Microsoft’s Phil Spencer took to Xbox Wire this morning with additional details on Xbox Series X specs. We already had a somewhat decent idea of what to expect from the upcoming black box with information from the unveil in December of last year and possible early photos of the system’s I/O ports. But today’s information puts some specific numbers on paper and highlights some of the system’s interesting new features. Everything is down below.
Scheduled for release this holiday season, it’s about time Microsoft let the specifics out of the bag here. In today’s blog post, Spencer starts out by outlining the physical Xbox Series X specs, and this thing is no joke.
Xbox Series X specs:
Firstly, on the processor side of things, Microsoft will be tapping into AMD’s latest Zen 2 and RDNA 2 architectures with a GPU that can run at up to 12 teraflops. That, according to Microsoft, is twice the power of an Xbox One X and eight times the juice found in the orignal Xbox. You can expect more “dynamic and realistic environments powered by hardware-accelerated DirectX Raytracing,” which, is a “first for console gaming” if Microsoft has anything to say about it.
Xbox Series X Quick Resume:
Xbox Series X is also capable of 120-frames per second and features SSD storage that helps with speedy load times and other fancy tech found in the box because of it. But there is also an interesting new Quick Resume feature that will negate the need to even wait for games to load saves and the like. As the name suggests, Quick Resume allows gamers to pick up right where they left off. But even more interestingly, the feature will let you “continue multiple games from a suspended state almost instantly, returning you to where you were and what you were doing, without waiting through long loading screens.” No direct details on the max suspended game limit have been mentioned.
Smart Delivery:
One major selling point when it comes to Xbox Series X specs is backwards compatibility. Something Sony just never seemed didn’t seemed to get right this generation (or hasn’t yet anyway), Microsoft will make it so all Xbox One and Xbox 360 titles will be playable, as well as all of the orignal Xbox games that are currently playable on Xbox One. Today, we are learning about the new Smart Delivery system built-in to Xbox Series X that ensures gamers are playing the most optimized version of the title in question. Microsoft explains it like this:
This technology empowers you to buy a game once and know that – whether you are playing it on Xbox One or Xbox Series X – you are getting the right version of that game on whatever Xbox you’re playing on.
Smart Delivery technology will be used on all exclusive Xbox Game Studios titles (including Halo Infinite) and be available to other developers if they’re interested. The details are little muddy right now, but it sounds like Smart Delivery technology will only be available on first-party titles and those where the developer has opted in.
Electronicsforward’ Take:
Well, we have been waiting for more details on the Xbox Series X specs for a while now, and here they are. The machine appears to be in the same league as PlayStation 5 with lightning fast SSD-driven performance and the ever-popular ray tracing technology, but it’s hard to say whether or not the recent PS5 price rumors can be applied to Xbox Series X as well. Bloomberg analysts have the PS5 going for roughly $470 at launch based on increasing production costs. But after falling so far behind to PS4 in the console race this generation, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Microsoft get extremely aggressive with launch pricing on its next generation home console later this year.
Be sure to swing by the Xbox Wire for details on today’s Xbox Series X specs unveil. You’ll also want to check out our launch coverage, potential I/O details, and our video review of the Xbox Elite Series 2 controller while you’re at it.
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