Xbox One X - Page 3 of 4

Xbox Series X review: the next-gen is here

Our first response on the new Xbox Series X, the console that kicks off the ninth generation. Waiting for the PlayStation 5, here are the performance considerations, the tests on consumption, noise and loading times, and everything we can expect in the tomorrow of video games

by Rosario Grasso published on November 2020 in the Videogames channel

Microsoft Xbox

“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.

	Xbox Series X
CPU	3.6 core custom Zen 2 CPU GHz (3.4 GHz with SMT)
GPU	Custom RDNA 2 GPU 12 TFLOPS, 52 CU a 1, 825 GHz
SOC size	360, 45 mm
Processing	7 nm Enhanced
Memory	GDDR6 from 16 GB with bus from 320 bits wide
There memory bandwidth	10 GB a 560 GB / s (memory accessible by games), 6 GB at 336 GB / s
Internal memory	1TB Custom NVME SSD
Actual I / O Speed	2.4 GB / s (Raw ), 4.8GB / s (compressed, with custom hardware decompression lock)
Expandable storage space	support for the 1TB Seagate Expansion Card for Xbox Series X \| S perfectly matches the internal memory (sold separately). Support for external HDD with USB 3.1 (sold separately).

Performance target 4K a 52 fps, with support up to 120 fps High Dynamic Range HDR up to 8K Optical drive Blu-ray UHD 4K HDMI 2.1 Features Automatic low latency mode. HDMI variable refresh rate. AMD FreeSync. Audio functionality Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, Dolby TrueHD with Atmos, L-PCM up to 7.1 HDMI 1 HDMI 2.1 port USB 3 Gen 1 USB 3.1 ports Wireless 802. 11 ac dual band Ethernet 802. 3 10 / 100 / 1000 Radio accessories Dedicated Dual Band Xbox Wireless Radio Format 15, 1 x 15, 1 x 30, 1 cm Weight 4.4 kg

	Xbox Series S
CPU	3.6 GHz (3.4 GHz with SMT) 8 core custom Zen 2 CPU
GPU	4 TFLOPS, 20 CU a 1, 565 GHz
SOC size	197 , 05 mm2
Memory	GDDR6 from 10 GB with bus from 128 bits wide
Memory bandwidth	8 GB a 224 GB / s (memory accessible by games), 2GB a 48 GB / s
Internal memory	NVME SSD customized by 512 GB
Actual I / O Speed	2 , 4GB / s (Raw), 4.8GB / s (compressed, with custom hardware decompression lock)
Expandable storage space	Support for Seagate 1TB Expansion Card for Xbox Series X \| S perfectly matches internal memory (sold separately). Support for external HDD with USB 3.1 (sold separately)

Performance target 1440 pa 60 fps, with support up to 120 fps. It also supports native 4K if the developer chooses to render at 4K. It also contains advanced scalar hardware if connected to a 4K TV HDMI 2.1 Features Auto low latency mode. HDMI variable refresh rate. AMD FreeSync Audio functionality L-PCM up to 7.1, Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1, Dolby TrueHD with Atmos HDMI 1 HDMI 2.1 port USB 3 Gen 1 USB 3.1 Ports Wireless 802. 11 ac dual band Ethernet 802. 3 10 / 100 / 1000 Radio accessories Dedicated Dual Band Xbox Wireless Radio Format 6.5 × 12, 1 × 27, 5 cm Weight 1, 92 kg

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 .

PRO

More powerful hardware than PS5, especially the GPU

Quiet and optimized from the point of view of energy consumption 5873

Minimalist design

Support ai 120 Hz immediately working

More space on the basic disk

VERSUS

Not very innovative
On paper, prest lower shares for the SSD
Cumbersome storage expansion

Xbox Series X and Series S: Quiet, fast and not very original

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)

Xbox Series X – Powerful, quiet and nice and compact

In summary The Xbox Series X is a wonderfully powerful console that plays games in 4k with frame rates of 120 enables fps, with graphic effects that were only possible on a PC until now. In addition, the Series X has a very fast NVMe SSD and an accompanying API that shortens loading times enormously and also offers interesting possibilities during gaming. Furthermore, the Series X will receive support for Dolby Vision next year, which is especially interesting because of the dynamic metadata. It is a point that the Series X is ahead of its major competitor PlayStation 5. On the other hand, the controller of the Series X has been improved, but not as spectacular as that of the PS5. Finally, Microsoft wins points with the excellent Xbox ecosystem, mainly because of the benefits that the Game Pass offers.

On 10 November is the time, then the arrival of a new generation of consoles is a fact. Microsoft kicks off this time with the introduction of the fourth edition of the Xbox. The new console even comes in two flavors, the Series X and its smaller brother, the Series S. We will discuss the latter another time, now we focus on Microsoft’s standard bearer: the Xbox Series X which 500 will cost euros. We previously published an extensive preview of the new console and we recommend that you read that article to get acquainted with the new console.

After another three weeks of experience with the Series X, it is now time for a balanced judgment, although we immediately reveal that we still do not have a really complete picture of the possibilities of the new console . Before we share our experiences with the Series X, let’s dive into the hardware first. Because what’s in that black fridge?

The hardware of the Xbox Series X As with previous generations, the heart of the Xbox Series X and Series S comes from Advanced Micro Devices. AMD is currently the only manufacturer capable of producing both x 90 – Processors as high-performance GPUs, again in the form of a system-on-a-chip (soc

What makes the launch of the new generations of consoles extra interesting is that not only the GPU part of the chip shows significant improvements compared to the previous generation, but also the cpu. For gaming, most of the calculations are handled by the GPU. That is where the focus lies when it comes to the question of how graphically complex a game can be made and at what resolution it is rendered. In the Xbox Series X, the GPU also takes up no less than three-quarters of the total surface of the soc. A fast GPU does not come into its own in games without a CPU that also has sufficient speed. After all, the processor must provide the GPU with instructions and handle in-game logic itself.

With the previous two generations, exactly that was a challenge: the processor used was on the slow side compared to the gpu. The chips for the Xbox One and One X also came from AMD and at the time the manufacturer’s processor offering was nowhere near as competitive as it is today. The Jaguar cores in previous generations of consoles were originally designed for laptops, but proved to be incapable of breaking even in that product category. As a result, it almost became the rule that games on 31 fps ran; a higher frame rate was the exception. Although the processor of these generations already had eight cores with two clusters, this was not a complete solution due to the latency-sensitive nature of largely serial instructions. A large number of slow CPU cores is not necessarily a substitute for a smaller number of fast CPU cores in gaming.

Project Scarlett The Zen 2 processor cores used and the RDNA 2 architecture for the GPU together form part of the Series X soc, also known as code-named Project Scarlett. These parts are both competitive, at least at the time of writing this review. The hardware of the new Xbox generation seems a lot more balanced than with the previous generations.

Finding the balance in the design of the chips for the new consoles is anyway of importance for the end product that should not be underestimated. If you keep the specifications of the new Xbox next to those of recent PC hardware, you will notice that video cards with many more compute units are available. A new generation of Zen processors has also recently been released and the clock speeds of the new consoles are lagging behind. However, the choice of hardware requires looking beyond raw specifications and accurately identifying what makes sense, not just what is possible. Viewed from the overall cost of a console, one chip with virtually all components integrated on it must be suitable for hundreds of contemporary and future games, have an acceptable energy consumption and heat production, and be cost-effective to mass-produce. All of this must be financially viable on a more expensive production process than before.

Console Xbox Series X Xbox Series S Xbox One X Xbox One Code Name Project Scarlett Project Lockhart Project Scorpio Durango Die-size soc 360 , 4mm² ? 367 mm² 375 mm² Number of transistors 15, 3 Billion 8 Billion 6.6 Billion 4.8 Billion Processor 8 custom Zen 2 cores with smt 8 custom Zen 2 cores with smt 8 custom Jaguar cores 8 custom Jaguar cores CPU Speed 3.8GHz (3, 66 GHz w / smt) 3.6GHz (3.4GHz with smt) 2.3GHz 1, 75 GHz Storage 1TB , ‘custom NVMe-PCIe 4.0-ssd’ 512 GB, ‘custom NVMe -PCIe 4.0 SSD ‘ 500 GB / 1TB / 2TB 2.5 inch sata hdd 1TB 2.5 inch sata-hdd GPU 52 compute units 1825 MHz 20 compute units

1565 MHz 40 compute units 1172 MHz 12 compute units 853 MHz GPU Architecture Custom RDNA 2 Custom RDNA 2 Custom GCN 4 (Polaris) Custom GCN GPU computing power 15, 15 Tflops 4 Tflops 6 Tflops 1, 31 Tflops Memory 16 GB GDDR6 10 GB GDDR6 12 GB GDDR5 8GB DDR3 (32 MB esram) Memory Speed 10 GB @ 560 GB / s

6GB @ 336 GB / s 8GB @ 224 Gbit / s

2GB @ 56 GB / s 326 GB / s 68 GB / s (esram 204 GB / s) Connection HDMI 2.1 HDMI 2.1 HDMI 2.0 HDMI 1.4 List price € 500, – € 300, – € 499, – € 499, – Release date 10 November 10 November November 7th 2017 22 November 2013 CPU, GPU and SSD On the CPU side, it is striking that Microsoft is talking about custom Zen 2 cores with a total of 8MB L3 cache, clearly not requiring large amounts of L3 cache are present as on the Ryzen desktop processors. That has everything to do with the fact that the soc of the Series X is not built from chips but from one chip. This one chip is not used as a lower positioned product in the case of less successful or partially defective copies, such as the binning that we almost always see with video cards and processors. Instead, as with the Xbox One X, Microsoft has opted for overspecification: from the 56 gpu compute units are 52 actually used in the final product.

A can on the Series X SoC The Zen 2 processor used is also custom in the sense that the memory controllers of them are linked to the shared GDDR6 memory, along with the GPU. So, as on previous generations, this is a uniform memory type, with a total of 16 GB via a 320 – bit memory bus. The clock speeds are slightly lower when using smt than without. Microsoft expects that developers will initially prefer the higher clock speeds over the extra processor threads. This will have everything to do with the fact that most games will be developed in such a way that they also work on existing generations of consoles (Xbox One and One X), which are hardware limited to 8 threads anyway.

The Project Scarlett GPU was developed on the basis of the RDNA 2 architecture, but we still know relatively little about exactly how various new features have been implemented. There is hardware support for ray tracing, as well as variable rate shading, mesh shaders and sampler feedback. These features are included in AMD’s RX video cards 6000 series and Microsoft has indicated that the feature set of this architecture is fully available to developers, both on the Series X and Series S consoles.

At least as innovative as the more powerful processor and GPU is the storage of the Series X. Under the name Velocity Architecture , Microsoft has linked fast storage in the form of an NVMe SSD to the soc in collaboration with AMD. Although: we now call it ‘storage’, but the SSD partly fulfills the role of working memory in practice. Combined with the DirectStorage API, the hardware can exchange data at lightning speed between the GDDR6 memory and the SSD. As a gamer, this is particularly helpful in practice if you use the quick resume function: within a few seconds the exact state of your (paused) game is saved and that of another game is loaded, after which you can start exactly from the point where you can continue playing.

Xbox Series X vs Xbox One X: What’s the difference?

(Pocket-lint) – The Xbox Series X brings 4K 60fps gaming and next-gen power. But how does it compare to the outgoing Xbox One X?

Xbox Series X vs Xbox Series S: What’s the difference?

What you really want to know is that, if you already own an Xbox One X, is it worth upgrading? We compare the specs and features of them both to help you make up your mind.

Design

As you can see, the design of the Xbox Series X is quite a departure from the norm. It is designed as a standing unit, although can be laid down on its side too. However, it is considerably larger than the Xbox One X so you will need a bigger space in your TV stand, for instance.

Xbox One X vs Xbox One S vs All-Digital Edition: Which should you buy?

One of the reasons for its larger size and aesthetic is heat dissipation. The grille at the top allows for internal heat to dissipate, which is important as the processing chips inside will get extremely hot and if there are not sufficient cooling measures employed, you’ll find the internal fan will have to work harder – resulting in a very noisy machine and, worse still, one that is prone to crashing.

The same is true of the Xbox One X, which can run noisy at times for the exact same reason, but its internal hardware is easier to keep cool as it is lesser specced, so has a slimmer, more conventional profile.

Graphics

Graphics hardware is, naturally, different in the two machines. With the Xbox Series X representing a significant upgrade. It sports a custom GPU with 12 teraflops of power and 52 compute units running at 1.825GHz. That’s basically the most powerful graphics processing chip in any console to date – even more powerful than the one in PS5.

In comparison, the Xbox One X has a similar custom GPU but with 6 teraflops of power, 40 compute units and running at 1.172GHz.

Microsoft claims the Series X is twice as powerful as the One X in terms of graphical prowess.

In simple terms, it will run nigh-on every game natively in 4K 60fps, where the One X can only run a handful of titles in full 4K natively. And often, you have to choose between 60fps or 4K, not both. Some games will also run at 120fps on the Xbox Series X – it has that much potential.

It is also worth noting that games for the Xbox Series X can utilise real-time ray-tracing technology, to make in-game lighting more realistic. The Xbox One X does not support that feature.

CPU and memory

Like the GPU, the main processor sees a major jump between the two consoles. The Xbox Series X comes with a custom eight-core AMD processor based on the Zen 2 architecture, running at up to 3.8GHz per core.

The Xbox One X, on the other hand, also has a custom eight-core AMD processor, but it runs at a maximum of 2.3GHz per core. This, says Xbox, means the Series X is four-times faster, more efficient and powerful.

On top of that, the next-gen machine comes with 16GB of GDDR6 RAM, while the One X has 12GB of GDDR5 RAM.

PS5 vs Xbox Series X: The next-gen gaming battle begins here

Storage

Another big leap comes in the storage solutions used in the new console.

The Xbox Series X uses SSD (solid state drive) storage, which is much faster for read/write transfers than traditional hard drive tech. It contains a 1TB SSD which will provide a couple of major benefits. Not only will games load faster – including in-game loading times – you will be able to pause a game, start up another, and go back to the original paused title instantly.

The Xbox One X, on the other hand, comes with a 1TB HDD, which is still capable and reasonably speedy for normal use. There is basically nothing wrong with it whatsoever.

Both consoles are able to be expanded through USB 3.0 (3.1 on the Series X) external drives. In addition, the Series X also comes with a dedicated, proprietary drive port on the rear for users to plug in an optional extra 1TB SSD unit.

How to upgrade your Xbox One storage by 2TB or more

Controller

A new version of the Xbox Wireless Controller comes with the Xbox Series X. It looks similar but has a new “share” button and the D-Pad design that looks more like the one on the Elite 2 pro controller.

We have no problems whatsoever with the current Xbox controller though – it’s one of the best ever released – and the best news is that you can use it on the Series X too.

Xbox Series X controller: All you need to know

Games and accessories

All Xbox One games and accessories will be compatible with the Xbox Series X, although that won’t always work the other way around.

Best upcoming Xbox Series X games

Xbox is committed to releasing games for all Xbox consoles (from One up) for at least a couple of years going forward. And, as a bonus, some of the games will instantly be upgraded when installed on a Series X.

That might mean enhanced graphics and better loading times. Think of it much like the Xbox One X in comparison to the One S – many current games have enhanced graphics when played on the One X.

Xbox’s Game Pass subscription service will work on the Series X as it does on the Xbox One.

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Home entertainment

Both consoles sport a 4K Blu-ray drive and support Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. All other streaming apps and entertainment services will be similar across both.

One thing that might make a difference though is that the Xbox One X has a HDMI 2.0 output, while the Xbox Series X will come with a HDMI 2.1 equivalent. This means the One X cannot go above 4K HDR 60fps in video output terms, while the Series X is capable of 8K 120fps. That could be important if you plan to purchase an 8K TV anytime soon.

Price

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Currently, you can snag an Xbox One X for around £350 – its original RRP was £450. The Xbox Series X costs $499/£449 (in contrast, the Xbox Series S is $299/£249)

With Xbox All Access, which includes Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you can get either one of the new Xbox consoles for a monthly fee. There is no upfront cost, and you pay one monthly price for two years.

$22.99 or £18 (Xbox One S 1TB console, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate)
$24.99 or £21 (Xbox Series S console, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate)
$34.99 or £29 (Xbox Series X console, Xbox Game Pass Ultimate)

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Xbox Series X vs Xbox One X: Which is best for you?

Ultimately, the main decision to make is whether you want to invest (heavily) in the future of gaming or you’re happy to settle for the very best the last generation has to offer.

The Xbox Series X is an extremely powerful, exciting new console. But we also have a massive sweet spot for the Xbox One X. The latter is an amazing machine for the current price and you can buy one now with free games thrown in.

Writing by Rik Henderson. Editing by Dan Grabham.

Watch Dogs Legion hotfix begins rolling out on PC to fix performance issues

Matthew Wilson
12 mins ago
Featured Tech News, Software & Gaming

The Watch Dogs Legion launch on consoles and PC wasn’t as smooth as it should have been, but Ubisoft has been quick to patch things up. Today, a 1.44GB hotfix patch began rolling out on PC to fix performance issues.

The hotfix patch already began rolling out on Xbox One and PS4 yesterday, incorporating “global performance improvements”, sporadic crashes and a particularly alarming issue that would cause Xbox One X consoles to overheat and shutdown when loading a certain mission.

On the PC side, the patch has begun rolling out this afternoon, including “several improvements to PC performance” and importantly for Nvidia RTX GPU owners, “optimised performance to improve framerates for RTX GPUs”.

Players should also see less of a performance drop while driving in the open world and no more frame drops when characters walk through checkpoints.

KitGuru Says: I tried Watch Dogs Legion for a little while last night and found the performance to be pretty bad on my RTX 2080Ti. Hopefully this patch begins to address that. Have any of you tried Watch Dogs Legion on PC yet? Have you noticed much improvement after installing the new patch?

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ALLM: everything you need to know about Auto Low Latency Mode

(Image credit: Sony)

With the PS5 and Xbox Series X just around the corner, a lot of attention is being focused on gaming-specific features introduced as part of the HDMI 2.1 spec.

Much of that attention is focused on 4K@120Hz (also known as High Frame Rate or HFR) and VRR (Variable Refresh Rate), both very advanced features that are currently available on very few TVs.

By comparison, ALLM (Auto Low Latency Mode) is a far simpler little feature that won’t transform your gaming experience as such, but will subtly improve the experience of living with a TV that’s used for gaming as well as TV- and movie-watching. Best of all, its relative simplicity means it’s already available via lots of TVs and existing consoles – even those that don’t have HDMI 2.1 sockets.

What is ALLM?

ALLM stands for Auto Low Latency Mode, and all it does is automatically switch to the TV’s gaming preset, or Game Mode, when a gaming signal is detected. That’s it. Simple, right?

Why is Game Mode important?

Modern TVs are constantly processing and enhancing the picture being shown, whether that’s sharpening edges, enhancing the contrast, adding vibrancy to colours, digging up more dark, smoothing motion or upscaling the signal to fit the display. The problem is that all of this processing takes time. Not lots of time (we’re talking milliseconds here), and when you’re simply watching something there’s no reason for you to notice any delay between the signal going into the TV and being displayed on the screen – but it is enough time to manifest as lag when playing games.

This type of lag is specifically referred to as ‘input lag’, and it can make a massive difference when gaming. Just 100-200ms of input lag can make certain games almost unplayable.

That’s why almost all TVs now have a Game Mode or simply a Game picture preset. At their core, all these modes do is switch off most, if not all, of the TV’s active picture processing, but most manufacturers optimise further in order to beat their rivals to the lowest input lag possible.

How low are we talking? Samsung and LG’s top-tier 2020 TVs are broadly in the 11-14ms range, which is ludicrously fast. In fact, that’s arguably unnecessarily fast: while some hardcore gamers will claim that they can feel any degree of input lag, most agree that anything under 40ms is imperceptible and many people won’t notice anything under about 100ms.

The benefit of ALLM

Traditionally, you would have had to manually switch Game Mode on when playing a game in order to get the best performance possible, then manually switch it off afterwards to get the best picture for movies and TV, but ALLM makes such inconveniences a thing of the past.

ALLM doesn’t simply activate every time you turn on your console, either: it’s intelligent enough to differentiate between playing a game and watching a movie via a streaming app or Blu-ray, even if you use your Xbox for all of those things.

Which game consoles have ALLM?

(Image credit: Sony PlayStation)

Of the current-gen consoles, the Xbox One X and Xbox One S support ALLM, but it’s not a feature of any versions of the PS4 – even the PS4 Pro.

The good news is that the PS5 is expected to support ALLM, and we know for a fact that both the Xbox Series X and Series S will.

Which TVs support ALLM?

(Image credit: Samsung)

There are actually too many TVs that already support ALLM for us to list them all individually, so let’s take a broad look at each of the major manufacturers:

LG and Samsung lead the way on gaming features such as ALLM and VRR and boast the lowest input lag scores in the business.

ALLM was applied pretty much across the LG range in 2019, so if you’ve bought a model (OLED or LCD) since then, chances are you’re ready to go.

Samsung actually introduced ALLM earlier, in 2018, but that year it was restricted to the company’s QLEDs and higher-end LCDs (NU8000 and above). Pretty much all 2019 and 2020 models have the feature.

Panasonic also added ALLM to its TV range in 2019. If you’ve got an OLED model or an LCD from the 800-series (GX800 in 2019 and HX800 in 2020) or above, you should have access to the feature.

Philips is another manufacturer that added ALLM in 2019, in this case across the whole OLED and LCD range.

Given that it actually makes games consoles, it’s rather surprising and disappointing to discover that Sony is comfortably the worst major manufacturer when it comes to supporting gaming features in its TVs. Even ALLM, the simplest of these features, is only supported by one range – the XH90 (known as X900H in the US). We reviewed the KD-65XH9005 model recently and it’s great, but Sony really needs to up its gaming game for 2021 and beyond.

Of course, we do list ALLM in the specs of the models in our best gaming TVs round-up, so head there if you’re looking for a new TV for gaming.

What about soundbars and AV receivers?

(Image credit: Future)

Of course, if your console goes through an AV amp or soundbar on its way to your TV, that will also need to support ALLM if you’re going to take advantage, and support here is fairly patchy.

AV amp owners will likely fair best, particularly those with a Denon in their system as that company features it across most of its models launched since 2018 (many of the older products got it via a firmware update). Yamaha’s new 2020 models will be getting ALLM, too.

In soundbar-land there’s a strong shift towards support for ARC (Audio Return Channel) and eARC (Enhanced Audio Return Channel), which allow models to receive high quality audio signals (including Dolby Atmos) via HDMI. If your soundbar supports one of these, we’d recommend connecting your console directly to your TV in order to take advantage of its ALLM and/or VRR features, as well as its low input lag, and then have the audio sent out from the TV to the soundbar.

MORE:

Best gaming TVs

PS5: everything you need to know

Xbox Series X: everything you need to know

VRR: what is Variable Refresh Rate?

Watch Dogs: Legion mission bug is shutting down Xbox One X consoles

Matthew Wilson
5 hours ago
Featured Tech News, Software & Gaming

Watch Dogs: Legion is officially releasing tomorrow but unfortunately for those looking to play it on Xbox One X, there is a serious game-breaking bug to be aware of.

During the mission ‘404’, which takes place a few hours into the main campaign, Watch Dogs: Legion freezes when running on Xbox One X and as reported by Eurogamer, this then leads to a message from the Xbox warning of an imminent shutdown. The bug apparently causes the console to overheat.

The odd thing here is that Xbox One X is the platform Ubisoft recommended that reviewers play the game on. So there could be other bugs on other platforms that still need addressing.

Ubisoft is already aware of the Xbox One X issue and is working on a fix, which should come in a patch on Friday. Hopefully there aren’t any other game-breaking issues further down the line.

KitGuru Says: It is unfortunate that this particular bug is still present the day of the game’s launch. This is something that really should have been caught earlier. If you are picking this game up today and plan to play on Xbox One X, then you’ll be best off avoiding this particular mission until later in the week when a fix rolls out.

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‘It’s harder to make PC games’

Gears Tactics was a big game for Microsoft. A splashy, strategic spin on the Gears franchise, it served not only to show that Microsoft is willing to invest heavily in PC games, but that it’s just as committed to Xbox Game Pass on Windows as it is on Xbox consoles.

“We were thrilled,” says Tyler Bielman, design director at Microsoft’s Gears-focused studio The Coalition, when asked about the reaction to the game. “We knew that we had captured some magic in bringing that Gears intensity and action and combining it with a thoughtful turn-based experience, and we were really happy with the reviews, we’re really happy with everyone’s response — the response on PC Game Pass was tremendous, so yeah, we were really happy with it. We think it’s a really cool addition to the Gears franchise.”

While Gears Tactics was developed for PC first, a console version was always in the works, and now, Microsoft has confirmed that it’ll land on November 10th — the same day the Xbox Series X and Series S next-gen consoles go on sale. Gears Tactics is arguably the biggest first-party launch title Microsoft has for the new Xbox consoles. With Halo Infinite delayed into next year, this is the only console debut for one of Microsoft’s premier franchises that you’ll be able to play on launch day.

For the PC version, The Coalition had to figure out how to translate Gears’ fast-paced action to a traditionally console-unfriendly genre. Now, they have the opposite task.

“We wanted to really make it authentic for the PC strategy gamer first and foremost, but we also knew eventually we would take our time and bring it to console in a way that feels really native on the console,” Bielman says, citing the game’s controls as the most important thing to get right. “The game has to feel great with the sticks in your hand, and the game that we have with Tactics is very free and open — it doesn’t take place on a grid, you can move your units anywhere on the map. We knew that in order to make that feel good, we couldn’t just have a simple mouse simulation on the controller — we had to add functionality.”

The bones of the game haven’t changed, but there are some affordances to make it play smoother with a controller. There’s a precision mode that slows the cursor down and new snapping features that help you select the right target faster and more accurately. The UX has also been streamlined in certain regards, like the convoy area where you manage your soldiers and choose missions, and there’s additional content, including a new playable character along with extra enemies and equipment.

Gears Tactics did ship on PC with controller support, but it clearly worked better with a mouse and keyboard, so The Coalition’s efforts to refine the game for controllers will also come to the PC version along with the new content. Conversely, Bielman says that you can plug a mouse and keyboard into an Xbox console and play the game just as it would run on a PC.

While a console version was always planned, it wasn’t necessarily intended to happen alongside the launch of the new Xboxes. “It wasn’t so much someone saying like, ‘Hey, you’re gonna make sure this game is on the hardware,’” says Cam McRae, technical director at The Coalition. “It was more like, our game’s gonna be ready to ship and there’s hardware so let’s target it and make it happen.”

“PC was our primary focus, but we knew that we were going to ship on console eventually so we had a console version running mostly from the very start of the project,” McRae adds. “We didn’t specifically spend a lot of time with it, but we just maintained it to make sure that there wasn’t going to be this massive effort to go and actually make it run on Xbox at the very start. So when we started actually looking at the console, we already had an Xbox version running, which was really good because we didn’t have to spend time on the table stakes of running on the hardware.”

“And then when Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S hardware came out, moving from Xbox to that hardware was not a huge effort for us. We were already working on it for Gears 5, and even though the hardware itself is different, the tooling that we work with remained the same, so we weren’t making this huge change to how we built the game. We just had a target like the rendering subsystem and I/O and other things to make it work on the new hardware.”

Microsoft’s multidevice Xbox strategy means that its new games need to run on a wide variety of hardware, all the way from the original 2013 Xbox One through the 4K-capable Xbox One X, the 1440p-targeting next-gen Series S, and the ultra-high-end Series X. According to McRae, though, tuning Gears Tactics for each system was simpler than making it work on PCs in the first place.

“It’s harder to make PC games,” he says. “Tyler can attest to the fact that my workplace has a stack of GPUs — there’s just so much hardware on PC. You have different RAM configurations and different hard drive speeds and totally different vendors on GPUs and then just a huge range of drivers you have to worry about and CPUs. So it’s harder, but it’s kind of fun, too.”

“For us, because we’ve made a few PC games now and we kind of understand how to scale for all that hardware, when it comes to looking at the whole range of Xbox we can scale our game very well because we already know how to do it on PC. It really helps when you start targeting consoles — it’s just like yeah, there’s a few of them and everything’s fixed, right? Targeting fixed hardware is always easier even if there’s two or three. It’s still much easier than the tons of combinations in the PC space.”

Gears Tactics will run at 4K / 60fps on the Xbox Series X with a choice of 60 or 30fps for the cinematics — “not for any performance reason but more for just personal taste,” McRae says. The Series S will run the game at 1440p / 60fps, while the One X will have the option for 4K / 30fps or 1440p / 60fps, and the One S is at 1080p / 30fps. McRae says each version is tuned individually for each console beyond simple parameters like resolution. “I look at the hardware, look at all the different settings I have available under the hood in the engine, which is hundreds of things I can tweak and tune or optimize, and then it’s just balancing them all to get the best picture quality and hit a performance target.”

The Series X will obviously run Gears Tactics better than the other consoles, but one big question I had was the relationship between the Xbox One X and Series S versions. The Series S is a next-gen console with similar CPU and SSD advances as the Series X, but unlike the One X, it doesn’t target 4K resolution, despite a GPU that’s roughly comparable in raw power. Given that both consoles can run the game at 1440p / 60fps, with an extra 4K / 30fps option on the One X, which is the better version?

“That’s a good question — it is better on the Series S,” says McRae. “It’s visually better — same resolution, same frame rate, but the CPU is so much better in the Series S and the Series X that we have a lot more ability to just draw more stuff. Even though the GPU is responsible for drawing, we still have to get it there off the CPU, and on the Xbox One X you’ll see that the visual quality is not quite as high as it is on the Series S in the performance mode.”

While Gears Tactics still needs to run on the CPU-constrained Xbox One consoles, The Coalition says this didn’t compromise the design of the game. The two foundational elements of Tactics’ action, according to McRae, were the number of enemies for a given encounter and how long it could take for the AI to make its move. There was initially a back-and-forth between the tech and the design side, as you’d expect, but ultimately, McRae says the team hit a “really sweet spot” between the scale of the encounters and the speed at which they play out. “If you put too many enemies in, it becomes very overwhelming very quickly,” he says.

“Because we had worked to design the constraint of how many enemies and we kind of knew our hardware limits, we could then go and say this is how much we need to optimize the enemy turns so that it can finish in time. So how that actually manifests in reality is, on a very slow CPU, the enemy turn might go over its limit a little bit compared to a brand-new CPU in the Series X or the Series S where the enemy turns are really snappy, they finish their planning really quickly and they do their turn and it’s back to the player.”

Microsoft’s hardware agnosticism has been taken to a new level recently with the launch of Xbox Game Pass for Android devices, all streaming over the company’s xCloud servers. The Coalition won’t confirm when or whether Gears Tactics will be playable this way, but I was interested to know the team’s thoughts on how the game might adapt to touch controls, which is something that Microsoft has been expanding.

“We actually looked at it way back when we started on the PC because we thought that people might be playing this on a PC that has touch,” says McRae. “So we did a very initial pass of it, but it wasn’t something that we really pursued because we were just looking at the data and not a lot of users actually would use touch for this kind of game. They would sit down and play on their laptop or they would play it with the mouse and keyboard. But when we look at something like xCloud, yeah, if we were gonna put it there then I think touch is something we would revisit.”

Wherever you end up playing it, Gears Tactics is worth checking out — particularly since it’s on Game Pass across all Xbox platforms. I really like the PC version. It’s a smart reinvention of the Gears series, and it’ll be one of the first things I fire up on a next-gen Xbox. Between Tactics and last year’s excellent Gears 5, it feels like the franchise is firing on all cylinders again.

Technical specifications

Test

The new Xbox Series X gamepad

SSD

HDMI 2.1 and 120 Hz

Xbox App

Xbox Game Pass

Smart Delivery and Quick Resume

Conclusions

PRO

VERSUS

Design

Graphics

CPU and memory

Storage

Controller

Games and accessories

Home entertainment

Price

Xbox Series X vs Xbox One X: Which is best for you?

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Why is Game Mode important?

The benefit of ALLM

Which game consoles have ALLM?

Which TVs support ALLM?

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Electronic Arts has provided screenshots comparing Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered and the original from 2010 year. However, there is nothing to brag about, because although the differences are not limited only to resolution, they are not too great.

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