run of these 32nm Oban chips will be destined for developer consoles, so any hope for a holiday console release in 2012 seems unrealistic, according to our sources, but an announcement perhaps before the end of the year might be possible. It would seem Microsoft’s strategy of getting it in 2013 is all but assured. We do think that the chips will be in production by the end of the year for consoles destined to be sold in 2013, which seems to agree with what others are saying.

There are still many unknowns, but those in the development community seem to be clued in at least a high level. From the shadows we hear whispers of expecting development kits as early as March, but more than likely April, if all goes well.

While we expect these development kits to shed some light on what Microsoft will be doing with the Next Xbox/720, it is very likely that we will see at least couple of revisions before everything is settled as they get closer to an actual production unit.

Charlie seems to be hearing close to the same thing right here.

http://www.fudzilla.com/processors/item/25619-oban-initial-product-run-is-real

Ok, we can expect the new XBOX out in 2013.

This just seems to be a rumor lending credit to a rumor.  There are no new details, just the same info that SemiAccurate produced.  The difference is while SA was rather open and non-specific, Fudzilla was more specific.  Otherwise, it's the same info.

According to this rumor Xbox 3 will likely come out in autumn 2013.

Regardless of that, if this graphics card is, in fact, based on the 7000 series then it will support 3GB of graphics RAM. Taking into consideration that if it's going to be modified, then I'd assume it will be upped to an even 4GB of RAM.

Of course this is all still a rumor, but it at least gives us an idea of what to expect from next-gen systems. If the Xbox-720 will release in 2013, then maybe there will be hope that it will have 8GB of RAM. Regardless, 4GB of RAM will definitely be in line to the increase we've normally seen in console technology.

The sooner the better, can't wait to see the new efforts and game cycle, and renewed console dev excitement!

Hm, Development Kits out in March? That would be only 1 1/2 years if the Xbox3 launch Oct/Nov 2013. Perhaps a 2014 launch is more likely?

LOL there is no way the Xbox 3 will be running 7000 series ATI hardware. Its not even feesable. If development kits are going out now, then they've been working on the architecture and customising the GPU for a good 12 months, making it 6000 series at the most. Which in itself is still more powerful than the WiiU and way more powerful than the Xbox 360. Its also a whole lot of unneccessary overkill. The 7800gtx in the Ps3 is an ancient old dog of a GPU that even now pumps out Full HD goodness on the Ps3 and runs Crysis 2 beautifully. Put Crysis 2 next to an actual 7800gtx and it'll grow legs and run. Console hardware doesn't need to be anywhere near as powerful as PC hardware to pump out great graphics due to the lack of multiple hardware configurations and DirectX. A console with 7000 series ATI Gpu would run every game for the next 5 years in 5760 x 1080p on 3 screens at once with full AA, without breaking a sweat. It'd also be the size of a server case to keep the damn thing cool. I call shenanigans on all this BS.

Rapid game development is quite the new thing. With ready engines and easily portable codebases between platforms, some games, (I think shooters especially) can be pumped out pretty fast. I'm not a dev so someone either back me up or bash the crap outta me, I'm not 100% certain.

I disagree. I think it's perfectly feasible for the next xbox to have a 7000 series GPU. New consoles often come out with the newest hardware. It's not like Microsoft has to wait for the 7000 series GPU to be finished before it can start developing the next xbox. An Xbox is basically just a preconfigured computer. Besides, the 7000 series GPUs are about to be released, meaning they're pretty much ready. And it's also possible that Microsoft's Xbox team was working closely with ATI in the development of the 7000 series GPUs.

In regards to overkill, I also disagree. This new console needs to be future proof. This next console generation will most likely be the last true console generation before services like Onlive become fully realized. Right now, hardware tech is pulling ahead of graphics tech...or at least what's reasonable for developers to even bother providing because of development costs.   The next generation of consoles will most likely take much longer before we see hardware become limiting...but that's a good thing. Development costs should not be raised even higher than what it is now. A lot of the money that goes into making games is spent on optimizing the game to work smoothly on consoles. With console capabilities being that high, developers can save a lot of time and resources not having to deal with this. At the least, development costs won't need to rise.