I went through the same thing, finally found an Elite that had the Falcon and new heat sink. there's a way to tell by looking at the serial # sticker on the box, and also the manufacture date. this can all be done without taking the 360 out of the box. this link shows how to tell, it applies to all 360's, not just Elites.

http://www.anandtech.com/gadgets/showdoc.aspx?i=3152&p=3

I went to Best Buy, Circuit City, Toys R Us and just asked to look at the box. if I didn't see the right specs I didn't buy it.

I just bought the Elite on Wed and it works great so far. its alot louder than my PS3 but so far so good. it has the new heat sink and falcon chip. newer Elites should have these, and supposedly they're less likely to have the RROD.

I've been playing CoD2 for a few hours at a time and have Gears of War and CoD4 in the stash. can someone explain what the towel trick is?

I've been reading this and other boards about the whole Falcon chip/heat sink that may prevent RROD. Based on the serial #s I can see, my Xbox Elite probably doesn't have the falcon/heat sink.

I'm worried about spending $450 on this system only to have it crash. I know about the 3yr warranty, but should I return my Elite (its unopened) andjust try to look for a newer one with the Falcon, or just cross my fingers and plug this thing in and start playing?

is the whole RROD overblown? I've read that the newer ones run cooler and quieter, so is it worth waiting until I can find a falcon version?