Before the new Microsoft game consoles Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S were launched, heise online had the opportunity to test the final models in detail. After many days full of measurements and extensive gaming sessions, we can state that compared to their predecessors, the new consoles are not only particularly powerful, but also extremely quiet. Our detailed test of the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S shows: The game consoles usher in a new era of inconspicuousness – but not always in a positive way. Because at least for the market launch on 10. November there will be no real, exclusive next-gen games that demonstrate the capabilities of the consoles.

The Xbox Series X costs 500 Euro and should be most games in 4K and 60 fps. The console even remains whisper-quiet during games – we only measured 0.1 sone each time – unless a Blu-ray (0.6 sone) is rotating in the drive. Microsoft has managed the cooling concept really well and the comparatively large case volume (15 x 15 x 30 cm) used. The waste heat is transported away efficiently – however, when setting up, you should make sure that the fan grill always remains free. The Xbox Series S also remains nice and quiet when playing (less than 0.2 sone). The maximum power consumption determined by us in Gears of War 5 is around 200 Watt (Series X), or 90 Watt (Series S). When playing back movies, the Series X burned up to 80 Watt, the Series S round 50 Watt.

Test discussion on the Xbox Series S & X from heise online.

Fast loading, little space The particularly fast SSD significantly reduces loading times for most games – some games load around the Factor 5 faster. Among the games tested, Forza Horizon 4 and Monster Hunter: World benefited the most from the Xbox console’s SSD. There is also the practical Quick Resume function, which allows gamers to switch back and forth between several games within a few seconds – thanks to the fast SSD cache. That worked in the test with up to eight games at the same time.

The Xbox Series X has an HDMI 2.1 port, three USB ports (USB 3.1 Gen 1), an Ethernet port and memory expansion slot.

Unfortunately, the storage space is a bit tight: On the Series X, 801 Use GByte, on the Series S only 364 GByte. In the meantime, however, some games are partly well over 100 GByte in size, e.g. Call of Duty: Warzone. When buying the new consoles you should keep that in mind and, if necessary, use the proprietary one, 240 Order expensive SSD storage expansion at the same time. This is especially important for players with lame internet connections who cannot “just quickly” download a game again.

Almost all games run on the Series X and Series S, which also run on the previous One and One X work. Even without special adjustments, many benefit from the new console performance, show sharper textures through a sixteen-fold anisotropic filter or prettier colors through a more or less well-functioning Auto-HDR mode.

To the new functions like 4K at 120 To use Hz or a variable refresh rate, the game must be adapted to the technology and the television must be compatible. In the test with Dirt 5 the game worked with 100 Hz more fluid and remained sharper with fast movements, but the rendering resolution was lower and some details were missing compared to 60 – fps mode. At the time of testing, however, the game was not yet finalized.

Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S outperform their respective Predecessor Xbox One and Xbox One X in every way. They are faster, quiet and, thanks to modern functions, offer a good basis for the games of the coming years. In the absence of real next-gen titles at the start of sales, there is still no urgency for owners of the Xbox One X to switch to the Series X right away. For Xbox One users, however, an upgrade could already be worthwhile – after all, the power of the new consoles also gives many older titles a lot of momentum.

Find the full test with all measurement results, thermal images and other findings You on heise +:

Consoles in comparison: Technical data Xbox Series X Xbox Series S Xbox One X Xbox One S AMD Zen 2 / 8 x 3.8GHz (3, 66 GHz Multi-Core) AMD Zen 2/8 × 3.6 GHz (3.4 GHz multi-core) AMD Jaguar / 8 × 2.3 GHz AMD Jaguar / 8 × 1, 75 GHz 16 GByte GDDR6 / 320 Bit GByte GDDR6 / 120 Bit 12 GByte GDDR 5 / 384 bit 8 GByte DDR3 / 245 Bit AMD RDNA 2 / 12, 5 TFLOPS AMD RDNA 2/4 TFLOPS AMD GCN 4/6 TFLOPS AMD GCN 2 / 1.4 TFLOPS 1.8 GHz / 52 1.6 GHz / 20 1.2 GHz / 40 0.9 GHz / 12 SSD (PCIe Gen 4, NVMe) / 1 TByte SSD (PCIe Gen 4, NVMe) / 512 GByte HDD with 5400 RPM / 1 TByte HDD with 5400 RPM / 500 GByte, 1 TByte, 2 TByte 820 GByte 364 GByte 780 GByte 780 GByte ( 1 TByte version) ✓ (UHD Blu-ray) – ✓ (UHD Blu-ray) ✓ (UHD-Blu-ray) 1 × HDMI 2.1 / – 1 × HDMI 2.1 / – 1 × HDMI 2.0b / 1 × HDMI 2.0b 1 × HD MI 2.0a / 1 × HDMI 2.0a 3 × USB 3.1 (type A, 1 × front, 2 × rear) 3 × USB 3.1 (Type A, 1 × front, 2 × rear) 3 × USB 3.0 (type A, 1 × front, 2 × rear) 3 × USB 3.0 (type A, 1 × front, 2 × rear) ✓ / proprietary (back) ✓ / proprietary (back) – – 1 × Gigabit Ethernet / Wi-Fi 5 (801. 11 ac) 1 × Gigabit Ethernet / Wi-Fi 5 (801. 11 ac) 1 × Gigabit Ethernet / Wi-Fi 5 (801. 10 ac) 1 × gigabit Ethernet / Wi-Fi 5 (801. 11 ac) – – S / PDIF, IR S / PDIF, IR 150 mm × 300 mm × 150 mm 275 mm × 65 mm × 150 mm 275 mm × 60 mm × 240 mm 300 mm × 63 mm × 230 mm internal (315 Watt) internal (nb) internal (245 Watt) internal (120 Watt) ( mfi)