Monday, March 16th 2020
Complete Hardware Specs Sheet of Xbox Series X Revealed
Microsoft just put out of the complete hardware specs-sheet of its next-generation Xbox Series X entertainment system. The list of hardware can go toe to toe with any modern gaming desktop, and even at its production scale, we're not sure if Microsoft can break-even at around $500, possibly counting on game and DLC sales to recover some of the costs and turn a profit. To begin with the semi-custom SoC at the heart of the beast, Microsoft partnered with AMD to deploy its current-generation "Zen 2" x86-64 CPU cores. Microsoft confirmed that the SoC will be built on the 7 nm "enhanced" process (very likely TSMC N7P). Its die-size is 360.45 mm².
The chip packs 8 "Zen 2" cores, with SMT enabling 16 logical processors, a humongous step up from the 8-core "Jaguar enhanced" CPU driving the Xbox One X. CPU clock speeds are somewhat vague. It points to 3.80 GHz nominal and 3.66 GHz with SMT enabled. Perhaps the console can toggle SMT somehow (possibly depending on whether a game requests it). There's no word on the CPU's cache sizes.
The graphics processor is another key component of the SoC given its lofty design goal of being able to game at 4K UHD with real-time ray-tracing. This GPU is based on AMD's upcoming RDNA2 graphics architecture, which is a step up from "Navi" (RDNA), in featuring real-time ray-tracing hardware optimized for DXR 1.1 and support for variable-rate shading (VRS). The GPU features 52 compute units (3,328 stream processors provided each CU has 64 stream processors in RDNA2). The GPU ticks at an engine clock speed of up to 1825 MHz, and has a peak compute throughput of 12 TFLOPs (not counting CPU). The display engine supports resolutions of up to 8K, even though the console's own performance targets at 4K at 60 frames per second, and up to 120 FPS. Variable refresh-rate is supported.
The memory subsystem is similar to what we reported earlier today - a 320-bit GDDR6 memory interface holding 16 GB of memory (mixed chip densities). It's becoming clear that Microsoft isn't implementing a hUMA common memory pool approach. 10 GB of the 16 GB runs at 560 GB/s bandwidth, while 6 GB of it runs at 336 GB/s. Storage is another area that's receiving big hardware uplifts: the Xbox Series X features a 1 TB NVMe SSD with 2400 MB/s peak sequential transfer rate, and an option for an additional 1 TB NVMe storage through an expansion module. External storage devices are supported, too, over 10 Gbps USB 3.2 gen 2. The console is confirmed to feature a Blu-ray drive that supports 4K UHD Blu-ray playback. All these hardware specs combine toward what Microsoft calls the "Xbox Velocity Architecture." Microsoft is also working toward improving the input latency of its game controllers.
The chip packs 8 "Zen 2" cores, with SMT enabling 16 logical processors, a humongous step up from the 8-core "Jaguar enhanced" CPU driving the Xbox One X. CPU clock speeds are somewhat vague. It points to 3.80 GHz nominal and 3.66 GHz with SMT enabled. Perhaps the console can toggle SMT somehow (possibly depending on whether a game requests it). There's no word on the CPU's cache sizes.
The memory subsystem is similar to what we reported earlier today - a 320-bit GDDR6 memory interface holding 16 GB of memory (mixed chip densities). It's becoming clear that Microsoft isn't implementing a hUMA common memory pool approach. 10 GB of the 16 GB runs at 560 GB/s bandwidth, while 6 GB of it runs at 336 GB/s. Storage is another area that's receiving big hardware uplifts: the Xbox Series X features a 1 TB NVMe SSD with 2400 MB/s peak sequential transfer rate, and an option for an additional 1 TB NVMe storage through an expansion module. External storage devices are supported, too, over 10 Gbps USB 3.2 gen 2. The console is confirmed to feature a Blu-ray drive that supports 4K UHD Blu-ray playback. All these hardware specs combine toward what Microsoft calls the "Xbox Velocity Architecture." Microsoft is also working toward improving the input latency of its game controllers.
128 Comments on Complete Hardware Specs Sheet of Xbox Series X Revealed
GPU is effectively 10 GiB at 128-bit and CPU is effectively 6 GiB at 64-bit.
12288 MB + 4096 MB
10240 MB @ 560GB/s, 6144 MB @ 336GB/s
320 Bit / 192 Bit
XSX GPU has about 25 TF.
I mean, upcoming titles in 4K with RT will definitely not run with 4.5GB of vram
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:PlayStation_4-only_games
There are maybe 3 games on this list that I'd want to play at all: Spider Man, Gran Turismo and God of War (maybe).
As for Xbox exclusives: I'd only miss Forza Horizon (which is my most played console game so far).
Vast majority of popular games are available on both platforms. I doubt exclusives are a serious factor for many.
For me Xbox wins because of the ecosystem.
Gaming-wise: Game Pass and Live are both good, Play Anywhere is nice as well and controller support in Windows is excellent. Frankly, I also prefer the controller itself.
But there's much more to it. I love that there's an app for OneDrive (and Dropbox as well). I occasionally use Skype too.
There's also very good integration with Assistants (not just Cortana) and automation frameworks (I use IFTTT extensively).
And there's a chance they'll go further with this philosophy.
If they do - I may even buy this stupid next-gen flowerpot.
PlayStation is very focused on gaming, which may be attractive for some, but for me it just doesn't beat the flexibility of Xbox.
www.extremetech.com/gaming/301380-why-the-playstation-4-triumphed-over-the-xbox-oneThose are meaningless numbers to console gamers, they only care if it will play the latest Madden, FIFA, CoD game on their 4k TV with shinier graphics then the previous generation
...unless n7+ is really that good...
If the first thing you think about is: "but what about overheating?", you've literraly wasted a big chunk of the premium you're paying to Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo.
What you should think about is: "will it look well in my living room?" and "is the controller comfortable?"
It's a black box. It was designed and (hopefully: well) tested. We should assume it can do its part.
And if it can't - there's very little you can do to help.
And there are only 2 makers to choose from. And if you already got a console but you don't like it, it's hard to move to the competition, because you can't take your games with you.
At N7 node, that performance needs wattage.
There are some helpful animations if you click on the link below.
www.xbox.com/en-US/consoles/xbox-series-x