“The ninth generation begun is” as Master Yoda would say. Well, after the endless flurry of rumors, rumors, more or less definitive specifications, announcements, denials and the usual process that anticipates the debut of a new generation of consoles, Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 are between us, or at least in the hands of the specialized press. A point that should not be overlooked so superficially, given the difficulties that producers are encountering in churning out the new systems en masse, with the health crisis that complicates everything.

new generation of consoles starts from two assumptions: greater computing power with the ability to play, even on consoles, at high refresh rates , resolutions up to 8K in upscaling and with latest generation visual effects such as Ray Tracing . The second assumption is the SSD , which will significantly speed up uploads and remove some historical obstacles for developers, who will be completely free to structure their game worlds without having to mind the restrictions related to the bottleneck generated by mechanical discs.

Let’s start from one point, the Xbox Series X review , with this type of timeline, cannot be exhaustive: it’s not so much because we have the console in the editorial office for only two weeks, but it is more a matter of vision and perspective. Evaluating if a console is presenting the specifications and has the prerogatives to be successful is almost impossible in such a short time, because “win” a “console race” depends on many factors, not all, or perhaps few or very few, controllable by console manufacturers. It would be better to say that it is a challenge, a bet that is launched by trying to guess what the entertainment tastes of current and future players will be (considering that PS4 and Xbox One have been on the market for 7 years now).

We can immediately make some assessments on energy consumption, temperatures , operating efficiency, skin characteristics, interface user, noise, loading times , but then the quality of the next exclusive and non-exclusive games, the capacity to update systems with new firmware, future features and offers for customers will, as usual, make a difference.

Although PlayStation has hands down won the previous generation, the two rivals (Nintendo, for obvious reasons, plays on a separate field) are very close. We saw it in the war of embargoes they triggered at the time of unboxing and we see it on many other fronts, starting with the technical specifications. Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 are both based on Zen 2 architecture for the CPU and RDNA 2 with hardware support for Ray Tracing as regards the GPU. This obviously comes with a lot of advantages, and could be considered indispensable from the point of view of developers, who are not so forced into a laborious conversion work when switching from one console to another.

Xbox Series X features a GPU at 52 Compute Unit , i.e. a significantly higher architectural density than to PlayStation 5, which stops at 36 Compute Unit . So, in terms of theoretical maximum computing power we are at 12 TFLOPS versus 10, 23 TFLOPS . Microsoft has thought of a fixed frequency system, with the CPU (practically identical between the two consoles, 8 cores) running at 3.8 GHz and the GPU set to 1825 MHz, against the variable frequencies of PS5, i.e. up to 3.5 GHz for the CPU and up to 2, 23 GHz.

It is very difficult, if not impossible, to say which of the two producers has guessed the correct path. Because it depends on how the games are made and to what depth they can exploit the hardware they run on. It can be said that a game well optimized for the Xbox Series X hardware has the potential to run better than the corresponding version of the PS5. This is what currently happens with Xbox One X and PS4 Pro : Several games feature a more stable frame rate and slightly higher resolutions on One X than on PS4 Pro. But in the coming months, this comparison will be done game by game .

Technical specifications

Here are the full technical specifications of the two new Xbox consoles.

Test

These assessments must also be made in the light of the cooling systems and the energy efficiency of the two systems. Consoles, even more so than traditional desktop PC systems, must not overheat and must not incur energy inefficiencies, so that they can be used by the widest possible audience. After our first tests, we must say that they both work well and that they give a feeling of efficiency and stability greater than previous console launches. Xbox Series X features a voluminous fan at the top , and blows the hot air through a grille, towards the top.

In other words, if you are playing a Gears 5 and put your hand over the console, then you can feel a flow of hot air. Perhaps disturbing, certainly unusual if it is true that we are used to systems that emit the air from the rear. That said, based on the tests we’ve had so far, Xbox Series X overheats less than Xbox One X, is significantly less noisy, and is more efficient on the floor. of energy consumption . Immediately above the fan we have a perforated structure where, for each hole, there is a part in reflective green which returns a pleasant aesthetic effect, recalling the I find the typical green of the Xbox world. As for the power supply, the Xbox Series X comes with a 315 W and, as with all Xboxes from Xbox One S, the power supply will be internal. The regulators supply up to 100 W per square inch, with a charge peak of 128 TO.

The temperature test was done with the thermal imaging camera FLIR One , already used here in the editing of Hardware Upgrade for other works, for example for the thermal tests of laptops. We recorded a temperature of almost 48 ° C in the upper part of the console, which is the one that, for obvious reasons, heats up the most. Even after hours of gameplay, however, the Xbox Series X does not overheat excessively, and it always remains very quiet.

We were surprised that with the game running there is no noticeable increase in noise compared to the console at idle. We also tried to run Gears 5 for several hours and noises and temperatures increase a little: the console is therefore confirmed to be really very efficient in both aspects. The figure of just over 30 dB means that it is almost completely silent. Of course, as long as it is positioned in an airy environment and with the upper part completely free from obstacles.

Rather, it is the optical reader, when engaged in reading a disc, that generates the conditions of greatest noise. Moreover, it is a much quieter reading than that of the PS4 Pro player, which represents one of the sore points of the previous generation Sony console. Xbox Series X also is the most efficient console in terms of power consumption .

We ran the consumption test in idle and with three different games, Halo 5: Guardians, DooM Eternal and Gears 5 . Xbox Series X always holds firmly under the 190 Watts of power consumption and, beyond the case of Gears 5, always shows superior performance to the previous generation console. A very interesting data, which confirms the excellent manufacturing quality of the Xbox Series X power supply.

Given the debut of the SSD on consoles, it is very interesting how they improve i loading times of the games. It’s not so much how much it takes for the console to boot up in wonder, but how game loading times are cut, as our graph shows. The tests were carried out under normal conditions and not the presence of the Quick Resume functionality, which we will see better later.

The importance of the SSD does not end in the loading times because, as mentioned before, the very approach of the game developers, and will affect the shaping of the game worlds of future titles. We will explore this point further below.

Xbox Series X also gives the feeling of being a very compact system from the point of view of internal components, pursuing an approach already started with Xbox One X. An excellent engineering, therefore, which allowed to contain the dimensions and to give the console a minimalist aesthetic appearance, in line with the trend of the moment in terms of furnishings. In other words, if the designers of Microsoft Xbox drew on the way of thinking of an interior designer when they thought about the design of the new console, it seems that those of Sony were more based on the tastes of gamers and younger audiences.

The new Xbox Series X gamepad

The Xbox Series X gamepad is certainly not an evolution from previous generation Xbox gamepads. When you have it in your hand it immediately gives the feeling of great agility, with a very stable grip thanks to the increase in the knurled surface. This type of motif is in fact more accentuated and now also affects the upper part of the gamepad, starting with the triggers. Microsoft has also revised the buttons, since now they return a consistent sound feedback, as well as tactile, to the pressure, which provides greater guarantees about the fact that the pressure has occurred. The directional cross has also been significantly improved, and is now much more precise, with interesting implications also as regards the typing of the texts.

In addition, a vibration effect has been applied to the two upper triggers that reproduce a different type of feedback depending on what is happening in the game. These triggers have a different operation than the Xbox One pad triggers: inside them, in fact, there is an ERM (Eccentric Rotating Mass) motor , i.e. a system similar to the one already integrated into the controller handle. These vibration motors are activated at specific points and at different levels of intensity through a mechanical oscillation that rotates around a point of balance. This is a different technology than those based on sound waves (at the base, among others, of the Linear Resonant Actuators of the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con), which on paper guarantee more articulated vibrations and different levels of intensity.

Compatibility with a multitude of devices, apart from Xbox, is very important. The new controller, in fact, works with both Xbox Series X and Xbox One through the classic Xbox Wireless Radio proprietary protocol. At the same time it is compatible with PC, Android and iOS via the Bluetooth Low Energy (BTLE) protocol . Compared to the past, change the type of port on the controller, now type USB-C where up to the past generation was mini-USB type. The console, on the other hand, has no USB-C input on the body (unlike the PlayStation 5).

In addition, the new controller uses a higher frequency of communications with the system, in order to reduce latency. It falls within the concept that Microsoft with the new console is identifying with the name of Dynamic Latency Input (DLI) , that is a series of system-wide improvements that include a specific technology in the console and that also affects the HDMI connection to the TV / monitor.

At the bottom of the device we find the share button . With a single press we will create a screenshot, while with the double press on the screen the acquisitions and shares section will open where we can configure the type of acquisition. In all cases, however, these are clips with strong compression, basically usable for editorial purposes like ours (we had to proceed with the acquisitions with external box with the contents on the new consoles you see on the site these days).

SSD

With Xbox Series X debuts in console world the SSD as a reference point for storage. This has very important advantages not only in terms of game loading times, but also and above all of gameplay. Developers will have more design freedom for game worlds and will be able to manage large open worlds and populate them with very different polygonal objects.

At the same time, we have lower specifications compared to PlayStation 5. Sony beat a lot on this point in the advertising phase of its new console: where PS5 is inferior in terms of GPU, it catches up compared to Xbox Series X thanks to the technology behind the SSD . If at Microsoft the declared performances in terms of Throughput I / O are the following, 2.4 GB / s (raw) 4.8 GB / s (compressed) , Sony declares 5.5 GB / s (raw), 8-9 GB / s typical (compressed) . Also from this point of view it is extremely difficult to immediately verify what the real repercussions of the theoretical specifications are, because we will have to wait for the work of the developers from the point of view of optimizing their games on the basis of the new hardware.

Microsoft has inserted a new chip of custom I / O located in the SoC of the new console and a decompression system that has been designed to deliver data in a precise and timely manner. With the new API DirectStorage and the new hardware decompression, Microsoft is able to further improve the performance of I / O and reduce CPU overhead, both of which are essential for speeding up loads. Looking ahead, the Xbox Series X Streaming Feedback Sampler (SFS) is a game changer for streaming game worlds and their levels of visual detail.

SFS can be further exploited to increase the level of detail of the textures by loading on the memory only the strictly necessary contents. In fact, much of the latency of a hard disk is that it employs a mechanical head that moves across the surface of the disk (platter) to search for the data it needs: a mechanism that takes more time to search than to do. actual reading. Therefore, the same data is often duplicated hundreds of times simply to make it easier to find.

One point where Microsoft seems weaker than Sony is the available storage expansion system. . On the rear of the console is one slot for the Seagate Branded 1TB Expansion Card , at prices not exactly affordable. Sony, on the other hand, has thought of a more versatile NVMe SSD slot inside the console, to which it is possible to connect a traditional NVMe SSD, easily available on the market.

Microsoft has the advantage if you look at the size of the main unit inserted into the console. If in the case of PS5 it is 825 GB, of which just over 650 GB available to the user, Xbox Series X offers a 1 TB drive which, net of the console operating system installation, offers approximately 900 GB freely manageable by players.

HDMI 2.1 and 120 Hz

A separate discussion must be made regarding the connection HDMI 2.1 . If up to Xbox One X we had two HDMI ports (one input and one output) now we only have one port, but of the HDMI 2.1 type, which is capable of providing enough bandwidth to handle image streams up to to 4K and to 120 Hz . It is precisely this latter aspect that interests us most, since now, even on consoles, you can enjoy very high refresh rates, with a consequent reduction in latencies.

Who plays on console is used to much higher latencies than 100 thousandths of a second, with disadvantages especially from the point of view of the integrity of the competitive multiplayer gaming experience. Now, since launch, Xbox Series X allows you to play Gears 5, in multiplayer mode Versus , with latencies wandering around on 30 / 40 thousandths of a second . But be careful, because to enjoy the 120 Hz you need to have the right monitor / TV, considering that traditionally in the PC environment, high refresh rates are managed via DIsplayPort and not HDMI. It may therefore happen that your monitor to 144 or 240 Hz has the HDMI 1.4 connection, insufficient for new consoles (bandwidth level to play in 1080 p requires at least an HDMI 1.4b connection).

Once the connection is successfully established, the Xbox Series X dashboard will immediately detect the ability to activate the 120 Hz and will ask if you want to switch to high refresh rate. From the display and TV options in at any time the user can choose the resolution and refresh rate based on the specifications of the connected monitor / TV. There is also a diagnosis screen, where Xbox Series X clearly highlights what the TV supports and what it doesn’t: for example, with the monitor 360 editorial Hz reports that “Your TV configuration supports up to 1080 p natives to 120 FPS “.

To these is added the tool to calibrate the TV: step by step, right from the console point of view and therefore in such a way that it is affordable for everyone, it explains how to perform a precise calibration for any type of television. A similar tool allows you to calibrate the HDR for games. Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are able to leverage an innovative HDR rebuild technique to enhance existing SDR games with no developer work and no impact on available CPU, GPU or memory resources.

Xbox Series X, like the previous generation, can read discs Blu Ray 4K Ultra HD .

Xbox App

The new Xbox Series X debuts Xbox App (also available for Xbox One). This is associated with the console and allows you to remotely manage its contents, then start a download, manage friends lists, chat with them, search for new contents and purchase them, manage the acquisitions made on the console and share them, and much more. yet. As happens for a device like Oculus Quest 2 , even the Xboxes are in this way manageable via the smartphone.

Xbox Game Pass

A key component of Microsoft’s offering for this generation is Xbox Game Pass, to the point of being integrated directly into the console dashboard. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate includes all the benefits of Xbox Live Gold and beyond 100 quality games for console, PC and Android mobile devices, all at a low monthly price.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members can also access the EA Play at no additional cost. EA Play subscription includes more than 60 among the best games for PC and Electronic Arts consoles, such as FIFA 20, Star Wars Battlefront II, Titanfall 2 and Need for Speed ​​Heat. It also includes some of EA’s most popular franchises, such as Battlefield, Mass Effect, Skate and Sims, access to trial versions of the games and discounts on EA digital purchases.

To Regarding backward compatibility , Microsoft has done a great job, making almost all games from the past Xbox available also on the new Series X and Series S. There may be problems only with certain games built around the logic of Kinect , but otherwise it almost always goes smooth as oil. While in the case of PS5 there may be some more hitches, probably due to the major architectural changes especially related to the functioning of the storage unit.

Smart Delivery and Quick Resume

These are two of Microsoft’s most touted Xbox Series X features. Very interesting is Smart Delivery , the technology of Xbox Series X that allows you to play the best version of games in based on your console. All Xbox Game Studios games that are optimized for Xbox Series X, including Halo Infinite , will support Smart Delivery. This means that if you purchase the Xbox One version of a supported title, Microsoft will identify it and serve you the optimized version for the new console on the Xbox Series X, at no additional charge, when available. Smart Delivery is implementable by all Xbox developers.

For some years now, Microsoft’s strategy has provided for a decentralization with respect to hardware , in order to allow for gamers to choose which device to play on while remaining in the Xbox ecosystem. This started with Xbox Play Anywhere and reaches a later stage with Smart Delivery. In the future, the approach will be further expanded when the cloud gaming technology Project xCloud is sufficiently refined.

The Quick Resume technology, on the other hand, will allow you to resume the game from where you left off . Quick Resume allows you to resume several games at the push of a button, instantly switching to the action, where you left off (even weeks later), “for multiple games at the same time”. It needs to be specifically supported by games, so it may not work with the 60% of titles.

Think you are playing a game and turn off the console later. Upon reopening, if you decide to return to play with that specific game, just click on the corresponding icon and the game will be immediately restored, as can happen in a Windows environment with an application running and immediately available through the taskbar.

Conclusions

Ultimately, what is Xbox Series X like? It certainly represents a very important evolution in hardware compared to the previous generation, from a certain historical point of view in consideration of the fact that Zen 2 and RDNA 2 are recently introduced technologies also in the PC world. The GPU configuration gives it more computing power than the PlayStation 5 which, together with the SSD, will allow developers to release gaming experiences that in many ways are unprecedented in the console world.

Xbox Series X gives the feeling of being engineered in an accurate and very precise way, and offers interesting performances both in terms of silence and temperatures. In addition, it is the most efficient console ever in terms of energy consumption. Of course, as we mentioned, there is insufficient data to be able to give a complete judgment, because the performance on the market will depend on other factors, on the future support and on how the video game and entertainment industry will change. From these points of view, despite recent efforts, Microsoft could still pay a gap compared to Sony PlayStation, in terms of games and exclusives.

Xbox Series X is also minimalist, not only in appearance but also in functionality. Microsoft gives the feeling of having wanted to develop something “clean”, without overdoing it. It provides a very competitive hardware, for the price at which it is granted, but leaving doubts about the level of innovation of the Series X project. Microsoft gives the feeling of having taken great care in improving the hardware, but the rival has focused on the ‘to offer players a different experience compared to the past generation, in terms of controllers, user interface and other elements in such a way as to convey the idea that something changes in the way of playing, beyond the power made available to the players. We close with a scheme of Pros and Cons in comparison to PS5 .