There have been rumors on tech blogs, and a brief tease from Microsoft back in December. Now, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer has offered the major official specs for the upcoming Xbox Series X console expected to launch towards the end of the year.
First up, the talk has been confirmed that the console will include 12 teraflops of GPU performance, twice what’s available in the Xbox One X, and eight times the original Xbox One. In fact, it’s just shy of the 13.4 teraflops performance of the current reigning champ of graphics cards – Nvidia’s RTX 2080 Ti launch in 2018. Essentially that will allow for games on par with most current mid-high end PCs.
The other big news, the console will include HDMI 2.1 which will allow for features such as Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM), Variable Refresh Rate (VRR), and support for up to 120 fps. As with previous consoles, the Xbox Series X will be backwards compatible with all previous generations.
The console will include a custom-designed CPU based on AMD’s Zen 2 and Radeon RDNA 2 architecture, and an NVMe SSD to boost load times and improve “nearly every aspect of playing games”.
There’s a Quick Resume feature which lets you continue multiple games from a suspended state almost instantly, and ‘Dynamic Latency Input’ which will allow for more precise and responsive controls.
Microsoft’s patented Variable Rate Shading (VRS) system allows for the priority of “individual effects on specific game characters or important environmental objects” – resulting in more stable frame rates with no impact on the final image quality.
Hardware-accelerated DirectX raytracing will allow for “true-to-life lighting, accurate reflections and realistic acoustics in real-time”. The ‘Smart Delivery’ technology means you only have to purchase a title once in order to play the best available version for whichever Xbox console you choose to play on.
Finally, Xbox Game Pass aims to continue to have first-party games, like “Halo Infinite,” included at their launch.
Sony has remained radio silent in regards to the PlayStation 5 beyond some early comments last year which indicated it will be very similar in power and features. Both consoles are expected to have their first playable showing together at the Tokyo Game Show in September.
Neither Sony or Microsoft have discussed the key details people want to know – price, release date and exclusives to come at launch or beyond.
Source: Xbox.com
